Unwanted Alpha

Chapter 7

***WARNING!***

This chapter includes animal abuse. It's short but its a bit... descriptive. However, I will give warnings when it's going to start and end for those people who are uncomfortable with it and want to skip it. Consider yourself warned!

Shane's POV

I surprisedly looked at Clifden and see that he’s already looking at me, searching my eyes for clues. I tried my best to hide my shock, but Clifden’s sigh made me realize that I hadn't done it successfully. He turned around and said “Let’s go, Shane. We still need to go to our class.”

The walk was excruciatingly quiet. I can hear my friends’ worried voices in my head, but I decided to block them for now because I don’t want to give more reason for Clifden to be suspicious about. It’s probably already too late about that, but I still have to try and find a way out of this. We exited the school’s side doors, going around into the back of the school. Why are we going here? Isn’t the gym supposed to be inside the school and not behind it?

“Clifden, where are we going?” he glanced at me, his eyes softened a little when he saw doubt in my eyes.

“Somewhere… special. I actually planned to bring you here earlier this morning after the tour, but my Archery practice got in the way, so we just have to do it now.” He said with a smile on his lips. We continued to follow the path until we reached a building. Wait, it this a…

“Hey.” He called me, taking my hand, stopping in front of the door. “I didn’t mean to make it awkward or scare you earlier at the library, I just… well… *sigh* I can’t really explain how I feel.” He said then laughed. “Anyway, shall we?” he asked gesturing at the building in front of us.

“We shall.” I said, grinning at him.

I know that I should be nervous about being alone with him considering he already got a clue what we really are and I don’t know what he would do, but my wolf is feeling the exact opposite of me. Using the word excited is probably an understatement to describe what she feels about being alone with Clif. He took a key out of his pocket and looked at me.

“Now, on three, I’m going to open this door and we have to enter very quickly,” he said, looking a little serious.

“Why?” I asked, looking at him questioningly.

“Just trust me, OK?” to which I nodded. “ OK! 1… 2… 3!” He opened the door and he and I entered in a rush. He immediately closed the door behind us when we were finally inside. I was about to ask what was next when I saw the view in front of me.

There are butterflies, a ton of different colors, sizes, and species of butterflies. There are also a lot of flowers arranged in an orderly way. There are roses, lilies, daisies, and a lot more different flowers and trees. The ceiling is made of glass, which lets the sunlight in, giving the whole place a warm ambiance. I looked at Clifden and caught him watching me with amusement.

“You want an explanation?” I nodded my head, looking at the beautiful butterflies flying everywhere. “This greenhouse is owned by the principal. She loves flowers and butterflies WAY too much. Some of these butterflies are actually born and raised here. This is actually supposed to be an attraction, a zoo of some sort but only for butterflies.”

“Why is it locked then?” I asked, bending down and smelling some of the flowers.

“The principal closed it off a few years ago because there are some kids who would destroy the flowers and hurt the butterflies, even catching them, and tearing apart their wings.” He said with a scowl, sitting down beside me.

“That’s horrible!” I replied, looking at the butterfly that landed near me. “What would they even achieve by doing that?”

“Beats me. I don’t understand it either.”

After admiring the scenery a bit, a thought suddenly struck me. “If this was closed off, how did you get the key?”

“I borrowed it… without them knowing.” He admitted, avoiding my gaze.

“You stole it?” I asked, disbelief in my voice.

“Like one of my favorite characters said in my favorite TV series. Temporarily misappropriated.” He said, I was about to argue but he cut me off. “And also, it’s not like we’ll be hurting these butterflies, we’re actually going to help them.”

He said, smiling at me and raising two watering cans. I just sighed, took one of it, and proceeded to water the plants. “Does this mean we’ll be skipping P.E.?”

“Well, not the whole period, but definitely half of it.”

“I can’t believe I’m skipping class on my first day of school.” Muttering to myself. And then I asked him, “What if we get punished?”

“Nah, don’t worry. We won’t be.” He said confidently.

“And why is that?”

“Because aside from the fact that everybody likes me,” he said, smirking and wiggling his eyebrows at me. “Your date is also the Student Council President.”

While watering the plants, Clifden and I shared stories about ourselves. And when I say share stories, it’s more about him because I can’t really tell him much without raising suspicion. Clifden loves animals a LOT. His phone is full of pictures of animals, especially his dogs.

“You have a dog? Do you have a picture?” I asked, excitedly. I love dogs a lot. Not because I can turn literally into a dog, but because my mom gave me one for my 7th birthday and I named her Snoopy.

“I actually have 3. And of course, I have pictures of them.” He said with a smile, putting the watering can down and getting close to me. “Do you have one?” he asked as he fetched his phone from his pocket.

