Chapter 37

~Alistair~

Eliana sat on a couch in my house, while I sat on the marble floor. We were both laughing over something on the television, while she braided my hair gently with her soft fingers. She had a protruding stomach, and when she was done with braiding my hair, I turned around and gave her a kiss on her stomach, while the baby inside of her kicked.

“He’s going to be strong like you, you know,” She said, beaming graciously.

“And he’ll be just as smart as you are,” I told her, returning her smile.

“Alistair,” I heard her say weekly.

“Yes, my love,” I answered.

“Alistair! Alistair!”

It wasn’t her voice that was calling me this time around. It was someone else’s voice, and in a split second, she had vanished, and everything I had seen had disappeared, as I was pulled back into reality.

“Eliana?” I called weakly, as my eyelashes fluttered, and I opened my eyes tiredly.

“Seriously, Eliana? I should have known you were dreaming of her when you answered “yes, my love". I was just happy right now for nothing,” Jenny said, with a loud hiss.

I slowly raised my head, yawning sleepily, as I stretched out my arms, and flexed my muscles. I had a terrible ache in my neck as I had been sleeping in a bad position, by putting my head on my office desk, hence shifting all my neck muscles in one position, as my neck had been twisted to one side for so long, making it now stiff and sore.

I found it hard to believe that all I had seen earlier was just a dream. It felt so real, and looked like it was more than a dream. All this time, I had just wanted Eliana to keep on being mine, but it was the first time I had thought of having a family with her. It was a beautiful feeling, really, and I began to wish that it could happen in reality.

Massaging my neck with one hand, I stared at Jenny, still trying to comprehend my surroundings, without saying a word. Apparently, I had slept off during office hours, while going through a written advertisement presentation.

“Are you okay?” Jenny asked.

I nodded my head, in the affirmative, yawning again.

“Where were you last night? Why are you sleeping during work hours? It’s not like you to do that,” Jenny said, taking a seat opposite me.

I shrugged, rubbing my eyes, still unable to get the sleep out of my eyes. “I was up late last night working on something,” I lied.

“I’m sorry about that, Alistair. You should try to get some rest, instead of always overworking yourself. If anything happens to you today, don’t forget that the company will go on,” She said to me.

I gave a faint smile. “I’ll try to stop overworking myself,” I said.

“Good,” She stated, with a smile.

“So, why are you here?” I asked, rising up from my chair, and going to the mini fridge to get a bottle of cold water, that was needed greatly to quench my thirst.

“I think I heard a howl last night,” She said.

I paused for a moment, then cleared my throat, not saying a word, as I took out the bottle of cold water from the fridge, which I gulped down my throat.

“You know, at first, it was as though I was hearing things, then, I heard the howl again. It sounded so familiar, like it was one of the wolves from our former pack. I was going to pretend like it was nothing, till Garrett came downstairs, asking if I could hear a wolf howling,” She said.

I kept the bottle of water, along with the cup, back inside the fridge, which I closed gently. At first, I had wanted to tell her that she had been hearing things, but seeing as her brother had heard the same thing, it would be suspicious if I told her that I had heard nothing.

“I heard the same thing. I left my room and went outside to see what was going on, but there was no wolf there, nothing at all. I’m guessing that the wolf is a teenager, who hasn’t let how to control his transformation, and probably got hurt or something,” I lied.

“That’s the same thing Garrett said,” She told me.

“Guess we boys think alike,” I said, wearing a small smile.

“Maybe a member of his pack later came for it, because I heard nothing after it howled twice,” Jenny said.

I sat back down on my swivel chair, moving around in it, trying to feel more relaxed. “It must be nice to have a pack, whose members can save your ass when you call for help,” I said.

Jenny smiled. “We’re also a pack, Alistair. You, me, and Garrett...maybe even Eliana, except that she’s human, of course. If anyone needs our help, we’ll always be there to save the person’s ass,” She said.

A smile appeared on my face. “You’re right, Jenny. We’re a pack. I have a question for you. What if the former members of our pack come back for my powers?” I asked.

“And why would they do that?” She asked.

I shrugged. “They’ve been without an Alpha for many years. What if there’s a war that needs to be fought?” I asked.

