[Bonus chapter]Viewing The Body

[MARINA]

His left hand went to his face, rubbed it, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw Marina glaring at him as if saying, 'don't be such a baby.' Beta Shark let his hand fall to his side. Although he had a lot of things to inform Marina, he kept mum. One slap for a day was enough, yeah?

The relationship between Marina and Beta Shark was strained, no doubt about that. Despite all that, Beta Shark did well by her. Hope blazed deep in his heart that perhaps one day, Marina would talk to him as she spoke to Chief Ayn, Cecil, and Bedelia.

Anyway, it was the least of his current concern, he snapped out of that and stood by as Marina exited the lift leading to the tunnel.

Walking behind Beta Shark, Marina placed a hand above her chest to calm her heart. She pushed more. "Sorry, I wish I could help." Beta Shark said. Marina ignored him. Beta Shark seeing his words meant nothing to her, turned and proceeded.

Undeniably, her heart had no plan to stop beating erratically, Marina gazed around the tunnel. A memory of her down there when she was a little girl flashed through her mind, however, before she got a hold of what she was doing back then, the memory disappeared.

Ahead of Marina, Beta Shark mumbled something under his breath to avoid speaking to Marina. The need to apologize for calling her father and his alpha 'a body' resting on his lips waiting to spill. For sure, he was trying so hard. Surely, if it were someone else in his position, they wouldn't be trying to apologize.

Marina was just an alpha after the big alpha, why then did he have the urge to be on the right side with Marina?

Sarcastically, Marina spat, "can you go a little bit slower."

Hearing that, Beta Shark increased his pace. "Here." Beta Shark said while opening a door that had a tag on it. "Alphas." If anyone asked Beta Shark, he would explain that it was unnecessary. How was the dead concerned with the names at the door?

"Leave," Marina yelled coldly.

Without uttering anything, Beta Shark stood there.

Marina moved closer to him, making him move a step backward. "Am I not clear enough?" She asked, her tone unemotional.

Beta Shark cowered in fear, and instead of running out of there, he mumbled, "I can't leave you alone."

"You are not my babysitter. It is an order, leave!" Her eyes glowed, power emitting from her. Beta Shark staggered a little bit, and when he got his bearings, he sped away at a lightning speed.

No! Marina thought as she felt her head spin, her wolf hadn't uttered a thing. Oh, how she wished Lana would tell her the tag above her head was just a prank. Her body went stiff. Disregarding the keypad on the wall next to the tag, Marina inhaled deeply and asked her heart to calm the fuck down before pushing the door.

The blinding light welcomed her, and her eyes closed of their accord. Opening them slowly, Marina dropped her bag on the floor. The sound echoed through the room. The sweet scent in the air should have worried her if her eyes weren't stuck on Alpha Fisher.

Alpha Fisher's body rested on the table in the middle of the room, no doubt dead. Marina's mouth twitched, her heart constricting against her chest, and she started blinking rapidly. Her legs couldn't move, stuck where she was. Finally, the proof that indeed, her father was dead.

She pushed herself further, ignoring how the noises from the fridge irked her. Her legs wobbled; her eyes shut again. She opened them abruptly, and before she knew it, she fell. Luckily, her hand caught on to the bed Alpha Fisher's body was.

"Dad." Marina cried out loud. "Dad." She repeated. Words left her mind, leaving her to fend for herself. "Dad." She uttered the same thing, again. Placing her left arm on the bed, Marina stared at her father's body. "Dad."

Marina closed her mouth and stayed like that for a few minutes. It was better instead of saying the same word over and over. She wasn't a cassette that had been stuck on an old radio.

A tear fell from her eyes before it hit the ground, she caught it and looked down. Her face was closer to Alpha Fisher's. She stroked his face, wishing it was just a bad dream and her daddy would wake up. "Dad." She mumbled as her eyes went to Alpha Fishers' uncovered legs. A frown appeared on her face; a feeling of disappointment washed all over her body.

One, she couldn't get past the word dad.

Two, whoever brought the body down didn't bother to cover her father.

She pulled the sheet and covered his feet. The bangles from her wrist fell, she bent to pick and studied them. For a few minutes, Marina stood like that, in a trance. Completely baffled, Marina stared at the thin yellow bangles with little droplets colored in green-yellow. Why did she wear that?

She broke out of her trance when one fridge restarted with a loud sound, she turned toward her father's dead body, moved to it, stroked his face, and mumbled, "dad."

Then, she picked up her bag, gave the body one last glance, wiped the tears that had fallen with her palm, and walked out of there.

"Marina," Cecil called softly.

"Mmmh." Marina hummed.

Cecil took Marina's bag and whispered, "I am so sorry for your loss."

"Cecil."

"Yeah?"

"Give me my damn bag and stop saying you are sorry," Marina said, her voice indifferent.

"Okay," Cecil mumbled. She placed her head on Marina's tense shoulder. Marina tilted her head, stared at Cecil, and without saying anything else, she wrapped her hand around Cecil's waist.

**

The lift stopped; High Priestess stood outside with Bedelia murmuring something to one another.

Doctor Bedelia's attention turned to Marina, she dashed to her niece and pulled her into a hug. "I am sorry, Marie." She whispered into Marina's ear.

Marina smiled a little bit, making her aunt's heart skip a bit, she cupped her face with her hands and murmured, "I know. I am sorry to aunty, it will be alright."

The ones around looked at her, shock all over their faces. Why didn't she tell her mother that?

Of course, that was short-lived after High Priestess moved forward and mumbled a sorry. Releasing herself from the hug, Marina stopped herself from huffing in annoyance. Instead, she asked, her tone flat, "why were my father's feet outside?"

Doctor Bedelia took one step backward.

With her face emotionless. She added, "now, now, do you want my father to die twice?"