“Well… I HAD one. I… she died.” I said, getting angry, remembering exactly how she died at the hands of my ‘family’. When my mom died, aside from my friends, Snoopy was the one who’s always with me whenever I miss my mom. However, my dad doesn’t like her because it was mom who gave it to me.

***WARNING! (Start of Animal Abuse Part)***

One morning, I woke up to my dad drunk and yelling. I still vividly remember that I was even trying to go back to sleep that time because I’m used to him doing that. Then I realized that I had forgotten to lock my door last night and that Snoopy was nowhere in my room. I immediately ran out my open door, then outside to where the shouting is.

When I got out, the scene I saw traumatized me. My dad and brother is holding a bat and Snoopy is tied on her neck and dangling over the fire. I remember my 7-year-old self trying to rescue her, only to be held and pushed back by my brother. He forced me to watch our dad keep hitting Snoopy over and over until she’s hardly recognizable and her white fur is covered with blood. When her eyes are already bulging out, her intestines, brain and other internal organs are visible and her blood dripping down, making the fire make a sizzling sound. Only then did my father stop. He cut the rope on Snoopy's neck, letting the poor dog's body fall and burn on the raging fire underneath.

***WARNING! (End of Animal Abuse Part)***

I only realized that I was crying when Clifden suddenly pulled me hard on his chest. “Shh, it’s gonna be okay. I’m sorry I asked.” I shook my head and hugged him tighter. His hug felt so good, I didn’t ever want it to end. But then again, all good things must come to an end. I pulled back slightly, so I could look up at him. When our eyes met, he smiled comfortingly, then wiped my tears. I was about to thank him, but he stopped me and wiped something from my lips. “Tsk! You bit your lips so hard it’s bleeding.”

I just said “Oh” and then laughed because of the awkwardness and I didn’t know what else to say.

“Wait,” I said when he was about to pull back. I was about to nuzzle his neck on instinct but stopped short when I realized what I was doing. He just smiled at me, then tilted his head, baring his neck at me. “You smell… something. Is your perfume citrus fruit? It smells strangely like orange, lemon, and... lime?” What the hell? How does he have a scent? And why does it have to be citrus fruits? I scrunched my nose at the smell and laughed a little, then pulled back to see his reaction.

He suddenly stepped back like I burned him and grimaced. “I… um, I think we should go.” He suddenly said, gathering his things from near the entrance.

Why the sudden change in attitude? Did I do something wrong? I was plagued with these thoughts as we walked quietly to the gym. When he hasn’t said anything yet, even though we’re close to the gym already, I decided to talk first.

“Clifden, did I do something wrong?” I asked, grabbing his arm so he would look at me. He was looking at me with hesitation, as if he didn’t want to say what suddenly bothered him. “Please, tell me.”

He sighed, “When I first met you three, I told you that our town is a little weird. My investigation started as my job because of Capethorn Chroniclers. However, as I discover more stuff, I continue doing it out of curiosity and the more truth I uncover, the more scared I become.” He explained, looking dejected.

“Clifden---” I was about to ask what he meant but he cut me off.

“You said I smell citrusy, right?” I nodded, making him chuckle. “How is it possible then? How is that possible when I don’t have scent?” he continued, making his eyes widen. Sh*t, how did he know? What else does he know? He smirked at my reaction, then pulled at the string on his neck and held what it is. He’s holding a small transparent plastic with orange liquid, probably orange juice with lemon and something like lime floating in it. Oh sh*t, he didn’t magically have a scent. It wasn’t his scent I smelled, it’s that plastic. I was so focused on my own bitter memory that I didn’t realize what I’m smelling! “If you’re wondering, I’m not the one who prepared this, so it can’t have been my hands you smelled.”

“W-what do you mean?” I asked, feigning ignorance. I tried my best to not stutter and show him that I was shocked, but I clearly failed because he just smiled at me.

“You’re wondering how I knew I didn’t have a scent, didn’t you? I made Kurt accidentally admit it when I was talking to him. I also managed to narrow down what you guys are with the help of the triplets. Considering your heightened sense of smell, hearing, possibly sight and also increased strength, speed and obviously regeneration.” He said, pointing at my lip that, stopped bleeding already. “There are only a few mythical creatures that fit the bill. Two days ago, I told the triplets how cool the vampires are and how I want to be like them. They were so mad that I even mentioned vampires in front of them. When I asked them why they’re mad, they angrily replied that its natural for their species to be mad at vampires. When I asked them what species they were, guess what they did.” He said, throwing up his hands. “They literally ran away from me before I could confirm my suspicion.”

Before we rounded the corner to go to the gym, he stopped walking, then cornered me on the wall. “Since you’re here now, can you answer my question honestly? Are you really werewolves?” he’s directly looking in my eyes, trying to stare me down. However, my Alpha blood didn’t let me back down.

