An Alpha's Alpha

Possessed

Cassidy's sleep was restless, a mixture of nightmare eyes and gaping black holes, as her brain sifted through the last year of her life.

So much had changed; so much had been lost. All of it destroyed by an Alpha wolf, hell-bent on owning her, demolishing her power and taming her wolf.

She woke on a silent scream as pain burned bright through her body. Unfamiliar scents, sounds and sights assaulted her. Her eyes refused to focus, showing her a shadowy world of smudges.

She fought against hands that held her down, her voice too hoarse to scream out at the pain. She was sure they were killing her.

She could hear a voice, calm and patient, telling her to breathe and to relax.

Did the voice think that she, Cassidy Alma, Alpha of the Rootbridge Pack wouldn't fight until her bitter end? Did it think that she would roll over and play dead? She'd escaped worse than this; worse than this voice, worse than them all.

Cassidy would have scoffed at the placating voice if her vocal chords allowed, but instead, she simply fought harder, nails digging into flesh as binding hands pulled away.

"I can't help her like this," a voice cried.

Help? They thought they were helping?

She would never give in, she would never let Caine win.

"Tranq her?" A voice asked, quickly chased by a growled 'No' from a voice more beast than man.

For a second the growled voice seemed to chase the pain away, for a moment everything was peaceful and then the pain returned, with a renewed force. A brutal scream tore past her lips, burning through her throat.

Cassidy didn't stop her fight and sensing a jumble of movement, she saw her moment and took it. Hands flew from her skin as she twisted in their grasp. Her eyes still unable to make out forms showed her blocks of merging colours.

With claws for fingers, Cassidy batted at any approaching hands, as the scent of fresh blood filled the room, pleasing her wolf. She knew her eyes had shifted to Wolf when the world lost colour but the smudges remained.

Following her wolf's instincts, she sluggishly got to her feet and went to take a step, blindly fumbling through wherever she was.

Her foot had barely touched the ground before a sharp sting in her neck made her wolf howl.

She raised her clumsy hands and tried grasping the cool metal that hung from her, but just as her fingertips graced the curve of metal, the entire world appeared to shift on its axis.

Or maybe, maybe she'd just fallen over. As her torso thudded against something hard and metal and her head suffered a similar fate, she realised that yup, she'd been hit with a tranquilliser.

Well, at least she wasn't dead.

Yet.

*

His wolf paced backwards and forwards within him, angry, frustrated and most importantly, worried.

Every instinct in Jake told him to go the she-wolf and hold her, to push Doc out of the way, as violently as necessary, and hold what was his.

He shook his head and continued pacing back and forth across the room, just like his wolf was.

His wolf growled inside him and for a moment, lunged to the surface, aiming to get control.

Jake hardened his jaw and forced his wolf back down again. What was this she-wolf doing to him?

Jake and his wolf lived in relative peace. It came with the power, as an alpha Jake had to be in control of his wolf as he was responsible for grounding the pack. He was sure that his pack mates were sensing his wolf's anger and his internal turmoil right now.

Jake's gaze swept across the room and caught the stare of his Beta. Liam Kingston had been Jake's best friend in school and so when Jake had taken over from his father as Alpha, Liam seemed like the obvious choice for his right-hand man, but right now Jake was regretting that choice because Liam knew him. Knew him too well in fact.

In that long hard stare from Liam, Jake could read just how concerned he was about Jake's reaction to the she-wolf. It was unusual and certainly out of character. Jake had never been celibate but he also had never been serious about any female before, in fact for the last four years or so, his wolf hadn't shown any interest in anybody and Jake had followed suit.

Being an alpha didn't exactly make room for relationships, but as Jake watched the she-wolf's eyes flickering behind closed lids as Doc tried to clear out the wound, Jake had a feeling somewhere deep inside that everything was about to change.

He'd never been possessive and he knew that Doc served as no threat to him or his she-wolf, yet watching as his aged hands deftly worked on her wound, his blood was beginning to boil.

He looked away, running a hand through his hair and began pacing again. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, pausing him mid-stride. His eyes snapped up to Liam, his wolf not liking the hand on his shoulder.

Again the wolf lunged forwards and Jake had to fight to hold him in. Sensing the inner turmoil, Liam removed his hand but inclined his head towards the front door, steady eyes watching his alpha.

Jake knew he wanted to talk, and knew that he should probably go and do so, but he just couldn't quite leave the she-wolf yet. Not whilst she was here in a room full of male wolves. Male wolves that he trusted, some of which were mated, but all of which would respect his boundaries.

Sighing, which came out as more of a growl than he'd expected, Jake swept a hand through his hair again and then nodded at Liam, who began heading for the front door.

The room was silent as they headed out, all eyes swivelling to the alpha. He paused as he took the door that Liam held open and looked briefly over his shoulder.

He looked to Doc who was still working to clear the wound on his she-wolf. She'd been poisoned according to the Doc, with some kind of the silver-based knife. It was currently working its way through her system but Doc had promised he'd do his best to keep it at bay. The logical side of Jake reminded him that she had a fever which meant that was healing, but the majority of Jake was still worried as hell that he might lose her.

Dragging his eyes from the peaceless face of the she-wolf, Jake glared at the wolves around the room and shifted his shoulders, sending a wave of power across the room. She was not to be touched.

The Wolves responded by ducking their eyes and nodding their heads, understanding his command but questioning his reasoning, they all agreed to stay away but to protect her if needed.

Satisfied and his wolf partly calmed, Jake turned and walked out of his house, making sure to leave the front door slightly ajar so that he could keep on eye on what was happening.

As he turned to Liam he was surprised by the animosity in his gaze.