An Alpha's Claim

Heavy

"Just, give me a minute." J promised, turning away from George's mate, Lorna, and Rayna.

She stepped into the darkened room of the small house that Lorna had led them to. It belonged to one of the pack elders, and when Callie had started claiming she saw two rogues fighting, they'd quickly silenced her and hidden her in here.

The air was stale, heavy dust tickling J's nose as their movements disturbed it. It would seem that this elder didn't do much in the way of cleaning. Callie was in a small bedroom at the back of the property. The curtains were closed, a crack of light spilling in from the top where they hadn't been drawn properly. It was a spare bedroom, the small bed made up pristinely.

As darkness and dust cloyed her senses, J once again found herself missing her wolf. With her wolf's presence, she'd have been able to see through the dark and scent out the little wolf. As it was, J was trying her hardest not to trip over something – be it a bed post or Callie.

According to Lorna, Callie was a very weak wolf. She'd only joined recently after they'd found her in their packlands shivering from the cold and severely underfed. Rumour was, she'd been living wild for years. But she was young – maybe 15, too young to be on her own. J had lived in the forest for a long time, only coming to see Cassidy and the others when needed, she knew how harsh it could be. How resourceful you had to be. Callie had been so much younger than her, how had she managed?

Sure, this pack had taken Callie in, but J knew this type of pack. The dominance of a wolf was all that mattered – and in typical outdated fashion, women were always lesser.

J's shoulders tensed, hands curling into fists, she hated the way Lorna had cowered beneath George's stare. Although she knew it was futile, and if they were moonmates then it would likely kill her, J would offer Lorna to leave with them. She deserved more than this pack.

Movement flickered in the corner of the room and J paused, suddenly aware that although Callie's wolf was weak, she still had a wolf – and J didn't. J crouched, trying to appear smaller, less of a threat.

She was greeted with two, glowing green orbs. "Hi Callie."

A growl shuddered over J's skin, but a smile quirked J's lip. Callie was not as weak as they thought. J knew power when she saw it.

J knelt down, wincing at the stab of pain in her leg. Slowly, she held her palms up in front of her. "I'm J. It's OK Callie, I just want to talk."

The growl filled the room again but, slowly, Callie moved forwards and into the sliver of light from the curtain. J caught her breath; the girl was more than a little malnourished. She was all angles and her skin an off grey. Her eyes though, big, round, green globes, burned brighter than ever.

Callie's gaze swept over her, J could practically feel her counting the scars, noting the flicker of pain in her face and tenseness in her joints. Exactly what she knew she'd see if she looked in the mirror. The girl was sizing up her opponent.

Callie let out a small, shaky breath and the growling stopped. Her wolf gone, the girl's eyes slid back to brown and J watched her shiver. Her arms wrapped around her body and she began to shake. She was frightened.

J tried to give her a small, reassuring smile, but judging by the girl's flinch it didn't work. "I'm visiting on behalf of the Rootbridge pack. Lorna, do you know Lorna? She's the Beta's mate...she told me that you'd seen some wolves fighting?"

The girl watched in silence, eyes distrustful, though J hadn't missed the hint of relief when J mentioned Lorna's name.  "See I think," J continued conversationally as the girl took a tiny step towards her, "that there were two rogues. Or two wolves at least. I saw two different sized claw marks, but what I need to know is if it was a wolf from this pack, or if it was two rogues?" Briefly, J wondered if maybe Callie had been one of the wolves, but she shook her head, no, J had a feeling it wasn't.

Callie bit her lip, indecision clear in her gaze as she slowly raised her head and locked eyes with J. Brave girl. How this pack dismissed her as some submissive wolf, J had no idea. There was strength in her frame, strength in her survival.

"The-there were two. The crazy one. The rogue. And then another one. He was huge." Callie whispered, her voice hoarse. As she neared J, J rocked back onto the balls of her feet and pushed herself to standing. Callie was much shorter than J, only reaching her shoulder, but she was still growing and one day she'd be a powerhouse.

J nodded at Callie's words, her eyes drifting above Callie's head as she thought about what it meant. "The big one, was he rogue too?" She asked, her eyes narrowing on the bruise just visible on the side of Callie's neck. If J wasn't mistaken, and it was still quite dark in here so she might be, but she could have sworn that it was a thumb print. Noticing her stare, Callie adjusted the collar on the dirty white dress she wore. J's jaw tightened.

"Yes, he was, I-I think they both were. They fought and then the big one chased the small one away."

J nodded and gave her a tight smile, "thanks. That's all I needed to know." J turned, knowing she needed to get back to Rootbridge and explain what they'd found out, but paused and turned back to Callie. J took a deep breath, "come with me. When we leave, come with me. I don't know who gave you that bruise, but you deserve better. Come with me."

Callie's eyes watered and J caught her breath, her heart catching in her chest. Callie bit her lip and ducked her head to hide the falling tear. "I-I can't. They saved me, I owe them, I-"

J silenced her with a hand on her shoulder, Callie's head snapped up, "you don't owe anyone, anything." J promised her, giving her a light squeeze for emphasis. "Just think about it. Even if it's not today, or tomorrow. Just, think about."

Callie nodded and ducked her head, promising to do so.

J sniffed, blinking back tears she'd never admit she wanted to shed. She headed out into the hall, pausing at both Lorna and Rayna who leant against the hallway wall watching her. Lorna's eyes were wide, she was surprised, Rayna, wasn't. J smiled at Rayna and walked past them both, pausing beside Lorna. She didn't look at the woman as she spoke: "the same goes for you. Come with us. You deserve better."

Not looking back, J headed out of the stale house and into the fresh air, never more grateful for the smell of the forest. That house was oppressive, the atmosphere heavy. She took in a few deep breaths as Rayna appeared behind her and went to go and find Liam and share what she'd learnt, when a voice stopped her.

"Hey! Scar face!"

*
A/N

Hello!

Bonus double update on a Monday!

Anyway, thank you all for reading! I'm so glad you're all enjoying J's story - I genuinely adore her character! I'm currently in the process of writing the end chapters to this and it's really, really going to be hard to say goodbye to J!

Anyway, more tomorrow.... :)

Question: who is your favourite character?