The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 10

Damon POV

It’s been two weeks since that disastrous dinner, and Elle has been avoiding me like the plague, driving me insane. Elle somehow managed to be gone from the house before I woke up, no matter how early I was ready and waiting in the living room, hoping to hear her footsteps come down for breakfast. Slade was beginning to become a nuisance, constantly pleading to hunt her down and demanding she stay next to us always. It didn’t help that Theo was next to her every time we saw her, stuck like f*****g glue.

Theo and Elle sit together across the courtyard, completely lost in their world, ignorant of the rest of us. I hate how comfortable she is with him; the way Theo can make her laugh makes me jealous that I never have. At the same time, I am forced to watch from the shadows like a deranged stalker wishing for her to notice me the way she sees him. My heart aches at seeing Elle put her hand on his arm. I crave her to touch me like that.

“What are you looking at, babe?” says the sickly sweet voice Melanie uses whenever she is talking to me, and for some reason, it’s been annoying me more than usual lately.

‘Because she is not our Elle,’ Slade says from the corners of my mind.

‘Elle isn’t our mate,’ I say, irritated that he is so obsessed with Elle; if he weren’t, I wouldn’t be either.

‘We know for sure Melanie isn’t. Stop wasting her time.’ is all Slade says before returning to where he came from.

“Babe? Hello? Whatcha doing?” Melanie says again while popping the gum in her mouth while her lips smack in the most obnoxious ways.

“Nothing, Melanie,” I say, never taking my eyes off Theo and Elle sitting on the other side of the courtyard. Melanie follows the direction my eyes are staring in, and then her eyes land on Elle, making her face darken. Melanie could get naked and on her knees right now to get my attention, but I don’t think it would work.

“What’s your obsession with her?” she snarls, probably aggravated that this is the third time she has caught me staring at Elle and Theo together in two weeks. I can tell it’s starting to get to her, but I don’t care; she should focus on finding her mate, not worried about me.

“I am not obsessed with her,” I growl, but still, my eyes are glued to Elle, not even bothering to glance at Melanie standing beside me.

“Yes, you are! You haven’t looked at me once since I walked over here,” Melanie whined while stomping her foot like one of the pups in the daycare. “She has a boyfriend now; just let it go, Damon. She will never be your Luna, but I could be,” she whispers the last part while big crocodile tears fall down her eyes. Her fakeness is so thick it permeates the hair, and I am choking on it. Melanie’s disrespect and her assumption that I will ever take her as a chosen mate brings Slade charging forward. I push her into the tree, my face inches from her neck, my teeth elongating till they graze her neck. I can feel the terror rolling off of Melanie. Her fear is so strong other students are starting to look at us, wondering what’s going on.

“First off,” Slade growls in her ear, “it is Alpha Damon to you, understood?”

“Yes, Alpha,” Melanie quivers against the hand holding her by the neck.

“Secondly, you will NEVER be my chosen,” I say, my eyes turning back to their usual blue as I calm down, starting to feel bad for saying that loud enough for the other wolves in the courtyard to hear.

“Melanie, you need to stop holding out hope that I will choose you as my mate and Luna,” I try to say gently, choosing this time to break it off with her. I may be a douche for doing it in front of the entire school, but if I didn’t, she would focus on me instead of finding her mate.

“Melanie, you deserve the love only a mate can provide. We are both eighteen; we know we are not mates, and pretending to will not help either of us. Please, Melanie, let’s not make this harder than it already is.” I say to her, trying to calm her hysterics. She is full-blown sobbing with snot bubbles and everything. I can feel the whole class staring at us, so I try to use my massive form to block her tear-stained face.

“But… you…don’t…know…if…Elle…is…yours…either!” she wails hysterically, loud enough for Elle and Theo to hear at the other end of the courtyard.

“It’s not about her,” I say, but I can tell she doesn’t believe me. I don’t say it very convincingly.

“BULLSHIT!” Melanie screams, pushing me away while she runs towards the school, her closest friends filtering out of the courtyard to follow her into the school.

I turn around and instantly find the emerald green eyes watching me curiously. We stare at each other for a few moments before she is distracted by something Theo says and has her complete attention on him once again.

Before I can torture myself more, I launch myself towards the forest, shifting into Slade in midair, our paws touching down within seconds as we disappear further into the woods towards the willow tree.

