27 comments/ 37797 views/ 58 favorites Above an Alpha Ch. 01 By: PlainJane12 She laughed. Genuine, pure laughter poured out of her. He was shocked. Getting it under control, she broke into a giggle before saying, "I'm smarter than you. I'm stronger than you. I have a way better sense of humor than you. Why would I give up? I'm going to win." She finished her words with an open-mouthed grin, looking at him like he an attraction at Disneyland. And suddenly he smelled it too -- she had no fear. No fear of him. No fear of anything. A mere human woman wasn't afraid of him. It was more than he could take. He pounced; he was in the air one moment and the next he had her pinned to the bed. "You were saying you're stronger than me?" he growled. Her smile was smaller, but still there. She even seemed a little regretful, like the moment was bittersweet. It enraged him. She looked him in the eye, speaking slowly and clearly. "The only strength you've shown me is your body. But you'll know my strength when I win." His hands transformed, cutting through the bedding and into the mattress beneath him. Her eyebrows rose high above her eyes, and she almost laughed again. She didn't say, "Why are you ruining your own bed?" but he knew that was what she meant with the face she was making. He couldn't help himself; he ran his tongue up the side of her face. He pulled away then, surprised at himself. He didn't get up, just rose enough to get a good look at her reaction. She wasn't disgusted, or particularly excited. She might have looked a little sad. Something in her was still trying to be bright, untouched. "I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "But I always win." He wanted to rip her throat out. ---------- Trent was an omega. --Which always was always deeply disappointing to female werewolves when they met him; because boy, he would have been something to howl home about if he had been an alpha or even a beta. The guy was tall, well-muscled, blonde, with a sweet boyish face and lovely white-toothed grin. Unfortunately, there was more to being top dog than looks. A rarity in werewolf kind, he had been born with terrible eyesight. He wasn't blind or anything. But he did have to wear huge coke-bottle glasses. Being in his wolf form improved things, but he still didn't have the eyesight other wolves had, and relied even more heavily on his other senses as a result. Then there was the shyness. --Trent was terrified of women, social situations, loud noises (because loud noises usually caused people to lean closer to each other during conversation, which meant that a woman might, during some loud social situation, lean in toward him so that he could hear her better and end up smelling his breath which could be randomly terrible -- though it never was because he had other phobias as well which included) being unhygienic, and planes. So Trent was a lovely, clean-cut, healthy, timid omega werewolf. He was really good at math. He was a team-player, and enjoyed serving the pack despite the fact his particular pack didn't treat omegas very well. He thanked Luna every night that he was a werewolf; not only because his mother had taught him to pray every night before bed, but because he was relieved by the fact he was a werewolf. After all, werewolves had true mates -- which meant that when the right girl came along, she would know it as well as he did. There would be none of the awkwardness humans experienced while having to date. He would not have to convince her to love him -- which he was sure would be impossible even if he had to do it. Everything would fall into place easily. When he finally met his mate, they would live happily ever after for a thousand years, filling their den with dozens of cute little omegas to carry on after they were gone. Trent was actually day-dreaming about his future mate, when a beta, Greg, walked by and kicked him. Trent face-planted in the flowerbed in front of him; he had been tending the one that lined the front walkway of the main compound. He got up quickly though, and waved good naturedly at Greg as Greg entered the building. "Shut up, Short Bus," Greg hollered in response to Trent's silent wave. Elisa, another beta, wasn't far behind Greg and shook her head. "Just ignore him, Trent. He's such an asshole." "Oh I should have been paying attention," Trent replied, blushing because the prettiest beta in the compound knew his name. Trent got back to work, but was distracted by more and more betas hurrying into the compound. He checked his watch -- it wasn't the normal time or day for a meeting. Suddenly, Lucy, another omega who had been working not too far away sidled up to him. "What's going on, do you think?" "I don't know," Trent replied, taking a step away from her for a little extra space. "Something big, I suppose." Suddenly Earlene, the second-in-command to the Alpha, popped her head out the door. She scanned the area before her eyes fell on Trent and Lucy. "I can't find the head omegas," she barked. "Oh, they're out sick," Lucy replied. Trent was too busy staring at the scars on the ancient bitch's face to reply. He wasn't bothered by the scars, but it was like looking at a train-wreck. He always had the urge to get a closer look; unfortunately Earlene was not only a woman, but the scariest damn woman on earth. He pushed his glasses up on his nose a bit higher, hoping for more clarity. But Earlene looked the same. "Get the rest of the omegas working on the guest quarters. --The downstairs guest quarters." Both Trent and Lucy were surprised -- not only to have gotten treated like the head omegas in the head omegas' absence, but because of the order. Humans were coming. -Humans who had probably just discovered the existence of werewolves and were going to have to be locked up until they were mated and changed, or killed. Suddenly Trent's stomach fell. Humans were coming. Oh, his mate couldn't be a human. He had watched every episode of Friends -- human relationships were nuts! Luna! What if his mate was one of these humans that were coming?!? He followed Lucy absentmindedly as they went to alert the other omegas. She seemed happy. "You know what this means!" she gushed, "Potential mates!" "Yay," Trent replied glumly, as they passed through a hall. A teenaged theta passing by tripped him, and Trent apologized, "Sorry about that." "You're gay!" replied the theta. "That's so rude to gay people," Lucy tsked. ---------------------- The rogue werewolf, Moe, dragged Leah out of his room by the arm, before depositing her on the floor of the doublewide with the four other human women. The rest of them were dirty; hair matted, their skin grimy over their bruises. Moe's buddies, Luis and Bartok, were still sitting at the dinette table playing cards. No one mentioned the fact Leah was still unharmed, untouched, despite all the time spent in Moe's bed. No one mentioned the fact that the other women hadn't been raped once since Leah had been abducted and brought here. The truth was beginning to spook Moe, Luis and Bartok. -And though they couldn't do anything about it unless they talked about it, none of them wanted to talk about it. It was too strange. All three had wanted Leah the moment they smelled her; no, that wasn't it. They had wanted not her, but to know what she was. --No, that wasn't it either. They were attracted to her, but not sexually so much as... she was that feeling you get at the edge of a cliff, the feeling that wants to jump. When they approached her that day in the park, she had turned and looked at them, like she knew what they wanted. Then she shrugged and said, "Okay, what?" "What are you?" Moe demanded. "Awesome," she replied. "Annnnnd... human, if that's what you're after, Cubs." "We look like cubs to you?" Luis demanded, failing to notice that a human knew what they were. Moe's first instinct was turn and run. But she said she was human, and once she said it -- it felt right. She was human. She was just a human. She was just a human woman, and she smelled nice. Why not add her to the harem? They needed more women, and here they were in a conversation with one. "You're coming with us." Leah laughed deeply and loudly. Bartok zapped her with a stun gun. She looked at him irritably. She took it from him and hit him in the head with it. Then she smiled again. "Good times," she said, laughing, before she walked away. Moe picked up the stun gun. It wasn't broken. They stared after her. They stalked Leah for a while after that, trying to figure her out. Leah was unnoticeable to other humans. She was 5'7, 200lbs in a good combination of muscle and fat that left her with a defined though slightly jiggly figure, and she seemed to be just about thirty years old. She had brown curly hair to the waist, green eyes and frequently chapped lips. As Moe, Bartok, and Luis followed her over the next couple weeks, they learned that she lived alone, drank lots of wine, and divided her time between cartooning and teaching. Sometimes they got the sinking feeling that she knew that they were there. Other times, she seemed oblivious. The night they took her was one of those oblivious times. They had broken into her house in the middle of the night, planning to bind her quickly before she woke up. They did. But they didn't need to rush, they soon discovered, as there was nothing they could do to wake her up. She didn't wake up when they grabbed her limbs, or tied them together. She didn't wake up when they turned on the lights. Moe tried to spook her awake by saying her name creepily, aloud. "Leah... Leah..." he crooned like a ghost. Leah just snored at him. "What is wrong with this girl?" Luis demanded, as they all stared down at the husky girl in a Doctor Who cotton tee and purple star pajamas bottoms, her breasts obscuring the shape of the Tardis. Bartok picked up an empty box of wine next to Leah's laptop. "I think she has a drinking problem," he said. "Maybe we should have our fun now," Luis said, smiling. "Yeah," Moe agreed. They all looked down at her, ready to pounce. No one did. "Uh, you guys want to taste her first?" Moe finally asked. "Nah, nah, you're the man," Luis replied. "You take her." "I don't know;" Moe said, "I took all the other girls first. You guys should have a chance." "She's fat," Bartok said. "She's not fat!" immediately replied Moe and Luis, though they were immediately shocked by their fervent defense of her. "Yeah, she's okay," agreed Bartok, "But she's a nerd. Who wears Doctor Who memorabilia?" "Er, maybe the same people who know what the hell a Doctor Who is?" replied Luis, accusingly. "It's just sleepwear!" Moe said. "She's still a woman. We're still wolves! Rogue wolves! We take what we want! Look at her. She's a nice slab of meat there. Imagine riding that. It's time to take what we want, boys." They all went quiet for a moment, listening to her snore. "Do we want her?" Bartok asked. Frustrated, Moe did a face-palm before deciding aloud, "Let's just take her home. We can have sex with her later!" Later, Leah woke up, undid her bindings and walked about the doublewide, yawning, trying to figure out where the heck she was. "Hell," said one of the other kidnapped girls. "That's where we are, Hell." The speaker's name was Lisa, and she wasn't taking being victimized well. "Oh," replied Leah, glancing out the window. "So they have good music?" ---------------------------- Once the other omegas had been informed of the situation, Trent cleaned himself up to get back to the main offices. His primary job was to handle pack money. Depending on how many humans were coming, he knew he might have to shift some things around. Keeping kidnapped humans underground was expensive, after all. He considered the base expenses, knowing that it had to be more than five humans that were expected; five or less and they wouldn't have bothered with the underground accommodations. He needed an exact count though -- the difference between six and sixty was pretty vast. They couldn't be bringing sixty though, could they? Where would sixty kidnapped humans come from? Trent took his favorite legal pad with him out to the living rooms where the alpha could usually be found. Sure enough, Trent discovered Mark playing Wii bowling with his little sister, Sarah. Mark, the alpha, was huge -- just short of being what one would call muscle bound, with arms like a Norse god and abs like a Greek god. He was handsome and kind enough generally -- but enough of a bro that he wasn't entirely likeable either. Sarah on the other hand was skinny and bat-faced, but only mischievous, not malevolent. She was fifteen and generally fond of super villains of the Saturday morning variety. They both rolled their eyes though when they smelled Trent walk in. To them, he was the biggest weirdo on earth! Always so awkward! --And he never knew when to back off in his awkwardness. He just kept being awkward! "Good afternoon, Alpha sir." "Yo," Mark replied. "I was hoping to prepare the finances for the humans' arrival, but I'm afraid I don't have a headcount yet." "Yeah," Mark said, releasing his Wii bowling ball. "You'll have to count them on the way in." "You don't have a preliminary estimate, sire?" "Nope!" "Oh," Trent replied, downcast. He didn't know what to do. Oh my gawd. Freak looks sad, Sarah thought to her brother. Mark sighed. Shiz Luna, Mark replied to his sister. He flopped onto the couch behind them. "Look, er..." Trent, Sarah reminded him. "Look Trent," Mark began again. "I have no idea. The Larson pack discovered a bunch of rogue wolves have been rounding up at a mobile home park out in northern Arizona. They'd take them all themselves because they're closer, but transporting kidnapped people across state-lines could get ugly quick. --Especially up there, everybody'd think we were Mormon or something. So we're taking them, but Larson's lead on this. Apparently it's one of his guys that started the rogue pack." Trent processed this. "So, how large of a mobile home park is it?" Seriously? He thinks I know that?!? Mark thought to his sister. "I don't know, Trent," Mark replied trying not to sound annoyed. "Oh," Trent replied, still looking a little sad. "Do you have to know this now?" Sarah asked. "No, I suppose not," Trent replied, shifting his glasses around on his face. "...Just wanted to be prepared. --For the good of the pack." Both Sarah and Mark had to smile at this. Trent was a freak, but a good one. He was still standing there though. --Just standing there. Sarah and Mark exchanged looks. "Er, anything else, Trent?" "Oh, um..." He seemed to be genuinely thinking about it. Then, "No, sir. Thank you." He turned and walked away. Sarah shook her head and joined her brother on the couch. They sat there, thinking about what a weirdo Trent was for a minute, before suddenly Sarah smiled and elbowed Mark a few times, saying, "So... humans... that haaaaaaave to be mated. Hmmmn. Wonder what's gonna happen? Ruling alphas aren't supposed to be single, I hear." "Shut up!" "Are you going to get a girrrrlfriend? Is she gonna be preeeeety?" "Sarah, I swear to Luna if you don't shut up," Mark began. "Are you going to give me a sister? And nieces? And nephews??!?" Mark pushed his sister off the couch with his foot. "Hey!" "You just better hope none of the humans in there are males. If a human starts sniffing around you, he's losing a limb -- and not one of the ones with fingers or toes." -------------------------------------- Leah had started taking to walking around outside the double-wide that Moe, Luis, and Bartok occupied, "for fresh air." She was still always in her Doctor Who shirt and pajamas bottoms; though she complained about needing a bra because her boobs were sweaty, this was the one thing that the wolves put their foot down on. They weren't going back into town to hunt down bras. She was beginning to get irritable about it. She didn't mind being barefooted, but bras were effing necessary. Moe knew immediately that her outside excursions were going to cause problems, but he decided to let it go. Maybe one of the other wolves would take her off his hands. --She was confusing, after all. They had wanted her, they had obsessed over her, they had taken her. But in retrospect, kidnapping her didn't seem right. Moe wanted her in his bed, but couldn't bring himself to touch her. He worried about her, for reasons he couldn't understand, and in return she just made him feel ashamed. He was seriously considering returning to his pack and begging forgiveness. But it would be better if somehow Leah just disappeared from his life. A few days later, it looked like that might happen. Elias, the seriously sociopathic werewolf that had begun this gang of rogues, came back one night to smell Leah's strange scent wafting on the evening breeze. He stalked over, finding her reading an old book on Moe's porch. "And who do you belong to, Little Girl?" he asked, getting Moe's, Luis's and Bartok's scent off her, but not smelling anything sexual. She looked up, confused, a little like she was still in the world of her book. Then she processed the question. "Er... uh... Phi Beta Kappa. Triple A. Women's Cartooning Guild? What you looking for?" He grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her to her feet. He smelled the back of her neck. She smelled like danger and power -- but she was human. "I'm asking who fucks you." "My husband. Some day. When I meet and subsequently marry him. After many, many dates of course." "Girl your age isn't a virgin." "How old do you think I am?!?" she demanded. Her vehemence startled him. He actually let her go and stepped back a bit. "Some people make it to their forties without becoming some floozy. Some people believe in true love and soul mates and waiting!" He grinned. "Waiting is one thing I've never been good at!" he declared, grabbing her again, mouth open to devour her lips. Her eyes made him pause. He swallowed, holding his place just inches from her face. "What are you?" he whispered. "Not that kind of girl," she replied. He closed his mouth, and his first instinct was to let her go and move on. But he never let a girl go before -- and now, especially now that he had gone rogue, he had no plans to start. He moved his lips to hers slowly, a chaste kiss. --Sometimes the best route was the easy one. He'd get her off her guard, and then once those burning green eyes were closed in trust -- he could do what he wanted. Midway through the kiss he opened his eyes, and found her still looking at him -- pissed. "You have any idea who I am?" he growled. "Yeah, I sneaked a peek at your nametag when we were chatting at the punchbowl earlier." "What?" he asked. She rolled her eyes, and began to reply when he heard it -- someone was coming. A lot of someones were coming. And they smelled like wolves. He pushed her on her ass and howled in warning to the others. A fight was coming. Moe was on the porch and pulling Leah up by the arm in a moment. He didn't even know what he was doing at that point -- Leah had to be somewhere safe if a fight was about to start. The other girls followed her into the closet in Moe's bedroom, where he told them to be quiet. "And don't get any ideas -- those aren't human authorities, just more wolves," he warned. Leah leaned back against the closet's back wall, then felt something. She reached back, before pulling it out of the darkness and squinting at it. "That jerk's been hiding merlot!" She scrambled her hands along the closet floor, squinting at found items in the darkness. "And chianti! Well heck -- grab one of those wire clothes hangers." Lisa handed her one in confusion and Leah smiled. "I don't need no stinking corkscrew." Above an Alpha Ch. 01 ---------------------------------------- When the fight was finally over early the next morning, Opie Larson, head of the Larson pack, headed over to Earlene, who was still supervising the small contingent of betas