Chapter 111
1357words
It's safe to say that I was running mad while trying to discover who the person responsible for Ember's attack was. Everywhere I turned was a dead-end. I must have underestimated the individual by leaving that prisoner without the right guards. Now look where I was at.
In a bar, stewing and fuming. Every security guard that I had called in said they didn’t see any man that seemed different on the day the prisoner was stolen. They said they didn’t know any of their counterparts were disloyal to me. I saw the fear when some spoke and it made me wonder how
Much of what they said to me was actually the truth. I didn’t feel any one was trustworthy anymore. I didn’t feel safe in my own pack. So I was beginning to sift the guards. Any one who seemed too shifty, as though he wasn’t solid , I made him leave. They swore loyalty, but I simply wasn’t taking my chances anymore. Too much was at stake. My life was at stake. Ember’s life was at stake.
To cap it all off, my father had called me in earlier that day, and he had a few choice words for me.
"what is this I hear about dead prisoners and disloyal security guards?" he had asked when he called me into his room, his back turned away from me while he looked out the window,
"It was an oversight I suppose. I'm working on it."
"an oversight on whose ed?" he finally turned to me, and the look in his eyes was menacing. This man was the reason I pushed so hard to be the best alpha I could be. Pushed so hard until I pushed away the woman I loved because he never wanted to be in a relationship with an omega. But then, I knew better than to blame him for my misfortune.
"on my end, I suppose. But like I said, I'm working on it." I said stiffly.
"You think because you are Alpha, you can regard me with cool disdain, Paris?" he said, stepping closer to me, and I remembered how as a young boy, I would cower when he used that tone on me. But I was far from being a young boy anymore. I was by no means going to cower before this man.
"I'm not trying to regard you with cool disdain. I'm just way over my head with everything that is happening in this pack."
"if you aren't capable of dealing with the hardships of being alpha, you're more than welcome to step down, boy."
"I never said I was incapable. Neither am I a boy or your boy. I stopped being a boy a long time ago, and as for being 'your' boy, well, we both know that has never been."
"insolent," he said with a sneer.
"I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
His face contorted in rage as his hand wrapped up in fists. I awaited the attack, but it never came, until finally, he turned away from me again. The way he had, all of my life,
"make sure you fix all of this by the end of the month. Otherwise, it won't matter whether you say you're on top of things or not. I'll have to make sure the right person fills up your space."
The man said, "Okay." but the boy was a little bit heartbroken, because not for once had this man been a father to him. And alpha, a dictator, or corrector. But never a father.
"And wasn't that part of the problem?" I said as I stared out into nothing as I reached for my half-filled glass. I was always left to myself to figure things out as a boy growing up, which was why I took great delight in my sister. She had done the most to make my life a bit easier.
But that was then. The woman she was now, was simply full of so much hate and spite. And perhaps a little madness.
Moments later, done with my drink, and my desire for a different atmosphere, I placed a tip under my empty glass, and got up, and went out of the bar, pausing when I saw the one woman who could set my heart on fire.
However, that fire turned to ice when I saw who she was with. No, it wasn't the mate, Jean. But the more annoying one. The one she called William. The one who couldn't deal with the fact that she didn't want to be anything more than friends.
Before I could think twice about my decision, I started walking toward them and watched as surprise came into Ember's eyes at the sight of me.
"Paris… but what are you doing here?"
"I suppose I could ask you the same thing."
Ember's Pov
William had called early on a Saturday morning to spend the day together. And since I didn't have anything else that I planned to do with my time, I took him up on it.
We had no direction in particular. The plan was simply to have a good time and catch up on everything.
I, for one, didn't have much catching up to do. Unless you included the loss of consciousness I previously experienced on my first day of returning back to work. But to tell him that was to include the fact that Jean had been there, and I wasn't very sure how well he would receive that little tidbit of information. So I kept it from him.
Did I feel guilty? Only a little bit.
But was it wise? Incredibly so.
"All alright, there's this new spot Lily has been talking about would you like to try it out?" he said, parking his car and I looked around us, before shrugging,
"I recall lily knows a lot of fun spots. So yeah," saying Lily's name, made me remember the fact that she and I had plans on becoming loose. But I suppose the troubles of life had simply swept me under so that I barely even had the time for fun anymore. I wanted so much to correct that.
"good. We walk from here though."
"why? There's no path for a vehicle?
"Nah, I just think it'd be nice to walk and talk," he said and I smiled at him.
We were laughing about a memory from our days back at college when someone aggressively stopped in front of us, and I looked in surprise to find that it was Paris.
"Paris?" I questioned, "But what are you doing here?"
"I suppose I could ask you the same thing?"
"she doesn't owe you any information on what she does with her life." William cut in angrily, and Paris turned to look at him like he was a pesky fly,
"She doesn't need you to answer her. "
"I will if I feel you're invading her space."
"stay out of this dog, or I'll make you stay out of it." Paris ground out, and pushed him against his chest when he let out a low feral growl,
"Stop that! What's your problem?" I asked angrily,
"My problem? My problem is that he's butting in. He's always butting in."
"no, Paris. You're butting in. He and I were having a good time before you did just that. What do you want?"
"to talk to you. To be with you! When have I ever wanted anything else?!"
"I'm sorry, but that's going to be a bit difficult just now because as you can see, I'm on an outing with my friend. I'm trying to make it worth both our while, and I didn't want to ruin whatever good mood we might have by having an altercation with you."
"Who says we're going to have an altercation? I simply just want to talk. Why won't you give me even just that?"
I looked at him helplessly, before turning to William who shook his head. But I had already relented toward Paris.
Good God, why did I always do this?
"five minutes. Start talking."
