Truth or Dare

[William Pearce]

The weather was starting to get colder. Winter was setting in and the last of the warm sunny days had vanished into cold and stormy gray skies that threatened to bring snow and ice. However, here in the well maintained area of Westminster it made no difference what the weather held in store, the gardens were pristine and the paths had been cleared of any and all debris that might have made its way to the ground from the rustic coloured trees that had decided that shedding its foliage was the best thing to do at this time of year- afterall, no one wanted to step on such a thing and fall to the ground. Not that it was likely to happen in such an area as this but still. Better safe than sorry.

Of course, if you had the money and the clearance one simply ordered the car to drive straight to the front door to avoid such annoying things as litter. As it was such a day today the sleek black limo simply glided to the doors of one of the smaller, lesser used buildings where a man in a uniform sprang forward to open the door and stepped aside in order to allow a well groomed man to step out onto the pavement and then into the building where the heating was on and no such thing as leaves and weather dared to make an appearance.

William was one of those men who truly loved order and cleanliness and as such his offices were always to the highest standards and you could guarantee that if there was even a speck of dust to be seen you would lose your job faster that you could say 'lycan'. Of course, had you known the man well enough you could accuse him of being highly strung when it came to being clean and tidy- however, one simply did not accuse this man of any such thing...not if you wanted to see the next sunrise of course.

As he walked across the reception area everyone seemed to hold their breath as he passed by them, and once he was settled safely in the elevator on the opposite wall they all let it loose in relief, glad that today at least he seemed to be in a good mood. And he was. Today was going to be...fun. He had a meeting planned with a certain wolf by the name of Morrison Whelan and he was going to enjoy every moment of it for he was a cruel man and the thought of putting fear into anyone was enough to make him smile to himself as he waited for the lift to stop at his floor before he got out and made his way down the plush cream coloured carpeted floor where he was met by the fiery haired maiden Katerina.

"Are we all set?" He asked as she pushed open the double doors to admit him into his private office. He loved this room. Everything was just so, nothing out of place. It was not a modern room and he loved it like that...everything was antique, with a large desk in front of the window and a roaring fire already lit ready for him to admire and enjoy. Yes. This was almost as good as his study at home.

She nodded, "Yes, ve sent the notice to him yesterday telling him of his meeting with yourself. Ve left no hint as to what it was about as per you orders." She stood to the side as he settled into his large and -despite its appearance- most comfortable chair behind the desk. He steepled his fingers together and lent forwards on his elbows as he nodded.

"Good," Finally he lent back and waved his hand in dismissal as he opened a drawer and pulling out a brown file. "Wait outside the door for him Katerina and then make sure no one disturbs us." She made no comment of how she would have liked to stay in the room in case anything happened and instead bowed slightly and closed the doors behind her leaving her alpha alone until the other male turned up.

William himself didn't spare her a glance as he opened the file up revealing several pages of typed paper and several photographs. These he picked up and flicked through, revealing a family photo and several individual ones holding the smiling faces of five different people. These were pictures of the Sullivan family before he had 'dispatched' of them. And then there were the photos of after the event...he pulled these out and looked over them with a cold and critical eye as one might expect a detective looking over a specific piece of evidence. Such wonderful work he mused as he looked at the one of the mother slumped over in the kitchen with her own weapon being used to stab her in the back. His Katerina did such wonderful work. He shuffled the papers so they were just so although he left the homicide photographs on the top of the pile, hiding the one that was the most important from view before leaving the file still open on the top of his desk in plain sight for anyone to see if they happened to look down at it,

Katerina looked up as the lift dinged and as the familiar male came into view gave a small, cold smile as she moved to push open the one door to allow him entrance.

"Morrison Whelan, Alpha." She introduced as she admitted the other wolf before closing the door behind him and took her stance in front of the door, arms folded and ready to take on anyone who might try and enter without permission.

[Morrison Whelan]

Had it been a good week? Morrison wasn’t quite sure actually, though he was sure that it had been a decent enough morning. Sure Lexi had to run off soon after they’d woken up since they’d slept in and she was already late for work while he would have been if he hadn’t thrown on his suit and skipped breakfast to get to his car. Yet, those few minutes before his girlfriend had gone out the door had been enjoyable. She had been calmer than her usual self, which was saying something since she’d jumped right out of bed to get her clothes on, and it was nice change. It seemed they had both started to forget about that week they’d spent apart and everything was going back to normal, well what was normal for them. The two wolves that had been watching them at the café were also starting to fade from his mind and since he hadn’t let Lex know about them, he didn’t have to worry about her being all paranoid about being stalked; that was for him to deal with.

When he got to D.O.G.S. headquarters, a few minutes earlier than he had expected, he was sure that the day would go well. The other day he had received a memo about a meeting that had been set up with the Alpha, but it didn’t worry him at all. The two men had only spoken a few times in the entire time that Morrison had been working there, yet it had always been rather cordial. He was sure that the meeting would be brief and about nothing serious, perhaps just to check up on one of the organizations longest standing employees, and so he wasn’t at all worried about what might be coming.

With an hour or so before the actual meeting, Morrison had sent out one of the interns to get him a bit of food, just so that his stomach wouldn’t be growling at him for the rest of the morning until he could get lunch, that would just be rude. After his belly was partly full and he’d gotten coffee, so that he could more awake, he had ten minutes to get to Pearce’s office; plenty of time. Relaxed and sure that he’d be waiting for a little while before being allowed into the Alpha’s office, he got into the lift still holding a half full cup of coffee and was soon chatting with one of the women from public relations. She thought it odd that he was going to see the Alpha, and wondered briefly if he should really be telling her about it, since Pearce was usually a secretive sort of man about his business. He didn’t think it a big deal however, since he was positive that he’d done nothing wrong.