that Mark had sent to help. "Thought Mark might be here," Opie said. Earlene shrugged. "His dad hasn't been gone long, he's not really interested in taking his place yet." "He's gonna need to get interested. Especially with these women coming in," Opie pointed a thumb toward the truck where some hysterical, some numb, and some unconscious women were being carried. There were six dozen in all. Earlene nodded. She suddenly noticed a woman in purple starred pajamas pants being fireman carried to the truck. --She was snoring. "Is that one snoring?" Behind her, four frightened women followed on their feet. One kept saying, "Wake up, Leah! They're taking us!" Opie chuckled. "I think the snoring one has the right idea." ------------------------------------------ The doors opened and the prisoners were escorted to the basement. Lucy stuck her head in the offices saying, "They're here! -Three dozen women and one seriously injured dude." Then, in a conspiratorial whisper to Trent, she added, "Could be gay." Trent looked at her quizzically. "Er. Okay...?" A breeze came through the hall then, and hit him -- stunned, he fell backwards out of his chair. "Trent!" Lucy screamed, rushing to his side. Other wolves quickly gathered around, asking what happened. "I don't know!" Lucy cried. "One minute he was just sitting there, and the next-" "I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, trying to get to his feet and disheveling himself even more in the process. His glasses had fallen off and Lucy grabbed them to put them back on his face. She started to, then paused. "You know Trent, you're super hot without your glasses!" "Yes, yes, I know," he replied absentmindedly. Fear was coiling in his belly like a snake. Fear and... need. She was here. And she was human. Upstairs, Mark and Sarah were asleep on the bedroom floor of his parents' old room. After their father died months before, the two siblings had gotten into the strange habit of watching anime all night every night on their father's old big screen before falling asleep on his floor. Their mother had died giving birth to Sarah fifteen years before, so Sarah and Mark only had each other now. --This new habit though was kind of annoying to the pack females, as it meant that Mark had pretty much turned into a monk so that he and his sister could stay in their own little world. It was also quite annoying to Earlene, who had to run the pack while Mark slept in. Everyone gave them a break of course, because they were in mourning -- and when Mark did get up every day, he was pretty good at catching up and doing some basic alpha work. Usually the two of them didn't start getting up until long after 10AM. But Mark's eyes suddenly shot open at 7:45. He looked at the clock in confusion, then heard the noise downstairs of the kidnapped women being taken in. Then he smelled the reason he woke up -- Sarah woke up to the sound of her brother howling, and crashing out into the hallway. "Mark?" she asked sleepily, getting up to follow him. Mark was debating turning into a wolf and leaping over the banister to the ground floor. The alpha rooms were five stories up, and he was only on the third floor when he realized his mate was already in the basement. "Mark?!" Sarah yelled over the railing at him. "My mate's down there!" he explained, beginning to change. "Well don't change! She's human! You'll scare her!" He howled again in frustration and went back to running barefoot through the elaborate corridors and stairwells leading to the ground floor. "Whoever designed this building was an idiot!" he screamed. "You have your great, great grandfather to blame for that," came the voice of an elderly female, the oldest female actually -- her name was Kate, as she hobbled out of her room with a cane. "I told him this building bit the big one, but did he listen? That's what happens when pups don't listen to their elders." "You should design the next one, Kate!" said Sarah. "I think I will!" Kate replied. "Have to do something round here. They won't let me hunt anymore!" "I know," Sarah sympathized. "Everyone sucks." Almost to the ground floor, Mark rolled his eyes. Kate was the oldest living werewolf in America. She had been old when she came to America. She was too damn old to be putting herself in danger anymore -- no matter how often she tried to. Finally! He had reached the ground floor. He realized through the scents that some of the rogues were being led to a separate sub-basement from the kidnapped humans. Good. I don't need them near my mate! ...Luna, what if one of them's hurt her? He put on another burst of speed when- Out of nowhere Trent came bounding into the room. --They were both moving too fast, they couldn't stop! They crashed into each other, and rolled into a wall! They both leapt to their feet immediately. Trent bowed his head. "My apologies, Alpha." Mark nodded. "Don't worry about it, Trent." Several members of the pack had been standing there, and were now watching the exchange bemused. Both Trent and Mark noticed they had become the center of attention, and embarrassed, tried to walk to the basement with less enthusiasm. -As a result, they found themselves ambling there side by side. Trent realized in terror that he was daring to walk shoulder to shoulder with the alpha, but he couldn't help it. He had to. He didn't want to want her, but he had to at least get a look now. Besides, his wolf reasoned -- Mark doesn't care. The moment this happened, Trent nearly tripped again. His wolf never spoke up. Sometimes it wagged its tail. Sometimes it turned on its back. His wolf was always there. But it never tried to do anything other than agree with him. --Never had to explain anything, or suggest anything before. It went with the flow. It remained silent. -Until now. But with his surprise, Trent heard it continue -- I want her. They were walking down the stairs now, Mark and Trent, side by side. They soon reached the cement floor of the basement area where the women were kept. The cells were large enough for six women each -- and there were 20 cells. The walls were opaque, reinforced glass and plastic from the ground to about four feet up. Above that the walls were see-through. There were six bunks to each cell, as well as two small enclosed bathing areas, a television, and lots of books. There was enough room that the wolves could have put just three or four women in each of the cells. Instead, guided by pack mentality, they had decided to put six women in each -- with one exception. Leah was lying on her stomach, ass turned slightly up in the air, snoring on a bunk all by herself. Mark and Trent paused at the sight of her. Earlene walked over to them, not realizing that she had two males looking for their mates on her hands. "I thought we should put that one by itself. It's weird." Mark growled at her. Trent ignored her and walked over to the glass, pressing his nose against it and staring down at Leah. "It's been snoring loud enough to shatter all the glass in here, and all the men are all acting weird around it!" Earlene pressed. "At first I assumed she was another were, maybe some cat in heat or something -- but that's not a were. I don't even think it's human, except the wolves that had it seem pretty convinced." "Did they hurt her?" Mark demanded, not taking his eyes off Leah, completely oblivious to the interest Trent was showing. "No. That's the other thing. They took... her alright -- but the other ones that came with... her, they said that they wouldn't touch her afterward. -Didn't touch them either after she showed up." Now Mark approached the glass. She was gorgeous. Solid, with feather soft curls cascading around her, slightly bronzed skin, small hands and feet, and that mouth turned in a snoring O shape... and her rear! It would be her undoing! He imagined her trying to escape his arms circled around her waist, her thick seat and thighs unable to make it through his hold, falling back into his lap exerted, giving up... giving in... to him. "What's her name?" asked Mark and Trent simultaneously. Then they each noticed the other was there. The other was there, staring at his mate. "They call her 'Leah,'" Earlene replied, confused. They were both acting like dogs in heat, but they both had their eyes on the same girl. "Crap," she said, belatedly smelling the arousal on both of them, and the anger. "Leah's my mate," Mark announced. Everyone but the confused, scared humans in the cells looked up in surprise. Trent looked confused a moment before saying, "I'm sorry Sir, but I'm afraid you're mistaken. She's my mate." Above an Alpha Ch. 02 Mark gaped. If Trent had been a wolf whose strength Mark had any passing respect for, he would have killed him in an instant. But this timid, bizarre omega had just opened his mouth and tried to claim Mark's mate as his own. –It was just too weird to react to properly. Mark practically stuttered in confusion. "Uh... No, she's not. She's mine." His wolf stood up, pressing against Mark's insides, demanding to be heard. Mark finally managed to say, "MINE." Trent took a step away from Mark, but never stopped touching the glass separating him from Leah. Mark continued, "As your Alpha I command you to stay away from her! She belongs to me!" "I'm sorry, Sir. I still believe you are mistaken." Trent was surprised – he hadn't intended to say that. But he could feel his wolf holding his ground. He meant what he said. Mark grabbed Trent by his shirt and picked him off the ground. "Do you want to die, little omega?" Trent swallowed. No, he did not want to die. But that girl with her ass in the air, snoring like a monster, was his. His wolf jumped to the surface snapping and barking. Trent's eyes widened as, with an accord not quite his own, he knocked away Mark's arms and fell onto his own feet gracefully. He stepped toward his alpha and said, "She's MINE." That's it, Mark thought. Time to kill him. "Hey," came a voice from the cell in front of them. They both turned, seeing the rosy-cheeks and bleary eyes of Leah well-rested. She sat up on her bed. "What's up? Who won?" She noticed her hands were empty. "...Where's the chianti?" The girls Leah had met in Moe's trailer stood up and looked to see her. They seemed excited she was awake. Mark pressed his hands to the glass. "No, no one's fighting." Then to Earlene he said, "Get Trent out of here. Lock him up if you have to." "No!" Trent argued, "She's my mate! She should know!" He backed away from Earlene's attempt to take his arm. But there were betas everywhere, closing in, and he pressed himself against the glass, trying to stay. He considered changing – "What are you doing to him?" Leah demanded, suddenly standing – though no one in the room could remember seeing her move. Her question was loud, but not emotional. She was simply serious. "We won't hurt him," Mark suddenly promised, though a moment later he wondered why he had promised that. Trent could see Leah worry for him, and he nearly cried. Ironically, he wasn't worried any longer. His mate was wise and strong. They would be together eventually. "I'll see you later!" he called to her as he let the betas drag him away. Mark turned to look at Leah. She was smiling, bemused by Trent as he was carried off. She shook her head, perplexed yet entertained by the strange, totally hot omega, and replied, "Okay." She waved goodbye. "No!" Mark beat both his fists against the glass, cracking it. She raised her eyebrows. Then she took a good look at Mark. She grinned. "What's up?" Mark stomach fluttered at her smile. "Hello," he said. "Hi." "My name is Mark. Mark Masters." "Hello, Mark, Mark Masters. I'm Leah. Eh... what's going on with the cell?" She circled her finger in the air, indicating her room. "One minute I'm having the best closet party ever and the next..." "My people rescued you from those rogues." Leah nodded and smiled the smile of the patronizing. "Okay. Great! Thanks for that. I was actually in the middle of orchestrating probably the awesomest escape ever, since like – The Great Escape, but... that's cool. Steal my thunder." Mark was in love. She was orchestrating a great escape? Oh man – he'd go underground with her anytime. She continued, "But whatever." She gestured as if it was water under the bridge. "It doesn't really matter who does the rescuing as long as we're... free..." Her eyes were on his as she said this. Everyone went still. Leah added, "...to go...?" "Leah, I..." Mark began, before suddenly becoming very aware of all the other women in the room, watching the exchange with quiet concentration. "Ladies," he said, turning and addressing the room. "You don't know how sorry I am that the rogues treated you the way they did." "No, we don't," Leah said. "You know what would be a good start though? Letting us out of here." "The rogues will be punished," Mark continued. "And I wish I could return you all to your former lives." "Oh, that part's easy. Just let us out..." Leah said. "Unfortunately, you've all seen too much," Mark said, glancing back at Leah, wondering what she thought of werewolves, having been kidnapped by them. -His thought was interrupted though when another woman wailed in fear, "They're going to kill us! We know too much!!" "No, no, no! We're not going to kill you!" Mark said, quickly. "I mean, we don't have to, because you can become werewolves like us! You can be mated with werewolves! And make this your new home!" He nodded, trying to be bright and consoling all at the same time. ...All the women started screaming. -Except Leah, who chuckled and sat back on her bed. "You're an idiot," she said, glancing at him as he looked to her for help. "Your idiot," he replied, wanting to grab her and run away from this mess. "Help me," he said. "Why should I?" "Leah, my love, you're my mate. You're destined to be with me, lead with me. This is your pack too, now. Everything I have is yours." "Including your problems? No thanks," she laughed. "She makes a good point," Sarah said, hopping down the stairs. She grinned at her brother. She had never heard him speak like that before, and it made her want to roll on the ground laughing. "This is her?" she asked, looking into Leah's cell. Mark nodded, both hands on the glass. Sarah scrunched up her nose before sharing her thoughts with her brother. -There's something weird about her. She's not some other kind of were, is she? Mark shook his head. Does she smell like some other kind of were? She's human. She looks pretty damn relaxed for a human, Mark, Sarah argued. Sure she's not some kind of were we haven't met yet? –Like a, were-turtle or were-hedgehog? "Sonic the Hedgehog is not based in reality," Mark declared. Even the loudest wailing woman stopped after this non sequitur. Leah stared between the two. "Doing some brain talk there?" "What are you?" Sarah asked. "I'm a cartoonist... a teacher, a sister, a wine lover, a pie baker, a runner..." "You run?" Sarah asked incredulously. "Fat girls can run," Leah replied. Mark's mouth was watering, but he still managed, "You're not fat." "You're not hairy either," Leah replied. "Well, he's not, right now," Sarah replied. "Mmm, but I haven't seen everything yet, now have I?" Leah replied. Then she turned her gaze on Mark and Mark alone. "Mark Masters, I'm going to say this once. I need you to listen." Everything in him opened at her words. "You are gorgeous; one of the most beautiful men I've ever met. Look at those arms! I mean, God. You're something. That's why I'm giving you a chance. I'm giving you a week to do the right thing. I'm giving you a week to figure out what you have to do, to get these women back to their homes, jobs, and families. "I get it. You're werewolves. Scary. For you, I mean. News could get out and you have the whole Frankenstein mob on your hands. Problem, obviously. So I'm giving you time to figure out how to do it yourselves, so that you can be happy with the outcome. –An entire week, just because you're beautiful." Mark's wolf was pleased with her assessment of his looks, but he was getting worried about how to deal with her delusion that he would take this... this command from her. She continued, "But after that, if there's a single victim here who doesn't want to be here, if anyone is here who doesn't want to be here – we're leaving. With force, probably. ...I imagine. –What with you guys being werewolves and all. I don't think I've run into a werewolf without running into a fight. Good fights, nothing too ugly – but who likes fighting? –Especially when you could be sitting around drinking and eating pie?" Suddenly she became thoughtful and stared off and away, "Sometimes it's good to fight," she added. Then, refocusing, she said, "And I'll gladly fight for these people, because they didn't deserve what they got. But I don't want to fight you, because you're pretty." Mark's mouth watered. The idea of fighting her – her struggling in his arms as he carried off to his room, pinning her on his bed, holding her down as she wriggled beneath him, biting into her flesh as he sunk into her depths... Sarah suddenly coughed, turned a shade of red and started for the stairs. "Time for me to go." Mark looked after her, worried that some of his thoughts had gotten out, when he became aware that a person might only need eyes to know what he was thinking about. "I'm sorry, Leah, you don't understand," he said, trying to keep his... arousal in check and his brain on the issue at hand. "Uh... I think I just laid everything out there pretty clearly. My comprehension shouldn't really be in question. Now, in my experience, when someone starts questioning your comprehension of a situation for no apparent reason, it usually means that they don't know how to deal with the situation themselves. So let me advise you on how to deal with this situation you think I don't understand. Evaluate the women. One by one, figure out who can be returned with the least fuss or muss. Some of them will be people who no one would believe anyway – drug users, prostitutes, filmmakers. "Put them back, maybe not even exactly where they should be, but leave them somewhere where it would be clear they had had some crazy experience. Leave them with some ill-acquired drugs perhaps. Let anyone they tell about this, believe they're high or sick. And do it soon – the less they learn about this place, the less they'll have to tell. "Next will be the people who have a little more stability in their lives. –The ones who are probably already missed. There are some mothers here. Young women who still live with siblings or parents. People want to know where they are. People will want to know where they've been. Convince them to be loyal to you by granting their freedom. Explain to them what will happen if they betray your secret. But, allow them to use the truth in the explanation. "Let them be found with the dead body of one of the rogues. –Maybe two. Have them 'rescued' by local authorities. Have them explain that they were kidnapped by these men but a fight broke out and the men ended up killing one or two of their own and leaving. "Lastly, you'll have to deal with the angry ones. There's a fair amount of them here. They have reason to be. –Not only were they kidnapped in the first place, but they haven't been saved yet. -Pretty annoying. The longer you keep them, the more vindictive they'll be once they're out. This, you may have to work out on a one by one basis. You'll have to bribe them. You'll have to threaten them. You might have to orchestrate the lie they choose to tell. But you have to get them out of here. "Or I will." Something tingled in the back of Mark's head. He tried to ignore it – because it didn't make any sense. She was a human, and by default her threats were empty. –But it really sounded like... her voice came out like, like an alpha. He wanted to obey her, badly. But he shook it off, clearing his head with the fact that