Forsaking the Alpha

Chapter Three - The Alternative

"I trust you" he uttered while I froze up in panic. I didn't know how severe his allergy was, but the worst case scenario played on repeat in my thoughts.

"Oh my god... oh my god! Are you crazy?!"

"Only a little..." he mumbled, but his voice had gained a lisp. His tongue had started to swell up first and foremost, and he was coughing as if he'd smoked his entire life. People began to stare, the loud beeping from my monitors making them all wonder if they should run and hide.

"Hey, regulator! Regulate her already! You're scaring the other students!" A teacher assigned to lunch duty had hollered at us.

"Call 911!" I yelled back.

"911? 911?! He is 911! Seriously, what are we even paying him for?!" The reaction had gotten worse and we were wasting time. If no one was going to help me, then I had to take matters into my own hands. I ripped my cell phone out of my pocket and hastily began to dial.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Hello? Yes, this is Scarlet Sanderson here with Officer Jackson at Jadeville High School and he-"

"What is that beeping? Ma'am is there a fire?"

"No, that's my heart rate monitor, just listen to me! He's allergic to cinnamon and he just ate some, I need an ambulance!"

"Are you a hybrid ma'am?"

"Yes! I don't see why that matters, just send a damn ambulance!"

"Ma'am if your monitors are in alarm and your regulator is incapacitated you need to leave the premises. An ambulance won't save anyone if you transform, you have to leave the premises now."

"The only thing pushing me to the brink of transforming is you! I don't know how much time we have, he gave me an EpiPen but I don't know how to use it! Just fucking help me!"

"Okay! Okay... I'm sending an ambulance."

"If you don't tell me how to use this goddamn EpiPen right now, I swear to god I'm going to let my wolf out!" I huffed, losing my patience. At the audible threat, teachers started ushering students out of the cafeteria in panic. No one wanted to stick around for potential carnage, everyone was more fearful for their own lives than the one that was already in danger. My regulator had fallen on the floor at this point, his throat was visibly swollen and I didn't know how long he had left before it closed.

It took what felt like forever, but the lady on the phone eventually walked me through the process of using an EpiPen. Without hesitation, I jabbed it into officer Jackson's thigh. I stayed on the line, and I stayed by his side until the paramedics arrived. When they showed up at last, they questioned me thoroughly before hauling him off to the hospital. I was the only one left in the cafeteria as a witness, and they seemed to think I had purposefully given him cinnamon... A lot of their questions were oddly accusatory, that was for sure.

They left behind a single police officer to keep watch over me for the remainder of the school day. I didn't return to classes though... I spent the rest of the afternoon in the principal's office and away from all the other students and faculty. I didn't understand how what I did was so wrong. I was the only one that seemed genuinely concerned for him, the only one who was even trying to help him! Yet here I was, being interrogated over and over again. What ever happened to innocent before proven guilty? These people seemed to already have their minds made up about me... I mean, yeah it looked suspicious, but if I really wanted him gone then why would I have bothered to save him?

Even as the final bell rang I wasn't allowed to leave. The principal had called my parents to come pick me up, and the police officer escorted me out to the car. The ride home was silent and tense, my parents didn't even speak to me until dinner time.