The woman he’d been talking to got off on the floor right before his, wishing him good luck before the doors slid shut and he was left alone. A few seconds later and the door was opening again, letting him step into a rather lavish, carpeted reception area. The Alpha’s errand girl was waiting there for him, watching him with a rather unsettling smile. He started toward her, seeing that she was there to usher him right into the room, but he paused after a few steps. The memory of those two wolves that had been stalking him and Lexi came back to him and now he knew why that smell had been so familiar. If they had been anywhere else, he would have wrestled her to the ground and demanded answers, yet he knew how idiotic that would be right outside his boss’ office. Instead, he glared at her with knowing eyes, tossing his mostly empty coffee cup into the stylish trashcan by the door then walking past her and into the office.

Suddenly, Morrison’s mood was quite different from that morning, with the realization that his boss’ right hand woman was watching him and upon seeing the look that the Alpha was giving him as he walked in. There was a steely look in those eyes that didn’t match the soft smirk on the man’s lips. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be such a pleasant meeting. The wolf moved over to the other, standing on the other side of the desk and waiting to be invited to sit, as was only polite. He would try to shake Pearce’s hand, yet he knew he wouldn’t accept it, instead he tilted his head down slightly, acknowledging his subordinate position at the moment. When he started to look up, he noticed the pictures laying atop the desk and his eyes got stuck. It didn’t make any sense as to why Pearce would have a picture of mutilated woman just sitting out in plain sight and Morrison wasn’t sure how to react to it. He chose to ignore it for now, wondering if it was some really sick joke or that there was possibly a completely reasonable explanation.

[William Pearce]

As the door opened William settled himself back into his chair, once again bringing the tips of his fingers together as he stared ahead at the man who entered the office. This man was a disgrace. Had William no sense at all he would have perhaps struck out himself but as it was he was smarter than that and this was the best way to deal with someone like Morrison. Besides he really enjoyed his little scare tactics...it made such a wonderful change of pace to his usual dull and rather boring day to day life.

So as Morrison moved further into the room he kept his eyes on the slightly taller wolf, a smile on his lips as if he were inviting the man into his home for a nice chat. His smile grew more into a smirk however when Morrison bowed his head slightly and William was pleased to note that despite the other man's deviance from the pride of Lycans he still actually retained his manners. Good. William despised bad manners of all kinds. He would not have been impressed had Morrison chosen not to show any sign of respect. He in turn nodded towards the chair opposite him- one that looked comfortable but was in fact horribly uncomfortable.

"Take a seat," He shifted slightly forwards so he could lean his elbows on the desk before he lowered his hands to bring the file slightly closer to his own body, once again admiring the work that was on show. He had chosen well in having Katerina as one of his closest of employees... She was simply artistic. He looked back up so he was now looking directly at Morrison's face- such an honor for any wolf of course having the Alpha even deign to acknowledge your existence. Of course he had a little more than just acknowledgement to give out.

"I am not a man who beats around the bush," Declared the man who was in fact rather good at dodging most things that didn't concern him and who spent half of his long life turning everything in his favour. He picked up one of the photos and looked at it for a moment before tilting his head to the side ever so slightly so he could look at both the man and the piece of paper. Finally he placed it back onto the desk before pushing it towards Morrison. Only to reveal a picture of Lexi, a smile on her face and one that had to have been taken before her family had been so cruelly ripped from her. William rather liked this picture. He liked looking at it and knowing that one day she to would be ripped from this world and he would no longer have anything to worry about.

Until Morrison came along anyway and messed up his well laid out plans.

He tapped the picture, "Do you know who this is?" He asked without really expecting an answer since anything Morrison would say would be redundant since it was obvious that the girl was very well known to the man. "She is the last of a family that wanted to try and ruin the name of this organization." He pushed all of the photos at Morrison, each showing one of her family members before she had arrived to find them- taken by the person who had killed them as some kind of sick trophy.

William pulled back the picture of Lexi and considered it once again. She really was quite a beautiful young woman, and so talented to. William was rather fond of classical music and the girl was rather good at the piano...had he a heart he might have felt badly about all of this but as he lacked such a thing (metaphorically of course) he was quite happy with scaring the living daylights out of the other man and destroying the life of a girl who plagued him completely. He hated loose ends and he would tie this one up. One way or another.

"I'm sure you can understand the gravity of such a relationship with a person like this. Her family was very undesirable. She is even more so. To have someone like you have...relations," He said the word with as much poison as he could, "Is unforgivable."

He tossed the paper back to the file.

"Such a talented girl of course, and quite beautiful. But she is dangerous. Everyone dies at one point or other but we must eliminate her now before she decides to fulfill the wishes of her family."

Not that her family had had anything to do with the wolves of course. This whole business was the fault of her brother and his need for violence...had he minded his won business none of this would have happened. But he wasn't going to tell Morrison that...why should he? Let the man think his precious girlfriend was not to be trusted. He would enjoy watching their worlds fall apart.

[Morrison Whelan]

Admittedly, Morrison knew his alpha very little, this was one of the only dozens of times he’d even been in the same room as the man, but he thought he knew the other wolf well enough to be able to trust him and as the leader of an organization such as theirs he should be a good enough man. But as Morry was slowly starting to realize Pearce was your classic psychopath. He hoped that this meeting would end calmly though, that maybe this was just a scare tactic to make sure that he would stay in line, though what would earn him any suspicion of treachery was beyond him. He’d been going on with his life as normal as he had been for a long time. Perhaps someone had found out about all of the vampires he’d been attacking lately, and if that was the case, he was relieved; he’d done much, much worse.

Just in case this was some sort of disciplinary hearing, he was going to act his best, even while his insides were roiling with anger and general confusion. When Pearce told him to take a seat, he did so, sitting in the chair with a stiff and straight back, looking up to the other wolf’s face, but not at his eyes to keep from looking as if he were challenging him. As hard as it was, he didn’t look down at the pictures on the desk either, afraid it might send him into a bit of a rage. He was already freaked out by all of this, but not enough to get himself fired.