this probably just had something to do with the mating pull. "You'll understand in time," he said, heading toward the stairs, needing to be away from her. She threw her hands in the air in frustration. "Am I speaking French?" she asked the other women. She called after Mark, "I understand now!" They all shook their heads, worried. --------------------------------- "You'll really get us out in a week?" Beatrice asked, pressed against the glass between her cell and Leah's. "Yup." Leah was lying on her bunk, staring at the ceiling. "...Well, I'll set the plan in motion in a week. You may not be home in a week. But yeah – week from now, we're working on getting out. And we will be successful." "How?" "Same basic idea I was working on at the mobile home park. ...Though... we will have to get outside at some point to scope things out. Depending on where we are, everything might take longer. –Or shorter, if we're lucky. I have to call my sister. Maybe even my brothers." "You don't have a phone." "I don't? Guess I'll have to get one then." Beatrice paused. Then, drawing invisible circles on the glass, she asked, "Everyone's saying the wolves didn't rape you. Why not?" Leah smiled. "I guess I'm not a very attractive girl." "Seriously." Leah shrugged. She sat up a little. "I can't control other people. It's nothing like that. –Obviously. Or we wouldn't be here. But, I don't know. –With werewolves, were-things in particular, it's like they can tell what I feel, what I want, who I am. None of them understand it, but they know I mean what I say, when I say it." "I don't understand. How do you know werewolves?" "That's a long story. –A long story that's more about my sister than it is about me." Beatrice suddenly laughed, manically. "I think we all have the time." Leah looked around her cell, knowing full well there was plenty of surveillance, and that the guards at the door could hear every word uttered anyway. "You know what? I have a better idea. There's some things we'll have to do before we can orchestrate the escape attempt. Is anyone in here a gym instructor?" Upstairs, Earlene was frowning at the security screens. "She knows wolves, and other 'were-things.' She thinks we sense something about her... and I guess we do. And she's planning an escape that requires going outside and finding a phone." "I guess she's not allowed outside then," Greg replied. Earlene huffed. "The alpha's mate not allowed outside? I wonder how long that will last." "Okay, but she still won't get her hands on a phone, no matter how much Mark likes her." Earlene went silent. She didn't like the girl's confidence. It was immeasurable, and Earlene knew that with confidence like that she didn't need a damn phone to do anything. Earlene drew her thumb along the deepest scar on her face, a wide crescent cut that ran from her ear to the midpoint of her cheek. "How's Trent?" "That ass-wipe is sitting in the rogue cells with a shit-eating grin on his face. Mark should kill him now." "Trent's a good boy," Earlene replied. "He's an idiot. He thinks that she belongs to him?" Greg gestured to Leah on the screen. Earlene found it curious. "Why not? I mean, aside from Mark's claiming her. Why not?" Earlene asked. "What do you mean, 'aside from Mark's claiming her?' That's why. She belongs to the alpha. –Not to some lame omega, least of all Trent." "Say that didn't happen. What if Mark hadn't been here today? What if he hadn't met or smelled her yet? If Trent had gone down there and claimed her alone, would you have a problem with it?" "Hell yes! Of course... I mean... I mean, you can tell. You can tell they aren't mates. She's... and he's... there's no way." "Do you want to claim her?" Earlene asked, quietly. "I... I couldn't." "Aside from Mark," "Aside from Mark, aside from anything! She's not my mate." "Would you sleep with her if she didn't have a mate?" "Why are we having this conversation?!" Greg finally demanded. "I'm trying to figure out how you feel about her, whether every male wants to mate her or if it's just Mark and Trent." "It's just Mark and Trent!" Greg nearly screamed, inexplicably exasperated. "Though if Trent lays a hand on her I'll kill him myself!" Earlene frowned. Huh. ------------------------------ In the rogue cells, Trent couldn't help but sit smiling, content and eager for each passing moment. He knew he'd see her again; Luna had fated them to be together. He even considered the symmetry of their imprisonment; Leah alone in her cell and he alone in his. "Where'd you come from, anyway?" demanded a hard-looking were in the cell across from him with eyes like robin eggs - Elias. "I don't remember you." Trent looked up from his happy daze. "My name is Trent. I'm from this pack; the Masters' pack. I'm an omega. How do you do?" "How do you do. How do you do? Are you a wolf or a doily?" Trent smiled good-naturedly. Rogues were foolish wolves. True, being in a pack wasn't always easy; but what alternative was there? -Living like criminals on the fringe of human society? Trent shuddered at the idea of not having a job to do or a pack to do it for. What would he do all day? Suddenly, unbidden, he imagined being in a house and watering flowers, Leah coming home from work... Leah in his arms. He kissed her, hard, and when she smiled at him, he threw her on his bed and ripped off those purple star pants she was still wearing in the fantasy, though he definitely pictured them below a navy blazer as she had just come home from work- "What are you down here for?!" demanded Elias. "Oh!" Trent replied with a start. "Um, one of the ladies you rogues kidnapped is my mate," he began. The group roared with laughter, before Elias said, "I'm sure we all had a good time with her. You should thank us for breaking her in!" Trent shook his head, "Uh, no. My mate is the one you left unharmed, though I must admit I'm glad to know you will be punished for the crimes you committed against the others." Elias began to ask, then he remembered – that girl in front of Moe's shack. She hadn't been touched. Elias looked at Moe, who indeed had stood to get a good look at Trent. Bartok and Luis's eyes were on him too. "He talking about your bitch, Moe?" Elias demanded. Oddly, Moe ignored Elias, directing his question to Trent, "You're Leah's mate?" "Yes," Trent replied. "I don't believe it," Moe said, incredulously. "You and my alpha both," Trent replied with a smile. "My alpha also thinks he is her mate. But I know he's mistaken. ...That's why I'm down here." This information sent the rogues at large on a new round of laughter. But Elias, Moe, Bartok and Luis were silent. Elias hadn't had much time to think about her, but he knew there was something strange about Moe's girl. Now he was beginning to wonder exactly what it was. Moe, Bartok and Luis stared at the floor silently. It was impossible to think of Leah having a mate. They knew she didn't belong with them, not quite – but... they almost felt like it would have been better. They should have kept and protected her, rather than let some nerdy omega or some asshole alpha come and claim her. "What is she?" Elias asked. Trent smiled, a dreamy look overtaking his face. "She's awesome." --------------------------------------- "Gather around, everyone," Kate said, taking a seat on the largest sitting stone in the tradition ring – a big circle of stones where the wolves gathered to pledge new allegiances, mate-bond in front of the pack, and roast marshmallows in the fall. There were only a few wolves around, but Sarah noticed Kate and her announcement, and walked over. "Hey Kate. What's up?" "It's time for me to tell the story of my first mating," Kate said, waving her hand in the air. "Er... what?" "It's a beautiful tale. I didn't want to mate, but I felt the mating pull, and he felt the mating pull, and then damn. He gave it to me good." "TMI, Kate. TMI." "Well we have two wolves who have newly found their mate, and no one's giving it to anyone yet. I think it's time I explain how it's done." "No one's giving it to anyone yet because both Mark and Trent think they have the same mate." "Woo. Maybe she's one of those polygamists." "I don't think that's how that works, Kate." Above an Alpha Ch. 02 "How do you know? How many times have you been mated?" "None." "Well then. I've been mated three times – not at the same time, mind you. But that girl's probably one of those polygamists. I heard stories about that too. Maybe that's a story I should tell – a story about one lady and five wolves. Hot, hot, hot." Sarah began to laugh. "Kate, why do you need to tell a story like that?" "Nobody's having sex here – So I'll tell you about someone who does: Once upon a time there was a young, beautiful lady wolf with long, raven black hair and boobs to match!" "What in the world does that mean?" demanded Sarah. "Well, she was beautiful," Kate replied. "And one night she was out on a hunt, and she found a wounded man in the snow." "It was snowing? Where the hell was she?" asked Sarah. "Alaska. She felt inexplicably drawn to him... like a, like a poem you don't understand, but you like. T.S. Eliot or somebody. And he was scared at first, because he was just a human – but a nice big human man with big rough hands. And she couldn't help it but nuzzle up to him. And all the snow was getting worse, so she had to stay and keep him warm so he'd survive." "Er, why didn't she just change back and get help?" "Snow was in the way. Shut up Sarah, my story's just getting good. Because then, when the snow was clear, she wakes up and his five brothers are there to rescue him." "I thought you said it would be five dudes total, not six. –And you said they were wolves." "Well, when they mate they'll be... nevermind, you listen. So there were these four brothers there to save the wounded brother. And they were all so happy that the lady wolf had kept him warm all night, that they decided to take her home and keep her as a pet." Kate waggled her eyebrows at this. "That's messed up, Kate," Sarah said, shaking her head. "And they couldn't figure out why they liked this wolf so much, because humans don't know about the mating pull. But then, once they got her into the cabin,-" "There's a cabin now?" "Shush! Once they got her into the cabin, she turned back into her human shape, and she was buck naked." "Yes, I would assume that would be the case." "And you know how humans are about nudity." "I know how YOU are about nudity, you big weirdo," Sarah replied. "Well, they all didn't know what to do but get naked themselves. And then they all gave it to her good!" "Great! I'm going back inside," Sarah said. Kate chuckled to herself as she watched Sarah go, then turned back to stare at the currently empty circle. There was something about all this that seemed awfully familiar. But her mind just couldn't keep a grip on it. It wasn't that the two wolves both wanted the same girl, either. That was unusual, sure – but... Kate threw her head back and looked up at the sky, finding the moon in the light blue of day. Luna wouldn't have brought so many humans here without a reason. Sure, not all of them would be mates, but, certainly – with as many single males in the pack, and as many single women in the basement, the compound should have been drenched in twitterpation. But only Mark and Trent? A slip of memory touched her and Kate turned to look back at the compound. –Oh, she thought. Oh crap. Above an Alpha Ch. 03 Lucy couldn't believe it when the alpha stalked into the kitchen and started asking about where all the different foods were kept. She pointed at the various cupboards silently, eyes-wide. Mark had decided he would win his mate's heart by cooking for her; Leah did look like a girl who liked to eat. And though he had never cooked anything before in his life, he did watch a lot of Cake Boss. --Which he loved. And he figured that cooking dinner couldn't be all that different from baking a cake. Like everything in life, you just had to not suck at it. "I'm Mark, the boss," he said to himself in a heavy, terrible, New York accent. "Yes sir, you are," replied Lucy, suddenly worried that he didn't know that she knew who he was. "Oh," he said, voice back to normal, "I forgot you were here. What's your name?" "Lucy," she replied, doing a quick, awkward curtsy. "Lucy," he said, again taking on the hopelessly bad New York accent, "I'm gonna make some dinner for my girl. It's gonna be freaking fantastic." "Wonderful," she replied, a little bewildered by his voice. He grinned at her, and Lucy, for the first time in her life, was a little sad she was just an omega. She had always been pretty okay with being an omega -- every other type of wolf seemed to get stuck with the hard jobs or the scary jobs. And the lives of alphas and betas were always so full of drama! True, it was drama she LOVED to watch; but the idea of actually getting stuck with alpha beta problems had never really appealed to her. Suggesting she wanted to be an alpha would be like suggesting she wanted to be in a horror movie. So it was kind of odd, the sadness Mark's perfect smile instilled in her. Her wolf shook its head; don't even think about it. So, she didn't. Instead, "Um, sir, what are you making?" "Pasta," replied, throwing some uncooked macaroni noodles in a frying pan, and then unscrewing the lid to the jarred sauce. "This will be lucky sauce; it's Prego, after all." "Ha, ha..." Lucy said, before realizing with a start that her alpha didn't know how to cook. She opened her mouth to say something, but what could she say? "Um, sir, would you like some assistance?" He plopped half the jar over the hard, yellow elbows. "I think I have it under control," he replied. "But, uh... where do you put in the temperature?" His eyes moved to her, and her stomach dropped. She knew this was wrong, but she couldn't bear to point out he was wrong and now he was asking her to join in his ill-planned culinary escapade! She walked toward the stove, shaking now. She would have to turn on the heat. But what was he going to do when the food turned out horrible? Blame her?! What could she do? Her hand, trembling, reached for the dial. "You okay?" Mark asked. Earlene pushed through the swinging doors suddenly, causing Lucy to yip in fright. Both Earlene and Mark looked at her like she had grown another head. "You're excused, Omega." Lucy was out of there in a hot second. "Geez, Earlene. Now how am I going to get this thing working?" "Opie's on the phone, says he wants to talk about the trade next month." Earlene walked over to turn the stove on for him, then noticed the pan. "What trade?" Mark asked. Earlene picked up the pan and threw the whole thing in the garbage. "Hey!" "Did you listen to the messages I left on your phone this morning?" "I guess not." If he hadn't been her alpha, Mark might have thought Earlene was about to throttle him from the look on her face. She took a breath, and began. "We found more women than we could take, given that we also had to take the rogues. Opie ended up taking some with him. They made it across the border safely, but he says that it's already pretty clear who's a mate and who's not. He's ansy about having unmated human women around and wants to trade them out sooner rather than later. He's thinking the first of the month." "That's what, two weeks away?" "The alpha does check his calendar." "Okay, tell him yes." "Mark, you need to talk to him yourself. Being an alpha requires having relationships with other alphas; knowing their names, speaking to them, interacting with them." "Okay! Okay! I just, I was making dinner for Leah." "You were making shit for Leah; go talk to Opie. I'll get an omega to make her some dinner." His wolf bristled but acquiesced. Earlene was probably the only wolf on earth he wasn't interested in fighting. As an alpha, he knew he'd win -- but as a twenty-something he knew that a four hundred year old Earlene was perfectly capable of leaving him without an arm or a leg in the process. Once Mark left, Lucy peeked back into the kitchen. "You," Earlene said, nodding to her. "Find out what the alpha's mate likes to eat and make it for her. Make sure the other women are fed as well." Lucy nodded and set off. -------------- The sight awaiting Lucy downstairs struck her as one of the strangest things she had ever seen. The human women, in each of their cells were lined up and... dancing...? And six of the women, two in one cell of six and four in another, were not dancing, but singing. --Some number by Beyonce. One alone kept the beat by hitting the top of an old television with her palm. Another yelled and led the commotion -- Wait; Lucy had seen this before on television. They were doing zumba! She suddenly discovered one of them looking at her; the woman was intimidating -- everything about her told Lucy she had some serious mass. She could stop a truck. Her scent was odd too. She was alone in her cell. Then she realized it; "Are you Leah?" "That's me." Lucy debated how to proceed; usually with a human she'd have no problem introducing herself and going about her business. But her stomach was moving in ways that signaled this wasn't some human. She should show some deference. She just didn't know how. She's the alpha's mate, she reminded herself. "I'm Lucy. I'm an omega here. I am here to find out what foods you like, so I can make you dinner." "You waiting on everyone here tonight, Lucy?" "The rest will get the standard dinner, but the alpha wanted to make you something special." "Um. I've got a special idea. You tell him that..." and then Leah paused, and smiled. The grin on her face grew like the tree that bore Eve's apples. "Tell him I'm not eating until the other women are free. Yeah. Do that." Some of the other women, closest to Leah's cell had noticed Leah's interaction and had stopped to listen. "Wait, what?" Beatrice demanded. "Leah, I thought," she began. Leah shook her head at her. "I mean, I'm not too worried about starving to death," Leah said to Lucy, patting her round though firm, slightly protruding belly. "But, if he wants me to eat, he can let the others go." Lucy paled. She was just there to find out what to cook! Not to deliver unsettling information to the alpha! Leah noticed Lucy's face, and touched the glass between them. "Kiddo, it's okay," Leah said. "He won't hurt you. --Not for delivering my message." Leah's eyes suddenly stormed, and Lucy took a step back in wonder. "I don't think he will anyway," Leah added, looking away. "But if he does, I'll kill him. Okay?" What? - Lucy's wolf stood in horror. - Kill the alpha? Any other human, and Lucy would have been surprised by her threats. Any other human, Lucy would have laughed at and rolled her eyes after that initial surprise. But something told her that was a real promise. Suddenly, Lucy's wolf was up, poised, getting ready for a fight. No -- no one was killing her alpha without killing her first. And they certainly would. But that was the way of things. Proper. She should die in defense of the alpha. "Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey," Leah said, hands up, backing away from the glass. "Didn't mean to touch a sore spot. You know, you do yourself a disservice, Lucy. You're no omega." "Yes I am," Lucy said, automatically. "No," Leah said. "No human is an omega. Never. And you're human, regardless of how much hair your body sprouts or how you prefer your meat. We all are." Lucy slowly back away from Leah's cell, and then hurried up the stairs. Once she was gone, Leah waved at the others to resume their workout. She seemed preoccupied, but after a moment she yelled to the singers, "Hey -- you guys know the words to Thriller?" Then she smiled at one of the guards and added, "Appropriate, right?" --------------- Lucy took deep breaths through her nose as she went up the steps to the alpha's office on the second floor. She could hear him talking to the Larson pack alpha and she was glad for the respite of not being able to interrupt him. But the call ended all too quickly and she found herself tapping on the door quietly. "Come in, Lucy," Mark called. Lucy walked in and took a look around timidly. She hadn't ever been in there before; she had never had a reason to be. Mark rose to his feet and came around the desk. He had never cared for sitting, unless it was in the course of a marathon video game run, and he didn't like being in his father's office. The office reminded him of his father's cold side; the side that was all orders and punishments. -And that wasn't really his dad, not completely. Mark's dad had put band-aids on Sarah whenever she had a cut, and he used to watch Batman with Mark when he was a kid. He had smiled and made sweeping declarations. -And he shouldn't have been dead already. Shouldn't have left me in charge, Mark thought. He looked at the scared little omega in front of him. It was like watching at a fly trying to find its way out a closed window. "What did you need?" "Um, Madame Beta asked me to find out what... what your mate wanted to eat for dinner." "That's probably a good idea," Mark replied, "That way she'll get the idea that I care what she thinks. Girls like that, right?" "Uh..." Lucy paused. "Come on, you can tell me the truth. I'm not like, some crazy-overbearing alpha. I'm going to be the kind of alpha that even omegas can talk to." