The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 14

Damon POV

For the last two hours, I watched Elle compete and win a division tournament in a class she had no business in. The kids in this division are sons/daughters of fellow warriors or the second-borns of ranked families. As a classified “Omega,” there is no way she should have been able to keep her own against the others in her division, let alone win.

‘Did you feel the power coming off of her?’ Slade asks, speaking to me for the first time in days. We haven’t seen eye to eye lately, causing him to stay away, and as much as I hate admitting it, I’ve missed him.

‘Yeah,’ I admitted, ‘It’s not normal for an Omega to be that powerful.’

‘No,’ he replies, ‘but that doesn’t matter. She IS powerful. She will be a strong Luna for us.’ he says, his pride-filled voice. His naivety causes me to scoff. She isn’t ours. If only he could see that so we could focus on our mate. Don’t get me wrong. I want Elle as badly as Slade; I am more realistic about the situation.

‘Shouldn’t we be focusing on finding our mate instead?’ I ask, desperation in my voice.

‘We have already found her, and if you’d stop being an i***t, you’d realize it,’ Slade says in exasperation, retreating before I can say a word in retort. With the annoying pup pestering Elle in my head, I can focus on the mission I set out to accomplish. Finding my parents and getting some much-needed answers about the orphan they welcomed into our home five years ago.

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

Barging into my father’s office, I find him, my mother, the Beta, and Gamma couples huddled around the table, pictures of young Alpha spread across the desk. Many of the men I recognized from training and some who were older than us. All the eyes in the room were glued to me, questions written on their faces over my sudden intrusion.

“What are you doing?” I ask them, pointing at the sixty different pictures they have all over the place.

“I think we should be asking you that,” his father gave me a knowing look I can’t quite decipher before he turns to look at the pictures in front of him, “But I rather applaud your timing. You know some of these young men personally. Maybe you can give us some insight into their personalities.”

“Why?” I ask, skeptical at their intentions, “Does this have to do with Elle?”

“Yes. honey,” my mother says in a soothing voice, stepping forward, but I don’t want her anywhere near me while my b***d is starting to boil at the thought of another man anywhere near Elle. After my father sees how upset I am, he asks the Beta and Gamma couples to leave the office so we can talk privately.

Instead of acknowledging what my mother said, I steady my eyes on my father, my gaze holding firm with his own. “You all need to stop lying to me and tell me the truth about Elle. Who is she? Really?” I ask, on the verge of pleading with them to tell me the truth.

For years, things regarding Elle have not always added up. The biggest being her Omega status. My parents were fair and treated everyone equally, but they would find an Omega family to take in another Omega.

“We don’t know what you’re talking about, sweetheart,” my mother says, her face slightly panicked as she glances at my father.

“Stop bullshitting me. I am not a child anymore. I am the future leader of this pack, and I deserve to know about the members living within the pack,” I say firmly, not releasing my gaze. Challenging him to continue lying to me.

“It’s-” my mother starts to say before she is interrupted by my father, “We need to tell him, Olivia, we won’t be able to hide it much longer anyways.”

“Very well,” my mother sighs, “Elle is not an Omega.” is all she says, hesitating to share more than that.

“No s**t. That was made clear on the training field today. No Omega can move as gracefully as that. Or has that much strength. But that doesn’t explain who she is.” I say, annoyed at their need to tell me everything in drips and drabs.

Sighing, my mom sits on the couch before gesturing for me to sit across from her. “Elle was sent here years ago by her parents for protection. She does not know, and you must not tell her it would interfere with the strict plan her parents set up for her.”

“Okay,” I ask, still confused because some pieces of the puzzle just do not fit with the rest, “is part of their plan throwing her at a mate at seventeen?” I challenge them because I highly doubt her parents would want her forcefully mated off to some stranger before their daughter could find her true mate.

“This is absurd! She can’t even find her true mate for another year!” I shout at them, becoming pissed at their audacity of forcing Elle into a chosen mating when she should be focused on finding her destined one.

“That’s not true, dear. Elle is different because she is a first-born Alpha female. Alpha’s are instinctively drawn to their mates, even when one of the members is underage.” my mother says nonchalantly.

“It’s true!” my father quipped, “I met your mother when I was nineteen, and she was seventeen. I remember being so smitten from the first time I met her. Even my wolf Poseidon liked her and had no interest in other she-wolves. But she was his when he laid eyes on her, and no other female could gain his attention.”

“And with Elle being a firstborn Alpha female,” my mother continues, “the pull between her and her mate will be much stronger. Once he lays eyes on her, it’ll be hard keeping him away from her.” Hearing my mom say this made my heart race and my stomach knot in panic. I can’t risk losing my Elle to some other man.

“Okay, but none of that explains why you are trying to push a mate on Elle before she is eighteen and can’t even recognize her mate.”

“Damon, there are things about the mate bond that you can’t understand right now. Elle’s mate is the best chance at protecting now that her powers are harder to hide.” My mom says, trying to rationalize their choices.

