Ayla: Always an Alpha

Chapter 7 - Don't Expect Anything

~Killian~

"That's the most idiotic plan I've heard in my entire life," Ayla told me, throwing her hands up into the air in an effort to show me how exasperated she was.

It was kind of cute, actually. Already, I'd seen her keep her demeanor calm through many things a normal person wouldn't have, yet here she was practically shaking in frustration. And the cause? Me.

I smirked at her. "In the scheme of things, your 'entire life' has been what? 20 years long? Not very long. So you probably haven't had to hear very many plans."

"I just turned 24, Killian." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you already knew that."

Observing her pacing from my position against the schoolhouse wall, I shrugged. She had demanded I follow her in here, the closest building to the training grounds, so that we could have our conversation without anyone seeing me on the territory. She even closed all the curtains once we had gone inside. It wasn't necessary; I would have noticed if anyone had gotten near us. After the disastrous result last time I was here, I wasn't planning on letting my guard down around her again.

Ayla was right; I did already know her age. Even though I had her file memorized before I even stepped foot onto her territory the first time, I couldn't stop myself from looking over it every day this past month. There's no way I could ever forget anything in there now.

She continued pacing in front of me.

"Wipe that stupid smirk off your face, Killian." She briefly stopped her movements to make the demand. "Now. I can't think straight while you're over there patronizing me."

"I'm not patronizing you," I told her honestly.

"Then give me another plan, a real one," Ayla implored, stopping at the round table closest to me and sitting on the surface of it instead of any of the adjacent chairs. Clearly frustrated, she unzipped her athletic jacket, took it off, and flung it beside her.

"That was a real plan."

She sighed and reached to the top of her head to redo her loose ponytail. Her clothes were much more form-fitting today, presumably for the training session I had seen from my spot in the woods, and her movements caused her camisole to rise up her abdomen. Deciding I was better off before I had seen so much of her warm skin, I preoccupied myself by looking at the educational posters on the walls instead of at her.

"I hardly call 'observing activity in and out of the territory and hiding out in one of the deserted houses when I need to sleep' a foolproof plan," she remarked, drawing my attention back to her as she lifted her hands in the air to make air quotes around my words.

"My way of life requires me to sneak around undetected. I'm quite good at it."

Apparently unamused by my tone, Ayla narrowed her eyes at me. "That's too risky. Just because you've made it past my and Alpha Cox's men twice now doesn't mean they won't catch you eventually. And when they do catch you, I personally don't think you're going to be able to convince them that you, an assassin, are trying to keep your assassin coworkers from killing me."

"I'll continue to mask my scent. It's a pretty simple recipe too; I can make more when necessary."

"Eventually they'll realize something's off about it. Listen, you can't just sneak around until... god, until what? People give up on trying to kill me? If my dead body is worth as much as you say it is, this will never end."

I sighed. She had made a good point. "I'm going to have to find out who's putting up the money," I tell her.

"And you'll be more able to figure that out back... well, back wherever the hell it is you came from. They'll catch on to you here"

"D.C. The main site is in D.C," I decided to inform her, trusting that she wouldn't use it against me. "But I can't go back there again unless I've finished this mission. My boss made that very clear."

She scoffed and muttered something about missions under her breath.

"Until I've killed you," I clarified.

"Yeah, I understood that," she snapped. "Thanks for the lovely reminder."

My eyes followed her movements as she stood from her position on the table and began pacing again. She paused to run her fingers along the bottom rim of the chalkboard, and when she straightened her spine, I could feel the air get thicker. I knew what topic she was going to ask about next.

"Why are you really here, Killian?" She turned back around to scrutinize me with her large chocolate-colored eyes. "I get that you can't go back to D.C., but you could have gone anywhere. You didn't have to come here."

"You know why," I muttered.

"I want to hear you say it, Killian."

Suddenly not as comfortable leaning against the wall as I was before, I pushed off of it. "That doesn't matter, Ayla," I mumbled.

"Say it," she told me as she crossed the room to invade my personal space.

Unlike most other people I had met in my life, Ayla was extremely direct. Up until now, I had found that amusing. Now, I wished she was the type of person to just make hints, so I could keep ignoring her.

"Look," I began because she was right in front of me now, and I couldn't ignore her when that intoxicating, spicy, herbal scent of hers seemed to envelope me. "I can't do all that romantic mate crap you probably expect from me. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'll try. I don't do the whole love thing. That's never going to change. But what I am good at is finding people and killing them. That's the only thing I'll ever be able to do for you, so I'll do it. Then, I'll be on my way."

It was the most I had ever said to her at one time, and given the topic, I thought she'd need time to process it.

However, almost immediately, she quietly said, "I don't expect anything from you."

"Good," I responded.

~~~

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Question of the week: Now that we've had a few chapters of our lead characters interacting, what sense do you get of their dynamic? Do you think it'll change in the future?