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the desk. "Leah has inspired me." "I suppose it depends... on what the girl is thinking." "Hmn," Mark said, trying to look like he was contemplating that for an appropriate amount of time. "So was that all?" "Er, no. Your mate... she said she wasn't going to eat... anything... until you free the other women." A beat of silence filled the room. "What?" "She said she wasn't going to eat anything," Lucy began again. He quirked up an eyebrow. "Can she do that? I'd get pretty hungry waiting for that to happen." "She sounded like she meant it." "Wait..." Mark frowned, suddenly getting what this meant. "You're saying she's going on a hunger strike? She's willing to starve to death just to force my hand?" Lucy tried to nod her head and couldn't. Mark's wolf raged inside him; no -- it was not up to his mate to force anything. She would submit to him! ...Suddenly that one scene from Beauty and the Beast where the Beast freaks out over Belle not coming down to dinner was so easy to relate to! The situation was inherently maddening! Lucy fell on her back on the floor! -This broke Mark out of his raging thoughts. "What happened?" he asked, hands in the air in surprise. "Sorry!" she squeaked before getting up just enough to partially crab-walk to the door. The alpha had been so angry her wolf hadn't been able to show its belly fast enough! "Please excuse me, Alpha." "...Sure," he replied, confused. He watched Lucy exit, then, a little deflated by the bizarrity, started to think about Leah's threat. He hadn't been an alpha long enough to know what to do about something like this... Luna, what would his father have done?! ... Finally, Mark smiled; this all sounded like an excuse for a private chat. ------------------------------------------------ In the surveillance room, Greg was watching, more and more fascinated by the scenes unfolding on the security screens. Leah talked to the other women, found out about them. She organized singing and dancing. She was even beginning to tell them about wolves' weaknesses. And the guards never interfered. In fact, she had actually talked them into participating in some ice-breakers. Greg realized that he wanted Leah's approval. He wanted her to scratch him behind the ears, and tell him he was a good boy. He switched to a view of Trent's cell. Trent was lying in a bunk, eyes closed, but awake -- it sounded like he might be humming to himself. "Retard," Greg muttered. Then he had an idea. -------------------------------------------------- In the hall, Elise saw Greg heading for the basement where they kept the rogues. "Something up?" she called, wondering if there was a problem to be dealt with. "Not yet," Greg said, grinning. Oh great, Elise thought, that asshole's grinning? She waited a moment, then followed surreptitiously. This was going to be stupid. She got a little sidetracked though when she ran into a wandering Kate. "You okay, Kate?" Elise asked. "Where the hell all the books go?" Kate asked, exasperated. "We had a library here once! Damn Kindles; you know that's what killed those ancient aliens. --Knowledge not existing. --Not being something that you can touch. If you keep something in a cloud, the hell happens when the cloud blows away?" "Uh, the library was moved to the C building four years ago." "No one tells me anything!" "You were there, Kate." "Doesn't mean you can't tell me something once in a while. I'm almost a thousand years old; of course I was there -- doesn't mean I know everything about it." "I thought you were well over a thousand," Elise replied absentmindedly; she wanted to follow Greg. "Shut your mouth!" gasped Kate, "I ought to pop you one good, spreading that nonsense around. Do I look like I'm a day over 700? Damn pup." Kate continued on her way grumbling, and Elise got back on her way following Greg down to the rogues' cells. ------------------------------------ Leah looked at the beta suspiciously when he announced he was to escort her to dine with the alpha. He tried to remain expressionless, but after a few moments managed an apologetic smile. "That's my order," he said, shrugging. Leah shrugged as well, saying, "Cool." As he unlocked the door to her cell, she looked over her shoulder at the other ladies, and added, "I'll be back soon." He put out his arm, and she took it. They ascended the stairs that led out of the basement and onto the main floor. Then she tripped him, and ran like gangbusters for the entrance -- Other wolves saw her make her break, and immediately went to stop her -- a teenaged theta happened to get in her way first, being the closest, and his eyes widened as he got a whiff of her scent up close. She took him by the arm, and swung him around with her, leaving him between the betas and herself. She kissed him on the forehead just before she let go, and he stumbled into the betas, all who seemed to drop like bowling pins. She hit the door like a brick, ripped it open and was outside. She inhaled, taking in the lovely sunlight, and tried to get some quick bearings, imagining that someone would be around to take her back inside soon. There were three large buildings that she could make out from this angle, but for all she knew they were connected. Cars parked in the dirt driveways -- a large wall, but not too large to make out mountains in the distance -- she knew those mountains. Hah, she thought, easy as old beans. Werewolves everywhere, she noticed as she glanced around at the odd groups that had practically frozen in place at the sight of her. They did not know how the sturdy looking human had gotten out, and were not sure that she wasn't supposed to be there. She smiled at them and walked toward the wall's entrance. She would have walked right through if it wasn't for the large, scarred wolf that suddenly padded into her path. It was mostly black, with a white belly, and a deep crescent cut on its face around which hair wouldn't grow. "Hey Earlene," Leah said nonchalantly. Earlene barked at her. "I remember when Mark Mark Masters was speaking to you earlier, he said your name." Earlene barked at her again. "Oh yeah, you weren't naked and on all fours before... You're right. You must just have a very recognizable aura." Earlene growled. "I am not!" Leah said. "Witches are bitches! Damn tree huggers. Sorry; I know you're all into the whole one with nature crap here too; frankly I'd rather be one with my laptop, but I shouldn't be disrespectful... of you know, kidnappers." Leah suddenly looked beyond Earlene to the road. "This road's gotta lead to Star Miner's Pass, right?" "How did you know?" Mark had approached from behind, angry at first that Earlene was growling at his mate, but now a little worried that Leah was acquainted with the area. "Been out here before," Leah said, shrugging and turning. The wind picked up, and suddenly Mark got the full-on Leah scent -- not blocked by the cell walls and crowded by other women. This wasn't like how his father had described the scent of a mate -- the need was so much greater, so much more complex. Sure, he would protect her and love her and Luna! He was going to give that thick woman the uglies-bumping of her life! But in all that there was this feeling, no, this knowledge - that with a woman like her under him, why -- he could rule the world. Everything would fall into place. He would never lose. Finally, he'd be the alpha he should be; he'd be a better alpha than his father had been. Mark swallowed his saliva and laughed; "There's no way you've been out here before. I've never smelled you before, and believe me..." "Maybe it was before you were born. Or maybe I was somebody else," Leah said offhandedly. Earlene growled at this, thinking to Mark -- Alpha, this thing is dangerous! She's powerful; I can feel it. She could kill me in an instant; I'm not sure how, but I know it. If you had attacked my mate, Mark thought in response, she should have killed you and you should have let her. "Doing some brain talk there again?" Leah asked. "You know how rude that is, right?" Earlene was backing away slowly. Mark had never been much of an alpha. Even before his father died, he had seemed weak -- he had no passion, no interest, aside from his physique he didn't even have presence. Now his eyes were like hard steel weights pressed upon the wolf that had threatened his mate. Earlene didn't want to be offended; intellectually she knew this was about the mating pull, but she had helped Mark. She had supported him through becoming the alpha once his father died. She had wanted him to succeed more than anyone. Now he looked like he would just as soon rip her throat out as not. --It was sort of like meeting friends at the movies and finding no one saved a seat for you. Disconcerting. She shook her head, remembering who he was and who she was and what they were. Earlene finally loped away, trying not to dwell on it. Mark then took Leah's hand. "Time for dinner." "Drinks first?" Leah asked, letting Mark lead her back into the compound. ------------------------------ You know those dreams that are begotten of day-dreams? -Those brain-creatures that creep into your imagination while your eyes are open, just so they can pull you into real sleep and take over your mind completely as you hand over your consciousness like a down-payment on bliss? That's what Trent was dealing with as he began to snooze in his bunk. He and Leah were on a different world, where they were the only ones like them -- there were no wolves, no humans, just them, and some plants that grew hamburgers. Trent kept the books, and Leah smiled at him and kissed his ear. He hunted hamburgers in the evening, and when he brought home a whole bag of them, Leah pulled him into bed and her clothes crawled up off her body, turning into restraints that she writhed in beneath him. He had bitten her on the hip, and his teeth marks spelled his name. Every time he pressed his thumb against his name on her hip, she screamed in pleasure. He pushed himself into her while teasing her mouth with a hamburger. Above an Alpha Ch. 03 "Trent!" she screamed. "Leah!" he moaned. "Trent-" "Leah!" he said again. "Take it!" "Trent?" "Leah, take it! Take it! Eat the hamburger!" Trent wailed, grinding his hips... into the air, as new laughter broke out in the cells. He woke now, noticing Greg was standing outside the cell, shaking his head in a confused combination of disgust and horror. "What the fuck, Trent? What. The. Fuck." Greg announced. Eyes wide, Trent hurried to find his glasses and to straighten himself, falling off his bunk in the process. "I'm sorry; I must have fallen asleep there for a moment." Getting to his feet, Trent added, "I apologize for that. Was there something I could help you with?" Greg stared at him; disturbed enough that he almost forgot why he had come down to the basement in the first place. "Uh... I thought you'd want to know, the alpha is taking his mate tonight -- claiming her, the old fashioned way. So you better start working on your apology for trying to suggest she was yours. --That is if you ever want to get out of here." Greg turned as if that was all he had to say. "What?" Trent's anguished whimper actually cut through the various laughs and chatter of the other prisoners. "She accepted him?" The wind was knocked out of his wolf; how could she accept anyone else? His world had ended. His life was meaningless. He was nothing. Greg had to work hard not to smile now. He had him. He turned back to the sad omega in the cage. "Nope. Not really. He tried wooing her, but she's not interested. She's too terrified of wolves to accept any werewolf." On the other side of the room, Moe, Luis and Bartok looked at each other in confusion. Leah was NOT afraid of wolves. --If anything, she had been friendlier to them in wolf form the few times she had seen them that way. All three stood, listening to Greg's words more intently now. Greg continued, "So, rather than draw things out, he's just going to force the mating. --Becoming a werewolf and being mated usually solves the whole independent woman problem." The wolf inside Trent that had been dying a moment ago, froze. The alpha was going to force a mating? On Leah? Oh hell no. Abso-fucking-lutely not. Greg had been working so hard to contain the giggles that threatened to erupt when he observed Trent's sadness, that he didn't notice immediately the anger coming off of Trent in waves. But Greg found himself suddenly stumbling a few steps back, and wondering why it happened, he looked up at Trent in wonder. He was shocked to find Trent seething, hands balled up into fists in his cell. --This was actually what Greg wanted, for Trent to get angry. But he hadn't expected to sense any power with the anger. --Not from some measly omega. Greg had never sensed anything like this from any omega before. Trent couldn't speak he was so mad. But Moe could. "What? Your alpha's going to force a mating?" Everyone was a little surprised Moe cared. --Everyone other than Luis and Bartok. Moe seemed surprised he had spoken up though himself, then added, "Well, what are we doing here then?" He looked around at the other rogues, before waving a hand at Greg. "What makes your alpha better than us? Why is it we're the ones imprisoned? So we took some women. He's doing the same thing! That doesn't even make sense! Why are we in here if it isn't a crime?" Greg not expecting this, remained silent. Trent now found his voice. "He can't. He just can't." Greg looked back at Trent. He couldn't go back now, no matter the fact that the little omega seemed, suddenly, more. "There's nothing you can do... except..." "What?" "If you want, I can bring the alpha news of your challenge," Greg offered carefully. Elias, sitting in the darkest corner of his cell, laughed. He knew exactly what was happening here. Packs were for hypocrites -- people who talked about family and safety and rules, then would stab you in the back for a little entertainment. Elias was beginning to like his front row seat though. Trent's wolf answered before he had a chance to even think, "Yes. Thank you. I challenge the alpha. --For the hand of my mate." Trent said to his wolf, yes, I understand; we must die for the honor of our mate. His wolf said to him, no, we will not die; we will have our mate and she will have us. Trent argued, the alpha will defeat us. No, his wolf said, he will be defeated, because we love her, he will be defeated, because he does not deserve her, we will win, so that she can be free. Trent couldn't argue with the last; regardless of whether he lived or died, Leah would be free. He would see to that much. ---------------------------------------------- "I saw an episode of Millionaire Matchmaker like this once," Leah said, drinking her wine. She nodded to the humongous bed sitting a foot away from the table where she and Mark were supposed to be eating dinner. "One of the millionaires planned a date next to a bed. It was ridiculous. Patty had a fit." "I guess I missed that episode," Mark said. "This is really good," he added, popping some of the veal parmigiana in his mouth. Leah, true to her word, hadn't touched any of the food. But she was already through half a bottle of merlot. "He seemed to think they were going to have sex after dinner," she went on. "Rude, right? First date. Any date, really... I mean, sex shouldn't be an expectation ever." "But always a hope," Mark replied. Leah lifted an eyebrow. "Never hope for more than your own hand can't handle." Mark choked on his veal. Once he got it down, he wiped his watering eyes, and said, "I'm sorry, but my room is the only place I thought we'd get any privacy. Real privacy." Leah finished her glass. "Don't think we need it." He poured her another. "Leah, we should..." he accidentally glanced at the bed, and found himself imagining her naked on it. --But he wasn't going to force her, no -- she was going to want him, seduce him, before the night was through. She would be begging him on her knees for his mark. He'd make sure of that. That's what his dad would have done to a female he wanted. "Er... Find out more about each other. You're the woman I'm destined to be with. You're the mother of my future children." Leah didn't sip her wine as planned, but put it on the table and pushed it away a moment. "I think we may need to have a conversation about what I am. --Because 'mother of your future children' is probably not it." "You are. I can smell it." Leah sighed, began to answer, then paused before saying, "You know what would make a great wedding gift? -Freeing the rest of the women." "I can't," Mark said, looking away. He didn't understand why she was so adamant. These women would find mates! What else did they need? What business was it of hers, anyway? She was destined for the alpha; she should have been more concerned with him, and their future together. Leah rested her elbows on the table, intertwining her fingers to hold up her chin. "You have all this power, Mark Mark Masters." His lips quirked up; he liked that she associated him with power. But he replied, "Stop calling me that." "That's your name, isn't it? That's how you introduced yourself." "You're flirting with me," he said, pleased. Yes, this would go according to plan. "That isn't nice unless you're actually interested." "I am interested; the problem is that I'm only interested in your body and that's not enough for me to mate or marry you -- which means it's definitely not enough for me to sleep with you. Now, if you were the kind of guy to let the women go," she began. "I can't do that," he growled. "You don't understand." "I understand perfectly. You're afraid. You're letting fear guide your actions, and it's making you a bad per... it's making you a bad alpha." He looked at her -- anger ripping through him like an unexpected sword thrusting up through him belly-button to neck. She had no idea what it was like to be alpha, and even less idea what it was like to be him! Mark was too young to be alpha -- but look! The compound hadn't disintegrated and the pack was still alive! And it wasn't fair! His dad should have still been there! It took everything in him not to turn. He gripped the table. Leah looked at his hands. Then she looked him in the eye. "Do the right thing. Do the right thing. Do the right thing." Mark suddenly stood and upturned the dinner table. "I'm not letting the women go! My father didn't do it, and it's a good thing too, because this is the same way he met my mother!" he yelled. "More to the point - I'm the alpha here! Not you, not yet. If you want to be an alpha, well, I can take care of that for you." He stalked toward her. Leah, of course, was still seated and holding the glass of wine that she saved from destruction in the same blink of an eye that Mark had used to upturn the table. Mark reached her, and knocked apart her knees with his own, so he could stand between her legs. She took a sip of wine. "So about those other ladies," Leah began. He grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her to her feet, dragging her roughly up his body. She didn't spill her drink. He kissed her, invasively. He bent her at the waist, and her still open eyes went to the glass in her hand with worry. "Mark," she tried to say, into his mouth. "Give in to me," he said, moving his mouth to her neck, kissing sloppily, finding the place where he planned to put his mark. "Oh, dear -- you don't want to do that," she said, trying to figure out how to get another sip from her vertical glass when her lips were parallel with the floor. "I do!" Mark moaned, grabbing a breast through Leah's shirt. