Hey, everyone! I'm sorry that this chapter took a little longer to post, but school kind of took over. Anyway, I'm really excited for you all to read this! I've been working really hard on it. Also, one of my favorite characters makes an appearance!
So, let's get to it!
I don't own things. I only own the characters and plot.
Scanning over the members of his pack, Alvin silently made sure everyone was prepared. Standing behind, Simon, Frances, and Steven waited for him dismiss all of them.
Alvin sighed. He looks at everyone and said, "Be careful, alright? Just remember the rules. And, if you feel like you're in danger, then please," his eyes appeared to be pleading, "please get out of there."
The others nodded. Alex stepped forward, "I'll protect them."
Alvin mumbled to himself, hoping it was not loud enough for the others to hear, "That's what I'm worried about."
Allison gave Alvin an encouraging smile, "I'll help him."
Alvin's mouth curved into a half smile as he nodded. He said, "Well, good luck. We'll see you all really soon."
Alvin turned on his heel and led the smaller group away from the others. Alex and Allison walked at the front of the pack and took them into town.
The walk to the mayor's home was silent. Alvin stared forward, his eyebrows pulled together. Simon quietly repeated the plan to himself once more. Frances kicked a stone from the town almost all the way to the house of the mayor. Steven's feet suddenly became extremely interesting, so his eyes stayed glued to them the entire walk over.
Simon, once he completed his reiteration of the plan, let his eyes linger towards Alvin. "Are you worried about the others?"
Alvin nodded. He ran a hand through his hair and said, "I don't think dad can do this. And I sure as hell don't expect Allison to be able to take care of everyone. I know we have plenty of capable wolves in our pack, but if I'm not there protecting them, then I just don't think they can stay safe."
Steven scowled at Alvin, "Alvin, Alex is lot stronger than you think. Just because he hasn't actually had to protect them in hundreds of years, doesn't mean Alex can't be their temporary alpha. Alex used to lead this pack, y'know."
Alvin continued to look forward, "Steven, you have too much confidence in him."
Steven looked out in the other direction, "Maybe you have too little confidence in him."
Alvin didn't respond to Steven. He turned to face everyone and said, "Okay, the plan begins now."
The four men hid in the bushes and trees. Waiting patiently, they had been there for about forty-five minutes now. Their faces were each covered by old t-shirts that had been made into makeshift masks. Each one of them had their sights locked onto the mayor's home. It was getting to be around time for dinner, so they assumed the mayor would be leaving his home temporarily for dinner.
After a few more minutes, the front door opened up. Two men walked out. Alvin recognized one of them to be Callisto. Staring at the other person, Alvin recognized him too…as Callisto?
Taking a closer look, Alvin realized that both men exiting the home were Callisto. Or, at least they both looked identical to him.
Alvin racked his brain for an explanation to this phenomenon. Then, he remembered.
"And your name is?" Steven asked.
"Oh, forgive my rudeness. I'm Callisto, brother of the mayor."
Identical brothers, possibly? Alvin wondered.
They two men made their way down the trail. They conversed silently. Even with his enhanced hearing, it was far too quiet for Alvin and his comrades to understand.
When the two men were finally at a far enough distance away, Alvin signaled to the others to head towards the house. On silent feet, they all made their way over.
Alvin nodded to them. Each one understood their roles for tonight. Presently, they were to divide up and find an easy way into the home.
Steven took off towards the front of the house. Frances was in charge of looking for an entrance through the sides of the mayor's home. Alvin let himself grow claws as his half state, half wolf and half human, took over. Alvin climbed up the side of the house and onto the roof to see if the chimney was a possible entrance. Simon took the back of the house.
After a while, they heard the signal from Simon, which was just a stick snapping into two. It was a pretty natural sound in nature, so they were sure no one else would even think of the noise meaning anything.
After a few minutes, the group of four were all present in the backyard. Alvin returned to his human state so that way he could appear to be any regular robber.
Simon pointed to the back door. He whispered to them, "It's unlocked."
Alvin's attention, though, was not on the back door. Instead, it was on the doors that had their place in the ground. He recognized these doors as the entrance to the basement or tornado shelter, or really whatever the human used it for. He looked at Simon and said, "What about that way?"
Simon's attention was momentarily occupied by this mysterious entrance. He said, "It's locked. If you pull on the handles, you can tell that there's more than just the one lock. When we get into the house, someone should check out the basement."