When William picked up one of the photos he’d been keeping hidden until then, Morrison’s eyes flicked down to see what was on the paper, yet he quickly looked back up to keep his gaze off of the picture of that mutilated woman. However, when the photo was placed onto the desk and slid toward him, Morry couldn’t help but stare, trying his best to keep his face straight and digging his fingernails into his palms so he would keep his mouth shut.

"Do you know who this is?"

Yes, yes he did, he knew very well; what a stupid question. His eyes flicked up to Pearce then down to the other photos that he’d just placed down, each of which showed someone who’d been brutally murdered. It took him only moments to realize that those dead three had been Lexi’s family; a middle aged man and woman and a boy who’d been barely younger than Lex was now. His stomach felt knotted and tight and he had a ridiculously strong urge to snap William’s neck right in half. Yet, he just sat in place, jaw clenched as he shifted his gaze back to Pearce, watching him pick the photo of Lexi back up.

Though the other man was speaking, Morrison didn’t take in a word, an angry buzz having settled itself in his mind, urging him to lash out. To know that his ‘alpha’ was in a plot to destroy a very innocent young woman for no reason at all when there were more serious issues, like the rogue vampires and wolves that were ruining the country, was more unnerving than anything. He hoped that this man would be killed very, very soon, and Morrison would do it himself if he ever got the chance to do so and no one would find out, since he needed to be around to protect his girlfriend, who was in so much more dange than he’d thought he before.

“…we must eliminate her now before she decides to fulfill the wishes of her family."

Pearce’s voice had broken into Morrison’s mind and their eyes met for a brief moment before his gaze shifted to the other wolf’s chin, hoping that this could stay from getting violent… for a little while at least. “She’s not a danger to you or anyone in this organization,” he said evenly, glad his voice wasn’t shaking with anger, “she’s young and ill and she has no support.” Morrison would also like to say something about how fucking idiotic it was to think that she would plan to overthrow him or whatever he was thinking, unless he was just being a racist bastard and this was all for fun. There had better been a reason behind all of this, even a convoluted asinine one, or Morry would be tempted to quit his job and rip William to pieces in his sleep. “What would you have me do about this anyway?” he asked slowly, not sure he wanted the answer.

[William Pearce]

Ah. He had struck a deep nerve there. His eyes took in the tightening of muscles and the way Morrison's fists clenched tighter than before. Oh yes, this was the side of the man he had hoped to see today...the wolf protecting his mate. Once upon a time he had felt that way about his wife until she had turned out to be someone he did not want to protect. A lazy smirk settled onto his lips as he continued to stare ahead at the other male, especially as he began to argue that she wasn't a threat to them. He begged to differ but why not let the man vent a little? It would probably do him the world of good.

“What would you have me do about this anyway?”

"My dear boy," William spread his hands slightly as if showing he really didn't have any harmful intentions with what he was saying. "I am simply warning you about the girl you have gotten involved with." His hands came back down onto the desk and he leaned back into his chair, getting himself comfortable again. "Her family have been hunting our kind for generations," For only just a moment William thought about what he could say that might get the boy either on his side or what the best way was to scare the absolute Jesus out of him....either way sounded wonderful but since he really wanted the girl dead he didn't really care how this turned out.

However, it would probably be for the best if Katerina came back inside just in case the pup thought he could try something against him. Not that he wasn't capable of defending himself of course but as he was Alpha he really didn't like getting his hands dirty. That's why he was the boss and everyone else followed him. Like sheep. As if reading his mind the door opened and the woman in question slipped into the room before casually strolling across the room to stand behind Morrison, her hand moving to settle on the back of the chair and a grin on her face. Ah, such a good woman. Had he any kind of feelings he would almost believe he cared about her but alas, he was not that kind of person.

"Surely you must know the girl hates wolves with a passion?" He asked, "She has declared it for years, has trained herself to be proficient in weaponry...no normal human would dare try such a thing against us and yet, here she is, ready to attack you at a moment's notice. Surely you don't believe she actually loves you?" He said the word with venom as if it were a dirty word. It was bad enough that she had chosen to attach herself to Morrison but it was even worse that the man had chosen to take her! Made love to her...it was enough to make him sick.

"It isn't natural for a human to hunt us," Katerina leaned down slightly so her lips were next to Morrison's . "Vhy take her as a lover when she vill kill you in the end?" She pulled back only when she saw the slight look in her boss' eyes that told her to pull back although she was a bit disappointed as she did so. Her master was the perfect werewolf male and she would do almost anything to get into his bed but this other man was also attractive and strong...a good male apart from his taste in women. She wondered idly as she returned to her position behind the chair if he would be easily swayed to straying from his pet.

"You are close to her," William looked over the man once more, not sure if he would actually obey the order or not. He hoped he would have the sense not to go against him, he really did because otherwise he would have to keep the man here until he agreed to do as he said. "You will be the one to get rid of her."

[Morrison Whelan]

"My dear boy,"

Morrison's lip twitched at the name, knowing full well that he was one of the oldest employees there and that Pearce couldn't be more than 100 years older than him. Cocky bastard, if ever he had the chance he'd show the other wolf just what this 'boy' could do. Surely William wouldn't even fight back, he'd hide in his room and call his henchmen to come protect him, lest he get his suit dirty. Morrison also didn't appreciate being warned about how dangerous his girlfriend apparently was. If she had ever seriously, completely wanted him dead (and he knew she had considered killing him before) then he would have had his throat slit long before now, seeing how many times he had fallen alseep in the same room as her, times when they hadn't even been dating. And as for the 'generations of werewolf hunters' thing, that was bullshit; he didn't believe Lexi's family was that well connected to keep such a thing going.

Not bothering to respond to anything Pearce had just said, Morrison stared straight ahead at him, even as he heard the door open behind him and someone enter. The scent of the person that had just come into the room hit him the next second and it was difficult to keep himself from turning around to glare at the woman, knowing full well that Pearce had sent her to watch him and Lexi. She was almost as bad as Pearce, but at least she wasn't the one planning this sick plot out, she was just a pawn, even if she enjoyed the work, which she probably did.

