An Alpha's Claim

Home

The car ride was quiet, and for that J was grateful. Doc had tried to drive, but Rayna insisted she should, claiming they'd get there in half the time if she drove. She was right, at this speed they would, assuming they made it there in one piece.

Occasionally, Doc's attention would drift to the rearview mirror, his gaze meeting hers. Trying to avoid his gaze, she spent the rest of the journey looking out of the window. Before they'd left, Doc had given her some new medication to try to ease the side effects of the Mate Separation Anxiety (MSA), and they appeared to be working as she hadn't thrown up for all of five hours now, which was practically a personal record at this point.

Lee sat beside her, his attention routinely drifting to Rayna and then away. His fingers drummed imaginary notes against his leg. He stopped under J's glare.

They drove for hours, though she was secretly pleased Rayna had driven, as it would have been unbearable otherwise. When she was within range of the Rootbridge pack, her stomach began to flip and her palms sweated.

It was silly really, that she was this nervous to see her old pack. They were family once.

Their tyres crunched across the gravel, J strained forwards to see who made up the group of people waiting for them. Cassidy was unmistakeable, especially with Jake stood beside her. Liam was there, Kelsey too and a couple of others that J didn't recognise.

The car stopped and J took a deep, shaky breath. Rayna glanced over her shoulder at her, J nodded to signal she was OK. Slowly, she got out of the car, Lee and Rayna flanking her instantly. Their wolves were unsettled being on unknown territory, especially considering their alpha was hiding a wolf-less secret.

That scent though. That pine-filled, open air scent. J nearly groaned. She was home.

Of course she wasn't. She didn't have the right to call this her home anymore. Some days she wondered if she ever had.

J brushed a calming hand across Lee's arm when he began to growl as Cassidy stepped forwards. Doc stood off to the side, waiting for J. J took another deep breath and finally locked eyes with Cassidy.

Her knees faltered as she moved forwards, her limp lost in her clumsy steps. Cassidy, hesitant at first, headed towards her until they met in the middle. Suddenly it was awkward, neither knew what to do. Everything in J screamed to reach out and touch her, to remind herself of what family was, but she didn't deserve that label anymore. Didn't have the right to call them family.

So she settled on giving Cassidy a small nod, before her eyes swept the group of people who'd gathered. Kelsey stared at her, an unreadable emotion on her face, Liam stood protectively beside her. She recognised a few faces, her eyes narrowing on Elenor.

Eventually, she had no where else to look but back at Cassidy. She stood patiently, waiting for J to face her again. "You hurt me." She admitted.

J blinked at her honesty, ducking her head and waiting for the anger that Cassidy owed her. When the anger wave didn't come, J slowly raised her head again to find Cassidy's eyes glistening with tears. "Thank you." Cassidy whispered, "thank you for protecting me the only way you knew how." J was caught completely off guard, her stomach dropped and she begged herself not to fall to her knees like she thought she might. Just when she wasn't sure she could stand any longer, Cassidy swept her into a hug.

Historically, this would have sent J running, but after so long of being separate from her pack and having gone through so much, it felt wonderful to be home. She hugged Cassidy tightly, tears streaming down her face.

"You should have told me." J froze at Cassidy's words. Had she sensed her lack of wolf already? "You should have told me that killing Caine would cost you so much. I didn't even think."

J buried her head into Cassidy's neck, "I didn't know until it was too late. "

The two women pulled apart, both sniffing and wiping their eyes. "You could have told me, J. I've missed you so much."

A weight lifted from J's shoulders, her chest expanding more with every breath. J stared unblinking into Cassidy's eyes, her face looked different. Not too different, just...softer? Being happy suited her. "I've missed you too, Cassidy." J whispered, not trusting her voice to speak properly.

"You look like sh*t." Cassidy offered with a smile, as her eyes slid over J's shoulder to the wolves hovering behind them, "are you going to introduce me to your pack members, alpha." Cassidy teased.

J smiled and turned, waving Rayna and Lee forward. "Cassidy, this is Rayna, my beta, and Lee, one of my enforcers. Rayna, Lee, this is Cassidy Alma, alpha of the Rootbridge pack."

They all nodded hello to each other.

"And this growling creature is my mate, Jake." Cassidy introduced as Jake stepped forward to her side, eyeing the stranger wolves with suspicion.

"Jake, leave them be. They're no threat." Doc chided, distracting Jake as a smile split his face. The two men hugged tightly and J wondered how long it had been since they'd seen each other.

Some of the other wolves stepped forward to say hi, though none tried to hug J, to her surprise though, Kelsey stayed at a distance. It should be expected, she supposed, the last words she had spoken to Kelsey weren't pleasant and she'd left in the middle of an argument, but still, it saddened J to think that she'd destroyed their relationship so easily.

Cassidy had stepped away to welcome Doc, but came back to J's side and gave her a one-armed hug. "You need to meet my daughter, Uma. You'll love her."

*

A/N

The next update will be on Tuesday!

Thanks so much for reading :)

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