Alvin, still curious about what was so important that it had to be locked in there like that, said, "I'll do it."
"But you're looking around upstairs," Steven stated.
The one who was supposed to search downstairs was Steven. Alvin asked, "Do you mind switching with me? I really want to know what's in there."
Steven nodded, chuckling lightly. "Fine," he said. "But you owe me."
Alvin grinned and nodded. He led the small group up the back steps, making sure to be careful because of how squeaky they were. Once they made it to the door, Alvin turned the knob as softly as he could. It took him a good two or three minutes to turn it because of how slowly and silently he was trying to open the door. Once the knob was turned all the way, Alvin pushed the door open. They all entered the house.
They were quick. They moved to their positions as fast as they could. Frances took his place at the front window. His eyes stayed locked on the road so that he could alert the others if someone was coming. Steven hurried up the steps, completely forgetting that someone could be in the house. He was too excited to snoop now that he was finally in the house. Simon found the mayor's office and began looking through the papers and documents that were present there. Alvin began looking around downstairs.
Alvin dismissed the instructions he had previously given to Steven. He wanted to find the door to the basement. He was supposed to look through the downstairs contents, but Alvin couldn't even bring himself to focus on that assignment when the idea of the secret things hidden in the basement consumed his mind.
Alvin entered and exited various meaningless doors. Not a single one led to the basement. But the basement was calling out to him! He felt that he needed to look around in the basement.
After twenty minutes of failed attempts at finding the basement and complaining to Frances, who was also downstairs, Alvin decided it was probably better for him to just go through with the original plan.
Alvin looked through drawers, under furniture, in cabinets, left and right, and at the ceiling. He looked through books, even old photo albums. The only weird thing about those is that some of the photos were in black and white, when Alvin knew that the humans had discovered the technology for colored photographs. Other than that though, nothing. He couldn't find a single thing that would help him understand what Shroudsville was hiding.
Alvin began to wonder. Was his being unable to find anything actually what Callisto wanted? Did Callisto assume he and his pack would break in and look through the mayor's home? Was the mayor in on this? Did the mayor even know that they were staying in this town?
Alvin wondered all of these things in the hallway. He huffed and almost went back to wait with Frances. Almost. Alvin's attention was drawn to the wall, which was a lovely baby blue color. The wall, though probably painted perfectly by human standards, had almost unnoticeable rectangular shapes in a group where the paint was brighter than the other parts of the wall. Moving closer, Alvin examined the wall.
He racked his brain for answers as to why or how something like this would happen. Alvin pulled up all information he knew shoot humans, which honestly wasn't a lot, and thought for a few minutes about what might have been on the wall. Then it came to mind.
Pictures.
Human had a tendency to hang photos on the wall, rather than just remember life's moments like wolves did.
Then Alvin was puzzled. Why would this particular family of humans suddenly take down the pictures on this wall?
The only conclusion that came to mind was that this particular family had something in these pictures they didn't want others to see.
With a new goal in mind, to find at least one of these missing pictures, Alvin began his search once more. Alvin looked through the old photo albums again. He locate what he had in mind in the photo albums, so he dismissed the black and white picture book and searched through the rest of the downstairs.
He walked down the hall again. Looking towards the back door, Alvin noticed something that didn't catch his eye before. Next to the door was a rack meant for holding jackets, coats, and scarves. The racks, of course, were empty because they were still in the transitional strange of summer into fall. But there were still thick winter jackets by the door, except they were not on the racks. They laid on top of something. Alvin walked over quickly with excitement in his footsteps. Picking up and tossing the jackets to the side, he discovered a chest.
It was a decorative chest, probably placed there by the mayor's wife. Alvin had heard from the townspeople that the mayor had married a very darling woman who enjoyed decorating homes. That would explain why the home was set up so well.
Alvin pulled on the lid, trying to open the chest. After realizing that it was locked, Alvin raised his foot and, apologizing to the probably very sweet wife of the mayor, slammed his foot down on the lock. It broke off.
Alvin kneeled before the chest and opened it quickly. The entire chest was filled with strange items. Alvin was surprised that the chest had somehow even been closed. He searched through the strange knickknacks, gently setting some of them to the side if they kept getting in his way.
