The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 38

Luna Olivia POV

I am sitting on the bedroom balcony enjoying my afternoon tea when I see the high schoolers walking onto the field to start their training. Damon, Andrew, and Matt are already standing at one end, heads bent, talking to one another. Like their fathers before them, they are never apart. The three talk intently, ignoring the other students who start warming up. What has them so busy that they aren’t focusing on training right now? Those three are up to something, but I can guess what they are talking about. I watch Elle enter the field, but my son still hasn’t noticed until the wind shifts taking her scent right to him as if sent by the moon Goddess herself. I watch as Damon’s eyes find her walking through the crowd toward Theo with a pissed-off look. I don’t care about their squabbles as I watch Damon watch Elle. I can tell he is dying desperately to go over there, talk to her, and be near her but he doesn’t because of the fight with his father recently.

My heart breaks as I watch the eternal struggle he is going through on the inside. Whimpering overcomes me as Nova watches her pup struggle against his complicated feelings and his father’s command to avoid her.

‘I still cannot believe you decided to go through with Cynthia and Alaric’s stupid plan,’ Nova growls as she watches Slade ache inside. ‘If this backfires, Olivia, I will never forgive you.’

‘Trust me, I won’t forgive myself,’ I whisper to her, ‘I know what they both could lose if we somehow screw this whole thing up.’ I reply to her. ‘And I don’t remember you trying to stop it from happening then.’ I scold her, reminding her she had as much right to stop it all those years ago, but she said nothing.

‘You’re right,’ she sighs, ‘but talking about it and watching it happen are two very different things.’ I could feel her anguish at watching Elle and Damon interact, knowing it hadn’t always been this way. But I’ll never forget the night it all changed. It’s like a bad memory I can’t seem to forget.

***FLASHBACK***

7 Years Ago

Charles and I are lying in bed as he strokes my hair, our naked bodies mingled together, enjoying the afterglow of our time, when we hear someone banging on the front door. Charles is wearing the same puzzled expression I am; it is almost midnight, and pouring so hard that you can’t see straight. The perfect time for rogues to pass our patrol on the borders unnoticed. My husband’s eyes glaze over while mind-linking some men to do a status check of the perimeter.

‘Everyone’s clear,’ Charles’s voice comes through the link. ‘I’ll check.’ He puts on a pair of shorts as he creeps out of the room and down the stairs. He keeps the link open just in case something happens while I dress. I hear the front door open, and Charles’s silky smooth voice comes through. ‘It’s safe, but you need to get down here.’

Wasting no time, I finish dressing to meet my mate in the living room, my steps faltering when I see who is standing behind him. Our longtime friends, Alaric and Cynthia, the Alpha and Luna of Silver Run, and their young daughter Penelope was sleeping in her father’s arms. A third woman stood next to them who I didn’t recognize, but one sniff of the air told me precisely what she was, a witch. I knew their pack had witches, but to bring them here, into our pack, something must be wrong when they know how we feel about them.

“What’s going on, Cynthia?” I ask. My eyes are unsure who they should focus on, bouncing between the three unexpected guests.

“He knows,” she says, looking at her mate for encouragement, before continuing, “He knows, and he will be coming for her soon. We can’t let that happen.” She says, the fear evident in her eyes; I know that Penelope getting the Luna trait terrified her after hearing the stories about her grandmother, who was also a firstborn Alpha female. She was kidnapped at seventeen and forcefully marked repeatedly until the Alpha’s venom stuck; he was twenty years older than her. By the time the man died, she was already a shell of her former self. Cynthia was Alpha b***d but firstborn Alpha females, or “a Luna born,” as some call it, are a hot commodity among Alpha’s wanting to strengthen their pack. Even in modern times. Penelope would be stronger than most Alpha males, and so would her mate.

“What do you need from us?” Charles asks, but I can feel the skepticism in his voice and through our bond, especially with a witch involved, one who hasn’t said a word since walking into the house.

“If something happens to us promise you will take Penelope in,” She says, nodding to the girl still curled up in her father’s arms fast asleep. But I can tell by the tightness in her jaw, coupled with the way she doesn’t look me directly in the eye, that there is more to this story than she is letting on.

“There is something you’re not telling us,” I say, crossing my arms, “I have known you for thirty years, Cynthia; you cannot hide things from me, so out with it.”

“You need to promise me that you will take Penelope just in case,” Cynthia persists, refusing to tell me anything more until I make that promise, but I can’t make that without Charles input.

