Dylan
I didn't want to pull away from him because I wasn't sure how he would react and the amount of pressure that he was using worried me. I know I messed up, but it's not like I did it on purpose, and this was only one in a handful of times that this has happened.
"Dylan," he growled, "I asked you a question!"
The grip that he had on my chin was unforgiving, it felt like my molars were being crushed. I held his stare and started to apologize, "I'm so sorry Alpha Rogan!" The color of his iris started to change and I could tell that he was trying his best to hold his wolf at bay.
"I don't want to hear your excuses Dylan! Haven't I told you what would happen to you and to Rae if anyone else were to see her", he growled.
Pressure.
There was suddenly so much pressure that I could feel my eyes begin to water. I knew better than to pull away from him, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand it. We stayed like that for a few more moments, but when the first tear fell from my lashes, he let go.
Immediately, I pushed back into my chair and once I felt my back hit the worn cushion, I let out a small sigh. This wasn't the first time that Alpha Rogan had punished me, so I wasn't sure if this was over or if it had only begun. Rae was ragging, both at what Alpha Rogan was doing, but mainly at the fact that she had no strength left to protect me.
Visibly, Alpha Rogan seemed like the picture of composure, but I knew him well, and I could see that he was on the verge of losing control. Nothing I did would make this better. I couldn't go back and erase what happened, nor could I erase the memories of those who saw me shift.
As Alpha Rogan stood, I held my breath and tried to prepare myself for further punishment, but fortunately nothing came. He walked over to his chair, but instead of sitting down, he pushed it under the table and pulled his phone from his inside jacket pocket.
I watched him deftly swipe along the face of the phone for a few seconds, and then it vibrated a few times before he hit the button on the side to shut down the screen. My brief moment of reprieve was now over and his full attention was back on me.
"Dylan, I have my men working on the situation as we speak. I will personally make sure that no one who saw Rae speaks a word of it to anyone else." Unsure if his words were supposed to fill me with joy or dread I just sat there starring up at him.
"Dylan, I'm sorry if I hurt you, I didn't mean to. You know that I would never hurt you intentionally, I just go caught up in the moment. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"
I spoke before my brain had a moment to process what he said, "of course, it's my fault." It was my fault. If I would have thought about what I was doing I wouldn't have ended up making such a stupid mistake.
Nodding in agreement to my words, Alpha Rogan walked towards the door, but he made a point to softly pat the top of my head while he passed.
"Make sure that nothing like this happens again, okay."
Words failed me in that moment. Wether it was due to the fact that he apologized, or from the small show of affection, all I could do was nod emphatically at him.
"Good", he said as he reached my front door. As he walked through and was about to close it, he smiled softly and said, "remember Dylan, everything I am doing it to help protect you." Then he was gone and I was finally alone.
—
Sometime later that night I had finally found the strength to take a warm shower, put some clean clothes on, and eat some left over chicken and rice I had in my fridge. I almost wished that I hadn't got rid of the thermos and sandwich Lecia had given me. I ate in my bed and tried to watch a movie, but my mind kept replaying everything that happened today.
Finishing my food was harder than I would have liked. My jaw was so sore and it hurt to chew. I turned the volume down on the TV and decided to try to get some rest. I didn't have to work until tomorrow afternoon so I set my alarm to wake me up an hour before my shift.
Sleep found me quickly, but my dreams were filled with vivid nightmares. Beasts, and fires, and blood rolled through my mind and when I finally forced myself to wake, I swore that I could still smell blood.
I hated to use them, but I needed to rest so that my body, and Rae could recover, so I reached into the little drawer by my bed and pulled out the bottle of sleeping pills the pack doctor prescribed me.
Double checking that my phone alarm and my small alarm clock were both set, I popped the pill in my mouth and swallowed it dry. By the time I laid back on the pillow and covered up, I was already drifting into oblivion.
-
Somewhere off in the distance I could hear my alarm, but it sounded different. Sleep had me so completely, but I knew that the noise was familiar even though it was faint. Right on the cusp of awareness I tried my hardest to focus on waking up on breaking through the fog of the medicine.
Awareness of my body let me know that I was almost fully awake, so I started to stretch and finally open my eyes. The room was darker than I had expected and both my phone and alarm clock were going off, but they were no longer on the side table.
Carefully, I rolled over towards to the side of the bed, and found both of them underneath one of my pillows. As I reached for my phone, I saw that I had a missed call notification flashing on the screen.
Shocked that someone had actually called me, I immediately opened the phone to see who it was, and that is when I noticed the time on the top right corner.
I was forty-five minutes late for my shift.
"Sh*t!"
I have never been late, or called in for a shift since I got this job. I tumbled out of bed and ran out of the room to the computer desk in the living room. I hadn't even bothered to turn off the alarm clock.
Switching on the computer and monitors seemed to be taking too long, but it gave me a minute to grab a glass of water, throw on my headset, and get settled into my oversized desk chair.
As the screens finally loaded, I navigated to my company website and began to log-in. The moment I clocked in, my messaging system popped up and I got an inter-office call coming through with a request to connect, and I immediately knew who it would be.
Bracing myself as best as I could, I cleared my throat, and answered the line. "Good afternoon this is Dylan Solamier, how may I be of service." The voice that came through the line was as unfriendly as they come.
"You could be of service if you got your a** to work on time!"