Alvin found a number of buttons, small toys, bullets, and strange little works of art. The more Alvin looked through the chest, the more disappointed he became. It looked as though the family hadn't hidden the photos on the chest. Standing up, Alvin got ready to close the chest.
Placing his hand on the lid, he started to shut the thing that had given him so much disappointment, but then something caught his eye. In the hole he had made in between the various items in the chest, Alvin spotted the corner of a picture frame at the very bottom.
Quickly kneeling onto the ground, Alvin threw the other items out of the chest. He clawed through the chest's contents like a dog digging a hole. Once he finally reached the bottom, he picked up the photo. His eyes searched the picture.
The photo was of a family. Alvin recognized Callisto standing to the left in the photo. Then he understood. This was Callisto's family. A man sat near Callisto; he looked almost exactly like him. Almost indistinguishable. The only difference was their eye colors, but it still took a while for Alvin to even notice that difference. That man was probably the mayor, and it was also most likely who he had seen with Callisto earlier.
The other members of the family weren't as interesting to him. They all looked like lovely people though, especially the woman that he believed was the mayor's wife. She held a baby in her arms and was knelt down beside two little boys. One boy looked very scared. He was on the verge of tears and was clinging to the woman. The other son scowled toward the camera. His arms were crossed. It puzzled Alvin a bit because the angry-looking boy had a creased forehead that made him appear much older than he was. He almost looked like an adult.
Alvin counted the children. One, two, three, four. One baby, two boys, and a girl.
Wait, a girl?
Alvin's eyebrow knitted together. How had he not seen the little girl in the mayor's lap? He hadn't even noticed her until now. He studied her closely. She was a cute little thing with a very beautiful smile. Eyes traveling from her smile to her eyes, Alvin felt strong pang through his heart. Quickly grabbing his chest, Alvin almost dropped the photo. His breath became labored. He leaned against the wall with eyes watering from the pain. Groaning, he pulled at his shirt until he could see his chest. He stared around where his heart was but discovered no wound. As quickly as the pain had come, it had left, leaving Alvin in complete confusion. He slowly looked back at the photo, meeting the little girl's eyes. There was no pain this time.
Alvin decided he was going to take this picture.
He turned and began walking back to the living room to wait for the others with Frances. There was a creak above him. Alvin looked up towards the ceiling. Nothing was there. He blinked once, eyes still turned upward. Once he opened his eyes after blinking, he discovered that he was now on the ground. Once again, he was very confused.
A darkened silhouette stood above him with their right foot on his chest, digging into his skin. Alvin slowly began laughing.
Assuming it was one of his pack, he chuckled and asked, "What the hell are you doing?"
The person above him remained silent. They reached down and yanked the picture out of his hand.
Alvin then knew that it was not someone from his pack. They would never just take something right out of their alpha's hands. He narrowed his eyes at the figure.
The person leaned down closer to Alvin's face. They mumbled in a deep voice, "You need to leave this house. Immediately."
Alvin playfully smirked and shrugged, "I will – just as soon as I have that picture back."
Alvin took hold of the mysterious person's head and, without giving a single warning, threw the person backwards. Alvin heard the person crash into the back door. Sitting up, Alvin quickly began his search for the picture. He soon spotted it in the entryway into the living room. The person must have thrown the picture behind them just before Alvin launched their body behind him. Taking to his feet, Alvin sprinted toward the photo.
Alvin noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye too late. The person slammed into his side. Alvin hit the wall at full force. He let out a sharp cry of pain. Lifting his arm, Alvin threw a punch at the person. The person caught his fist and twisted his arm. Alvin cried out once more.
While attempting to force the assailant clutching his fist to release their hold, Alvin shouted to the others, "There's someone else in the house!"
There was an opening in the wall next to Alvin, and he knew that it led into the kitchen. The doorway suddenly lit up. The lighting from the kitchen illuminated his attacker's face.
His attacker was a woman. Her long black hair hung halfway down her back and swayed with each movement she made as she continued holding Alvin's fist. Her green eyes were very plain and absent of emotion. Her face was similar to her eyes because of the lack of emotion.
She, without warning or any change of facial expression, rammed her knee into his gut. Alvin's eyes shot wide open and all the air left his body in as little as a second. The woman released her grip on him, and Alvin leaned backwards against the wall, gasping for breath.