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Leah said, trying to push away his hand without losing her balance or her glass. "This is not proper first date activity." Mark groaned. "I can smell that you want me," he said into her hair, smelling her, her... she smelled like luck and courage and smiling in the face of danger. And, yes she was aroused. "Yeah," she replied, "That's not unusual though. Unless I'm super dehydrated I'm generally good to go. BUT, biology is never a reason to go about procreating. Would you do me a favor and let go? I'm only asking because you're pretty." "Never," he said, kissing her neck. "You're so beautiful; I really don't want to fight you, Mark," she sighed, a little depressed. "Then don't," he ground out, pulling on her shirt. "Just let it happen." Finally he admitted, "Please. I need you." "If someone imprisoned your sister, Sarah, and never let her see you ever again..." He took her wine. "Hey!" He drank it himself. Then he said, "Get undressed." "No." He paused. She sounded like she meant it. "On your knees," he said. She laughed outright at that. "I don't want to hurt you," he said. "Er... good?" "I don't want to force you," he added. She shook her head and rolled her eyes; "Like to see you try," she said. Then she seemed to realize what she said. He certainly had. He pinned her to the bed in an instant, grabbed her Doctor Who shirt and tore it open, exposing her breasts. "No!" she screamed, picking up a shred of her ruined shirt. "This was my favorite sleep shirt! It's so soft!" His hands were already squeezing the handfuls, playing with the tips of them with his thumbs. They began to wake up under his touch, and he felt her begin to relax under him, falling under the haze of sensation he was creating in her. "Nope, nope -- can't do this. Not a good idea," she managed to say as her hips twitched under him. "My sister's going to kill..." His mouth was on her now, and she melted against the hard, massive arm that now snaked beneath her head, twining fingers in her hair. His other arm played down her ribcage, to her soft stomach, and then the waistband of her purple star pajamas pants. He pulled away from her and began to slip the pants off. For a moment she looked like she would let him. Then, with a sigh, she said, "No. No this won't work." She reached down for the waistband. He held tight, continuing to pull her pants down. "Do not rip my purple star pajamas pants, Mark Mark Masters," she said, eyes swirling green riptides. "You don't want what that will bring." He smiled, and just began to tear the fabric - She kicked him, and he flew off the bed. She pulled her pants back up. "I'm sorry," she said, picking up the piece of her shirt, trying to figure out if it was salvageable. "I can't do this. Werewolves, werethings generally, bad idea. --I'm not allowed to tangle with you. Last time this happened... Well, it wasn't so bad for me, but I swore to my sister I wouldn't do were again." She got off the bed, and walked to the closest set of drawers in the room, hoping to find a shirt. "Okay, actually I swore I wouldn't get pulled into any more were-drama, but I think sticking up for the ladies here doesn't really count. I mean, I'm just being a good citizen. --Which really, is sort of the least I can do, considering what I used to be, back in the day. I mean, it's hard to make a change like that. Just flip a switch. But she insisted. --Thinks we're not human anymore, just because..." She found a shirt -- a plain white hanes tee that actually fit pretty well, considering it was one of Mark's. She looked at him in confusion. "How tight do you wear your shirts?" Mark was dazed and confused. Okay, he finally admitted to himself, sitting on his ass where he had landed - Earlene was right; this girl was weird. "What are you?" he asked. She smiled, rolling her eyes. "That's a long story, Mark Mark Masters... and I don't plan on being here past Sunday." Above an Alpha Ch. 04 Elise had stayed on the stairs just before the basement door, listening to Greg's little speech. At first, she thought she had missed something. She hadn't heard anything particular about the alpha's mate being afraid of wolves – though that fact wouldn't surprise her if it was true; humans were notorious cowards. But she also hadn't heard anything about Mark forcing a mating. –Though this alone wouldn't surprise her either; Mark was sort of a douche... -Okay, she would be a little surprised to find out Mark was a rapist douche, but then again, alphas took what they wanted. –Not a big deal for unmated lady wolves, as any of them would be ecstatic just to be with an alpha... even if he was a douche, but for humans... well, she could see the problem. It was a bad idea in any case though – setting the tone of a mating by starting it with a rape? Elise was getting more and more perturbed by the situation, when she finally realized what Greg was doing. He wasn't merely there to upset the little omega. –He wanted the omega to commit suicide by alpha! Luna, Greg is probably lying, she said to herself. She wondered why the guards hadn't kicked his ass back upstairs, but realized that they were probably as confused as she was, and probably had the same thought she did - that Mark was in fact a douche. That's when she heard Trent give Greg notice of his challenge. She growled to herself; Greg was manipulating the wolves around here like puppets on a string, and one of those puppets was going to be the alpha? What an ass! She crept back up the stairs hoping Greg wouldn't notice her. She was totally going to spoil his plan- -Only, it occurred to her, manipulation or no – Trent had issued a challenge to the alpha, and Greg wasn't the only one to hear it. The guards and the prisoners all knew. And Trent – that poor stupid omega, he really did believe the strange human was his mate. –This much wasn't Greg's doing. "Shit," she said to herself, reaching the main floor and eyeing the alpha's office. "Greg's plan is going to work." ------------------------------ Kate just stood there, in the relative darkness of the library, for entire minutes. The old wolf had forgotten how many books the pack had. She was staring at two dozen rows of bookshelves, all taller than she was, and long as a football field. At first daunted, a smile slowly crept over her face as she began to smell the lingering scents of old readers – wolves she had known long ago who devoured books like meat. Her second mate in fact, had been the type to fall asleep drooling in all his books, and she could scent that, among the dusty pages and smell of other booklovers. Kate took a steadying breath and set to work. She had an idea what this Leah was, but she wasn't entirely sure. There were many things in the world other than werewolves and humans. –Many, many things. -At least there had been. Kate couldn't remember much from her earliest years living, but she still maintained patches of memory – her first mating, her first hunt. She could remember her mother making her a dress. She could remember salt in big barrels and meeting another wolf pack for the first time. And she sort of remembered the talk from back then. She remembered old talk, old talk about disappearances. Her father couldn't tell who had disappeared because they had become extinct, and who had simply wanted to disappear. They had tried to make a list, her father and the others, to keep track of things. But it was still mostly guessing. Fairies, for one thing, were a mystery. Elves, probably gone. The small gods – they had been banished. Trolls, killed. Hopefully. Fallen angels had retreated to hell, with a few exceptions. Angels all had been called back to heaven, with a few exceptions. Vampires lingered. Griffins and gargoyles saw what happened to the dragons and got the hell out of dodge. Sea nymphs, mermaids, sirens, sprites, who knew? The soulless had died out. Gorgons and furies, orcs and ogres, they were probably dead... Heroes, the old-timey kind, they had all died in a suicide pact. Witches lingered. Wooly Mammoths – those damned telekinetic monsters - had been crushed under the weight of their own minds. Weres lingered. Man thrived. And then there were things that couldn't leave if they tried. Ghosts, of course... but also... Kate held onto the memory as well as she could, knowing it might take some time to find the book she needed. --------------------------------------------------> "Are you a witch?" Mark asked, a strange thrill of fear tingling up his back. He watched the thick girl in purple pajamas pants walk back to the bed and sit, wondering if this perhaps wasn't the mating pull, if this was a spell or... No – no it had to be the mating pull; he had never felt anything like this before. She was the answer to his problems – putting children in her would ensure such a line. "No," she replied, swiping a hand through her hair, before twisting it up into a makeshift bun. "What then?" he asked, wondering if she was another kind of were, a new kind of were. Holy shit, he thought, what if she's a government experiment like in the freaking movies? What if his mate was the million dollar woman?!? "Mark Mark Masters, geez. You wouldn't believe my story if I told you, and we don't have time for it. You need to release those women." This was a bucket of water on his musings. It would have been one thing, if there was any practical way that he could release the women. It would have been another thing, if she had simply asked him once and let it be once she had been given his answer. But this continual harassment on a moot point – he began to think it wouldn't matter if there was a practical way, that it didn't matter that she wanted it. Mark was the alpha. It was his decision. "No," he growled. "And I hope you realize that there's plenty of time for you to tell me this story – because they're not the only ones not leaving." "Bluh," Leah replied. "Two 'nots' in one sentence. There's rules against that, aren't there? But besides that, I hope you know that I have a faculty meeting coming up – you know, the semester's starting any day now, so... I can't be here forever." "You'll stay here and be my mate forever," Mark replied. "Mark Mark Masters, I'm needed. -By the masses. I teach cartooning. They need me out there. You think the Sunday funnies draw and write themselves? You think anyone can just make a picture and a caption and be the next Family Circus? Of course they can! But who would want that, Mark Mark? Who wants MORE Family Circus? I don't. I really don't! But if we don't shape those young people out there to be... interesting, and... and funny, Mark Mark Masters, we may just end up with more Family Circus... more cartoon children just... stating the obvious. –And their cartoon parents just standing there under speech balloons filled with nothing but puns. Puns, Mark Mark Masters. Puns." Mark looked at her. She seemed genuinely concerned about all this. "I don't really read the paper," Mark admitted. "I never imagined you did," she replied, "I only read the entertainment section and advice columns and cartoons." "I do sometimes look at the cartoons," Mark said, "I've noticed that Dilbert is pretty funny. There's always a paper on my desk for some reason. I think Earlene puts it there." "I think Earlene has your best interests at heart," Leah said. "I do too," Mark said. Luna, his wolf was confused. Leah pissed him off to a degree he had never before felt. –And he wanted her in his corner, in his bed, so badly. And, suddenly, he also realized that he liked talking to her. –When she wasn't driving him crazy. "You could, could keep cartooning," he offered. "You could do a paper just for the wolves. Wolf News!" Leah raised a bemused eyebrow at this. Impossible, of course, though it was sweet that he was trying. "Best of both worlds," Mark continued. "You stay here, and become the star cartoonist of the pack. Oh! Oh – if it's the teaching you like, you can teach the pack. I'll MAKE them come to your class." Leah began to laugh. Mark got to his knees. "Come on, Leah. Trust me. I'm your mate. Tell me what you are. Submit to me. Give me yourself and I'll give you the world in return." She glanced around significantly. "Small world," she said. His eyes sparkled in the light. "Compared to Man, our world may seem small – but our lives are long and full. I would," Mark began to say that he would fuck her every day for the next thousand years, but managed instead to say, "make you happy every day for the next thousand years." "Sounds like heaven," Leah said. "It would be," Mark replied, getting to his feet, his jeans getting tighter at the thought of Leah finally giving in. Luna! A whole freaking day of having to woo his mate! –This was frustrating stuff. "Mark Mark Masters, haven't you ever wondered, you know, if heaven gets boring?" He didn't even hear her; he was just staring at the press of her breasts against the borrowed shirt, and feeling the snap and zip of his jeans as he pulled them open. She was already almost imperceptibly shaking her head no. And then someone was pounding at the door. "Alpha! You're needed," Earlene said through the door. "Saved by the bitch," Leah said. "It'll have to wait," Mark replied, eyes on Leah. He pulled off his shirt now, revealing very, very amazing pectorals. Leah's eyes went wide, and her hand automatically went to the corner of her mouth to keep from drooling. She crossed her legs and tried to look away. "Er, you better go check and see what it is," she said, voice a tad high. Earlene pounded on the door again. "Seriously, Mark – we've got a problem." Mark reached out and felt Leah's breast through the shirt. Her nipples were up and ready for action. He slipped his jeans down his legs. –Just his boxers now. "Lie down," he said. "Maybe we could just make out for a while." Leah held up her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "Just for a little while." Mark gently pushed her down on the bed. He nodded. "I'll kiss you," he said. "For a while." He caressed himself through his boxers. She began to sit up again, "Aren't you curious what I am?" He shrugged, "It can wait." He pushed her back down. "Mark Masters! You have a beta down here who's orchestrated a challenge against your rule as Alpha! Can you hear me in there?!" He paused, just a moment, to look at the door. "What?" Suddenly Leah was off the bed, at the door, about to open it. "You might want to get your pants on," she offered, just seconds before she pulled it open. He was still standing there, wondering how she got to the door so quickly, pants around his ankles, when Earlene walked in. Earlene looked pretty mad... until she got a look at Mark – harboring a pretty serious erection in nothing but boxer shorts, hovering over a bare bed like there had been someone there. Granted, weres aren't strangers to nudity. -Still, rarely did one find another simply poking out of a pair of boxers while appearing to make lewd advances on an empty bed. Would that be mattress porn or simply coverlet kink? Both Earlene and Mark turned nine shades of red, before Earlene turned away and Mark almost destroyed his jeans trying to rip them back up his legs. "What?!" Mark demanded, embarrassed to look at her. "It's been reported to me that one of the betas, Greg, has fooled the omega, Trent, into issuing a challenge." "What do you mean?" Mark replied, finally turning to her. There was too much to process here. If Trent really still believed Leah was his mate, Mark wasn't surprised by the challenge. But what did Greg have to do with any of it? "Elise overheard Greg purposely goading Trent into a challenge. He suggested to Trent that you planned on raping Leah, and now Trent has issued a challenge for the right to mate her himself. I went down to the cells and tried to explain to him that Greg had been out of line, but," Earlene began. "But he still challenged me!" Mark said. "The alpha! An omega of all wolves, challenging me?" He began to pace with anger. "I know; it's unheard of," Earlene replied, "But he was tricked, Mark." "Tricked? He knows that Leah is my mate, and if I want her I'll take her and it's my right." "Mark, don't fan the flames. You don't want any more talk of rape getting into this." "Why? It shouldn't matter. I'm the alpha." "Luna, Mark. Have some tact. You're the alpha, yes – that means that you have to have some basic understanding of the wolves below you. You have to make them feel safe. I heard that Trent was sad, but looked like he'd have given Leah up if she had chosen you. You know how much trouble that would have solved? If he thought the girl was safe with you? Instead he thinks you're a rapist and now you've been challenged." Mark rolled his eyes. "By an omega. Big deal." "Yes, Mark. It's a big deal. Sure – you can beat him. He's an omega. But that's not like sparring with a beta or a theta. It's not even like being challenged by a beta or a theta." "Er, yeah," Mark replied. "It'll be easier. Duh." "Yes, Mark. It will be easy to kill Trent. –That's why it won't be like the other fights. It will be murder, plain and simple." Mark paused, the truth of it sinking into him slowly. Earlene continued, "The entire pack will be there. When someone challenges the alpha like this, the entire pack has to be there. Everyone. –Including Sarah. You'll go into the circle. Trent will go into the circle. Everyone will know that you're the alpha and he's the omega. Everyone will know that you both want the same girl. Trent will be the brave one for wanting her badly enough to die. You..." "I will be the villain," Mark replied. Earlene shook her head. "It's too soon, Mark. Every alpha at some point or another has to be the bad guy. He has to make the hard choice. But you've been at this for too short a time and you've..." "I haven't been a very good alpha otherwise, anyway," Mark said. "The fact you've said it out loud... it makes me think you might be a great alpha someday, Mark. You're your father's son. You can rise to the occasion. –It's just... this is a mess." "Why'd Greg do it?" Mark asked. "He's about as obsessed with her as the rest of you. Trent's claim was driving him... insane." Mark turned to look at Leah, realizing – no, this couldn't wait, they needed to know what she was. Only she wasn't there. -Just the door, open, as it had been when she opened it. "Did she..." Mark looked at Earlene and pointed to the door. "Did she just run away again?" ---------------------------------------------- "So, Sunday, then. ...Cool. ...Love you. And don't tell Adria. ...Of course she'll find out; that doesn't mean she needs to know now, does it...? Oh God, just because she's the oldest... And that. ...You know what? Whatever. Tell her or don't. I don't care." Leah