With Katerina standing behind him, the wolf's concentration was completely on her, wondering if she might just plunge a knife into his back so that he could be gotten rid of and wouldn't try to keep Lex from being killed. However, his attention was quickly back onto to Pearce when he began to speak once more, of how badly Lexi must want all werewolves dead. Of course he was trying to get to Morrison, trying to rile him up and possibly enrage him to the point of action, and it certrainly was working.

Surely you don't believe she actually loves you?

A soft hiss of breath escaped from between Morry's clenched teeth. What he wouldn't give to have his gun in his hand right then, so he could so easily to out the bastard sitting across the desk and the woman breathing down his neck. Sure that would be a bit drastic, but he wasn't going to let an insult about the woman he loved just slide by, and love did tend to make a person crazy; he knew that too well. Somehow though, he stayed seated, only glaring rather intensely at the bridge of Pearce's nose, holding back the curses and harsh words that had flown to his tongue. Katerina didn't help the situation either when she leaned down toward him so close that they would be kissing if either of them moved an inch toward the other, what a disgusting thought. Her proximity to him was even worse than her words, since she was just parroting what her boss had said.

The wolf let out a soft huff of breath when the female were moved away from him and flexed his fingers for a moment since they were aching from being held in such a tight fist. If they were going to keep pushing him like this, he would have to leave to keep from making a scene (that is if they didn't try to stop him). It would not be in his best interest to make an enemy in his 'alpha' and keeping his job would help support his lifestyle and Lexi, if and when she would ever let him help her financially.

"You are close to her," Morrison nodded curtly in response to this; of course. "You will be the one to get rid of her."

That was it. Morrison's hands were quickly back into fists and he was on his feet in a moment, pushing the chair away from him so he could stand straight in front of the desk. "I'm sorry sir," he said, his tone harsher than he'd intended, "I just can't do that." He straightened his suit jacket and then took a step to the side so that Katerina was in his line of sight and no longer standing behind him. "I'll be leaving now," he said, "thank you for your time Mr. Pearce." He nodded to the other wolf, turned to nod to the female wolf, then started toward the door, hoping he could leave the room without incident.

[Lexine Sullivan]

What a pity. This wasn't going quite to plan and William so hated things not to go as they were planned to. He would have to think of a new plan...and he did so hope that it would work. He wanted that girl gotten rid of and it would be perfect Morrison was the one to do the deed.

However, as soon as the man stood up at his words he decided that today hadn't been a total loss afterall. There was something awfully fun about watching a man get all defensive about the woman he loved and William wondered just how long he could drag this out for. Perhaps he should tell the man there was no hope for the girl no matter what happened in this office today? For there was no hope for the girl who dared to defy death a year ago and he wanted to make sure she was taken care of sooner rather than later.

"I just can't do that."

"And why not?" William questioned as he to got to his feet so move in front of them desk so he was stood before the man and Katerina moving to stand before the door again- whilst William stood with his arms to his side she stood with her arms crossed and an easy smile on her face...and there was no doubt that she so wished Morrison would make a move against either of them. That woman was so violent...it was beautiful really. "You have no loyalty to the likes of her...she will die one way or another and there is nothing you can do to stop that. Better to end her misery now."

He leant back against the desk, feeling for the picture behind him and once he grasped it brought it back around so he could look at it. She was incredibly pretty and he really loved pretty things. Perhaps he could convince Morrison that if she didn't die by his hand then she would be brought here to him...and that would be a fate worse than dieing at the hand of the man she loved. Or he could convince the girl that Morrison was going to come after her and the only way to keep her safe was to...- he cut the thought short before it too far ahead of him and he did or thought something he might later regret. Although it was certainly the makings of a good thought. He would come back to the fun part later on when he was in the privacy of his own home.

"You will either follow orders Mr Whelan or you will regret disobeying me." He warned as he moved his eyes up from the photo to stare into Morrison's eyes. "If you cannot fulfill this order I will make her life hell. she will have no chance to die peacefully....instead she will die the most painful death Katerina can come up with. " The redhead in question perked up at this and she hoped to hell that Morrison would refuse to follow orders.

"I can play?" Her voice was full of hope and she nearly forgot that she had spoken out of turn but she soon realised her mistake and quickly shut up but the smile remained on her face betraying just how much she wanted that possibility to happen.

"You have a choice Mr Whelan. You had better make the correct one before you leave this office. Be warned, if you do not agree to this assignment there will be nowhere for the two of you to hide and before you even get back to her she will already start believing that you have betrayed her and that you are after her blood. I will not allow a girl from that family to remain living after everything they have done to our kind...and I will not allow you to think you can defy me."

[Morrison Whelan]

Why did William even consider that a question that needed to be asked? Why would Morrison ever have a reason to harm his girlfriend? Pearce knew he loved the woman and was doing his best to exploit that, to get under the other wolf's skin and make him squirm. As far as he saw it, there was absolutely nothing that could get him to kill his human, not to even consider it. This man was absolutely insane if he thought he could convince the other wolf to hurt Lex.

By now, Morrison had stopped in his steps, had turned around and was watching the man with frustration and anger in his eyes, ignoring that Katerina was moving around behind him to guard the door. How could Pearce be allowed to have so much power when he was a sadistic bastard that had fun watching peoples' lives crumble? And why did William think that now was the right time to seek out his revenge? Surely, Lexi would have been an easier target when she had been on her own, and she was not that hard to find. Of course Pearce hadn't known that one of his employees would begin seeing the girl, making it possible for him to fuck with two people instead of one, so it made no sense that he had waited. At least now, the human would have someone protect her, and that someone would do all he could to keep her safe and make sure that Pearce paid in the end.

