The forced one

What happens now...

    Alicia doesn't make a peep as they head back to Isan's  room. The silence is interrupted by Isan's breathing, and monitors.

    He looks at both of them with a calmness, like a man who has already accepted his fate.

    "I understand your resentment towards you, really I do Eddie." Isan starts, but Eddie cuts him off, motioning him to stop talking.

    "How did you even know about me?" Eddie asks, Isan looking surprised, but smiling up at him.

     "Your friend David, or how you knew him, Terry was a big help in that. Says you were a good man with a strong head on your shoulders. I wanted to see for myself, so I invited you to my fighting ring. I watched you for months, and yes even at one point stalked you a little. Outside or in the ring, I saw a fighter, and when I saw you with your Abuelita, I knew I found the one that I wanted to take my place." he looked away for a moment, thinking about his next words in silently. "I know you may think my decision was rash, and it was. I never got to talk to you about it, but I'm running low on time. I had invested too much into you, to try to start all over again. That night you went to get the cilantro, I followed you. I acted without thinking, and turned you."

     "Which in hindsight, was also very dangerous, because I crashed my car." Eddie responded, and Isan chuckled.

      "I am asking you as a dying man; will you accept the title alpha, and accept the pack as one of your own, to form a bond of family, and protect those that need it?" he asked, his shaking hand reaching out for Eddie.

      Something in him changed in that moment, and Eddie didn't know what it was. One moment, he was resenting the man that had changed his life forever. And the next he was thinking about how he had wanted to be someone different the from the norm. It was why he had agreed into the doing the heist, and agreed to the fighting ring.

     Eddie wanted to be something more, and now he had a chance to.

      He clapsed the old man's hand, and shook on it, Isan smiling and rejoicing in Spanish.

     "I knew you would see reason after all." Alicia huffed, and Eddie glanced at her then back at Isan.

      "I can replace her, right?" Eddie asked, Alicia giving an audible gasp. 

      "I mean, you are the alpha, so if you wanted to, yes." Isan replied, chuckling a bit.

       Eddie smirked, causing Alicia to blush, as she huffed, and crossed her arms over her chest. 

       So there were perks after all.

    Once Eddie finished signing all the documents Isan needed him to sign, he headed off in separate areas of the house, Eddie wanting to sleep.

     There was a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach; all those papers just meant that when Isan would die, everything he owned would go to Eddie, since Isan had no kids or relatives to leave them to.

      Eddie didn't understand how Isan had literally no family when his walls were litered with pictures of family. Had they just died out? Shunned him because he wasn't fully human.

      "If you stay couple of days, I will tell you." Isan had said instead of answering. And Eddie agreed, because he was curious.

       A nurse and a maid had entered the room then, and Eddie took it as his cue to head off and get sleep. Alicia had stayed behind, holding Isan's hand as they began to switch the I.V bags.

       The doors closed behind Eddie, and he wandered off, taking his time as he walked down the halls of the pictures Isan had.

       He stopped when he saw the picture of what looked like a young Isan having his arm wrapped around a young woman. Eddie squinted his eyes, as the woman looked quite familiar.

       Eddie stepped closer, freezing in place as it hit him; the girl in the picture is Alicia. The same mole that was above her top lip was the same as Alicia's, the only thing different being the length of her hair, and the clothes she had worn in that era.

       Eddie glanced back, a bit in shock, and decided that that was enough surprises for one day.

       He went for the first available room and collapsed into the bed, his eyes shut as his head made contact with the pillow.

     The next morning, Eddie was being shaken awake. He blinked his eyes confused, but as he looked up, he saw Alicia, tears dropping down her face.

      He didn't even need to ask what had happened; he simply got up, and hugged her. After a couple of seconds, Eddie let go, and went to the restroom, washing his face, and using the new toothbrush there. He had combed through his hair, deciding to take a shower instead.

      When he was done, he had a towel wrapped around his waist, and was scrubbing the excess water out of his hair. A stack of neat clothes were placed on the bed, Alicia nowhere in sight.

       Eddie unfolded the clothes, realizing that it was black pants, a light blue button up with a black vest over it.

       Clothes for a funeral.

       The heavy feeling came back to Eddie and he got dressed, smoothing out the tangles of his hair. He had to look presentable for this funeral, and though he had only known Isan for a day or two, death was always a sombering fact of life.

       When he was dressed, he walked out of his room, some of the maids cleaning and wiping tears away from their eyes.  He heard a lot of voices in the living room, and figured it was Alicia planning the funeral for Isan.

       Eddie decided to head over to the kitchen, where he could smell food being cooked. A long table filled with a lot of food stacked all over caught his attention, and he filled his plate up, feeling famished.

       Some of the cooks nodded, and acknowledged him, probably thinking Eddie was one of the worker or one of Isan's many partners. He decided not to correct them or their line of thinking; he wanted a sense of normalcy to last until it couldn't.

      As Eddie began to devour the eggs and bacon, he heard running footsteps, stiffening when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

     Looking up, he saw Alicia wearing the same outfit as the one in the photo with the young Isan, pulling on him a little.

     "What are you doing? Come on, you are needed elsewhere." she said impatiently, tugging some more on him.

      "Why, what's the matter?" Eddie asked, getting back on his feet.

       "The pack is ready to meet their new alpha."