An Alpha's Claim

Leaving

J didn't think it would be this hard to see them go.

She'd known it wouldn't be easy, but to actually say goodbye to Rayna, Lee, Lorna – even the Black Oath pack, for what she knew would be the last time?

J pulled back from Rayna as they hugged for the fifth or sixth time, J wasn't even sure. They'd already done one goodbye but hadn't quite managed to part and 15 minutes later, nothing much had changed. "You need to go." J urged, hoping to hell that this time she'd actually leave, whilst praying to the Lord that she wouldn't.

Rayna nodded and dried her eyes again. Saying goodbye to Lee and Lorna was a little easier, they had Rayna, that's who they needed. "Make me proud," J instructed Rayna with a smile.

Rayna nodded and turned away, taking in a shuddering breath as she walked towards the big, black SUV that Cassidy and Jake had leant them.

The Black Oath pack stepped forwards and each of them embraced her. She couldn't look them in the eye, couldn't acknowledge what she'd told them last night. "Good luck," she whispered to Trevor, "if he's out there. Tell him..." J's voice trailed off as Trevor's eyes locked with hers. What could she say to him? That she was sorry? That she was sorry she couldn't survive long enough? That she was sorry she hadn't tried to find him? "Just tell him...I-"

Trevor squeezed her hand, as though understanding she couldn't form the words, because after all what could he tell him to make it OK? Neither of them spoke about the fact that even if they found Logan alive, if J died, it wouldn't matter. MSA would soon kill him too. Either way, it was a fool's errand.

The Black Oath pack walked towards the SUV, but Will stopped and came jogging back, thrusting a piece of paper into J's hands. He didn't meet her gaze as he hurriedly whispered, "I found her. I think she's still alive." Before he ran back to join the others and jumped in the car.

J couldn't look at the paper in her hand. Couldn't say why it felt heavier than anything she'd ever held. Instead, she focused on the SUV that was pulling away, and the tugging sensation in her chest as though a part of her were leaving with it.

She told herself it was Rayna. That watching Rayna leave was causing this hollow emptiness to corrupt her, but she knew she was lying, had known since Trevor had squeezed her hand. Losing the Black Oath pack felt like she was losing a limb - like she was losing her last connection to Logan.

She stared after them until the car had faded into the horizon, until she was sure they were truly gone, and that's when she fell to her knees and cried.

***

Four Months Ago....

Chains rattled and dragged across the concrete floor.

Logan's wolf cracked open one eye, pain ricocheting through his body, his wolf automatically began to growl, but the sound was barely more than a whisper.

Unable to turn his head, Logan's wolf could only stare through the bars on his cell door at the same patch of damp wall he'd been looking at for weeks, maybe even months. He could hear the footsteps approaching, two pairs of forceful feet and a shuffling sound from the other.

Logan's wolf knew it was the man who'd been kept in the prison cell beside him. They'd called him 'Subject 6', though the man had carved his human name into the wall using his finger nails. Logan's wolf had seen it once, when they'd pulled him from his cell to "tame" him as they'd put it.

A pretty word for torture. They promised to make him weak, to make him beg, to make him do their bidding. But he wasn't rogue, not like the ones they'd created, so he didn't break. Despite the pain, the brutality....Logan did not break, even when his body did.

Eventually, the wolves made it into his eye line. The guards held long weapons, electricity fizzing at the top, as light and static bubbled under the surface. They could use guns if they'd wanted, but they'd never risk injuring one of their experiments. They needed as many alive as possible. From his time spent here - and he had lost count of how many times the moon had risen and set - he had learned that many had escaped and been killed. Many had died. Subject 6 was one of their oldest surviving creations, he'd heard mention of subject 37, and numbers even higher. How long had they been here? How long had they been capturing wolves and turning them rogue? They wanted their undying loyalty; they wanted them to kill on command. An army of rogues, but what were they for?

Logan was lucky, his wolf had decided, that he seemed rogue when the guards had first found him. Of course, his wolf was less than impressed that these fools had taken him from his mate. He missed her, her long dark hair floating in the wind and those dark eyes that would glow gold in answer to his own silver orbs. He missed her scent and her strength.

When his human had finally succumbed to his sickness, the wolf thought that this was his chance to go to his mate. His human couldn't stop him now. But he was too late, he was sick too and hadn't sensed his captors until a silver collar had snapped around his neck and a dart had torn into his flesh followed by waves of electricity.

They thought he was one of theirs, an escaped experiment. They had no idea what they really kept in their dungeons, they had no idea what power they kept alongside their wilting rogues.

He would show them, one day. That's what the wolf promised his dying human. One day, he would escape and kill them all and then, then they would go and find their mate.

**
A/N

Poor, poor Logan...

Thank you so much for reading :)