pushed the end-call button on the phone she had nicked from the teenaged theta she had practically danced with during her earlier escape, and slipped it back into the back of the granny panties she was wearing beneath her pajamas bottoms. She continued walking through the woods toward civilization; it was important for the wolves to believe that she had a particular route to freedom, so she was making a point of blazing it. ------------------------------------------------> Trent couldn't believe what he had done. After Greg left, he sat in his bunk, unable to think, unable to hear anything except the roaring silence in his ears. Trent had issued a challenge to the alpha. In other words, Trent had asked to be killed. Inside his wolf growled – stop thinking that way! But it was easy to think that way. Though, Trent was surprised to find that his fears were not at all in line with what he would have assumed they would be under the circumstances. Last week, had someone presented him with the scenario of challenging the alpha for a mate, he would have thought that being ripped open and cannibalized would be at the forefront of his worries. His secondary concerns would be that he would die having never known the love of a mate, and having never once been to Hawaii, and having never won a trophy for anything. In addition to these things, he would also be a little sad that he would be leaving his work for the pack unfinished and that the things in his room would likely just be thrown away. He was also very curious about what would happen next spring on Masterpiece Mystery, and would be very put out by dying before spring came. Now though, the reality was that he wasn't merely worried about being ripped open and cannibalized by the alpha in a horrible duel to the death. He was worried he couldn't protect his mate, AND that he was going to be ripped open and cannibalized by the alpha in a horrible duel to the death. He found he didn't really give a damn about Hawaii – although part of him really wished he was there now, with Leah, on the beach, naked, eating kiwi fruits and drinking mai tais, reading erotic poetry, dancing the hula, rubbing suntan oil into each other's skin, kissing under the sunset, over-tipping the valet, building erotic sandcastles and laughing at the ocean waves that knocked the sandcastles over. He wanted to hold her down the sand, Leah fat with cubs, and kiss her everywhere, and make her smile. He suddenly remembered the way she smiled at him when she waved goodbye from her cell. Oh Luna, he needed to live. Just to see that smile again. -------------------------------------------------> Mark immediately ran out to the hallway, and realizing that Leah was really, really not there – he changed into his wolf form and bound downstairs. But before he could exit the building, he found his sister Sarah coming inside, carrying a limp wolf in her arms. "Mark! It's Lucy! I found her by the tradition ring!" Sarah put Lucy on the floor. Mark was torn. He didn't even know where Leah was by now, but Sarah looked really upset. ...Also there was a potentially dead wolf on the floor. Earlene strode over and nudged the unconscious wolf with her foot. "What's wrong with her?" "I don't know!" Sarah said. Mark looked between the door and his sister. Finally, he trotted over, licked her hand, and then headed for the door. "Really? We didn't just have a talk about being the bad guy too soon... or too often?" Earlene drawled. Mark the wolf stopped and banged his head against the door three times, before turning around and turning back into his human form. He walked over, naked, and crouched by Lucy. He grabbed her wolfy jaw and shook her head back and forth a little. "Hey. Hey you." "Her name is Lucy," Sarah pointed out. "Lucy!" Mark shook her head in his hand. "...Lucy!" Mark shook her head in his hand. "...Lucy!" Mark said, still shaking her head back and forth. Mark looked at his sister. "Well, I did my best." Suddenly, Lucy began to awaken. Her eyes blinked and she started to roll over. Then, she smelled the alpha. Her eyes shot completely open; she saw the alpha – crouched over her – totally naked. She barked in surprise and leapt into the air, turning into her human form accidentally, and crashing painfully into the stair banisters. "Lucy!" screamed Sarah. "Wow," said Earlene and Mark. "Owowowow," cried Lucy. "So she's okay," said Mark. Sarah glared at him before going over to lend Lucy a hand. "I found you unconscious by the tradition ring; what happened?" Sarah asked. Mark looked at Earlene; Earlene just nodded, she had this. He turned, about to shift and go looking for Leah again. Above an Alpha Ch. 04 "I didn't know what to do! I saw Leah leaving the compound – and I didn't know whether to follow her or tell somebody! I was trying to decide and I... must... have... fainted." Mark rolled his eyes and looked back at Lucy. "Take me to her." -------------------------------> It was Bartok who said it first; "He's the one for her." Luis nodded. Moe agreed, but wasn't sure it mattered. Trent was an omega, and though the fact he had issued a challenge despite his standing had brought him up a peg in the eyes of the rogues, it wasn't going to keep him alive in a fight with an alpha. Moe paced the cell. Getting captured by a pack was pretty bad, but he had almost been resigned to his fate at that point. He'd be killed or rehabilitated. He figured he'd take what he got. But now the alpha was going to force a mating on Leah?"Maybe he won't be able to," Moe said quietly, really just to himself. "That's right," Luis said, brightening. "We couldn't. Remember all those times we tried to rape her?" Luis was grinning, but as the memories sunk in all three frowned and shuddered violently. "It's true; we couldn't touch her," Moe said. "But an alpha's an alpha," Bartok argued. Elias was watching the three both concerned and a little annoyed. He knew there was something different about Leah, but he hadn't had the time to investigate. He didn't like that the others knew more about what was going on than he did. "You three need to stop worrying about pussy and start worrying about how we're getting out of here." Moe rolled his eyes. Elias had been someone he once admired, thought of as a leader, but things had changed. Now Elias just looked like some criminal, some petulant kid angry that life hadn't worked out to his advantage. "You think we're getting out?" Moe asked. "Didn't notice the betas at the door? All the wolves we passed on the way in? The security cameras? These boys have guns, Elias. We wouldn't make it to the stairs." "I don't belong in a cage, Moe. I don't know about you; maybe you like being someone's pet. Maybe you're hoping the alpha will come down and piss on you next." "Shut up," Moe said. "You were right, you know," Elias said. "The alpha up there isn't any better than you or me. He's raping and pillaging just like you and me. Why are we down here? Because he wanted we had. He wanted those women, and he's going to have that girl you three all got a mystic hard on over." No one had a response; silence fell upon them for a few moments. Moe sat down. Then, Bartok looked up at Elias. "What do you suggest we do?" Moe looked at Bartok angrily. Moe wouldn't have cared before, but something in him didn't want to return to the rogue hierarchy. Elias nodded to Trent's cell. "We're going to get out of here. –Just like him. Now get your brains open; I don't need an audience." -------------------------------> Lucy couldn't believe how thrilling it was to run beside her alpha like this. They were in the woods outside the compound, hot on Leah's trail. The sun was still out, but the air was cooler than usual this time of year – and Lucy was exhilarated! Mark often led pack hunts through the woods, and Lucy could only glimpse his gleaming, perfect form from the back of the pack. Her breath would catch in her chest at the sight of him, large and commanding. But she didn't know what it was like to be near him, never imagined that she would know what it was like to be near him – not until now. He was so much bigger than her up close! And his hair was shining, almost changing color in the light. Suddenly she remembered what he looked like human, crouched over her, naked. She fell over. He paused almost tripping himself, looking at her, wondering if they should send her to the compound medical center. But that was when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leah. She was striding down a dirt road, barefoot, gabbing on a phone. His brain took a second to process that. And the next thing Leah knew, she and Mark were rolling across the dirt road. By the time they came to a stop, Mark was on top of her – the phone between his jaws. He growled at her. In return she gave him a still, low look – a very, Do Not Growl At Me Like That Mark Mark Masters, look. He stopped growling and turned back into his human form, pulling the phone out of his mouth as he did. He held it up. "Who were you talking to?" he demanded. "CVS!" she replied, gesturing to the phone. "They're probably still on the line if you want to check!" He put the phone to his ear. "Who is this?" "Uh," came the voice over the phone, "this is Babsy from your local neighborhood CVS. Is everything alright?" Mark shut off the phone. "What were you doing?" "I have high blood pressure! Do you want me to die? I've already been off my medication for over a week! I either need to pick up some more or have it delivered." "What... how? No. You're super strong – you kicked me, and you're fast. You can't..." "Have basic health and medical problems? Well I do." A weird combination of guilt and fear that Mark had never experienced before roiled through his stomach. "I should turn you. I should turn you now. You're not safe." Leah shook her head. "And what about all the other women? Do you know who has diabetes? Do you know which one's been off her anti-psychotics for three weeks now? I do. I'm just glad I'm in a cell by myself." "They were all examined," he began. "For cuts and bruises and rude intrusions, sure. –But some of us are more complicated." "I'll take care of it," he said. "I promise. ...Where did you get this phone?" "I stole it from one of your wolves. I don't think he'll want it back though. I haven't been... kind to it. Now, kindly get off of me." "Yeah... it's begun to occur to me that you don't know who's in charge here. We need to have a talk." He got off of her then, and held out a hand to help her to her feet. He said, "I know you keep saying you don't have enough time to tell your story, but how about you start, and if I'm still confused by the time we get back to my room, well..." "You'll let the women go?" "I'll have some betas interview the women, like you suggested, to see if it's a viable idea to return them." Leah paused. –Mark was demonstrating a bit of a turn here. It had to be a trap. She smiled at him. "Okay. Then I'll start at the beginning." "Great," he replied. "I'm all ears." They began walking back toward the compound. "Well, I guess it all started with the vampires." "You're a vampire?!" Mark asked incredulously. ...Leah stopped, looked at Mark, looked at the sun, and then looked back at Mark. "Well, the movies all say that vampires aren't like vampires anymore," Mark mumbled, "–They're just hot people now." "Yeah, no. Vampires burn in sunlight, are repelled by the cross, drink blood, wear capes, and act like bastards. Always have, always will." "Okay. So what do they have to do with you?" "Don't interrupt me if you want to know." "Okay." "Okay. So it started with the vampires. ...No, that's not right. It started with my dad." She paused. "No, it started with Adria." Above an Alpha Ch. 05 Adria was like royalty. That's the thing you have to keep in mind through all this. Royalty didn't really exist yet, but she was it. Father, her father, had a big house and a lot of people who worked for him. He was considered wise for a human, and he was loved not only by humans, but other things as well. This is how Adria came to be such good friends with Gorta – but more about that later. Adria was the eldest of twelve. Her mother gave birth every two years to the day. Adria had ten brothers, and one baby sister. The twelve children were well loved throughout the land, and everyone believed that they would be great leaders someday. –And this was when almost no creature would raise a hand against humans. They all knew what Eve had gotten away with not so, so long ago, and they feared the power she wielded. No one is, after all, more dangerous than someone who will be forgiven regardless. But though it was a time of peace for humanity, it was a time for war between other things. Demons had begun to bicker among themselves. No one's business but their own, except the giants chose a side, and where giants go, sprites often follow. The stars themselves chose a side. Voices from the depths came too. War broke on the earth and things that couldn't die fought in the land of men. –It was pretty epic. In the midst of this, an ancient demoness sought to strike a blow against her nation's enemies with a spell. –It required the blood of a human child born to change the fate of a world. Though the demoness knew and feared the great risk of harming a human, she sought this blood, and found it. It was Adria's sister. The girl was ten – beautiful, sweet, a little chubby, and beloved by all, of course. She was a hilariously funny girl. Nice teeth. Very witty. And great with a piece of chalk. She could also sing, and – ...anyway... The demoness kidnapped the girl, and not quietly. She left destruction behind such that a rescue mission could not even be attempted for three days. Finally, her father set out with his most loyal men to rescue his daughter. He did not return. Months passed, and the eldest of Adria's brothers, Ben, decided it was time for him to go to save his father and sister. Adria forbid him to go alone, and so he took his brothers, Caden, Dart, Elides, Fye, Gabe, and Hander. Adria stayed behind to rebuild their home, tend to their mother who had become useless with misery, and to protect the youngest of her brothers – Isaac, Jack and Kevin. Months passed. Adria rebuilt everything – even made things better than they had been. She believed she prepared for her family's triumphant return, but there was no word even sent to explain delay. Adria didn't know what to do or how to act. She sought council from friends of the family – human and otherwise, but most just shook their heads at the injustice of it all. And then came the morning Adria discovered the youngest of her brothers missing – gone to rescue the others under the dark of night. But they were just boys – Kevin no older than 12. She would not tell her mother the youngest were missing. It was up to her to retrieve them. But unlike her foolish brothers, she knew that it was unlikely she alone could defeat a demoness that had defeated her ten brothers, great father, and stolen her little sister. So she went to her friend, Gorta. Oh, yeah... Gorta. Meant to tell you about her sooner. Gorta was a fairy. –Not like a Tinkerbell, I'm a huge bitch in a tiny body – how ironic, kind of fairy. Gorta was an ancestor of what you'd now think of as a Fairy Godmother – though they're all gone now too. –This is all, of course, before fairies granted wishes, and no – this isn't the story of how they got into that trade. This is a story about two best friends from two different species and the unfair bargain that got struck between them. Fairies were great and powerful creatures – with little to no free will. Their minds were tightly bonded within their race, and even a little bit bonded to the rest of the universe. This is why they so loved Father, Adria's father, because he often walked with them and talked with them, despite their difficulties. The more the fairies could commune with humans, the more they each were able to develop their own free will as individuals. When Adria was a little girl, even though many thought fairies were too dangerous and odd, she was allowed to play with the fairy children – and so made a great friend in Gorta. It's kind of sad, though – what happened. See, Adria's father had offered to let Adria play with the fairy children, in order to see if she could help them develop free will. Well, like any child, she didn't connect with everyone – mostly she hung out with Gorta. And the experiment worked. Gorta became the most independent fairy child that ever lived. –So much so that it frightened the others, and by the time they were teenagers, she was forbidden from seeing Adria. The two best friends didn't see each other face to face again for years. Only despite their efforts, Gorta never was able to become quite like her people again. She tried. But everyone considered her a little odd. But then, Adria perhaps would have never been able to save her brothers if this hadn't been the case. Adria traveled to see the fairies, and demanded to see Gorta. It had been years, and the fairies resisted her demands at first. But she refused to leave. The fairies did know what happened to her father and brothers of course, so they were afraid to relent, but eventually they did. Gorta came to Adria. It was likely very awkward – demanding to see a person you haven't seen in years. But they were happy to see each other, and soon Gorta was able to ask why Adria had come. "My sister is kidnapped, my father and brothers have disappeared, and I believe it is all at the hands of a demoness I can't hope to conquer by myself. I need strength. I need genius. I need life enough to withstand her blows. Please, Gorta. You're my friend. You have power. Lend me some." Gorta frowned. She was independent enough of mind to be able to think for herself, but she could still hear her people react to this request. –It could not be. A human with fairy power would be an abomination. Yes, the world was riddled with wars now – but think of what would happen were such a new thing to exist. Gorta replied, "I can't give you power. I can't lend it to you." Adria stood there still, as if she wouldn't leave until she received what she came for. Then Gorta smiled. "I can make a trade though. Our cousins, the Elves, make trades all the time. It would not be a sin for me to do so." Gorta tried to stay upbeat, despite the words of her family ringing through her head – they were not elves! They could not trade power for whatever a human could give in return. The power of a fairy must be used for a fairy! This human had nothing to offer them – except perhaps free will, which they were no longer so enamored with as they had been. "What will I owe you?" Adria asked, having already decided that she would pay any debt. "I have to explain something, my friend," Gorta said, rubbing her head. "What I can give you is death to your enemies. Nothing you want dead, shall live. I can give you luck, speed, and strength. I can give you the energy of the sun, and the still quiet of the moon." Gorta's family was screaming -no- in her mind. "But this must be a trade, and a fair one." Now Adria began to worry. "What can I give you?" Gorta replied, "There was once a great fairy, who made a sword for a human – so that he could slay the dragon that plagued the fairies. The great fairy believed the gift was not a sword given to a human, but a hero given to the fairies. I will repeat this act. "You Adria, I will make a hero. You can save your family. But, you must also save my people too." "From what?" Gorta shrugged. "No idea. But it's the only way. You'll be invincible until, for every life you've saved or taken, you've saved a fairy life as well." "Er. Okay," Adria said, "So that's what, my ten brothers, my father, my sister, my father's men, and then I'm going to kill that demoness so... Gosh, Gorta, I have to save like maybe three dozen fairy lives? How often