‘Do it,’ he says through the link. I need no further encouragement before looking my oldest and dearest friend in the eye. “We promise to take Penelope if you can no longer care for her. Now tell me the part you’re leaving out about this.” I intentionally glance at the blonde witch standing in my living room.

“We need to put a spell on Penelope and Damon,” Alaric takes over after his mate hesitates to expand. “We must suppress Penelope’s aura so she isn’t found, and this is the only way.”

“No,” Charles says immediately, his intense glare looking at the witch who has sat silently watching us with interest. “Absolutely not. We can’t do this to them. Send Penelope to your parents. We can keep them apart until she turns eighteen.”

“I am sorry, Alpha,” the witch in the corner says, speaking for the first time since they arrived. Her voice was silky and slightly bewitching, “that won’t work.”

“What do you mean it won’t work?” I snarl at the witch, a growl rumbling from my chest, the disdain at her presence in my home evident.

“We have three options with Penelope,” The witch explains, “We can let Penelope live with her grandparents, and if that happens, I cannot put the spell on her. It’s too powerful for her to handle alone; it’ll kill her. If she miraculously lives, she will never be able to take over the pack. Her power will be recognized if we send her to her grandparents without the spell—the chances of her being kidnapped and forcefully marked until completion has a high probability. By putting a spell on both of them and keeping Penelope here, her wolf will be close enough to Damon that she can grow strong. The only caveat is their human counterparts will no longer recognize each other. Slade will know, and so will Scarlett but they won’t be able to tell their humans. You will watch them struggle against their human emotions like other wolves their age.”

Because Penelope is a born Luna, she has other advantages regular wolves do not, and so would her mate. One of those would be the ability to recognize each other whenever they meet, regardless of age. We knew when Damon was two, neither of them old enough to understand what the word meant, but we did.

“Do the spell,” comes a dark, animalistic rumble from behind us. Snapping my head, I see Damon standing there, his eyes completely black. Making this the second time his wolf has come forward before shifting, the aura rolling off him solid and powerful.

“Slade,” I say cautiously, Nova whimpering in my head as she looks at her pup. Slade’s wolf spirit might be older and more powerful than ours, but he is still ours. “Are you sure? Honey, we don’t know that her going to her grandparents will result in her being forcefully marked.”

His cold eyes snap to mine, a low growl emanating from his chest, “And I am not willing to take that risk, She is mine, and it should be my decision. Posiedon would make the same choice in a heartbeat for you. Don’t tell me he wouldn’t.”

“He is right,” Charles says, his eyes shifting to their black, letting me know Poseidon agrees, “This should be his decision. Damon may be a child, but Slade is an old soul; we should trust his judgment.”

Looking at my son as he watches Penelope sleep peacefully in her father’s arms, a slight glower of jealousy in his eyes. Like any Alpha, Damon is extremely possessive and jealous, but he says nothing and gets closer to Alaric, who is used to Damon’s need to be close to the girl in his arms.

“One question,” Charles asks, “How will we hide her identity here? It’ll be nearly impossible to hide if they know who she is, what she looks like, her birthday, and her rank. Putting a target on my pack’s back.”

“Charles, I have been preparing for the possibility of having a Luna born my whole life,” Cynthia says, a sad look in her eyes, and my heart aches for her being in this position. “Everything about Penelope is a lie. Her looks, birthdate, name, and birth certificate presented to the pack are fakes.” Reaching into the bag attached to her h*p, she pulls out a thick manilla folder handing it to me. “Everything you need to know is here; no one else knows except those in this room.” She says, nodding to each of us. “Even our Beta believes her name is Penelope. The fewer people know, the better.”

“Very well,” comes the voice of Slade while Penelope rests her head on his shoulder, a peaceful sigh leaving her little frame. It was unique to watch their bond, but truthfully a part of me wishes they had a normal relationship like other kids their age. “Let’s get this over with.” He says, burying his face in her hair, taking comfort in her scent like he has done so many times.

**FLASHBACK ENDS**

Being pulled away from the flashback as I watch, Damon storms off in Elle’s direction as her and Theo are in a heated argument in the middle of the field like a pair of squabbling lovers. I can’t help the smile that graces my lips, watching his Alpha jealousy consume him. His father was similar in that way and still is even to this day. Maybe Cynthia’s crazy a*s plan has some merit, but only time will tell.