The woman shook her right hand for a moment before curling it into a fist. She raised her arm, still emotionless, and launched her fist towards his temple in an attempt to knock him unconscious. Before her fist could actually make contact with the side of his head, she was pulled backwards.
Alvin looked up to see what delayed her and was met with the view of Frances struggling with the woman and attempting to hold her back. While she was being held captive, Alvin's eyes quickly searched area to find the picture. He spotted the photo still in the living room entryway. He sprinted toward it. After scooping it up and making sure that it was fine, he stuffed it into his backpack.
The woman screamed from behind him, "If you don't put it back, I'll personally tear your liver out!"
Alvin stood and turned to face her, smirking and saying, "You can't do that if you're being restrained."
The woman didn't respond. She shifted her feet before leaning back slightly. In one quick motion, she had reached her arms back, seized Frances by his shoulders, and threw him over her head and onto the ground in front of her.
Alvin's eyes widened as he looked back and forth from Frances to the woman. Frances didn't move. He remained there, groaning.
"What the hell are you?" Alvin whispered.
The woman didn't respond. Instead, she charged at him with one fist raised. Alvin, after seeing what she had done to Frances, finally understood that if she landed a punch on him, he could most likely be done for. He'd have to hit her first.
Alvin got ready for the punch. He shouted to her as she ran at him, "You know, I really don't want to fight you!"
The woman went to punch the side of his head again, but Alvin caught her right fist. Her left fist was already making a movement to the other side of his head. Alvin caught that fist too. Her right hand escaped, and she tried to punch him again. Alvin stopped that fist and all the successive punches. He was barely doing so; the woman was fast.
The woman's left fist was once again heading towards his head, and Alvin caught it. But he did not catch nor did he notice her foot that quickly met his head.
It was like dominos. Her foot hit his head. His head hit the wall.
Alvin cried out in pain, "Shit!"
The woman turned him to face her, but Alvin was in too much pain to notice. Her knee collided with his gut like it had earlier, except this time was much more painful. Alvin fell to the ground, holding his gut. The woman held him against the wall. She reached into his backpack and snatched the photo from its contents.
She released her hold on him. Raising her elbow in the air, she looked as though she was going to slam it down on his head.
"Alvin!"
He heard his name being called from above him. Slowly looking up, Alvin caught sight of Steven standing on the stairs. He had removed his mask and was staring at Alvin in concern.
The woman looked away from Alvin and up at Steven. Steven looked at her. Alvin observed Steven's face as it twisted from one of worry to one of shock. No words were spoken. No one moved. Steven and the woman just stared at each other. Steven's eyes expressed a feeling of deep pain, but the woman's were still blank just like her face. But, Alvin saw the woman's hands. They were clenched very tightly. Her nails were digging into the skin of her palms and drawing blood that lightly dripped onto the ground.
Alvin placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. Silently pulling his leg up, he observed the woman and made sure she kept her attention on Steven. He smirked to himself before quickly sweeping her legs out from under her. The woman fell to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing, Alvin!?" Steven screamed. He rushed down the stairs.
Alvin's eyes widened, "Are you serious? She's trying to kill me!"
Alvin placed his knee on her chest. He pushed downward on her chest hard to keep her on the ground. The woman looked up at him, clenching the picture tightly in one hand.
Steven hurried towards them before kneeling down next to the woman. He stared down at her, breath labored. She turned her attention away from Alvin and to Steven. Her eyes still seemed very blank.
"Steven, we need to do something with her. We can't just let her go. What should we do?" Alvin asked Steven.
Steven didn't even seem to hear him. Instead, he leaned down towards the woman's face. Gently removing some of her rich black hair from her eyes, Steven whispered, "Miran-?"
Before he could even finish asking, the woman, frame still in hand, slammed it against the corner of the bottom step of the stairs. The glass part of the frame shattered. Alvin and Steven covered their faces as the tiny shards of glass went everywhere.
The woman grabbed a larger shard of glass and stabbed it into Alvin's leg. Alvin yelped in pain and jumped backwards. She pulled the makeshift knife out of his leg and rolled away from Steven and Alvin. She rolled right into the glass from the frame. The woman lowered herself close to the ground in a position where she could launch herself at Steven or Alvin if need be. Little glass fragments stuck out of her at random places. The pain she should have gotten from the little pieces of glass was absent from her face. Her hand remained clamped around the little glass dagger. Alvin's and her own blood dripped off of the knife and onto the floor.
