The Alpha and the FBI Agent

Clayton Two years ago It’s been about a month since I have been home. The elation I feel when I pull into the driveway of the home I share with my pregnant wife and eight-year-old daughter. I look at the huge bouquet of flowers I had just bought for Heidi when I park the car and get out. I see a familiar pickup truck in the driveway. I wonder what my best friend, Jacob, is doing here. Jacob sometimes helped Heidi whenever I had to go out of town for my job as a special agent with the FBI. I walk in and hear noises coming from upstairs. I set the flowers down. “Heidi?” I call out, but the noises continue. I rush up the stairs and hear Heidi moaning like she does when we have s*x. My blood boils, and I burst into my bedroom to see my wife riding my best friend. They both stop and look at me with shock. “Clay?” Heidi gasps. “What are you doing here?” “I f*****g live here!” I yell. “What the f**k are you doing?” Jacob sits up. “It’s not what it looks like, Clay,” He says. “It looks like my wife is riding your d**k, Jake!” I yell. “How long has this been going on?” Heidi slides off of Jake’s d**k and sits on the bed. She bites her thumb. “A few years,” She sighs and places her hand on her growing belly. “Is that even my son?” I ask sadly. I remember how happy I had been when she told me she was pregnant with our second child. “Probably not,” Heidi sniffles. “You are always gone. Jake-“ She pauses. “I didn’t mean for it to happen.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe this, Heidi. Is Lily mine?” “Yes, Lily is yours, Clay. I swear,” She gets up and tries touching my arm. I back away from her. Jake gets off the bed I had shared with the woman I love. Heidi and I had known each other since we were ten. Our fathers had served in the Marines together and were best friends. Heidi was the first woman I ever kissed or loved. “I’m sorry, man,” Jake approaches me with his d**k still erect. I ball up my fist and punch him as hard as I can. He falls on the bed with a bloody lip. “You son of b***h!” I scream and punch him three more times. “Clay, stop!” Heidi screeches and tries to pull me away. “I love Jake. We are going to get married.” I push her away from me. “You two deserve each other.” I storm out of the bedroom and out of my house. I sit in my car as my entire world comes crashing down. Present Day I woke up from the same nightmare. The day I came home to find my wife f*****g my best friend. It’s like my brain likes to torture my shattered heart. “Clay?” I hear my mother calling to me. “Are you up?” She shouts. I moved in with my mother and younger brother after I divorced Heidi. She got the house we had bought and fixed up together. She lives there with her new husband, Jacob, my former best friend. Jacob and I had served in the Marines together. We had been to war and back. But he decided to f**k my wife and shatter my trust in most people. My daughter Lily now goes back and forth between her mother and me. The little boy Heidi was carrying turned out to be Jacob’s son, but thankfully Lily is mine. “Daddy?” I hear my daughter say as she knocks on the door of my room. “Daddy, Grandma sent me up here to wake you up,” He sweet voice calls out. “I’m up, Lily,” I sit up on the bed. I rub the sleep from my eyes as Lily hops onto my bed. “Did you dream about Mom again?” She asks. My ten-year-old daughter is very good at reading me. She fully understands what her mother did. She touches my arm. “It’s okay, Daddy.” “I’m okay, Lil,” I hug her and kiss her forehead. “Go tell Grandma that I'll be down for breakfast in a few minutes.” “Okay!” Lily hops off the bed and trots out of my room. I begrudgingly get out of bed with a groan. I was sore from my latest apprehension yesterday. I tackled a suspect, and we rolled down a rocky embankment. I hobble into the small bathroom and look at the bruises on my body. “I am getting too old for this s**t,” I mumble. I step into the shower. Today is supposed to be my day off. I promised Lily that I would take her to the zoo. I finish my shower and dress in a pair of old jeans and a button-up flannel shirt. I run a comb through my brown hair. I hear my cell ringing when I step into the room. I see that it’s work calling. I am reluctant to answer it. “Agent Marshall,” I speak into the phone. “Hey, Clay, I am sorry to do this on your day off-“ I hear my partner Eric Gibson respond. “What is it, Eric?” I sigh and sit on the bed. “We have a stiff in Sunset Park,” He replies. “And the boss wants us on it.” “I promised Lily I would take her to the zoo,” I argue. “Dammit. She is going to be so upset.” “I know. I am sorry, Clay.” Eric replies. “I was supposed to take Jackson and McKenna fishing.” He mentions his two children. “Fine, send me the address, and I’ll be there.” I hang up the phone and go into my closet to put on a suit. I hate that I have to break my daughter’s heart, but work is important. I investigate homicides on federal land, and it takes up a lot of my time. There are times when I have to go out of town and can be gone for weeks. ‘That’s probably why Heidi decided to cheat on me with Jake.’ I think to myself. I put my gun into the holster and grab my badge and phone. I head downstairs and run into my brother, Josh. “You look pretty dressed up for the zoo,” He snorts. Josh runs his hand through his blondish hair. He got more of our father’s looks. “I have to work,” I mumble. “Clay!” He whines. “You promised Lily-“ “I know Joshua,” I argue with him. We get down to the kitchen, and Mom is setting a plate of pancakes on the table. Lily is devouring a pancake and looks up. She frowns when she sees I’m wearing a suit. “Daddy!” She screeches. “Clayton, don’t tell me you have to go to work,” My mother folds her arms. I look at my devastated daughter. “I’m sorry, Lily,” I step towards her. “You promised!” She shouts and runs out of the kitchen. My mother glares at me. “Mom, I’m sorry-“ “You are always sorry, Clayton,” Mom snarls and follows my daughter out of the kitchen. I sigh, walk over to the coffee pot, and pour myself a cup. My phone buzzes, and I pull it out to see the text from Eric. Mom comes back into the kitchen. “I’ll take Lily to the zoo today,” She grumbles. “Mom, you know I don’t mean to-“ She throws her hand up. “I know you don’t, Clayton. You are just like your father. He always put work before us.” “You worked a lot too, Mom. Remember?” I argue with her. My mother had been a federal prosecutor, and my father was an FBI agent. “Don’t throw this back on me!” She scowls at me. “I always made time for you and Josh.” I set my mug down. “I know. I’m sorry, Mom.” She pats my cheek. “What you are doing is important but don’t forget about your daughter.” “I don’t forget about her.” I sigh and see Lily poking her head in the doorway. My mother's Labrador, Ranger, is wagging his tail next to her. “Lily, sweetheart,” I plead with her. She sniffles. “I know.” I step towards her and pat Ranger on the head. “Lily, you are the most important thing in my life.” She shrugs. “Grandma is taking me to the zoo.” She whispers and walks back to the table. My phone buzzes, and I see it’s Eric. “Eric, I’m out the door, I swear,” I tell my partner. “Just checking,” He responds. I hang up the phone and look at my daughter. I touch her back. “Look, I promise-“ “Don’t make a promise you won’t keep,” she mumbles. “I love you, Lily,” I kiss the top of her head. “Don’t die, Daddy.” She smiles at me. “Bye, Mom, Josh,” I say and pat Ranger on the head and then walk out of the kitchen and out of the house. I hop into my car and drive to the crime scene. It’s a twenty minutes drive to a secluded part of the park. It’s a part of the park where a lot of strange things are reported to happen. I see all of the crime scene vehicles, and Eric is waiting for me along with the forensics tech Adam Lopez. “It’s about time you showed up,” Eric snarks. “Shut up, Eric,” I say as Adam leads us to the body. “It’s pretty chewed up,” Adam mentions. “Like some wild animals attacked him,” He pauses. “I think it’s a him.” We see the body and body and parts everywhere lying on the forest floor. The face is beyond recognition. “Who found it?” I ask with my little notebook out. “A pair of hikers,” Eric points to a man and woman being interviewed by another agent. “The body is sort of on private land,” Eric gesture to a tree. “Beyond that tree is private property. “Dude looks like he got attacked by wolves,” I breathe out. “There are no wolves in Virginia, Clay,” Adam laughs. “I don’t know about that, Eric whispers. “There have been sightings of larger than normal wolves roaming these woods. A lot of strange things happen around here.” There is a rustle in the thick trees behind us, and several tall, well-muscled men step out wearing only shorts. I swear I hear dog-like growling coming from them. “What the hell is going on here?” A brown haired one in the middle shouts. I step towards them. “We are investigating this man’s death,” I respond. “This is our land,” The man growls. “You have no right to be on this land.” “This is federal land,” I point out. “Your land starts there,” I point to the tree.” The large man steps forward and looks at the dead man. “s**t,” He curses and turns to the other mostly naked men behind him. “Do you know this man?” Eric asks. “He is one of our members,” The big man replies. “Who are you?” Eric pushes. “It’s none of your concern. We’ll take care of this.” “No, I don’t think so,” I argue. “Tell us your name or we’ll take you in and charge you with this man’s murder.” “My name is Garrett,” He responds while staring at the corpse. He turns to one of the other men behind him. “It’s Larry Johnson, the school janitor.” “Larry? Are you sure?” The other man asks. “Beta,” Another man shouts. Garrett glares at the one who shouted Beta. “Dude, shh. These are humans,” He whispered, but I heard what he said. “Are you not humans?” I ask sarcastically. “Of course we are,” Garrett scoffs. “Who said we weren’t?” He snaps his fingers. “Take the body,” He orders two of the other men. Eric and I block them. “Touch the body, and we’ll have you all arrested and put in jail wearing only shorts,” I say to him. “What school did this man work for?” Eric asks. “The one in our pac-“ Garrett pauses. “Town. It's a small, close-knit town.” “Then we’ll be coming to interview people,” I state. Garrett sighs. “Fine, but you’ll have to talk to our Alph-“ He pauses again. “I mean Mayor.” He points to one of the other men. “Drew here will escort you to the mayor’s house.” “Okay, Drew. Show us this mayor’s house.” I turn to Eric. “You stay here. I’ll go talk to this mayor.” “Are you sure?” Eric eyes Drew. I pat my gun holster. “I’m sure, Eric.” “We have to go in your car,” Drew states. “Fine,” I mumble and walk towards my car. Drew then directs me on where to go. We drive down the road from the crime scene to a large set of gates with a guard shack in front. “Midnight Moon?” I speak out loud. “Yeah, it’s the name of our pack-“ Drew pauses. “I mean town. Alph- I mean Mayor Frankie is waiting for you.”