My father adds, “Plus, her parents gave us very strict rules on how to raise her and what to do to ensure her protection until the right time when she can take back her rightful place as Luna and Alpha of her own pack. She is getting her wolf soon; once that happens, it will be much harder to mask her powers. Did you see her on the field today? She needs the excuse of having a suspected Alpha mate around.”

“Living in a house full of Alpha’s and being trained well by them isn’t enough protection for Elle?” I ask, skepticism laced in my voice. I don’t trust their explanations. The feeling they are holding something back is clawing at my mind demanding answers.

“No,” is all they felt they needed to say.

“Is this all you are going to say on the subject?” I ask through gritted teeth, barely holding myself together. How could they do this to Elle? How could they do this to me? Their son and the future leader of this pack is being left in the dark. I can feel Slade pacing back and forth in my mind waiting for his cue to take control of the situation.

“Damon, please understand-” my mom tries to say, but I’m already up and out of the room before she can finish the sentence. No need to stick around and hear their half-assed truths dressed in partial lies. It was tedious and tiring to listen to.

Halfway down the hall, I feel someone attempting to open a mindlink. Taking a chance, it is someone other than my parents. I opened it willingly, surprised to find who was at the other end.

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

After enduring three hours of an anxious dinner, wondering about Elle’s absence the whole time, I am standing in the gardens waiting on someone who can give me answers. Where could Elle be that she missed dinner? Did she get hurt in the tournament today? Has anyone checked on her? These were the endless questions rattling through my mind the entire meal. I barely spoke, fearing I might slip up and ask one of the many questions I had about Elle’s whereabouts, causing suspicion among the adults there. Instead, I sat there in agony, wondering where she was.

After a few more minutes, I hear the crunch of leaves, and two figures walk toward me, the moonlight outlining their mostly black attires. Eventually, the couple steps in front of me, illuminating their faces more clearly.

“Hello, Jake and Ashley,” I say, “thank you for meeting me to tell me what you know.”

“Of course, only because it’s important for you to know. We don’t know much about Elle’s situation other than your parents made an

unbreakable vow with her parents.” Jake says, leaving my head spinning.

“An unbreakable vow? Like with witches? My parents are involved with witches?” I ask, my voice laced with disbelief. Witches exist; however, we are not the kind of pack that willingly interacts with them. We don’t have a beef with them, and if we meet them outside of the territory, we are cordial, but as a rule of thumb for pack politics, we stay out of their business as long as they stay out of ours.

“Yes, apparently, her family is one of those packs that had a close relationship with the witch community,” Jake says solemnly, his feet shifting on the ground.

“Had?”

“Yes, I don’t know what happened with the family. Your parents have kept information close to the vest,” Jake says, his voice low, his eyes wandering to ensure he isn’t heard when we see car lights coming up the drive.

“That’s all we know, and anything else we cannot tell you,” Ashley says, her hand tugging on Jake’s arm, anxious to be gone from this place before the car reaches them. I can understand their hesitation. They’re loyal to my father and betray him by telling me this.

“Do you know the name of the pack?” I ask desperately, hoping to strangle any last bit of information I can.

“It’s like it’s on the tip of my tongue, but I cannot remember it,” Jake says, shaking his head like he is trying to knock the information free. Before I can ask anything else, they walk away, staying in the shadows and disappearing into the woods lining the gardens.

Staying in the gardens, I duck behind a hedge as the car comes closer to the front drive and turn around. Who could be stopping into the pack house this late at night? It eventually stops; underneath the front porch light, a figure emerges, and with it, Elle’s giggling voice as she says, “I am positive I can protect myself from the car to the door, Nick, but I appreciate the gesture anyways.”

Nick? Nick Patternasky? What the f**k is Elle doing with him? I can feel my anger surging into a murderous rage and quickly. Didn’t this fuckhead get the memo years ago when I made her persona non grata?

‘He needs a reminder,’ Slade says, coming forward in the face of a common enemy, “in fact, we should just educate Theo while we are at it.’ he says as we move forward out of the gardens to the front door when I hear another voice call out the door. “Elle, you and Theo are officially sitting with us at lunch!” squeals the unmistakable voice of Taylor. Hearing other people’s voices, especially females, causes me to rethink my actions and slow my approach to listen.

“Yes, you must!” Emma, Taylor’s twin, includes in the conversation. Of course, the twins are together. They always are, which means Victor- Emma’s mate isn’t far behind and explains Nick’s presence, who is one of Victor’s best friends.

“I don’t think Theo will have a problem with the change in scenery, so we’ll be there tomorrow,” She says, a broad smile on her face, and seeing it twists my gut into knots. The overwhelming feeling of possessing a patented Elle smile is so overwhelming I am choking on it. Like I am a robot programmed on autopilot,

I follow behind Elle quietly and at a safe distance until we reach the hallway with her bedroom. She is so focused on her phone she doesn’t hear me closing in as she opens her door. Without a second thought, I push her inside, closing the door behind me and locking it while my body stands guard in the dark room.

It takes Elle a moment to get her bearings before she flicks on the light and spins around, arms raised, ready to attack her unexpected attacker.

“Damon? What the hell are you doing?”