She narrowed her eyes at them, which was the first expression she had made this entire time. The woman growled out, "You need to leave."
Alvin, teeth clenched in pain from being stabbed in the leg, pushed Frances which caused the unconscious wolf to stir.
Alvin shouted, "Hey, we need to leave! Now!" He was mostly speaking to Simon who was still searching the mayor's office.
Steven, who didn't seem to get the memo, attempted to ask the woman again, "Mirand-?"
She interrupted him by launching herself at him. She had the dagger aimed at him and managed to slice his cheek before Alvin punched her. She was knocked onto her side and her body rolled across the floor.
Steven glared at Alvin, "What are you doing!?"
Alvin couldn't even believe it. "She's trying to kill you, Steven!"
Steven rushed towards her to see if she was okay, blood dripping down his face from the slice she managed to land on him. The woman had already recovered from the strong blow and was crouching as she had before. She once again launched herself at Steven. The woman stabbed the glass dagger into his shoulder.
Steven seemed to be more shocked than hurt. He stared at her with a pained expression. The woman stood and, running back a couple of steps before turning to face him, sprinted towards Steven. She jumped up just before reaching him and slammed her feet into his chest. Steven screamed out pain as he was thrown back and into the remaining pieces of glass.
Alvin stared at Steven for a moment before deciding that Steven couldn't do this anymore. He wasn't even trying to protect himself. Frances still couldn't defend himself. He was so out of it from having been knocked unconscious, and Alvin didn't know how much longer he could hold up on his own.
He shouted, "Retreat!"
The woman's attention turned towards Alvin, and she ran at him to continue their battle.
Frances, after struggling for a while to get to his feet, practically dragged himself over to Steven. He helped Steven to a stand. They leaned on each other and made their way out the back door.
Alvin and the woman continued to fight. His movements were beginning to become slower, his breath labored, and sweat collected on his face. The woman, on the other hand, seemed as energetic as ever. In fact, her movements almost seemed to be getting faster. Alvin felt exhausted, but it didn't seem like the woman was even becoming tired.
Simon peeked into the room. He watched their ongoing battle for a few moments. He kept his focus mainly on the woman. After watching her for a while, he smirked. "Come on, Alvin," he called out.
Alvin glanced back at Simon. While his attention was diverted, the woman managed to slam a fist into his cheek. Alvin fell to the ground from the force of the punch and gasped when the air left his body at the moment his back hit the ground.
The woman ran past Alvin and towards Simon. Simon's eyes widened, and he stared at her. He was too alarmed to move. Just before she could reach him, she was held back by Alvin, who managed to get up and grab her.
"Don't stand there like an idiot! Go!" Alvin screamed at Simon, struggling to keep hold of the woman.
Simon looked as though he was trying to convince he feet to move. He stared down at them, panic written across his face. After some time, he managed to get one foot moving, then the other, and he was soon running out of the house.
Alvin felt relieved. He looked down at the woman. This time, he wasn't going to be distracted. The woman always landed her strongest hits when he wasn't paying attention. The woman, who thought his attention was diverted, was throwing all her strength into stomping on his foot. Alvin managed to move his foot right before the blow. Her foot, still moving with extreme strength, broke through the floorboard.
Alvin mumbled, "I'm sorry," just as he hit her temple with as much strength as he could muster. The woman went limp immediately in his arms. After laying her on the ground gently, he glanced around room. He spotted the picture near the stairs. Alvin ran over, nabbed the picture, and then ran out the back door.
As he sprinted out the door, Alvin glanced back to make sure the woman hadn't somehow become conscious and chased after him. That lady was crazy. He wouldn't be surprised if she had actually managed to wake up. But after checking behind him, he was relieved to see that she hadn't followed him, so he continued on escaping the home. Alvin ran into something hard. Turning back around, Alvin saw that he had run into Simon's back. Looking confused, Alvin saw that Simon, Steven, and Frances were all just standing there with their backs to him.
Alvin asked, "Guys? What's up? We need to go."
He looked at them for a few seconds before he noticed they were staring towards the end of the backyard. Alvin followed their gaze and saw what was captivating them.
Standing at the edge of the backyard and probably at least half a foot taller than Simon, a huge, muscly male was glaring at them. He tilted his head to one side as he inspected the group. Alvin felt threatened, not by the sheer size of the male, but because of his gaze. The mysterious male stared right into Alvin's eyes with no sign of looking away.