are your people in danger?" Gorta bit her lip. Adria shook her head. "I'm not saying I won't do it. I don't really have another choice. I don't know how this repayment will work out, but... Thank you, Gorta." "Er... don't... thank... me yet..." "Why?" And Gorta changed her. Adria awoke, still human – but with the power of a demigod. Nothing she wanted dead, would live. She had luck, speed and strength. She had the energy of the sun and the stillness of the moon. She also had a raging headache, several spontaneously ingrown toenails, and the overwhelming urge to vomit. –Very overwhelming. When she was finally able to speak, she croaked, "The hell?" Gorta shrugged, still holding her friend's hair for her as she vomited onto the enchanted floor of a fairy room. "Ta-da. You're a hero now." Adria resumed vomiting. "Yay! You can save your family!" Gorta added. "What happened to my toes?!" Adria said through tears, the skin around her eyes mottled by the violence of her puking. "Er – when you push power in, sometimes toenails come out. It's a balance thing. Come on," Gorta said, pulling Adria to her feet. "You're a big serious hero type now. No more ruining the carpet. That stuff is supposed to be magical." "That really hurt!" Adria said, sniffling. "I thought you would make me invincible." "You are invincible! –Doesn't mean you can't feel things. Now, seriously – you've gotten what you wanted. You better go save your family while they're still alive." "I don't really know if they are still alive," Adria whimpered, still in the daze of her headache. "WHAT," Gorta said, flat. "Well I don't know. The demoness didn't tell me what she's done with them. I don't even know where she is. God, my toes!" "Oh, Adam H. God," Gorta said, before going to the door and yelling out, "Someone come in here with some clippers. And we're going to need a mirror." Twenty minutes later, a nice little fairy boy had given Adria the pedicure of her life, and Gorta had the low down on the demoness who had taken Adria's family. She pushed the mirror into Adria's hands so she could have a look. Gorta told her, "The demoness is called Zada. She doesn't look special to me, but I guess she is one of the few fallen ones that actually invested in property back in the day. –She's a big fish in the demon war because of all her land. She's not far from Nod. She has your brothers locked up in the dungeon of her keep. I can't find your father or his men. Your sister... it's weird, she keeps her by her side always. –Like a pet." "What's that about?" Adria asked. "I have a bad feeling she's using your sister's blood to twist a curse of some sort. Look at your sister's hand," Gorta said. Adria did see the tight, stained cloth wrapped around the little girl's palm. Adria began to tear up. Although she had never had much of a plan, suddenly she realized that she had subconsciously thought that first she would free her father. –And then he could do the rest. And before the images of the mirror had run before her eyes, her concept of what happened to her family was vague and unreal. –They had merely been lost, far from home. They needed nothing more than to find a way back. But now – now her sister was being bled right before her eyes, while her brothers starved in a dungeon. "Adria, I wish I could help more. Go with you. Take you there. But everyone's already having a fit. They think you'll take advantage of us. –Never return the favor and live forever." "Live forever?" Adria turned. "The trade, the bargain, is clear. You will have everything I've given you until we are repaid. You can't die unless you repay us." Gorta turned away, ashamed almost – but only almost, of what she had done to her friend. "There are some who believe that would be an ideal situation." Adria would have been one of those people herself, had life at the moment not been such a terrible thing. She shook her head. Immortality was not the issue of the moment, saving her family was. "So I'm off to Nod, then Zada's keep." "I said I can't take you there – and I can't. Zada's power in her own home on her own land would undo me. But I can get you partway there. –It would be a two days' walk." "Okay. Thanks." Gorta reached out her hand, to do as she had remembered Adria teaching her so long ago – to clasp hands in the human way. Adria took Gorta's hand to shake, and smiled before realizing too late she was already being sent away. "Wait!" Adria said, dematerializing right in front of Gorta. "What do I do when I get there?" She was already in Zada's land. Adria looked around. She was surrounded by flat, dead, desert spotted only by black husks of trees long passed from life. The air was harsh, and low, thick, rolling yellow clouds hid the sky. There was still the sickly visibility of day, and yet no actual sunlight. "Be nice if I knew which direction I was going in..." she mumbled to herself. "No direction?" came a voice from nowhere. "My father had me think I was the only thing on earth with that problem." Adria turned, looking for the source of the voice. "Who's there?" "Almost everyone, Baby. This is Earth, circa beginning. Who's not there is a better question." "What are you?" she demanded. She felt someone breathe on her ear. She turned just quickly enough to see movement. –Whatever it was looked like a man, a man who could move. He was hiding among the dead trees. "You're fast!" came that voice again, almost bewildered. "You look human..." "So do you," Adria countered. "You didn't get that good of a look," he replied. And suddenly, too suddenly he was there – tall, but as she looked up, he looked down. They were touching noses. Her breath caught in her throat. This thing standing before her, he had eyes like her mother's softest dress, deep, red brown. He smiled at her, revealing sharp pointed canines. She opened her mouth to scream, and he wrapped his arms around her, taking hold of her waist in his hands. She pushed him. And he flew right off her. She looked at her own hands in awe. He looked up at her from the ground. He smiled again. "So you're Zada," he said, chuckling. He started to get up, dusting the dirt off the knees of his pants. "This makes things easier. I thought I would have to find you before killing you." "I'm not Zada, you, you demon." Standing he cocked his head annoyed. "Demon? What is that supposed to mean?" Adria pointed to her own teeth and then pointed to him. "I saw those, those things in your mouth. You can't fool me. You're a demon. You'd better stay away from me. I'm Adria – a beloved human daughter. I have every right to kill you after touching me like that. My people will-" "Whoa, whoa, whoa, no. Have to call bullshit on so many counts. You are not human. You have no people. And..." his lips curled in a very pleased smile, "You liked me touching you, and rights always fall away under the pressure of wants." He started to walk toward her, slowly this time. "You're as powerful as Zada would be, but from what I've heard Zada would never deny being herself. ...Too proud. Are you one of her minions?" "One of her enemies; though it's none of your business, Demon." "Why do you keep calling me that?" he asked suddenly, shaking his head. "That's what you are, isn't it?" "Demons are inky things made of ruined soul-stuff. Zada is a demon. The demons waging all the nasty wars that turn the earth to wasteland, are demons. Whereas I am made of flesh," he said, suddenly running a hand up his own torso to his chest. "My soul is not ruined... just... currently inaccessible. That's why I don't need yours, the way a demon would. Demons crave whole souls you know. That's the first indication you're dealing with one. He'd check your purity like a horse's teeth." "How...?" Adria began, but she stopped herself at the sight of his smile. "Nevermind. What are you then? You're not human." "Mmm, part," he replied. "They call me vampire. A little bit human, a little bit demon, a little bit regret." "So you ARE a demon," Adria said, eyes narrowed. "Only a third!" he replied. "That's enough," Adria said. "I'm also a third human," he added, "Which is plenty enough for anyone." Adria stood there, trying to figure out what to do. She still didn't know where Zada's keep was. And though it sounded like this demon thing knew where it might be, asking a demon thing for help seemed like a good way to get bad directions. "You said you want to kill Zada?" Adria asked. "Want to? No. Have to? Yes, probably. She has something of mine I want back." "What's that?" "My father's bones." "Gross." "You've hit the nail on the head." "She has something I want back as well," Adria sighed. Though it was a bad idea, she couldn't work out a tangible difference between wandering in a random direction and asking for help from this third-demon-thing. "Can you help me to find her keep?" "I could, but you see my dear, I don't trust you. You know what I am, but I don't know what you are." Adria suddenly realized how close he had gotten to her. He didn't smell like a man – not the men she knew, all those friends of Father's who were too beholden to him to ever notice her, sweaty and gritty in the work of the earth. He smelled like a clean room, and also leather, polished wood, fine wine, and paper. Adria did love the smell of paper. Suddenly he interrupted her thoughts, "You smell human; though you would have to be a great one to bathe every day. But there's also..." he leaned in to inhale deeply. –A moment before he jumped back. It startled Adria how far he had suddenly jumped. "Fairy!" he accused, pointing. "You smell of fairies!" "I am human. The fairies... merely let me borrow some power," she lied. "In return for what?" he asked, curious. The vampire had been previously unaware that fairy magic could be bought, sold, or borrowed. "That's not your concern. I just ask if you can direct me to Zada. My aim is to kill her. If you can't help me, then leave me now." He stared at her calculatingly. Her story sounded false, but smelled true. He did want his father's bones back, and wasn't looking forward to the prospect of facing Zada for them. Perhaps this woman would make good fodder. He licked his lips. "My name is Quo," he said, bowing. "I am Adria." "I'll take you to Zada's keep myself." "Thank you," Adria said, wondering if she was about to go on a wild goose chase with a vampire. Suddenly he was by her side, and she gasped upon realizing her arm was in his. He pulled her clockwise about 130 degrees, then marched her along with him. They were going south. "You know it'll take two days," he said. "That's plenty of time to get to know each other, don't you think? Tell me, Adria, are you married?" "No," she practically stammered. He smiled at her, then looked ahead. "That's good. I don't want any angry husbands coming around after we spend the night together." "What?!" "Well, it takes two days, Adria. I just said that. You seemed to accept that. Are you not aware that one often finds nights sandwiched between days?" "Well of course, but you know how you put it." "You seem a little old not to be married." "Thanks," Adria replied. He laughed. "I wasn't being offensive," Quo began. "Oh?" Adria inserted. "Come on," he said, "Just having a sense of basic hygiene makes you the most beautiful human I've ever seen, and then on top of that," he drew his fingers through her hair, "You have fine features, delicate, well-tooled – like the first real humans. None of that brutish nature from the soulless or those evolved apes they all mated with. Look at that." Quo dipped the tip of his finger against the little indentation above her upper lip. "He took care when He made you." Above an Alpha Ch. 05 Something thrilled low in Adria. The smell of him was pulling her closer, and his eyes were deep. Adria was becoming hyperaware of her own body, the air trapped in her lungs, the bare skin of her neck, her stomach there unprotected beneath her ribs, her feet feeling every groove of the earth through her shoes. "How is it that no one has taken you for his own yet?" he asked. She didn't answer. "Don't fall under my spell now... tell me." She half-snorted in her head. "Your spell?" "Humans can't resist vampires." "I find that hard to believe," she said, with effort. "Answer my question." It was the order that woke her up a bit – Adria didn't take orders, not even from her father in the last several years. "It's none of your business." She unlinked her arm from Quo's, and walked up ahead of him. She felt more clear-headed with every step. But, it was when she was clearheaded that she paused, and said it – something that had bothered her for nearly a decade now, but that she had never actually voiced. "It's my father. No one wants to offend him. He's the man in charge and... I suppose it would be different if I were worth the risk. But, well – given the choice of being a friend of my father's and a lover of mine, the choice is clear." She kept walking, but Quo caught up quickly. Adria glanced shyly at Quo, and he smiled back before looking away. When he looked back at her, he said, "Well, your father must be smoking hot." Adria grinned. "You're an idiot." "Yeah, more and more I wish he were here rather than you." Quo rubbed his hands together. "...Especially come nighttime. I mean, I don't know your father, but just from knowing you – I want to be his FRIEND. And you know what I mean by, 'FRIEND.'" "I'm being led on my quest by an idiot." "By the way, what is your quest?" he asked. "The demoness Zada kidnapped my sister. My father went to save her and never returned. Each of my ten brothers have gone as well. My mother and I are all that's left – and I'm afraid she's losing her mind." "So we both must save our families from Zada." "Yes." "Except your family doesn't seem to do well against her." "That's why I've been lent some power." "You are powerful. Quite powerful. –The fact you've seen my face up close and haven't allowed your clothes to spontaneously combust off your body is proof. But do you know how to fight?" "Sure." He looked at her. "No, I do," she added. He continued to look at her. She felt exposed. "I fight with my brothers all the time." "They give you many black eyes?" "Of course not; I'm their sister!" "Unless you're about to reveal that Zada is your sister as well, I'm not sure how playful sibling fighting is going to aid your cause." "Well, I don't plan to get into a fist fight with her. I'm just going to... go in there and... take my sister, demand my brother's release and..." "Get your ass kicked." "My ass can't be kicked; I'm invincible." Quo paused his steps long enough for Adria to get ahead of him, and then kicked her in the ass. She tumbled to the ground. "Your ass is invincible, meaning it's still there. But that has nothing to do with whether it gets kicked or not." He put out a hand to help her to her feet, but Adria just glared at him and got up by herself. He continued, "Zada's strong, and you are strong, but she is going to fight you to keep what she's stolen. You have to be ready for that. We need a plan. You need to learn how to fight." "Yeah? How am I going to do that in two days?" Suddenly Adria felt her feet leave the air. She had enough time to realize Quo had a hold of her arm and a handful of her shirt – his knuckles were digging into the side of her breast. Then her back was on the ground – her breath was gone, and the weight of an entire vampire (which you wouldn't think was exceptional by looking at him, but in fact was yes, quite exceptional) pressed against her body. "Practice," he said. As she heaved for air, all she seemed able to inhale was the scent of him. Her hands, instinctively balled in his shirt, faltered. "No, no – don't fall under my spell. You've got fairy gifts, remember?" he said, shaking her a bit. She coughed, then replied, "We can't practice, it'll slow us down. Get off me." "Get me off you," he said. She kicked, and suddenly he was off her, in a strange position in the dirt twenty feet away. He was groaning. "Are you serious?! You couldn't have just pushed me like before?" She got onto her forearms. "You knocked the wind out of me, you ass." "Never kick a man there!" He rolled in the dirt. "Never!" "I'll kick a man anywhere I want." "I was joking before, but now I do want your father." Adria got up. "So there. I know how to fight. Can we go?" "No! I'm dying," Quo replied. "You're not dying." "You don't understand; I'm a vampire. I'm not like human men. You've gravely injured me." Adria paused, and then walked over to him. "Are you okay?" "No, I'm not okay! My legs won't work for days now. You kicked me right where everything connects to make my legs work. Human men have a mess of sexual organs there to protect the leg engineering. Vampires don't." "You mean you don't have a..." "What I have is much different from a human's." "What do we do?" Adria asked, beginning to feel guilty. "You'll have to carry me," he said. "What?" "You'll have to carry me." "You're too heavy." "You have super strength now; you kicked me all the way over here. You can carry me." "Maybe I can find a wheelbarrow." Quo looked around the vast wasteland they were surrounded by. "Sure, drop by Zada's. Ask if you can borrow a cup of sugar while you're at it." Adria stared. Then she asked, "You said Zada is this way?" She pointed south. "You can't leave me here! You know what's out here? Monsters. They come out at night and eat injured things." Adria rolled her eyes and slumped. "Fine," she said. "How do we do this?" "Crouch down, and I'll get on your back." -- The cuff clinking closed on her ankle stopped Leah mid-story. Mark asked, "Did she really carry him?" Leah pointed to the cuff on her ankle. "What's that?" "Oh, yeah," Mark said, taking the huge coil of chain to which the cuff was attached from the theta who brought it to the circle. "I can't have you running off anymore. I'm chaining you up in my bedroom." Leah grinned. "Hilarious. But that's way too kinky for me," she replied, before grabbing a link between her fingers. She moved to pull it apart, but soon was looking rather disconcerted. The link didn't budge. "I know what you are!" Kate announced pointing at Leah from across the tradition ring. "I found you and I knew right away what you'd need. That is chain all fortified with witch magic from back in the day. No one could break it." "Witches smitches," Leah replied, pulling on the chain. She then went for the cuff. "Finish the story," Sarah begged. Leah looked around and realized her mistake. She enjoyed telling stories, captivating an audience, and she hadn't been in a classroom for a whole summer. As more and more wolves had appeared to hear the story of Adria, Leah got more and more into it. She didn't even bother going into the compound; she sat down in the tradition ring where more could gather. She figured she could do this, as the story was long and there was no way she could finish it before they had to go inside. But she forgot about the wolf-mind-reading thing. Obviously Mark had been getting his other wolves to do the work of entrapping her the entire time she was telling the story. "Crap Mark Mark Masters, you got me." Mark grinned. He had won his mate. Lucy felt her heart clutch in her chest at the sight of Mark so happy to have his mate chained up. She spontaneously and involuntarily pictured herself in that position – growing warm at the thought. "Oh, who cares about that!" declared Sarah. "Finish the story." Leah looked back at Sarah and turned her nose up. "No." Mark moved in closer, holding the coil of chain in one hand and reaching out to caress Leah's face with the other. "Come on, Leah. You got us interested." "Sorry, Mark Mark Masters, but there's something else I have to do first." "What's that?" She strung her arm through the coil and kicked him in the chest. He hit the wall of the main building. Leah started to run – the huge coil of chain in her arms, one end of it attached