“Well, that’s their problem, Alistair. They kicked you out, and they can’t come to collect your powers after twenty five long years,” Jenny said, with anger laced in her voice.

“What if they do? I’m living well as a human being, and I’m not really using my abilities for many things. If they do, should I give up my powers?” I asked.

“When you put it like that though...,” She said, thoughtfully.

“Exactly. They may need it more than I do. Besides, I’m still going to be a werewolf...it’s just that I’ll be a Beta, which isn’t even bad,” I told her.

“I understand where you’re coming from, Alistair. If you’re given an option on whether to be killed, so as for them to take your powers, or to just surrender it to them, choose the latter. For me, you’re better off alive,” Jenny said.

I forced a smile, nodding gently. Jenny was so not a fighter, and if she felt that it was okay to give up my powers as an Alpha, I would appear really greedy for choosing to keep them, whereas my father’s people are in trouble. I could already guess that Eliana would say the same thing as Jenny, and no one would really understand why I was hell bent on not giving up my powers.

“Are you okay?” Jenny asked.

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine,” I replied, taking my mind off my thoughts.

“You seem troubled. Tell me, why are you asking me all these questions? You really do not need to worry about anything. It’s not like the members of our former pack are actually going to come for your powers or abilities, relax,” She said, with a chuckle.

“I guess so,” I said.

I was still feeling a little bit sleepy, and was pondering over polite ways to tell Jenny that she could as well leave my office, since she had come to say what she wanted to say. I yawned tiredly and rubbed my eyes, hoping that she’d just get the hint and take her leave on her own, without me having to tell her to leave.

After getting home last night, I hadn’t immediately drifted off to sleep. I had spent hours, lying on my bed at staring at the ceiling, thinking again and again of the incident that had occurred on the field. Part of it still felt like a dream, but I knew very well that everything I remembered had happened in reality. I was contemplating ways by which I could prepare myself for when next Aunt Salome and her minions decided to show up at my doorstep, because I was never going to respond to her howl again. She’d have to come all the way to my house, that’s if the guards let her enter, in order to carry out her evil plans.

I had finally drifted off to sleep in the early hours of the morning, but about ten minutes later, my alarm rang, and I had no choice other than to sluggishly get out of bed, and prepare for work. I hadn’t had much sleep, and that was why I felt really tired and sleepy.

Jenny may not get it, but I couldn’t just give up my abilities as an Alpha, without putting up a fight first. I didn’t care about what other people may think about me. They already saw me as a murderer, and if they saw me as greedy for wanting to preserve my father’s powers, then, they were free to do that.

My phone chimed, signalling that there was some kind of notification that I needed to check. Maybe I could lie to Jenny that it was an important message and I needed to work on something really fast, so, she could leave and I could sleep the way I wanted, without any disturbance, even though I was sure that the message was from my network service provider.

Surprisingly, I hadn’t received a message from my network service provider. Instead, it was from an anonymous number, asking me to click on a link to join a group chat meant for all ‘Sliana’ shippers.

“What the fuck is Sliana?” I blurted out loud, confusedly.

Jenny gave a chuckle. “Oh. You got the message as well?”

“Everyone’s getting the message?” I asked, still confused.

“Yes. You won’t like what I’m about to tell you, but there are a lot of people, especially teenagers and youths, advocating for a romantic relationship between Sam and Eliana. Some already even believe that they’re already in a romantic relationship, because of their outings together. The entertainment news even reported yesterday that Sam’s car was spotted in front of Eliana’s mansion...”

“How is what you’re saying related to the message I just received?” I asked, cutting in, not willing to hear anything more that could poison my mind against Eliana.

Jenny cleared her throat. “Well, I was coming to that. The message you received asked you to click on a link to join a group chat meant for Sliana shippers, not so?” She asked.

“It is so. What the hell is Sliana? Is that even an English word?” I asked.

She giggled. “It’s a ship name for Sam and Eliana. The person who sent you that message is asking you to join a group chat meant for people who are fans of the love they supposedly share, and they’re likely to post pictures where they gush over them, or plan on ways to surprise both of them with gifts and stuff like that,” Jenny explained.