“Why do you wanna know? Actually, why do you even have to ask if you already discovered everything, smarty pants?” I said, suddenly feeling brave. I just want to tell him already. I want to do that so badly. However, humans knowing about the supernatural rarely end well. Just look at the witch hunt that occurred when the humans discovered the existence of Fae’s.

“Why do I wanna know?” he repeated my question sounding offended. “When I told you guys about the animal attack, I already had a suspicion that it wasn’t a normal one. That is why I hacked my way into the police mainframe and systems so I can listen in whenever there is something odd happening, especially in that suspicious Special Task Force. Three days ago, there was another animal attack, so naturally I went to the location mentioned. And you know what I saw?” he’s looking at me with so much fear, anger,…desperation? mixing in his eyes, I just bit my lip and shook my head. “I saw humans and wolves killing and tearing each other apart. I saw a 6 ft. grey wolf rip another wolf’s throat, claw someone’s heart out, and bite someone’s head off. And you know what’s worse? That’s right. It gets worse than that!” he exclaimed, laughing, and rubbing his hands over his face. I didn’t know Clifden for that long, but during the time we spent together, this is the first time I felt fear around him. Whether it’s fear for him or fear of him, that I still don’t know.

I want to stop him because the fear in his eyes is now winning over anger and his eyes are starting to tear up, like a panic attack brewing. I know that I should stop him, but I didn’t. I vented out my sadness to him earlier. Now it’s his time to vent his. His bottled fear, frustration, anger, and right now, I’m the only one he can vent out on. However, I did grab onto his arm to try and calm him down a bit. “You know how it gets worse? Because that grey wolf was Lauren.” He admitted, shocking me. He saw Lauren shift… “It was Lauren, who I thought was a human like me. She was there, and then suddenly she turned to that killing machine taking the life of everything on her path.” He said, hugging me tight and tears dropping on my shoulder.

“Shane, I want to know because I refuse to be an ignorant bystander.” He whispered in my ears. He then pulled back and my eyes locked onto his. That was full of emotion, but this time it wasn’t fear, its determination. “I already lost my real parents when they abandoned me in a dumpster. I am not going to lose anyone who cared and loved me again. Never again. That day, I watched the people I care about get hurt. Kurt, Lauren, Rob, Brad, Jon and even their parents. They were all injured, limping, I also heard their yelps of pain whenever an enemy wolf bites and scratches them.” He suddenly stopped talking as a teacher passed by us and gave us suspicious looks. Clifden gave her a tight-lipped smile which I very well knew was forced.

“They might’ve won now. What if someday they didn’t? When that time comes, I don’t want to be a stupid, ignorant human, enjoying his life in the comfort of his own house, I want to be out there, doing something to help you guys, whether you like or not.” He said, walking to the gym again. I just followed him, silently, not knowing what to say.

Before he let the others know we’re there, he quietly said, “I might be smart, Shane, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy investigating and forcing an answer out of the people I care about. Sometimes, I just want people to give me an outright, honest answer.” Then look at me, pleadingly. “So, please answer my question earlier because I want to stop extorting answers from you guys already.” He pleaded with a pained expression.

Damn it! Why do I have to be the one doing this to him? Why do I have to be the one hurting him? I just shook my head at him. I don’t know if he took it as ‘I don’t want to answer your question’ or ‘no, we’re not werewolves’, but he laughed bitterly at me, then knocked on the wall beside him, making our classmates look at us.

“Well, well, well, how nice of you to grace us with your presence?” our P.E. teacher said.

“I’m sorry, Sir. They were transferee’s and as you know, our school is quite big, so I had to give them a tour.” He smiled at the teacher, turning on his charm.

“Tour? It’s the first time you gave anyone a tour. That wasn’t your job, was it?” the teacher said, confused and his eyebrows raised on his forehead.

“No, Sir, it wasn’t. However, during their tour, we met in the commotion in the Trinity Hall, which is why I ordered Ms. Ross, their tour guide, to bring the offenders to the principal’s office.” Clifden explained, putting his hand on my lower back, and guiding me into the gym.

“Oh, right. The locker fight. *sigh* Kids nowadays always rely on violence.”

“Don’t worry, Sir. The matter is resolved already. The offenders are also to be held accountable for the cost they incurred during the fight.”

“Hmm, fine. You guys can join the others now.” The P.E. teacher said as he started walking back to the class before Clifden stopped him.

“Actually Sir, I am only dropping Shane off.” He said, giving me a little push, making me look at him. He also looked at me with clear determination in his eyes. “I still have some Chroniclers stuff to attend to.” The teacher just waved him off.

As I was walking to join the class, I heard Clifden’s whisper, deliberately letting me hear. “If you won’t admit it, then I guess I just have to force you guys to admission then. After all, that’s what you expect of me, right?”