Fire in the Heir

11.

To say that I was nervous was an understatement. As I shifted uncomfortably in the dark red leather chair in front of Alpha Killian’s desk, I caught my dad staring at me from the corner of his eye.

“Don’t be nervous sweetie.” Well, that was easy for him to say. He was here every day, and he was best friends with our alpha.

While they did argue or disagree with each other at times, I had never seen them truly angry with each other.

We had been sitting here for only a few minutes, but the entire morning, well, to be honest, the last twenty-four hours had made me feel weird and unsettled.

No, in all honesty, I always had this feeling. It was as if there was a small layer under my skin that at times prickled or gave off little currents of a sensation that unsettled me.

Rubbing my hand over my arms, I looked around the room to try to distract myself. I could feel Kana, but she wasn’t giving me any feelings of comfort or concern, so I figured that she was just as confused as I was.

The office we were sitting in was small but comfortable. The colors of the walls, furnishings, and decor were all in tones of soft beige and brown.

Book shelves lined three of the four walls, but they complimented the room instead of making it seem smaller or cluttered.

Certificates and plaques hung on the walls and there were even some on the shelves. There were even a few photos. All of them were of people I did not know, including one of a beautiful woman sitting by a lake.

It was that photo that captured my full attention. The photo looked like a candid shot more than a portrait.

She looked as if she had been sitting on the shore of the lake and someone had somehow gotten her attention or maybe even called her name and snapped the picture when she turned her had turned towards them.

I studied that picture far longer than all of the others. The woman seemed to look happy and young, but what drew me in was her coloring. She looked as if she had been touched by starlight.

But I was brought back to the office as I heard the door behind me open. I turned away from the photo and towards the door as Alpha Riese walked into his office.

He was alone and looked like he had just come from a workout or a run or maybe even a shower. He was in cut-off sweats and a gray t-shirt that was dark in many spots, as if he was either very sweaty or wet.

Though he didn’t look at me as he came in and walked to the other side of his desk, I watched him the entire way through the room.

Alpha Riese was a handsome man, he was tall and muscular and his coloring was so appealing that he could have been a model or an actor.

The golden hue of his skin matched perfectly with his dark wavy hair and hazel eyes. I always thought of him as golden.

Not that I ever told that to anyone but Kana. It was because his skin seemed to give off a golden hue and there were small slivers of brown and gold in his eyes.

And if you looked at his hair in the sunlight or moonlight, you could see stands of auburn and red that seemed to glow.

I felt my dad looking at me, and immediately cleared my throat and started staring at my hands that were clasped in my lap. It’s not that I had a crush on our alpha.

Goddess no, not at all. If anything, he was like an uncle to me. I had a love and respect for him that was deeper than just being part of the pack, he was my family in a way.

He was a constant figure in my life and he had even been present for every important moment in my life if I really thought about it. But in the past few months I had seen less and less of him and something felt, well, off.

As he sat down, I felt Kana turn her attention to him immediately.

“Thank you both for coming this morning. I know that the weekends are your days off, but I needed to speak with you Taylor.”

“Me?” His features softened as he smiled and let out a small laugh. “Yes. It has come to my attention that you met with the heir of the Azure Wolf Pack.”

“What? No, that is not true. I have never met them before,” I exclaimed. I hadn’t even realized that I had stood from my chair. I could even feel Kana’s anger at the accusation.

“Sit down Taylor. Let me explain myself better.” He had also stood and he had reached out his arm as if to comfort or soothe me, but he couldn’t reach me from his side of the desk, so he slowly let his arm fall down to his side where I saw him clench his fist.

My dad reached over and patted my hand, “relax sweetie, Riese is not saying what you think he is. Jace explained to us what happened yesterday and we wanted to talk with you about it.”

I looked towards my dad and began to sit down again, but as I looked back at Alpha Riese, he looked upset. But just as quickly as the look registered in my thoughts, he had already fixed his expression and was back to a calm demeanor.

“I’m sorry if I scared you Taylor,” he exhaled, “Lucien is correct. Jace explained what happened on your outing yesterday. Jace knew who the man was that you encountered yesterday and informed us before you even headed back to the pack lands yesterday.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around what was going on. I didn’t sense that the guys from yesterday were wolves, but Kana had. I should have listed to her or been more careful. Goddess, I was such an i***t! What if they had realized where I was from?

So many thoughts flooded through my head that it was hard to focus on what my dad and Alpha Riese were saying.

I heard some names, and bits and pieces of a story, but I just couldn’t get myself to fully concentrate. Fortunately, I could feel Kana soaking in all that they were saying.

Thank the goddess, one of us was smart enough to pay attention. “And with the tournament being held here, he will be one of the wolves on our pack lands and I want you to be careful around him.”

That caught my attention immediately.

“What do you mean that he will be here? I thought he was a college student?” Two sets of eyes looked at me with both interest and annoyance, or was it anger? I couldn’t tell.

“What made you think he was a college student, Taylor,” inquired my dad. Sh*t! Did I miss something? I thought they said that Jace had reported to them yesterday.

Maybe he had only told them about the second encounter with him. “I, uh, I just thought he looked old. I mean older. I mean older than me,” I stammered.

Alpha Riese’s eyes seemed to glow slightly as if he was searching inside me for the truth I was trying to hide. I looked away from him quickly and towards my dad.

He must have believed me immediately because he was slowly nodding his head in understanding of the cr*p lie that I just spit out.

We sat there for a few seconds in silence and I could tell that my dad and the alpha were having a private conversation that they didn’t want me to hear.

Suddenly, my dad rose from his chair, leaned over and ruffled my hair softly, and excused himself. I was stunned as he turned to walk to the door.

“Wait, where are you going?” He looked at me over his shoulder and smiled a soft smile. “I have to go to the training yards to deal with something, but I will meet you in the kitchen when you are done speaking with Riese.”

He grabbed the handle and I watched his shoulders tense as he seemed to be preparing himself for something unpleasant.

Alone in the office with Alpha Killian, I turned back to face him and he had a sad yet serious look about him all of a sudden.

I knew that he and my father were the same age, and while they weren’t young pups any longer, he suddenly looked much older to me. I was so busy thinking about the sudden changes to Alpha Riese I wasn’t really prepared for what he said next.

“Okay Taylor. Now that Lucien has left, would you like to tell me about what really happened yesterday?”