In the world of wolves, looking into the eyes of an alpha was almost considered an offense. Looking away from someone's gaze was a sign of respect and it told the person that they are the more dominant one. But this guy, he stared right into Alvin's eyes. The hairs on the back of Alvin's neck stood up, and he growled at the male. Alvin glared right back into the male's eyes, challenging him.
The male slowly opened his mouth. Even then, Alvin didn't move his gaze away. The male growled, "Intruders."
The strange male was off. He ran at them at full speed. Alvin, feeling the deep need to defend his pack, took off towards him.
The male lifted his arm. Alvin, who thought he was going to make a fist and attempt to hit him, was puzzled when the male kept his hand wide open.
They reached each other. Alvin made a move to hit him, but the male was faster. The male grabbed a hold of Alvin's face. He lifted Alvin high into the air before slamming Alvin down onto the ground.
Alvin felt more furious than hurt. He was so sick of getting punched and kicked and thrown around today. An unfathomable desire to tear this guy apart flowed through Alvin. The man, while Alvin had been collecting his thoughts, had removed Alvin's mask as he had pulled his hand up. Alvin glared up at the male, fury evident in his gaze. The male stared down at him. His eyes were narrowed and his forehead was creased.
"Alvin!"
"Alvin, are you okay!?"
"Get your ass out of there!"
Alvin heard the various shouts from his pack members, but the only thing he could focus on was the male as he took a few steps back. Alvin slowly began to sit up, wheezing. He hadn't even noticed the lack of air in his lungs. The male glared into Alvin's eyes.
Alvin, with a lot of struggle, attempted to stand up. His legs wobbled beneath him. Taking notice of a wet feeling beneath his nose, Alvin wiped the area only to discover a large amount of blood dripping from his nose. It was probably caused by the male's hand when it basically crushed Alvin's face as he slammed the alpha's head into the ground.
Alvin's blurry gaze focused on his attacker. He hadn't noticed it before, but the male looked an awful like someone familiar. Alvin growled slightly as he said, "You look a lot like Callisto."
The number of lines in the male's forehead increased.
"Alvin, you need to stop getting angry! You're going to do something really bad if you keep going on like this!" Alvin heard Simon shout behind him.
The male, seeing Simon was the only uninjured one, sprinted past Alvin and towards him. Simon's feet were paralyzed, as they had been when the woman charged at him. He shouted at them to move. His fearfully widened eyes stared at the incoming attacker. The attacker, fist ready, was almost upon him. Simon saw no other option. He shut his eyes and prepared for the blow. After a few moments, Simon couldn't hear the thudding footsteps of the male nor did he feel any pain. He opened his eyes and was even more terrified by the sight he was greeted with.
The guy was once again at the end of the backyard. Instead of standing, he had been knocked to the ground unconscious. Leading towards him was a straight trail of upturned dirt where Simon could only assumed the guy had slid across the ground. Alvin stood above him, his back turned toward the members of his pack. Though Simon couldn't see Alvin's face, he knew what it looked like. Terror consumed Simon. They were in more danger now than they had been the whole night.
Simon slowly stepped forward. His whole body shook. He whispered, "A-Alvin."
Alvin slowly turned to him. Simon couldn't see Alvin's face because of the lack of light the moon offered. Alvin blinked before glancing at the unconscious male. He looking towards Simon. Alvin quietly said, "Let's go…"
They all nodded and silently retreated.
Alvin stared at the ceiling as Simon treated his wounds. Tissues had been stuffed into Alvin's nose by Simon to stop the bleeding. Alvin's shirt had been removed so that his various torso wounds could be examined. His foot was propped up on a pillow. Simon claimed that it would be easier to treat his leg wound, but all Alvin knew was that it hurt like hell. Simon put some medicine on the gaping knife wound in Alvin's leg. Alvin hissed at the pain.
"We're wolves and all so we heal quite easily, but if we're hurt while in our human states, it does take longer to recover. Don't you remember that, Alvin?" Simon asked.
Alvin scowled at the dull white ceiling and didn't respond.
"Are you sure you're alright, Alvin?" the soft voice of Allison asked.
Alvin calmed a bit and turned his attention to the worried little girl. He smiled at her soothingly, "I'll be fine. The wounds are just gonna take a couple hours to heal, but then I'll be as good as new."