to her feet. She tripped almost immediately. "Okay. That was less than graceful," she said to herself. She looked up to find herself surrounded by mad betas. She pointed to the coil of chain. "Someone want to carry this for me?" --------> Leah was escorted to Mark's bedroom under heavy guard, where her chain was attached to the floor under the bed. Leah looked at the little bar in the floor where it attached. "Does he do this to all his women?" she asked the nearest beta. The beta just shrugged. Mark wasn't there because as soon as he was able to walk he almost was immediately accosted by Kate and Earlene. "You need to get that girl out of here, Alpha," Kate warned. "The chain will hold her, but not her power." "What is that supposed to mean?" Mark asked. "I remember her now, and I found the book to prove it – that story she's telling, well – she sure didn't get to the important parts. Look at this," Kate said, holding up a book. "Really? I have to read?" Mark asked, bummed out. Earlene sighed and took the book. "I took the liberty of perusing the book for you, Mark. If Kate's right, we need to get her away from the pack as soon as possible." "What are you talking about? She's my mate; she's not going anywhere." "She's dangerous – an abomination, and last time she ran into a pack," Kate began. "Last time? What do you mean, 'last time?'" "It says here that there was a rogue wolf that met a human woman and thought she was his mate – three hundred years ago on this continent. He loved her and wanted to bring her into a pack – so he could create a family that would be safe. Only problem was that when he did, several other wolves thought she was their mate too." "The book says other things happened too, Mark," Earlene added. Everyone's scenting skills went haywire. Later they realized that some wolves weren't noticing mates sitting right in front of them. They could smell their prey, but sometimes were surprised to find out what it was once they closed in." Kate waved off Earlene's concerns. "We didn't even get to the worrisome part. To try and keep his claim, the previously rogue wolf attempted to change her. Apparently she became," Kate grabbed the book and flipped to an illustrated page. She pressed the picture to Mark's face. "A monster!" Mark took the book of his face and held it at a distance such that he could actually look at the picture. He then looked at both Kate and Earlene like they were crazy. "This is a bear," he said, pointing at the picture. "You're telling me, a wolf bit a woman, and she turned into a bear? What have you two been smoking?" "Not a bear! A monster!" "Kate, people refer to us AS MONSTERS," Mark said. "And look at this book. What is it? A hundred years old?" "Three hundred, actually," Earlene said. "Not exactly a reliable source," Mark replied. "Hey!" Kate said, pissed, "I am much, much older than this book, and I'm as reliable now as the day I was born." "Agreed. I would never trust a baby," Mark said, patting her on the shoulder and handing her the book back. "Look you two, I know she's a handful, but she's my mate and she's not going anywhere. Besides, how could that book possibly be about her?" "She was just telling you a story where the characters are immortal!" Kate blustered. "Yes, Kate. A story. That's it. She's... scared of being mated. A lot of women are. So she's trying to put it off by telling crazy stories. But that's all they are – crazy stories." He turned then, and walked toward the main compound. "The pack that wolf brought her into died out," Kate said. Earlene blew out a breath she had meant to hold as she watched Mark retreat into the house. "I'm calling Opie," Earlene sighed. Kate shook her head. "It'll be too late. By tomorrow morning that thing will already be the death of that poor little omega." ----> Mark entered his room to find the chain uncoiled – completely. It covered the room like a rug, and Leah was still trying to break it. Mark chuckled, and Leah turned to look at him, eyes narrowed. She was sitting in a corner of the room, looking rather defensive for once. "Mark Mark Masters, you are gorgeous and young and I don't want to hurt you. But if you try to take advantage of me in this situation I will be forced to treat you with true violence." "Don't hurt yourself messing with that. It's not going to break," he replied. "Did you hear me?" "Yes." She turned away and resumed picking at the cuff with some pieces of metal she took off one of Mark's now broken chairs. Mark walked over to the bed and sat down, watching her. After a moment he said, "The pack doctor should be coming up soon. I had him attend to the ladies more thoroughly like you asked, as you were telling your story. You can tell him what medications you need. It would be easier if I could just turn you, but I'm not supposed to mate you until I've killed everyone who has challenged me for you." Leah sighed. "Someone issued a challenge?" "Trent. The one that thought he was your mate." "The cute blonde with the glasses?" Leah suddenly asked, alarm in her voice. "You're not killing him?" Mark did not like her reaction. She seemed concerned about Trent's well-being. "I don't want to kill him," Mark managed to say with just a small bit of calm. "He challenged me." "But you won't kill him, will you? He seemed so nice." "It has to be done." Mark hated this; she didn't even worry if he would be alright, she only thought of Trent. He looked at the wall, knowing he should leave, but too angry to move. She stood, hands on hips. "Why?!" "Because of you!" Mark shouted. "Because he wants you, and you belong to me." "Then it shouldn't matter what he wants, should it?" "Leah..." "No, really. If I really belong to you, what's the problem with him wanting me?" Mark stared at her standing in her piles of chain, barefoot, in her pajamas pants and his shirt. Luna, he wanted her. "Do you really belong to me?" he asked finally. She paused. She looked at him, thinking. Then, she said, "You said that if you were still confused by the time we got back to the compound, that you would let the women go." "I'm not confused," he said. "I know what you are; you are my mate." She licked her lips, and moved toward him. "Let the women go, let the omega live, and I'll be whatever you want me to be." She neared him, and paused just a moment before sitting in his lap. She ran a hand through his hair. He immediately groped her breast, and watched the little surprise flit across her face before he pulled her into a kiss. He was devouring her, and she actually began to push him away – finding she was in over her head, when he threw her back onto the bed and tore his shirt off of her. This time, instead of moving to remove her pants with his hands, he attacked her belly with kisses before moving up to the line to her breasts, sucking, pinching, softly biting until she cried out, "Oh Mark Mark Masters..." Then he took her mouth with his again, rubbing his crotch against hers, hard. He could smell her arousal spike as she began once more to give into sensation. Then, as suddenly as he had begun, he stopped. "I'm going to kill Trent in the morning. Then I'm coming back up here and finishing what we started. The women aren't going anywhere, except maybe to another pack. You're staying here regardless. I love you." He licked her face, then got up and left the room. As soon as the door closed, Leah smiled. "Well that was just mean," she said to herself. Then she laughed. At least Mark Mark Masters had given her a little more motivation. Leah wasn't sure exactly why, but she was certain just the same. -She had to save Trent. Above an Alpha Ch. 06 Leah took a break and played with the links of the chain with her toes while lying on her back. She hadn't seen metal-work like this in ages and ages. It wasn't unbreakable, but it would take some work and focus. She quickly realized how stupid she had been not to have been focusing her energies on just one link from the start. Ugh. There were quite a few things she wished she had planned better from the start. Why did she give Mark Mark Masters an entire week to release the women? Three days would have sufficed. It wasn't a huge request. He had the man power, er, wolf power, whatever. Oh yeah; he was cute. Leah was nothing if not a sucker for a good looking man. Adria always said it was her worst trait. -As if Adria was one to talk. Leah hadn't planned on the women being rescued until Sunday, so she didn't have any backup planned before then. If she was going to really save Trent, that meant she'd have to stall things until at least Sunday. She threw the chain off her toes. Okay. Leah reviewed what she had to work with. -A whole lot of chain and a lot of ruined shirts. ... Hmmn. That old woman knew what Leah was. She had a book. Books were good. Books were almost always good – there wasn't any problem that couldn't really be solved with a good book. And that old woman, because she knew what Leah was, was afraid of her. Fear was smart. –And quite a useful trait for Leah to take advantage of. Leah also had the story. She smiled to herself as she remembered the faces of the people listening, all looking at her as if she had the most interesting thing in the world sitting in the palm of her hand. They were putty. –Especially Mark Mark Masters' sister. She was young and imaginative and probably damn sick of this compound. Leah had, for just a little while, taken her to another world. Hmmn. -Books, old woman, story, little sister, chain, ruined shirts. Leah got up. She crossed to the dresser, chain dragging behind her and over itself, clinking like coins pouring into a sorter. She found another shirt and put it on. She went to the door. Time to collect her supplies. Kate was sitting in the tradition ring when the monster came out the front door, dragging chain behind it. She didn't turn to look, but she knew it was there – the damn abomination that was going to be the ruin of this pack. She could hear when the chain didn't give anymore and the thing couldn't come any closer. Kate, still not looking, called out, "They made sure the chain was long enough that you could come see Mark kill the omega. But not long enough for you to interfere." "Ah," Leah said. "Good to know." Kate finally turned to look at her, and about fell off her log. Leah was standing on one foot, balanced with her shackled leg held in the air parallel to the ground, which she was appearing to pull at with some persistence, though it would be impossible to go any further. She was leaning toward Kate, arms folded over her chest, like her stance was normal and not totally awkward looking. She was even nodding at Kate solemnly, as if deeply contemplating her words. "What are you doing?!" Kate demanded. "Ah, well I needed to talk to you." "To me?" Kate asked. "You going to turn into a bear?" "Not today," Leah replied. "Um, you seem to be one of the few people who really understand the gravity of the situation, so I wanted to discuss some things with you." Leah suddenly paused in her speech, noticing several thetas and betas hanging about and listening in. "You all want to sit down?" None of them moved. "Don't mind them," Kate said. "All I was wondering is if I could maybe have access to your library – and maybe that book you had out earlier." "Nope. Your chain won't make it to the library. They moved it on me. –Out where no one can hardly find it on account of those damn Kindles. The ancient aliens won't find it either. And you, I don't need you destroying the evidence." "What?" Kate stood up, pointing a gnarly finger at Leah. "I found record you killed a pack of wolves, and now you want to see that record? You're one of those ones that go around killing things and then destroying the evidence so no one ever knows you exist or even what to expect." "One of those ones? Is this something that happens? Regularly?" "You're older than you look. You're saying you haven't noticed a few races gone missing?" "I'm very self-centered." "Monsters usually are." Leah smiled. She liked this old wolf. "But yes, now that you mention it, I have noticed some things have gone missing." "Was it you?" "Mmmn, I think you have the wrong idea about me." "I don't think so," Kate replied. Leah looked away, staring at the chain she pulled with her leg. "What you think of me doesn't matter. We both have the same goal." "Same goal? I don't think so, Monster. I just want to live long enough to see a werewolf president, try all the kinds of candy I haven't tried yet, and maybe meet mate number four." "Fair. Still, you must want me out of here." Kate paused. This was true. But what she wanted and what was possible were two different things. Packs were run by alphas after all, not the oldest living female werewolf. -Not that she couldn't have been alpha. Hell, she could have married into it a dozen times when she was a young thing. And she could have killed her way into it when she got to be a little older than that. It wasn't impossible. But Kate had always been less than ambitious. She liked having fun, and she didn't want to handle other people's bullshit. It had been speculated, throughout the years, that this was why she had lived so long. "Not for me to decide," Kate finally said. "That's true. It's for me to decide," Leah replied. "So let me explain. I'm leaving. Plain and simple. I don't want to be here. Every minute I'm here, in fact, is another minute I'm going to spend in deep shit because I was never supposed to get wrapped up with weres in the first place. I have to go." Leah stopped, watching Kate and letting her words sink in. She ignored the other wolves who were listening intently. "Obviously I'm not leaving without the women. The women are coming with me. I already have that part figured out with Mark in fact. I gave him a week to set them free himself, and then whoever's left I'm taking with me." "He'll never agree to that," Kate said. "Call me a monster, Kate, but I don't really give a shit," Leah said. "That's the deal I offered when he and I first met. It stands. Now the only problem is Trent. I like Trent. No clue why, only saw him for about twenty seconds before they dragged him away. But the idea of him getting killed at all, let alone so that some alpha male model can bang me, makes my heart freeze. I can't let him die, Kate." Kate's eyes narrowed. "Do you love him?" she asked. Leah smiled. "I only saw him for twenty seconds." "You want him," Kate said, serious. Leah shook her head and said, "Weres. Can't I want to save him out of justice? Can't I want to save him because it's not fair he's going to die?" "Life's not fair," Kate said. "You're old enough to know that." "I'm also old enough to take the responsibility of making it fair when and where I can do so." "You mated a were before. You should know your mate now," Kate said. "You read the story. There were no mates. Their brains had gone haywire." "You were bitten and you changed." Kate turned away. "And all we have to do to prove it is wait. Full moon's in two days. You'll have to change to your true form by then. Mark will see what you are. And hopefully kill you. Maybe... maybe just send you away. Then all the wolves will be able to smell their mates, and everything will go back to normal." Leah sighed. "That's a great plan Kate, except for one thing... I don't transform into anything!" "You're the same thing that came before," Kate said, her voice making the statement a question before she could stop herself. "Oh yeah. But I've... heh... since changed back. –To what I was." "No such thing." "Oh, the things that mythological beings don't believe in," Leah laughed. "How?" came a voice from behind Leah. Leah smiled. It was Sarah. "Well, Leah began, "That's a long story." "Sarah, ignore this thing," Kate said. "It lies!" Sarah took a seat in the tradition ring and got ready for the story. Lucy was sitting in the big bay window in the hallway that served as the back exit to the main gym. The sun was low in the sky, about to set. She had never sat and watched the sunset from this window before, but she had found herself in the hallway, and recognizing the quiet and soft color of the calm, sat down. Lucy's mind was doing things it had never done before. Her life had always seemed so simple and fun. She was an omega, but she was happy. She looked forward to meeting her mate. She looked forward to seeing her pack live and grow. She had been glad that she had been granted a life of little responsibility. The fact that she got so much in return – a roof over her head, a pack to protect and be protected by, basic cable, had previously made everything she didn't have to worry about even better. But now... -It terrified her so much that she had done everything to avoid actually thinking it. But she wasn't used to suppressing her mind. So the thought still came- You love the alpha. She fell off the bay window's seat. She crawled back on, telling herself, "No, no, no. That is wrong. You are an omega. You are Lucy the omega. It's like Kate and Earlene were saying. We're confused right now. We're all confused right now." "You too?" came a voice from the gym's exit. Lucy froze, simultaneously breaking into a cold sweat. It was the voice of her alpha. Mark gingerly entered the hallway and crossed over to the window, taking a seat opposite Lucy. It wasn't until he was seated that he noticed her half-crouched, perfectly still, looking like she was about to climb onto the seat, but not there yet. "Uh, were you going to sit here, or...?" he asked. "Yes," she said, finally finding the ability to make it onto the seat again. She looked at Mark – Oh Luna! He was gorgeous! She looked away. "Were you watching the sunset?" Mark asked. "Yes." Mark looked at Lucy. She was clearly not looking at the sunset; she was staring at a patch of carpet in the hallway off to his right. "It helps if you look out the window," he suggested. She looked back at him then; she had a startled expression on her face, but then she looked out the window and seemed to settle. "It's beautiful, but I never looked at it before." Mark shrugged. "They're always telling us we'll live for centuries. Not like we have to be in a hurry for commonplace experiences." "I know; I feel... exactly the same way, but... lately, I um. I think maybe I..." "I know; everyone's been confused since the rogues came, like you said earlier. Everyone's a mess. But at least you know it." Mark leaned his head against the wall behind him. "-Seems like no one understands. It's all so difficult. Earlene knows everyone's crazy right now, but she doesn't recognize she's crazy too. Kate's crazy. And Trent..." Mark was looking out the window. Lucy's heart broke a little at the sight of him. She put out her hand. She took it back before he could notice she extended it. "I always liked Trent," Lucy said. Mark looked at her now. "Wait; could he be your mate?" "Oh! Oh no, no. No. I always liked Trent, but I liked him because he was like, like so... weird. He wasn't like a wolf. He was like something else, you know?" Now she leaned back against the wall. "He's... so scared... of everything." Mark smirked. "He is an omega. –Kind of like someone else who's always belly up." "No. I know. But no. Trent's scared of other omegas. He's scared of not having a schedule. He's scared of loud noises and running out of soap. I mean, what an idiot. At the same time, I guess, it's nice to know that we're not all the same." Mark sighed. "He doesn't seem to be very scared of me. –His alpha." "That's the most confusing thing of all," Lucy lied. "I almost feel like he must have switched places with someone else. There's no way he would challenge you, Alpha. No way if it was the same Trent I know." Mark was thankful for Lucy, but he could barely see her. His mind was too full of Leah, Trent, and how everything had gone wrong because of them. –It only took two people to totally screw everything up.