Captive Of The Alpha
Chapter 40

Nebraska was too quiet. Too quiet for Layan’s concern. She hadn’t touched the food that had been brought to her room and there was no sign of escape either. The alpha tapped his finger on the table looking at his beta.

-And?” he asked his beta who stood on the other side with his hands behind his back.

-She hasn’t spoken, she just sits on her bed with nothing to do but stare into the void.

Staring into the void was something she surely did, Layan thought, it was common knowledge the difficulty she possessed in her eyes. But something else, he needed something else. He was sure she wouldn’t stand idly by while he borrowed her, as he put it.

She rose from her seat with so much momentum that she knocked him over. He couldn’t dwell on why he had her there either. It had been two days since he had brought her, and surely the Silver Pack had noticed her absence and his.

For the moment, he wasn’t worried about it, not until the next day. Hades must be recovering from his rut and no one would move without his permission or enter his lands without their leader in the lead. Anyone doing so could lose more than one paw. Maybe he only had hours left for the omega to work its magic on his sister and bring her back or he would be forced to….

He walked down the hallway shaking his head. He wasn’t supposed to think that now. The pressure in his chest began to choke him and he had to stop. Leila was the only family he had left, he couldn’t afford to lose her, no matter what he had to do, even give up his life for her. He took a deep breath and resumed his walk seconds later.

Without asking permission he opened the door to the room where he kept Nebraska and sure enough she was there, sitting cross-legged on the bed with one of her fingers curled over her lips as if she was pondering life. She didn’t even turn her face when he came in and locked the door. The smell of food still warm made him look down at the table and he frowned.

-You haven’t eaten anything.

-Shut up,” she whispered back, still undeterred.

The simple word made a vein throb in his temple. Not even his parents had told him to shut up when they were puppies.

-He spoke her name through clenched teeth but without moving from the spot, who knew what she would do to him, that woman could unintentionally get on his nerves.

Apparently his tone made her react, for she straightened up and gently lowered her hand to her lap.

-You don’t want me to help your sister, so shut up, I can’t think with all this noise, your people have been in and out all the time and I can’t concentrate,” she said.

-What do you have to think about,” Layan approached more relaxed and sat on the edge of the bed a meter away from her crossing his legs, “Your power didn’t work the first time, you just have to try again.

He saw her move one of her feet impatiently and squeeze the bridge of her nose. He was getting annoyed.

-My power, as you call it, has never failed on the first try, I was even able to make all the males in my pack lucid again. It’s not that I don’t understand why it didn’t work on your sister, it’s that it barely had any effect on her even when I used all my concentration.

Layan looked disappointed but disguised it by putting on his self-satisfied face with which he always achieved all his goals.

-Try again.

-It will be the same result.

-We have a deal.

-I had no choice.

The argument seemed to have nowhere to go, and she had an answer for every sentence. The alpha clenched his fists and turned his back on her and walked over to the table and picked up the plate of food and took it to her.

-Eat,” he ordered, placing it in front of her, “You’ll need strength.

-She raised an incredulous eyebrow. He didn’t know what had happened in the time she had been there but he had kind of lost his fear of her.

The alpha leaned down until his face was level with hers.

-Don’t get excited, beautiful, all I care about is that your body is strong enough to help my sister, the rest is indifferent to me.

Nebraska didn’t move a muscle in her face, though inside she swallowed a snort. The advantage of not being able to see was that you could perceive beyond the normal. The wolf was not sincere. He hid his emotions and the inner wounds behind his aggressive words but she had been able to see over that. Maybe in the future they could talk not as enemies.

-You lost a lot of b***d and I don’t want my sister to feel guilty when you collapse in the middle of your task.

-B***d,” she repeated, “b***d,” this time she shouted.

She pushed the plate away, leaving it on the bed and grabbed the front of Layan’s shirt to keep herself upright as her knees were unsteady from the same position for so long.

-Why didn’t I notice that before,” she shook him slightly and he, not understanding the change in her mood, just held her elbows to help her steady herself.

She was about to answer him when the door was opened with such force that it cracked as it touched the wall. A huge wolf that bristled all its dark fur and bared its fangs in long puffs of air came walking towards them and changed shape.

-Hades, you showed up pretty quick, shouldn’t you be recovering,” Layan joked, separating himself and putting some distance between him and the omega. I’m sure the image he had seen hadn’t pleased him at all, including other things.

Hades, now in his human form, completely naked and with his hair in disarray, stood in front of Nebraska, taking her hand carefully. His claws and fangs still refused to retract, and worse, he was on the verge of collapse.

-You shouldn’t have come out in that condition, your heat is too intense, you must be extremely exhausted,” no one knew better than Layan the state his opponent was in, that he was conscious was already a miracle.

During the heat all his senses were so heightened that it hurt. Their muscles would tense to the point that they could tear and the urge to mate could drive them mad, because their nature commanded them to procreate pups. But in the case of Hades who refused to spend it with a she-wolf, who could end up in very bad condition due to the level of violence that males could reach during the heat, his condition, once this period was over, was exhausting and devastating. It was even known that there were times when she needed more than a day to recover and this seemed to be the case.

Layan estimated that she had only finished her heat a few hours ago by her scent and that as soon as she had heard about it she had set off in the direction of her pack. If he had waited a day he would have taken her himself, but the wolf was too possessive of his things, not to mention stubborn. Luckily he had given the order that if they saw him coming they were to let him pass. He didn’t want a quarrel as that would only expose his secret.

-Layan,” he growled gravely, releasing almost all the air from his lungs, “I won’t let you pass this time.

-You don’t look fit to me,” the red-haired man lifted the corner of his mouth.

For her part, Nebraska could hear her current fiancé’s unrestrained heartbeat and feel the cold, trembling palm holding her against her back. She swallowed dryly and lowered her head. Hades didn’t look well at all and yet he’d come after her in the face of an entire pack, she hadn’t expected that. She smiled slightly as her own heartbeat intensified as well. She moved to Hades’ side and touched his forearm, feeling the skin just as cold and sweaty under her fingers.

-Hades, calm down, I’m fine,” she said softly, “Let me finish some business I have here and we’ll be right back.

But the alpha didn’t seem to hear her. He squeezed her hand and looked at her. His eyes so intense that it made her remember what had happened in their last meeting although she restrained herself from pulling away from him, that could make things worse, so she would hold on.

-We’re leaving now,” his words were firm.

-I don’t think that’s going to be possible,” Layan’s tone had changed.

Both wolves growled and Nebraska, this time, lost her patience. He waved his hand and let go of Hades.

-Since you won’t listen when I speak, I’ll leave you to attend to your own problems without me, I have more important things to do,” she turned and walked towards the exit.

They both stared at her with shocked faces.

-Are you sure she’s the one you want as queen,” Layan pointed a snorting finger at her, receiving a snarl from Hades who staggered slightly, “I see you losing your alpha position,” he said.

And he followed her knowing exactly where she was going.