Allison grinned at him.
After Simon had completed treating his wounds, Alvin sat up slowly. He groaned in pain and dugs his nails into the hotel bed he had been recumbent in. He quickly looked over the concerned faces of his pack. Instead of assuring them of how he'd be okay like he did with Allison, he began to talk about the two people they fought.
"There was a woman and some guy. Both of them were crazy strong. I mean, the guy looked rough, but that lady. I mean, I don't know who was tougher to fight. They couldn't have been humans. Not possible. They were way too tough to be human. I'm gonna ask Callisto about them," Alvin stated with a smirk, smug that he finally had something to hold over Callisto.
Simon raised an eyebrow, "Are you stupid? You can't do that."
Disappointed could not even describe how upset Alvin was about this. He groaned, "Why not?"
"Then he'll know for sure who was in the mayor's house," said Simon.
Alvin sighed and leaned against the headboard of the bed. His only hope of smiting Callisto had now been ripped away. Then he remembered something.
Looking towards Alex, he asked, "How'd things go on your end?"
Alex, who had been studying the hotel carpet's strange pattern, slowly turned his attention towards Alvin. He stated in a disinterested voice, "It went fine."
Allison jumped up with a big smile on her face, "It was more than fine! It was great, Alvin! Daddy made it look like Simon was reading a book, and Frances snorted milk out of his nose. Steven tried flirting with a waitress, but it didn't really work out. Actually, she slapped him. And you, it was so funny! He made you get into a fight with a waiter!"
Alvin's eyes widened. He looked towards Alex again, "Did…Did you really do all that? And everyone believed it?"
Alex simply nodded.
Alvin looked taken aback. He frowned at himself. Sucking up his pride, he said, "Dad?"
Turning his dull eyes towards Alvin again, Alex said, "What?"
"I'm sorry."
Alex blinked a few times. A small smile pulled at his lips, "You don't need to be."
Alvin smiled. His smile turned into a smirk as he asked, "Did I win that fight with the waiter?"
Alex chuckled, "No."
"You couldn't have let me win!?" Alvin groaned.
Everyone started laughing. After their explosive laughter subsided, the pack went into mindless chatter.
Then Alvin remembered something. He smirked and snatched his backpack off of the ground. Pushing his hand inside, Alvin searched for his newest prized possession. Feeling the photo, Alvin grinned and took it out. He tossed his backpack aside before staring happily down at the picture.
Frances, who had been present when the whole fight for that photo was taking place, looked at Alvin and asked, "When'd you grab it?"
Alvin smirked and responded, "I grabbed it after I knocked the lady out."
Frances chuckled.
That reminded Alvin. He looked at Steven. Steven was glaring at Alvin, probably because of what Alvin had just said. Alvin asked, "Why'd you keep freezing up?"
Steven looked away. He looked down at his hands. Mumbling, he responded, "She just looked familiar."
Alvin wanted to prod some more, but Steven wasn't the type to talk about the past. He was very much a person who liked to think about the future and its possibilities, so it'd be pretty much pointless to try and figure out why Steven was so upset.
Instead, Alvin turned his attention to Simon. "What'd you find?" questioned Alvin.
Simon smirked. He shrugged and said, "Lots of stuff."
Alvin and the rest of the pack stayed silent, hoping for Simon to elaborate, but they felt annoyed when he didn't say anything more.
"Just tell us," Alvin said.
Simon laughed and shook his head. "I can't do that. Not yet, at least," Simon said. "I need one more definitive clue. Just one more, and I'll have this entire town figured out. Besides, it's more fun to wait and tell you all."
Alvin rolled his eyes. He was sick of having this conversation with Simon. Instead, he turned his gaze down towards the photo. Staring at the little girl in the photo, he felt a mix of emotions. Mostly pain. His heart ached more the longer he stared at those icy blue eyes, but he couldn't look away.
From outside the hotel, that same pair of icy blue eyes gazed up at the window to the Seville pack's room.
"They're up there?" the girl asked.
The woman from the mayor's home, standing close to the girl and looking around suspiciously, nodded.
The girl smiled.
I'm so excited for the next chapter. Like I honestly can't wait. I'll be working on it later today. If I have time, I'll update this story really soon.
If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave me a review! I really want to know what you think so far!
See you next time!