The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 36

Theo POV

I glance at the time on my lock screen and see it’s almost midnight. Where the f**k are they? They were supposed to be here an hour ago…If I had known those jackasses were going to bail, I would have gone to sleep already. Deciding to finally give up, I start shutting down the house when I hear a demanding knock at the door. That must be them, annoyed I fling it open, glaring at my three unwelcome colleagues in this unfortunate adventure. Of course, Damon has a shit-eating smirk on his face, proud of himself that he made me wait for him. Cocky alpha douche.

“Couldn’t have called? Mindlinked? Sent a text?” I grumble as they file into my house slowly, like I have all day to wait on them to get their s**t together. Thank the Goddess, my father is never home, or this would be nearly impossible to accomplish.

“Sorry, we should have; we just got caught up in things,” Andrew says before Damon or Matt says something stupid, which they are prone to do. “Your dad home?” He asks, looking around, hoping to change the subject.

“Nah, man. Busy with council stuff,” I say nonchalantly as I shrug my shoulders like it doesn’t bother me, but it does. I think I see a flash of sympathy in Damon’s eyes, but it’s gone as quickly as it came.

“Alright,” Damon says gruffly, clearly annoyed at the easy way Andrew and I converse with one another. “Can we stop gossiping like women and get this over with.”

“Sure,” I retort, not liking his attitude, “anyone know how to pick a lock?”

“Yeah, got some bobby pins?” Matt asks, causing me to look at him in shock. He is the last person I would expect to know this stuff.

“For Goddess’s sake, I am a f*****g Gamma- knowing how to break and enter comes with the territory. What do you think I do all day? Train my warriors to sit on their asses?”

“Sorry, man,” I say, holding up my palms in surrender, “I didn’t mean to offend you.” But Matt’s eyes are shifting from black to their chocolaty brown within rapid succession, struggling to control his temper. After a moment, he finally gains composure, shoulder checking me on the way up the stairs towards my father’s office like he had been in my home before. But considering this house was reserved for council members when they visited, chances are Matt has been here before. Damon follows behind Matt silently, occasionally looking around my scantily decorated house.

Andrew follows behind, giving me a small smile before ascending the staircase. With a deep, calming breath, I walk up the stairs behind them, watching as they stand outside the small room at the other end of the hallway. Matt makes quick work of the lock having the door open before I reach the top steps.

“Holy s**t,” comes Matt’s muffled voice as he looks inside a room I hadn’t been in since my mom was alive.

“Jesus Christ,” Damon says as he looks inside, with Andrew close behind him, his eyes as round as saucers looking into the room.

“Dude, we’ll never get through all that paperwork.” I reach them just as the words leave Andrew’s mouth, causing me to look into the room they hadn’t entered yet.

Boy is Andrew right. There is no way on the Goddess’s green earth that we’d make it through the tall filing cabinets, the shelves stacked with binders all filled to the brim with papers, Filofaxes piled high on one another, and random stacks lining every conceivable surface in this tiny space.

“How does your father get anything done in here?” Andrew asks, bewildered that anyone can work in a room like this. “Where do we even start?” He starts to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work before us. This is not a task that will get done in one night, especially with only four of us slowly working our way through the piles. This is months’ worth of work, and judging by the dark expression on Damon’s face, that isn’t what he had anticipated during this little bonding spree.

“I guess we each grab a pile and start going through them,” I say, grabbing the pile closest to me and lugging it across the hall to my room. The others do the same, following my lead. They each make themselves comfortable before opening their boxes to start sorting through the mountains of paperwork.

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

Hours passed, the light slowly creeping in my bedroom window as Damon, Andrew, Matt, and I spent the last seven hours pouring through as many boxes as we could, and we still hadn’t made a dent in the number of boxes in the office across the hall. Dragging my hand down my face, I look at Damon, the only other person still awake besides myself, his eyes scanning through the document in his hand.

“We need to take a break; we have school in an hour,” I say, my voice cracking from the lack of sleep and water. My body stiff from sitting in the same position all night.

“Will your dad be home tonight?” he asks, with a look of determination. I can tell that he isn’t going to let go. No matter what I say, I know he isn’t going to give this up.

“No, he won’t. But I have plans tonight, and I cannot help,” I tell him, which is true- I cannot help him as Elle, and I plan on going through this information ourselves but he didn’t need to know that.

“Doing what?” He demands to know, the exhaustion clear in his eyes with deep purple bags underneath them.

“Hanging out with Elle,” is all I say. I know it’s not the right thing to tell him, but I honestly could give two f***s about what he

thinks. I see his eyes flashing as raging jealousy consumes him and permeates the air around us.

“What are you two dating now?” He asks, practically foaming at the mouth in a rage, his aura starting to wake Andrew and Matt from their sleep. I can feel their eyes shifting between us, trying to figure out whether they should intervene.

“If we are, it’s only because you were stupid enough to throw her away,” I retort, secretly enjoying egging him on.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asks, both of us standing to stare each other down. Andrew and Matt are watching silently; based on Matt’s expression, I could guess he wants some popcorn to watch another showdown between us.

“You know exactly what I mean,” I snap at him, Cerberus coming to the surface, still pissed he made Elle cry. “Or did you forget the other night already?”

“That is none of your business,” He growls, “what happens between Elle and I is between us alone!” He says, stepping closer to me, trying to force me into submission using his Alpha aura. The nice thing about my father being a council Beta is that we are now as strong as a pack Alpha, and their aura doesn’t have the desired effect. Usually, I submit, not wanting to attract trouble for myself, but right now, I couldn’t care about the consequences.

“It is my problem when you make Elle cry,” I say to him, my eyes shifting to black Cerebrus, desperately wanting to take charge and put him in his place.

“Elle isn’t your responsibility!” Damon screams, getting so close to my face that I can smell the staleness on his breath.

“No, she should be yours, but you’re being a stubborn d**k!” I shout back, but I can tell that is not what he was expecting me to say, the shock evident on his face.

“What?” Is all he says, blinking at me rapidly as he tries to process what I am telling him and his aura faltering from his confusion.

“Look, I have no romantic interest in Elle,” I sigh, my own exhaustion taking over, and honestly, I am growing tired of this feud between us. “Does Cerebrus feel protective of her? Yes, but like an older brother looks after his younger sister. Or how a…..” I falter, trying to find the words to describe how Cerebrus and I feel about her.

“A Beta feels protective of his Luna?” Andrew asks, butting into the conversation for the first time since he and Matt woke up.

“Exactly!” I snap my fingers and point a finger like that is the best way to describe it. My father says that the bond between a Beta and his Luna is unique. A relationship like siblings, it is the Beta’s responsibility to protect his Luna. When an Alpha leaves, it’s rare if the Beta accompanies unless the Luna is too. He usually needs to stay behind and protect luna and the pack.

“But that makes no sense,” Matt chimes into the conversation, “you aren’t a member of this pack, and we don’t even know if Elle is Damon’s mate…” he wonders as he ponders the conundrum.

“She might be?” Andrew asks, “Demitri feels the same way about Elle.” He says, scratching his head. Damon says nothing, his eyes glazed over, lost in the thought. Matt is right, though; I shouldn’t feel this protective over a female wolf that isn’t even a Luna yet. It makes no sense until the realization hits me like a ton of bricks. Elle’s strength, speed, and the fact that I cannot beat her in a fight all make sense now, and I feel so f*****g stupid that I didn’t see the answer before.

“Elle isn’t an Omega, is she?” I ask them, but I don’t need an answer. The color draining from Damon’s face is confirmation enough. If she isn’t an Omega, where did she come from, and why does my wolf feel duty-bound to protect her?