Alpha Kael

~Jada

I have no idea how to respond.

There’s no flinch in his gaze. No sudden smile to express his joke. No reprieve for the increasing silence, heavy with expectation. He simply stares, those dark eyes slightly narrowed. This must be how he interrogates information out of people. I feel as though I’m about to spill every secret I have ever kept. Even the most mundane kind.

I tread carefully. “I have no doubt you’re already aware of any secret that I might have.”

If he is offended by my tone, he makes no mention of it. The impassive expression reaching the tightness of his jaw to the defined angle of his cheekbones. Were I not so shaken, perhaps I would have admired his hardened handsomeness.

Instead, I’m insinuating that he knows what he needs to about me. That intimidating the evidence out of me was enough to inform him of what he knows.

“I want you to elaborate on it.”

Part of me wants to pretend I don’t know what that means. But I do. Maybe it’s because I’m afraid I’ll be arrested, or punished for hiding from him and his resieme. My parents are suffering the consequences, now. So much so, I’m not allowed to visit them. If I do, that might give the authority a reason to tie me to the crime. As far as I know, I was simply a victim, according to them.

“What’s there to talk about?” I question, the seat under me suddenly becoming uncomfortable, a sheen of sweat building above my brow. “Do you and your people not know enough already?”

Kael seems to consider that for a moment, easing back into a more casual position. “I want to hear it from you.

I swallow uncomfortably. I don’t see a way out of this.

“My parents didn’t want to lose me forever. They hated the way you force children into boarding schools and into jobs they might not exceed in. They wanted to leave this Pack, and take me with them, but even that is near impossible for them to do,” I explain to him in almost an entire breath.

Perhaps he’s offended, but I wouldn’t know. His expression is impassive, subdued. I give him a few moments to process what I’ve said, to understand what it truly meant to my parents. And me.

“It’s not easy for everyone to understand my intentions,” he says carefully. “I have nothing against anyone, and am not here to make my Pack members despise me.”

I don’t know what I say for a moment.

“Not all your people dislike you. Some agree with this, but sorry if I offend, but I don’t,” I tell him firmly.

It may be dangerous pushing on his nerves like this. He might not look in any way perturbed by me, but I can’t imagine it would appeal to him to have his moral questioned by a random competitor who most likely not even win. Especially not after this. It’s worth it, though, to defend my parents honour, since they might never will.

Kael blinks a few times, before he sighs deeply. “I’m perfectly okay with you disagreeing. I enjoy hearing everyone’s opinions.”

I’m surprised he’s being so warm, despite all my best efforts to ruin my chance in this competition. I should be thankful that I’m sitting in front of the Alpha, being one of the few to ever being given this opportunity.

“Can I ask a secret from you?”

“Of course,” Kael says simply, leaning forward again. “That’s what you’re here for, right?”

I nod, slightly taken aback by his sudden proximity. Each time he leans forward, I seem to catch a glance of a feature upon his face I hadn’t known before. Despite skin that seemed to lack blemishes of any kind, I spot the smallest freckle on the left side of his nose. It’s faint, and I have to look twice at to ensure I’m not seeing things.

Scraping through my mind, I attempt to find a secret to match his in embarrassment, but nothing comes to me. I don’t want to come off odd, but I want to pass this stage of the competition.

“What are your parents like?” I decide to ask. It’s not a question one would typically avoid, and who else would know more about the previous heirs, and how they made him who he is.

“My parents were… strict,” he says carefully.

Were. If that’s the case, how did I not know about it? As far as history taught me in school, the Alpha and Luna gave their position to Kael, who was old enough at the time to lead the Pack successfully. We learnt more about their reign, then Kael’s. His family were the ones to create the system we live by.

“As the Discipline Pack leaders, I’m not surprised,” I say lightly, to which he smiles slightly. He has such a soft, gentle smile, as if he is not used to doing such a thing.

“They loved their work a lot. It taught me that when I have a family in the future, I’ll never put work first. It wouldn’t be fair on my mate, or my children,” Kael explains, looking down at his fingers knotted in front of him.

I’m not sure why I thought I needed a notepad. I doubt I’ll ever forget these words.

“I’m sorry,” I say honestly. I couldn’t imagine being put through that. As far as my memory serves, I grew up poor, and my parents did all they could do look after me. And even through all that, they were always there for me whenever I needed them. No expectations. So I deeply feel sorry for Kael, having parents who runned a Pack full time.

“Don’t be sorry,” Kael says dismissively. “They loved me, as hard as they were. They wanted me to be a good Alpha. To continue what them and my past successors had started.”

Kael has no siblings, I know that much. So he had no competition to become Alpha. However, it makes me wonder whether he had a choice.

“Is that what you wanted?”

Kael looks at me blankly, as if this is the first time someone has asked him this. If he had a choice, if he wanted to be the Alpha. Were I in his position, I wouldn’t be able to imagine running a Pack like this. Especially at the tender age of eighteen, which was when the title and responsibility was passed onto him.

“I was born and bred for this position. My parents would have had more children did they not think I was capable,” he says, although his tone seems distant, as if he is lost in his own head.

Before I can question him further, he abruptly stands, pushing away from the table. “Follow me, I have something to show you.”

Surprised, but not about to question him, I quickly follow right him. He lead me from the foyer – which was set up so I wouldn’t stray further into his house – and up the flight of stairs. Not once, does he inform me of anything, simply leads me down a hallway, before pushing into a room that I lingered in the doorway of, not wanting to intrude.

It’s a beautiful room, a large mahogany desk in the middle, polished clean, and covered in nothing but two picture frames, which faced away from where I stood.

The walls are blank, the room having no other furnishings. It looked like a skellington of an old office.

“This was my mother’s office,” Kael explains.

Oh.

“She preferred to have her own space. To think,” Kael tells me, as he picks up one of the picture frames, bringing it over for me to look at. “Most of their professional company took everything and filed it into the archives. I kept the space empty. It’s still hers, if she ever comes back.”

If she ever comes back.

Those words shock me into speechlessness. Either he is referencing his mother coming back from the dead, like some twisted fantasy, or there is another part of this I shouldn’t question… Or I could put myself in danger.

“Your mother is beautiful,” I tell him nervously. I’m not lying. She has long, thick dark hair, which Kael clearly inherited. It shines under the light it was taken. So does her skin, and the glint in her eyes, a pale green, that stares steadily at the whoever took this.

“She was. I wanted you to see this, to know I had no other choice but to take this throne,” he explains. “I’m doing this for her. To make her proud.”

I can’t say anything without trusting my voice won’t shake.

He seems to snap out of whatever trance he was in. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to keep you here so long. I should probably let you get back.”

“Oh right, of course,” I say distractedly.

I’m not sure how much time has passed, but it feels as though I’ve intruded on his life. He surely has essential Alpha duties to attend to. So I let him lead me to the front door without any more questions asked. I’m too busy processing what I’ve learnt, and how I’ll surely pass this phase of the competition now.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

As I step out the door, before I leave, I turn back around. “Thank you Kael, for doing this for me.”

He smiles again, and a warmth creeps up my body. Before it can reach my cheeks, I quickly back away. He leans against the doorframe, watching me depart.

“I’ll see you again, Jada.”