The wolf's eyes drifted from the other's face to the photo in his hand, wondering why the hell he kept looking at it, knowing it was the one with his human on it. Morrison then finally met eyes with the man when he began to speak again. "...If you cannot fulfill this order I will make her life hell..." He had no doubt about this, but he was also sure that William would make his and Lexi's life hell even if he agreed to get rid of her, as incredibly, utterly unlikely as that was. They were probably thinking that he would be easy to break, to agree to this scheme, since he had been loyal to lycan kind for his entire life and he'd only known Lexi for only a few months. Besides, he was well versed in the act of killing, so well, most of the time he wouldn't even think twice about doing it, especially if he was hungry. To kill someone he loved though, that was hard. The guilt he still felt over Meadhbh's death was terrible and he'd had no part in her murder, yet to be solely responsible for the death of another woman he cared deeply for would surely drive his insane.

Biting down on hard on his tongue to keep his rage in check, Morrison paid no attention to the very excited voice of Katerina coming from behind him. "I can play?" She sounded like William's pup, eager to be let outside and have her way with the world. There was a sick sort of relationship between the two and he felt trapped by it, sure that she would do anything Pearce told her and that she would do so with enthusiasm.

I will not allow a girl from that family to remain living after everything they have done to our kind...and I will not allow you to think you can defy me."

Right then, Morrison would have loved to rush at the other man, yelling and harming the man in any way he could, absolutely refusing his wishes. However, he knew he had to be smart about this, that anything rash could get him killed in this situation. Slowly, he shifted his eyes to the floor, thinking, his fists clenched and he jaw set. There had to be some way out of this, at least what he was facing right then, to be able to get to Lexi and make sure that she was safe. They wanted him to say that he would do their dirty work, to kill a perfectly innocent girl because some feelings had gotten hurt. He knew that this would be an impossible task for him, but they didn't, they might still believe that he could be more loyal to his race than to some human that he'd been sharing a bed with. Really, all he needed was to get to Lex as soon as he could and hide her somewhere safe until he could think this through more thoroughly.

After was felt like minutes, Morrison moved his gaze back to William, almost meeting his eyes again. "I'm sorry, sir," he said, repeating what he'd said earlier, only in a more subdued tone, "I've been selfish." The two wolf's eyes locked for a moment before Morrison continued. "I don't want to see Lexi suffer, but I know that I need to be loyal to my own kind. It may take some time, but I can do what you ask of me," he tilted his head in a submissive nod, letting out of soft breath and relaxing his jaw, "I don't mean to disappoint you Mr. Pearce."

[William Pearce]

William hadn't been born yesterday and he certainly wasn't daft. He knew the other man would want to protect his lover over anything else and he pitied the man for falling in love with such a breakable toy. Really, it was very disturbing. Morrison could have chosen a good lycan mate, a good strong woman who would bear him strong children and yet he chose a human who was easily breakable and already dieing. Had he not been in the mood to get her killed and quickly he would have quite enjoyed watching from the sidelines as she withered away to dust and he had to admit that for Morrison's disobedience he would have been quite happy to watch him fall apart at the same time. Ah love. It did make you do the most stupid of things.

"I don't want to see Lexi suffer, but I know that I need to be loyal to my own kind. It may take some time, but I can do what you ask of me,"

Like try and con your boss into thinking you were going to follow orders. Fool. He must think him an idiot to try and make him think he would do as he was told. It was a shame really, Morrison was such a valued employee but one simply couldn't keep someone like that on the payroll. Who knows what they might decide to do if they thought they could get away with everything. He had rather hoped that the other man would follow orders...he didn't want to kill him as well since there were not enough wolves in the world- in his opinion- as it was.

And as for not wanting the girl to suffer. Well, that was laughable. William wanted to see her suffer. Wanted her dead like the rest of her bloody family and in effect he would be rid of a very painful thorn in his side. It would tie things up quite nicely and he could finally go to bed at night without having to stress over something not being in its proper place. He wanted to use that family as an example, to show the humans that the lycan race was not to be messed with. He could not and would not tolerate any sort of disobedience whether it was from his own kind, humans or vampires.

"Excellent," He finally spoke as he kept his gaze squarely on Morrison's face, watching for any obvious signs of dishonesty although he didn't really expect to see any. Katerina meanwhile looked thoroughly disappointed and a small pout crossed over her lips. He would have to see that she had something to take her mind off such a disappointing meeting. She had afterall, been so looking forward to playing cat and mouse. "But you have only 78 hours in which to complete the task. If you do not achieve it Katerina will have the pleasure of taking you both out." She perked up a little once more and even William himself considered she looked far too much like an eager puppy for him to even consider taking her to his bed that night.

He waved his hand at the man in an obvious dismissal. "Do not disappoint me Mr Whelan for I am not a man who forgives so easily."

Katerina moved to open the door for Morrison and as he moved past her she leaned forwards slightly, the mad craze in her eyes more visible than ever. The blood lust obvious. "I so hope to see you soon." She purred as he went by. Before nearly slamming the door closed once he had passed the threshold. She turned to her master.

"He von't do it..." She whined, "Vhy not let me go?"

"He may not but now I know that he will do anything to keep her safe." William settled into his chair and a small smile passed over his lips. "Take care of the guardian. Show them that we mean what we threatened....if nothing else it will scare them enough to make a move." She smiled in delight that he was actually going to let her out to hunt. "And when they do we shall be ready for them."

"As you vish."

[Morrison Whelan]

Morrison felt like they were both just bull-shitting each other now. From what he had said, Pearce had to know now that he was going to do whatever he could to make sure that Lexi was kept safe, even if it meant he was going to risk his own life. William also had to know then that he was lying about being able to kill his girlfriend, that he was just saying this so that he could leave. He just hoped that this lie would at least buy him enough time to figure out how to resolve the situation, one way or another.

"Excellent,"

The wolf gazed directly back at the other, his face as straight as before, only a slight nod showing his acknowledgement of the man’s words, though he was loathing William at the moment.

