An Alpha's Claim

Fear

It had been a couple of weeks since J had passed out. She'd forgotten how it felt to wake up with the weight of the world on her forehead. Her head felt fuzzy and she was pretty sure she couldn't hear out of her left ear. "Well, this is fun," she muttered to herself more than anyone else, yet a hollow chuckle filled the room.

J blinked bleary eyes and slowly turned her head. Doc was sat beside her – the chuckler. Just behind him, Leah was hovering, and in the corner, Kelsey leant against Liam.

Liam.

Her lip must have curled in disgust, because Liam jolted and a tiny tendril of panic slid into his eyes. Good. Even as a human she could still scare him.

Cassidy sat on her right, Jake stood behind her chair, his hand on her shoulder. J locked onto that hand and just...stared. Longing panged through her. She wanted that, the supporting hand of a mate. She took a shaky breath as Jake retracted his hand and crossed his arms in front of him.

"Morning," she offered, trying to sound off hand and completely relaxed about the whole situation. She knew she wasn't fooling anyone.

Just as she realised her pack weren't there, she heard a familiar growl from the other side of the door. "I mean it, pipsqueak. Move."

J smiled, Pipsqueak, only Rayna could call Elenor a Pipsqueak. Sure, Elenor wasn't the tallest amongst them, but Rayna was...Rayna was huge. She had to be well over 6ft. Though J had never measured.

The door opened, and a fragile looking Elenor jumped out of the way as Rayna barged into the room, Lee in tow. She stopped dead, taking in the audience, before scanning J for any obvious signs of injury.

"You passed out?" Rayna confirmed in her typically clipped voice. J could tell she was uncomfortable here, this wasn't and never had been, her pack. To her, these were all strangers and it probably wasn't helping her that her alpha was so comfortable with them all.

J sighed, nodding and slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, gripping the sheets when the room began to swirl. "I'll get you a cup of tea." Rayna promised, turning over her shoulder to Lee, "Lee, get your alpha a cup of tea."

J rolled her eyes and smiled as Lee turned to go. Rayna was a natural.

"Coffee." Everyone paused and looked to Kelsey, who'd spoken. "J prefers coffee. So, get her a coffee."

J held her breath as Rayna's eyes narrowed on Kelsey, pinning her beneath her gaze. Whatever Caine had done to Kelsey had clearly completely healed, because the she-wolf narrowed her gaze right back, not showing any signs of standing down. Both wolves began growling as the tension in the room doubled.

J pinched the bridge of her nose and released a slow breath, "enough." She ordered. Rayna, given an Alpha's order, immediately backed down, but Kelsey waited a moment longer – just to show who had the real power – before she moved away. J sighed angrily, "Rayna, I'll have a cup of tea please. Lee, go." She instructed, before turning to Kelsey, "and you...I appreciate the thought, but to be honest, these days, I shouldn't be drinking coffee, tea is better." Guilt flickered across Kelsey's face. J knew Cassidy's face would be the same.

"And, if you advance on my Beta like that again...I won't use an Alpha's order to get her to back down. I'll let you take your chances. You and I both know she's an alpha in her own right." Rayna blinked, surprised pride colouring her face. She blushed and ducked her head, but then changed her mind and held her head high.

J shrugged at Kelsey's panicked look and Liam's growl, before she slowly turned and pushed her feet from under the covers and onto the floor. She groaned as her aches and pains woke up, but in an instant, Leah was there with a spoonful of translucent liquid. "Here, some more rest will do you some good."

J looked down at the liquid and then up at Leah. She was right, more rest would help her, but it would also make her completely useless in the fight against the rogue. Plus, J didn't like that she'd passed out without any warning. Normally, she'd at least get a nose bleed first. "I'm fine." She bit out through grinding teeth as she forced herself to her feet.

She ignored the pitying stares as she made her way to Rayna, who offered her arm for support. J couldn't look her in the eye as she caught the arm and leant heavily against the she-wolf. They slowly followed Lee downstairs and J took the cup of tea from him with grateful hands. Rayna eased J into the sofa and J sunk into the soft surround.

The rest of the wolves followed her silently and took seats around the room. Once they'd settled, J pinned Liam with her gaze, smiling as he tensed. "So, tell me about the rogue."

-

Liam slid his eyes to the woman on his right, watching as she walked with only the slight hint of her limp. He'd have looked longer but the other woman, Rayna, spotted him staring and growled.

Liam looked away and shook his head, but kept pressing ahead. How he'd ended up here with them, he had no idea. One minute, he'd been watching an invalid J sipping her tea, appearing rather dainty despite the horrifying predator she used to own, and the next she'd somehow convinced him to take her with him to the most recent rogue attack site.

A three-hour car ride and an hour's walk later, and he couldn't quite work out how J was still going. She was human after all, wasn't she tired? He tried to ignore his growing concern for a woman he'd once considered the scariest thing on the planet, but Kelsey's words this morning had given him pause. J had lost her mate. Liam could barely even believe that there was a wolf who would put up with her in the first place, but then for him to die? Christ. Liam was pretty sure that if Kelsey ever died, he'd follow her to the afterlife in the next heart beat, but J had lasted for years. MSA, he knew from personal experience, normally killed a widowed mate within a week, maybe a month. But, years... Despite her very human skin, J was still more wolf than any of them realised.

Ahead, footsteps rustled in the undergrowth and both Liam and Rayna paused. J, obviously not hearing it, kept going until Rayna snapped out an arm to stop her.

Liam shot her a panicked look and then stepped forward, palms facing out into the forest. "My name is Liam, I'm Beta of the Rootbridge pack. Your alpha is expecting us."

*
A/N

And that's all for now folks....more on Monday......

:D