Ayla: Always an Alpha

Chapter 5 - Failure is Unacceptable

~Killian~

Never in my line of work had I had to run back to our headquarters with my metaphorical tail tucked between my legs. I had briefly considered deserting and running across the country, or better yet, fulfilling a childhood dream of crossing into international waters, but I knew that would just leave Ayla to the wolves in a very literal sense. Here, I could at least... Hell, I didn't even know what I intended to do here.

Yeah, it definitely would have been smarter to put an ocean between me and the rest of the assassins. If I couldn't even explain to myself what I was doing here, how was I, someone who had never failed an assignment, going to provide a sufficient explanation to Sir?

The elevator began to move, working its way up to the highest level. I had approximately 3 minutes before I arrived at Sir's office, so I had 3 minutes before Sir expected an explanation for why he hadn't received a report of a death.

On level 2, the elevator stopped, allowing Luca to step in.

"Back already, my friend?" Luca asked. "How loud did she scream?"

The large grin on his face did not match what should have been a somber topic. It made me want to dig into the flesh of his neck and rip out his jugular with my claws, but I suppressed the urge. Normally, I ignored the bastard, so I had to keep ignoring him even though the thought of him anywhere near Ayla wanted me to trek all the way back to Tennessee, consequences be damned.

Luca knew he got on everyone's nerves; Luca also did not care about that fact.

"At least tell me how much blood she spilled," he continued. "Pretty little things like her look best coated in it."

The elevator continued its path upwards, and instead of wanting more time for myself to sift through my prepared explanation, I began to hope it would arrive on the 5th floor quicker. I needed to be free of his sociopathic words before I did something I normally would never do.

Suddenly, it was the slowest elevator in the world.

"What did her fear smell like?" Luca closed his eyes, inhaled, and sighed as if reminiscing. "Mmm it's been a while since I've been given a female assignment."

Unable to help myself, I scowled.

Finally, we reached the 5th floor, and I stepped in front of the retina scanner. As soon as the doors opened, I walked out without glancing at Luca.

Our headquarters was located in the D.C. area. While the country's capital may not be an inconspicuous location for any human groups looking to hide out, it was perfect for us. D.C. was everything werewolves hated; it was loud, people were everywhere, scents were everywhere, it was the center of the human government, and there was nowhere to truly run. Buy a building on an otherwise empty side street, call it a space for a small financial firm, and there you go: a perfect place for supernatural assassins to hide out.

The first two floors even looked like a typical corporate office. We had a small lobby on the first floor, and the second consisted of small cubicles and office spaces. Occasionally, Sir would have Ayush create people's investment portfolios, so our online front didn't look sketchy. Ayush was a genius at everything, and our business had a steady trickle of good reviews on the web.

The third floor was practically empty. It had some gym equipment and storage units for our weapons. The only way the fourth floor was accessible was via a private access point from the back of the building. That was Sir's floor, and it was there where he met clients in person when necessary. The fifth floor was where he met us, and he was expecting me.

Luca had disappeared somewhere down the hall, so I knocked before waiting outside Sir's office by myself.

When he opened the door, Sir's face was as neutral as it always was.

"Murray," he greeted and retreated back into his room. "Care to explain why my sources are telling me the Hatchie River alpha is still alive?"

"I was caught before I could kill her. I waited until night to travel into the territory but didn't have a good opportunity to make the kill, so I lingered a little too long in the pack house. Someone picked up on my scent, I'm guessing."

"Care to explain then why you are still alive?"

"Huxley is careless with how she handles prisoners. She left me unguarded."

I learned when I was young that lying was best carried out by not giving too many details. You needed to give someone enough details that the story made sense but not so many that it was suspicious. The more casual a lie was, the more realistic it seemed.

Even if Sir didn't believe my lie, I'd never find out unless he decided to act on his knowledge. It was always useless to try to interpret his facial cues since he never made any. Sir had a notoriously blank face; his eyes never widened or narrowed, his lips never twitched, and his eyebrows never moved. Even his voice was consistently even. I'd been with Sir since I was 7, and I'd never seen or heard him get angry. His cold attitude was exactly what had scared me the most as a child. You never knew something about him unless he wanted you to know it about him.

Just as I expected, Sir continued the conversation without pause. "How many people saw you?"

"10 or so. Definitely enough to identify me."

"Then, you will have to go back when things are settled, and the pack is less on guard."

"Yes, sir."

"I will notify the client that this will take longer than expected."

Sir never told anyone when their conversation was over. It was simply expected that the person knew. By the finality in the sentence (not his tone - that was still the same), I guessed our conversation had come to an end.

Just as I turned to leave, however, Sir added, "Failure is unacceptable. It will not happen again from you."

"It won't, Sir," I said automatically. I don't know if I was lying or not.

~~~

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Question of the week: This chapter features interactions with two of the very (how should I phrase this?) unique characters of this story. One is outrightly a psycho creep and the other  is scary because of his lack of discernible emotion. Which character, Luca or Sir, frightens you the most and why?