"But you have only 78 hours in which to complete the task. If you do not achieve it Katerina will have the pleasure of taking you both out."

Again, the words were received with only a curt nod from Morrison, though panic had risen in his gut, realizing that he had a very short time in which to sort this all out. And the thought of Pearce’s pet trying to kill both him and Lexi made him sick, though he knew that she would end up dead herself if she tried such a thing. From now on, Morrison knew he was going to be carrying his pistol with him everywhere, not sure when he might ever need it.

At the wave of Pearce’s hand, telling him that he was to leave, Morrison began to turn, anxious to get on the phone with Lexi and warn her to stay safe. However, he paused when the other man spoke, turning to look over his shoulder. "Do not disappoint me Mr Whelan for I am not a man who forgives so easily." Yet another quick nod and the wolf moved slowly through the door that Katerina held open, though he completely ignored the words she directed at him, ignoring the look in her eyes, as hard as that was. He actually hated her more than he hated her ‘master’, just because she had no decency to contain herself or be professional; it was not becoming.

It was a miracle that Morrison was able to get to the elevator without running right through the lobby, but once the door had slid shut in front of him, he pulled out his cell phone, immediately dialing Lexi’s number. His foot tapped as he waited for her to pick up, but after eight rings, it switched over to voicemail; where the hell was she? After the soft beep that indicated he could leave a message, he spoke quickly. “Lexi, I need to see you as I can get out of work, we have to talk, it’s urgent. Call me back once you get this, and stay safe, please. Stay with Bert if you can, just don’t go anywhere alone until I see you. I love you Lexi.”

Closing his phone up and tucking it back into the inside of his jacket, he let out a long sigh, composing himself again before the elevator doors opened. If he didn’t care about appearances, or from drawing more of Pearce’s attention, he would have driven to the garage right then, but he feared that this would spur Katerina to strike early, not wanting to wait to have her ‘fun’ when it was inevitable. Oh god, the rest of the day would be miserable for him and it was barely halfway over.

[Lexine Sullivan]

Lexi was convinced that today was going to be a good day. She had slept in and despite being late had gotten clean away with it since Bert himself had been late getting to the garage- and once she had pried the reason out of him had been smiling to herself all morning. It turned out her6 guardian had finally found a good woman and he had been with her last night. She was glad. It would do him good to have someone else to think about instead of having to worry about her every waking moment...and besides, he really didn't need to anymore since she had been clean for weeks now and her smoking had been cut down to only one or two a day, which lets face it was a huge improvement to how she had been before she had met and fallen for Morrison.

The rest of the morning had passed by without incident. She had been right. Today was going to be a good one. She hadn't had to deal with her least favourite customer (although that was probably due to her hitting him the last time she had seen him) and the few cars she had to work on had been so easy she hadn't had to work on them long, leaving her to spend some time in the office catching up on what paperwork needed to be done. And even that hadn't take long.

With a sigh she looked up from the order book and glanced at the clock on the computer screen and groaned. Today was going so easily it was barely lunch time! Pulling herself up straight she closed the book with a bang before looking about her. Now what was she going to do? She could go up to her flat she supposed but that would require getting up and moving and she really didn't fancy that just yet. "Oh just move," She muttered to herself as she got up off her chair and stretching herself out she gave a small groan of satisfaction as the kinks straightened themselves out. Ah, that was so much better.

Moving to the door she stuck her head out into the garage, her eyes landing on Bert. "Hey Old man!"He looked up with a frown on his face and she nearly giggled at the smudge of oil on his nose that he must not have noticed yet, "I'm gonna head out and get some coffee...you want any?" He shook his head and she turned her head to look at the new apprentice he had taken on who also shook his head and with a shrug she pulled back into the office and made her way to the desk where she grabbed her phone and some money before heading out and down the street.

It didn't take long really to get to the coffee shop and since she often came to do the lunchtime run they knew her well and after asking if she wanted all of the usual, went to work getting her coffee and a piece of toast that she ate whilst waiting. "Thanks," She murmured as she handed the cash over before heading out of the store, turning her attention to the phone in her pocket. Pulling it out she looked down at the screen and frowned. When had Morrison called her?

She brought the phone up to her ear to listen to the voice mail. “Lexi, I need to see you as I can get out of work, we have to talk, it’s urgent. Call me back once you get this, and stay safe, please. Stay with Bert if you can, just don’t go anywhere alone until I see you. I love you Lexi.”

Ok. What? She brought it back down and stared at the screen before shrugging deciding her boyfriend must not have gotten enough sleep afterall last night and continued on her way back to the garage. She had only been gone fifteen minutes at the most...

She paused across the road from the building watching as a car pulled away so fast she wondered if they had even noticed that there were meant to be speed limits about here before shrugging and crossing the road. Pulling the door open she stepped inside, "I'm ba...-" Her words died in her throat and her eyes widened as she stared ahead of her, her mind flashing back to something she had seen so similiar to this and yet...so so different.

The coffee cup fell from her hands as she ran forwards to the two figure on the ground. "Bert!" She fell to her knees and pressed a hand against his chest, desperate to feel anything to prove he was still alive. "Please god no," She whispered brokenly as she stared down at the blood covering her hand...

.....Less than an hour later she was sitting in the back of an ambulance with a blanker wrapped about her shoulders as a paramedic talked over her head about how she was in shock. Shock was an understatement...

Where was Morrison? She wanted Morrison. Oh god. Bert was gone....

[Morrison Whelan]

Time could have not possibly gone any slower. Morrison had chosen to use the rest of his workday mulling over and correcting some of the equations that the lab director had sent to him so that his brain would be fully occupied with the task, but he still found himself glancing at the clock every five minutes, just hoping that eventually he would look at the time and find that an hour or more had passed. He realized after more than a few times doing this, that he’d have no luck. Instead, he focused intently on the paper that was now covered in lines and lines of his handwriting, hoping that he could get himself out early by getting most of this done.