*****************************

After a few hours of sitting under the tree as Slade, relaxing to the sounds of birds singing, I see Andrew and Matt in the tree line. Andrew is carrying a bag, probably clothes for me to put on since mine tore when I changed into my wolf.

I can tell, looking at Matt, that he heard about what happened in the courtyard with Melanie, the anger rolling off him like a tsunami. Matt starts pacing and yelling at me as soon as he gets closer.

“Matt, wait for Damon to change first,” Andrew says, always the rational peacemaker of the three of us. He has to be with how hotheaded the Gamma and I are. Andrew throws me the bag of clothes, which Slade catches in his teeth. Not caring that Andrew and

Matt are right next to me, I shift back to my human state, standing completely nude in the middle of this field. After getting dressed, I look at Matt, ready for him to finish lashing out at me for how I treated his sister.

“Seriously, dude, what the f**k is your problem?” Matt screams at me, his hands flying around, showing how frustrated he is at the whole situation.

“It needed to happen, Matt,” I try to justify the situation, “your sister needs to forget about me and find her mate. She deserves that kind of love.”

“Don’t try to rationalize it; you did it for Elle!” Matt screams back, calling me out on my bullshit.

“I-“

“Stop lying and admit it! We all see the way you watch her like a stalker!” Matt continues, “Look, I am glad you dumped my sister, but you need to stop lying and admit you have feelings for Elle.” He finishes and turns around, running into the forest, not even giving me a chance to say something.

Andrew and I stare off where Matt ran into the woods, neither of us daring to say a word, both lost in our thoughts. But I can see Andrew looking at me from the corner of my eye; I know he wants to say something, but it is holding him back.

‘You cannot keep hiding it from them. Matt and Andrew are your best friends, they might not understand what we feel for Elle, but they’ll understand,’ Slade tells me, and I know he is right. I cannot hold back my feelings anymore.

“Is it that obvious? My feelings for Elle?” I finally ask Andrew, wanting to break the awkward silence, and it does because Andrew starts chuckling at my questions.

“Goddess, yes, I think the whole pack knows or suspects except for Elle herself,” Andrew says, but he is still looking at me like he wants to ask more but is unsure how I’ll respond. I can’t say I blame him for it. Past conversations regarding Elle have never gone well. I end up choking someone out, but in my defense, one of them always brings up how hot she is—a surefire way to piss-off Slade.

“Ask what you want,” I sigh, mentally preparing for his next question.

“Do you think Elle is your Luna?” Andrew asks, barely whispering while stepping back as if desperate to put space between us.

“I am still conflicted about how I feel for Elle. What if I am this consumed by her only because it’s how Slade feels? Slade is positive she is ours,” I say, looking away from Andrew’s face, ashamed to be this infatuated with a she-wolf that isn’t confirmed as my mate.

“Well, do you want my opinion on the subject?” Andrew asks tentatively, still sensing my discomfort with the Elle topic.

“I have a feeling you’ve been wanting to talk to me about this for a while,” I chuckle, watching his eyes widen as his face turns to look at me.

“You’re right. Even when we were thirteen, you always had to know where Elle was, what she was doing, who she was with, and any other details you could find out about her. At first, I thought it was because you didn’t trust her being from another pack.” Andrew pauses for a minute to gauge my reaction, knowing how easy it is to piss Slade or me off. Andrew continued with his explanation when he realized I wasn’t reacting negatively. “It wasn’t until I got my wolf, Demitri, that I began to understand.”

“Understand what?” I ask, confused about the direction this conversation is taking. “Does your wolf claim Elle as his own too?” I ask, trying to keep calm before Slade comes forward and rips this traitorous bastard apart.

“Goddess, no, nothing like that. Have you ever noticed that my behavior toward Elle changed after I shifted to Demitri? I no longer participated in the name-calling and teasing like the rest of you guys?” Andrew asks me, looking in the eyes, and as I reflect on the last few years, I recall him being there but always as a silent partner with a disapproving look.

“No, I hadn’t, but now that you’ve mentioned it, you’re right. You haven’t participated once. Why is that?” I ask him, my curiosity growing at why Andrew would suddenly change his attitude toward Elle.

“It is all Dimitri’s doing. From the beginning, he has called her “the Luna,” but he calls your mom Luna Olivia” Andrew says, and for the first time in a long time, I am stunned into silence.