An Alpha's Alpha

Mate

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Cassidy yelled as she ducked and weaved across Jake's packlands. He knew this territory better than her, which is why she didn't dare transform to wolf, if she did, so would he and then all hope would be lost. If she could just get him to calm down, then maybe they could talk this out.

'Mate'. That world rolled around in her head as she ran, distracting her from the dangers ahead. Every root she tripped on, or branch her clothes caught on, slowed her down. Jake's footsteps were behind her, she could hear them, feel them.

She felt as though she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She shook her head, trying to chase away the exhilaration and fear, she just had to keep running. Her lungs were becoming sore, but her wolf leant her strength, she wanted Cassidy to run. Cassidy's wolf wanted Jake to chase her, she wasn't a common prize, she knew she was strong and of alpha status, which meant that Jake's wolf would have to work to claim her.

That was, after all, the aim of this little game of cat and mouse, wasn't it? The male wolf pursues the female, if he catches her, he gets her. If he couldn't catch her then it meant he wasn't strong enough to mate with her. Fear gripped Cassidy's mind, she didn't want to be mated. Did she? Her wolf growled in response, traitor.

Of course her wolf wanted to be mated, she'd wanted to mate with Jake since the moment she'd seen him. Sure, Cassidy had been suppressing her a lot the last few days but the need was still there. That was maybe the scariest part of this for Cassidy, because eventually Jake would catch her - and eventually Cassidy would have to admit to herself that she wanted to mate with him. Yet it wasn't that easy. It wasn't that simple, not for her. Mating came at a price, one that she wasn't sure she wanted to pay.

For now, she was favouring ignorance, so leaned forward and pushed herself harder. She knew that she was running out of packland - and time. Jake was closing in on her. As the perimeter loomed ahead, Cassidy made a sharp right at the last second. She felt the gust of wind as Jake sailed past her, heard his feet skidding in the loose dirt as he changed direction, felt the growl rumble out of his chest.

Breathing hard, she kept going, in her mind trying and failing to map out the packlands. Was it right towards the medical centre? Or, was it left? As though deciding for her, Jake's house suddenly appeared in the distance. Safety. She thought automatically, cursing herself for it afterwards. If she hadn't felt so safe in the presence of this wolf, then she'd have left long ago and would not be faced with a possessive alpha wolf intent on mating with her. Worst of all, if she had left long ago, like she'd constantly been saying she would, then she wouldn't want him to mate with her.

Frustration made her jaw tick, her fists clenching. Anger bubbled within her, which was an issue as it let her wolf have some control. Too much control and there'd be no hope for Cassidy.

She skidded to a stop at the door, hurriedly fiddling with the catch until she managed to open it. She ran in, turned, slammed the door and locked it. She breathed heavily into the empty house, surprised that her pack weren't still here, she hoped they'd left like she'd asked.

A knock on the door made her freeze. Slowly, staring at the door as if waiting for it to fly open, Cassidy walked towards the door and looked through the spy hole. An eye stared right back. She jumped and stumbled back a few steps.

Once more, Jake knocked. "Cassidy." He growled, sending a shiver down her spine. She cursed at her wolf, as she fought her leash. She wanted Cassidy to open the door and let him in. He'd won. He'd caught up with her, Cassidy should let him claim his prize.

"God damn it, no." She muttered, eyes searching the room for a way out. Every part of her wanted to open that door, admit her feelings and find a little bit of happiness, but she couldn't. Not yet. Not without ruining everything.

"Cassidy, let me in." Jake growled, his fist pounding against the wood. She briefly wondered if the door would break, when her eyes landed on a familiar item. The long metal shaft was leant up against the corner of the room.

In a few strides Cassidy reached the tranquilliser gun. Her hands wrapped around the cool metal and brought it up to eye level. She wasn't exactly sure how it worked, but knew enough about hunting rifles to work it out. Tranquilliser darts sat on the floor in a small metal case. She quickly loaded two and swung the barrel of the gun towards the front door, just as the wood splintered and shattered, revealing a very angry, very triumphant Jake. "Honey, I'm hom-Ow."

He stared down at his chest, confusion ebbing into his mind. A long metal spike attached to a thin needle hung from his chest. He looked up at his she-wolf, as the world tilted on its axis. He gripped the doorframe, all of the adrenaline from the chase just about keeping him conscious. He stumbled and leant all of his weight against the remnants of the door. "You tranq'd me? Really?" He asked incredulously, though he wasn't sure that's actually what he said, as even to him it sounded like gibberish. "You-"

Like a light had been turned off, he hit the floor. Hard. Guilt niggled at her mind as Cassidy tentatively stepped forwards and lightly nudged him with her foot. Satisfied he wasn't about to spring back up, she sighed. Dropping the gun back against the wall, she turned around and stared at the soundly sleeping Jake, a little snore escaping him on every other breath. "Now what?" She muttered to herself.

As though on queue, Liam stepped over his unconscious Alpha and into the house. He looked down at Jake and then up at Cassidy, before shrugging once and moving into the kitchen. "They're bringing Doc here, so we should move him." He motioned to the lifeless Jake. "He'll be pissed when he wakes up." He promised, as he leant down and picked up one of Jake's arms, before letting it fall to the floor. "Yup. He's going to be real pissed."

The dread that Cassidy felt about that was chased by the relief flooding her system. She'd managed to avoid mating, which meant she'd managed to avoid telling Jake the truth, for now. Now she just had to face the rest of his pack, and most importantly, Doc.

"Where are my pack?" She asked Liam, realising she'd left them with him.

Liam paused, his eyes studying her face as though trying to work out why she was asking - curiosity or distrust. "They're at my house. I knew the pack would come here and having your pack here too would have been asking too much. Darcy was like a packmother to us. She-" his voice cracked.

"I know." Cassidy assured him, "I know what she meant to all of you. I-"

The distant pounding of footsteps and murmurs of voices paused their conversation. Liam's attention slid to Jake, "We need to move him, quickly."

***

A/N

Hello everyone!

Hope you're having a wonderful week/life!

Hope you're enjoying An Alpha's Alpha - the end is in sight! (Kinda)

Anyway, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm having issues with Wattpad's notification system....it keeps saying I haven't got notifications, or it deletes them....I've no idea what's going on! Either way, thank you to everyone for reading/voting/following/adding to reading lists and commenting! :)

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