After an hour and a half, the file that had been full of papers was empty and a neat stack was sitting at his left elbow, waiting to be checked and sorted. He sat back, flexing his right hand that was cramped from holding his pen so tightly for that entire time, and glared at the clock. Two more hours until he was technically allowed to leave. Dammit, he couldn’t do this, it was impossible for him to work when his mind was on other things entirely. He would just bring the file to the lab so at least someone knew he’d done work, then leave and head right to the garage to check on Lexi.

When he got to the lab, one of the assistants tried to ask him questions, but he was in such a hurry that he didn’t even glance at the man, only placed the file on a counter, thanked him tersely then left. He just wanted to run out to his car, but as before, he knew it would be a dead give away that the situation with his human was gnawing at his gut and that he was desperate to do something about it. If he stayed calm, he just hoped that Pearce would hold off on his promise to have Katerina kill his Lexi and give him more time to get her completely safe.

Thankfully, no one even gave him a second glance as he left the building and hurried to his car. It was common enough for him to leave early these days, so he didn’t look terribly suspicious. Within minutes, he was finally speeding down the road, still incredibly anxious but feeling better with the knowledge that he was soon be at Lexi’s side, making sure that she was staying safe and unharmed. His heart dropped however we he saw the ambulance and police cars sitting outside the garage. If this meant Lexi had been hurt, Pearce was not going to live to see another day.

Parking his car haphazardly on the edge of the street, he jumped out his car, then dashed up the sidewalk, only stopping when one of the police that was keeping curious bystanders away stopped him. “Lexi,” he huffed to the man, “is she alright?”

“Lexine Sullivan?” the man asked, “are you a family member?”

Not wanting to explain or really speak more than a few words, Morrison blurted out, “Her boyfriend.”

This seemed to be close enough as the man stepped to the side and ushered him past him, gesturing for one of the EMT’s to get Morrison. He found himself being led to an ambulance and desperately hoped that he wouldn’t soon be seeing Lexi’s body wrapped in a body bag. Turning around the open door of the van, he was relieved to see that Lex was quite alive, she didn’t even look injured, but her face was pale and listless as she stared at nothing in particular. Morrison pulled his I.D. from his wallet and showed it to the policeman that was trying to get Lexi to speak to him and after a moment, the man moved away with a polite nod.

Quickly shoving his wallet and I.D. back into his wallet, Morrison moved to stand in front of the woman, lifting his hands to hold her cheeks in his hands. “Lexi,” he said quietly, his voice thick with concern, “what happened love? Are you hurt?” The words seemed weak considering the look of shock on her face, but he figured that it would be one way to coax something from her. Obviously, someone had been attacked, murder, something along those lines, but if it hadn’t been his human, than who had it been? A moment later, he realized that Bert wasn’t tending to Lexi as he would imagine the human to do. Oh god…

[Lexine Sullivan]

Lexi didn't even notice when the paramedic who had been trying to her was replaced by her boyfriend. Hell, she didn't even realise Morrison was there until he spoke to her and her name broke through the haze of her shock. “what happened love? Are you hurt?”

Blinking, she focused on his voice and his touch and slowly she raised her eyes to look into his, "Morrison," Her voice cracked and for a moment she thought she was going to bust into tears again but she wasn't even sure she had any tears left to shed. She had cried none stop for what had seemed like an age until; the police had arrived and since then she had simply clammed up and sat there. No one had been able to get an answer out of her and many of them had considered sending her to the local hospital for treatment. Had she heard them say such things she would have thrown up a fuss as she hated hospitals but she had been so far along in her shock caused catatonic state that she hadn't heard a word any of them

"Morrison," This time it came out a little stronger and she swallowed back the bile that wanted to rise up in her throat and then licked her lips. "He's gone...Bert is gone..." Her voice had turned into a barely there whisper and despite her earlier thoughts of not thinking she had any tears left felt the water well up in her eyes and then eventually spill over to roll down her cheeks. She made no sound as this happened however as she wasn't sure she was capable of much more than the whisper she had been speaking in.

Her fingers wrapped tighter into the blanket she still wore as she bit back the sob that wanted to escape, not allowing that to happen as well as tears. She didn't like crying, even if it were Morrison she was crying in front of and he had already seen her cry before now.

Bert was gone. It was like a bad record, going around and around her head, never ending and always there. Why couldn't she just stop it? Why wouldn't her head shut up? She screwed her eyes closed and fell forward into him, her head falling onto his shoulder, her years starting to soak into his jacket. With her eyes closed she now had the words floating about in there along with the image of his body...and the body of the apprentice. Oh god. She had forgotten about the boy...His family would be devastated. They were such good people and they had sent him to this garage because it had a good reputation...and he was so young. Only sixteen. Oh god. And Bert. Bert had been meeting that woman and it had just been getting serious...how was she going to tell her?

"What am I going to do?" And how could she ever forgive herself for leaving? This was the second time she had been out of the building when someone close to her was taken away and she wasn't sure she could take it all in again. It had been painful enough to know she should have died the first time...but to know she should have died a second meant that someone was seriously trying to tell her something.

[Morrison Whelan]

As Lexi moved her head slightly to focus her eyes on his face and spoke is name in a broken voice, Morrison knelt down so that they were more on eye level, barely even caring that he would getting the fabric of nicely pressed dress pants dirty on the rough sidewalk. It was a very minor thing when he was so concerned about the welfare of his girlfriend. "Morrison," At her saying his name again, he moved one of his hands to her knee, gripping it softly, just to remind her that she was all there and that was there for all of her. "He's gone...Bert is gone..."

Sadness and hurt flashed over the wolf’s face for a moment, and he quickly got back onto his feet so that he could pull the woman into a strong hug, her face pressing into his chest. He was afraid that this sort of thing would happen, but not so suddenly. Pearce was definitely the sort to go after someone’s loved ones and cause as much grief as possible before taking out his main victim. He just hadn’t thought the bastard would send his pet to do his dirty work so soon! The man was crazy if he thought that Morrison was going to cooperate with him much longer, or even pretend to, especially after this stunt.