I burst into a fit of laughter, immediately. “You’re not serious, are you?” I asked.

“I am serious,” She said, looking really surprised at my decision.

“Wow. I never knew people in our country were so jobless,” I said, unlocking my phone.

“It happens in other countries as well,” Jenny said.

“Then, everyone in the world is running mad. How the hell do you just sit in your house, posting pictures of celebrities and being happy over their relationship, as well as sending them gifts, and planning surprises for them. Doesn’t it sound stupid to you? What happens when they break up?” I asked.

Jenny shrugged. “If they should break up, they make videos of them crying and pleading with them to come back together, they post pictures reminding them of old times, comment on their posts with stickers and long write-ups about why they must become one again,” Jenny replied.

“Truly, everyone is running mad,” I said, blocking the unknown number and deleting the message from my phone, with a satisfied smile, plastered on my face.

“So, you’re not bothered about what people are saying about Sam and Eliana?” Jenny asked, looking displeased.

“Why should I be? I don’t care about what people say about them. They don’t know Eliana. They don’t know what’s going on, and they’re only acting out of sheer ignorance, stupidity, and joblessness, which is why our government must provide more jobs for people. I know where Eliana’s heart lies, and I know it’s with me,” I said, with a smile.

“Umm...you used to get a little bit jealous before about things like this,” Jenny reminded me.

“I’ve not forgotten. I once let my jealousy get the best of me, and it won’t happen again,” I told her.

“That’s... that’s really sweet,” She said.

“Thank you,” I told her.

“I should probably get going now,” She said to me, rising from her seat.

I screamed “Finally!” deep within me, but just maintained a straight face, and was about to tell her that I wouldn’t like to be disturbed by anyone for the rest of the day, when Garrett barged into my office, panting heavily, with sweat dripping from his forehead and neck.

I stood up, wondering why he had showed up in that manner, and asked myself what could possibly be wrong with him.

“What happened?” His sister and I asked, in unison.

“Eliana...they took her,” He said, trying to catch his breath.

I clenched my fists, anger surging through me, slowly. “Who took her?” I asked.

“I don’t know, Alistair. She came to the clinic today, and six people just showed up out of nowhere. They were werewolves, Alistair, and I recognised them as members of our former pack. Your aunt, Salome, was one of them,” He said, with his heart pounding terribly.

I grabbed my car keys, determined to find Aunt Salome and end her life if any harm came to Eliana. I would murder her in cold blood, without caring for a second about the guilt it was going to bring to me. If she so much as lay a finger on her, I didn’t mind carrying the guilt of killing my own mother’s sister.

“Let me come with you, Alistair,” Garrett said, walking hastily behind me.

I glared at him, fiercely. “You want to come with me, seriously? What were you doing when Eliana was abducted right in front of your eyes? If you couldn’t do anything then, what makes you think you’d be able to do anything now?” I asked, in a loud voice, enraged.

“I’m sorry, Alistair. I tried my best...”

“It’s not my fault that your best wasn’t good enough,” I interrupted, getting even angrier.

“I was outnumbered...”

“Stop it, both of you,” Jenny said, causing everywhere to be silent.

“Listen to me, Alistair. I know something terrible has happened, but you need to calm down and think this through. I told you that we were a pack, and we would always have each other’s back. Let Garrett have your back, please. You can’t even drive in this state. He’ll do the driving and he’ll assist you. I’ll take care of things here, okay?” Jenny said calmly, being the only sane person in the room right now.

I tried to slow down my thumping heart, and reason with Jenny. “Fine then, but advise your brother to remain silent as we go together to find Eliana,” I said, firmly, and walked out of the office, slamming the door behind me.

It wasn’t possible that they had only just discovered that I had something to do with Eliana. This only meant that they had been watching me for weeks, trying to know my Achilles heel, and had decided that if I refused to give them what they wanted, they were going to go after what I cherished the most in life.

Eliana was defenceless, and couldn’t fight against them, as she was just a human being. I really wished it hadn’t come to this, but if all I needed to set her free was to give away my Alpha abilities, then, so be it.

“I’m sorry, father,” I whispered, as I left the company in a dishevelled state, with Garrett following me closely.