"What am I going to do?"

The wolf pulled away from the human to look down at her, noticing that she had left a few damp spots on his suit jacket, and got back on one knee. “You’ll get through this Lexi,” he said quietly, “I know you can.” He cleared his throat after this, surprised that his own voice was a bit choked up, then blinked, feeling tears trying to work their way into his eyes. This whole thing was reminding him too much of what had happened to his Meadhbh, and he wasn’t yet sure if it was better or worse that Lexi had seen Bert’s body, since he was sure that was the reason for much of her shock. He hadn’t seen his old friend’s body, so there had always been a nagging in the back of his mind that she might not actually be dead and that made so much harder for him to move on. But if he had seen her body and how mutilated it must have been…

“Let’s get you out of here,” he told her with a slightly shaking voice, get onto his feet. He slowly pulled the woman onto her feet, taking the blanket from her back and placing it onto the bed of the van. Seeing that Morrison was leading Lexi away from the ambulance, a paramedic ran over to them, closely followed by a policeman. The one man told him that he was sorry, but Lexine had to stay for interrogation and to make sure that she was medically well. Morrison needed only to flash his D.O.G.S. card once before they were letting him take her away. Of course, they had her name and address and number, so if they needed to talk to her, there was no reason they wouldn’t be able to.

He led her down the sidewalk away from the crime scene, hoping she could calm down for the evening if she was in his apartment and away from this chaos. As he secured Lexi in the passenger seat of his car, he could barely concentrate on her as his mind was racing a mile a minute, thinking of everything had to tell and show her and everything he wanted her to confirm about her family. He knew it would painful for them both to talk about such things, but they didn’t have the luxury of time in which Lex could grieve properly over the loss of her guardian and start to heal. Morrison was glad that he’d been given the time to grieve for his Meadhbh, but even that was still difficult for him to think about, how would Lexi handle this situation now. Her life was in danger in more ways than one and she was still so broken… He hoped she would still have the strength enough to want to live.

It was in a daze that the wolf realized that were pulling up outside of his apartment. He’d driven home from the garage so many times that it wasn’t anything he had to think about, which was a wonderful thing when his mind would rather focus on other things at that moment. Morrison goaded a still rather shocked looking Lexi out of his car and then up the stairs to his home. Thankfully, they would be alone for a while longer, since Iivan was staying late at the office he now worked out and probably wouldn’t be home for several hours.

Having placed Lexi on the couch, a much comfortable place to sit than the hard bed of the ambulance she’d been on earlier, Morrison started water boiling on the stove for tea, figuring that a hot drink would do her some good. Finally, he took a seat next to his human, hoping that she would snap out of her almost comatose state soon, hating the look that it left in her eyes. His arms were soon around her and he pecked her forehead gently before wrapping her in a hug, for her benefit as well as his own.

[Lexine Sullivan]

Lexi barely noticed when Morrison lifted the blanket from around her shoulders and it was only when he pulled her to her feet that she actually blinked, causing tears to fall down her cheeks as the movement dislodged the droplets. Where were they going? She said nothing however as he led them away from the ambulance she had been sitting in and if she happened to move into him when the police came up to them? Well, she certainly didn't realise she had moved as if to protect herself from the outside world. All she recognised in her state was that Morrison was there and that was all that mattered to her. He was here and he would make sure she was kept safe. He was all she had left in the world now and quite frankly the whole episode was enough to probably send her spiraling right back into the drugged state she had spent so long getting out of.

Luckily for her however she had him to guide her to the car, away from the prying eyes of the cops and her neighbours who had come out of their homes to watch the drama. Had she been able to actually pay attention to what was going on around her she might have heard the whispers about how it was 'that girl' again. This was the second time something like this had happened to her family members and many people still questioned her innocence about the whole thing with her actual family. This only fueled those rumours although those from the shop were speaking loudly that she had been with them and there was no way she could be involved. Besides she loved that man like her own uncle...why would she do something like this?

Once in the car she didn't even bother to put her belt on and instead moved her head so that it rested on the cold glass of the window, blonde hair falling over her face to hide most of her wet cheeks although it did nothing more than make her hair stick to her face in places. Like Morrison she paid no attention to where they were going, still so caught up in her grief that she didn't even notice they had pulled up at his apartment until she was there.

Once in the apartment and on the sofa she pulled her legs up and curled her arms around them as she buried her head into her knees as she waited for Morrison to come back from wherever he had disappeared to. However once he was soon back with her, pulling her into his arms and she finally felt safe again. No matter her mood just being with him was more comforting than any drug induced bliss and she didn't want to move...not ever. She wanted to stay here and block out the world and what it had done to her but she also knew that she would have no choice but to face it at one point or other. Yet she was so afraid. If she came out from her safe place she would have to face the fact that she had no family left. She had no one.

The thought alone was enough for her to burst into a fresh set of tears. Her arms moved around her boyfriend as if terrified he was going to disappear from her life as well. She wasn't sure she would be able to get through this without him and thanks to everything that had happened she had completely forgotten about the message he had left for her earlier in the day.

And yet, despite the horror and the grief she also felt guilt. She felt guilty at leaving them alone to go get coffee when she should have been there. She should have been there. That boy should never have died. But that wasn't the only thing she felt guilt for. When her parents had been take from her she hadn't shed a tear...she had been so drugged up that she hadn't been able to, and even after the funeral when she had started to fight she had never been able to properly grieve for them. Bert might have been close but he wasn't a blood relation and she was wracked with the guilt of being able to cry so easily over his death and still not be able to do the same for the people she should have loved more than anything in the world.

"Why would anyone do this?" Her words came out choked, full of emotion and the sadness and guilt was overwhelmingly obvious.