The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 72

ELLE POV

Rolling over, half asleep, I reach for the hard chest of a man I know is supposed to be there, only to come up empty. Trying not to let my imagination run amuck, I sit up in bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes before looking around the room, only to find it dark and empty. Glancing at the side table, the clock says 11:10; only fifty more minutes to go until midnight.

Before the nerves can burrow, making themselves home in my stomach, the door opens. Damon storms into the room, a dark cloud hanging over his head until he realizes I have woken up, and a calm smile spreads across his face as his gaze wanders over my body. As if he can see through the duvet covering my naked body.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I try to decipher the sudden change in his attitude from entering to seeing me awake.

“Nothing, Biscuit,” he replies, “did you enjoy your nap?” He asks while walking over to plant a k**s on my forehead, sparks sprinkling over my flesh at the quick contact. “You need to get dressed. We have someplace to be.”

“Will you tell me what happened?” I question my piercing gaze, watching for any slight change in his body language as he moves around the room, picking up the clothes and carrying the duffel bag into the closet. Getting up from the bed, I wrap the sheets around my body following behind him, leaning against the door jam and watching as he works.

“Damon?” I ask again, as he is busy throwing the dirty clothes in the bin and replacing the makeup on the vanity. He is meticulous, as he starts putting the shoes away from the weekend in their correct spots based on the empty spaces in my closet. As I watch him work, I can’t help but smirk at how similar we are because I do the same when I’m nervous, and the nerves rolling off him could harness an entire central system.

“Damon?” I ask again, placing my hand on his shoulder, my touch relaxing him for the first since walking in the door, “talk to me?” Finally stopping, sparks flow on my palm from where he grabs my hand.

“I will,” he sighs, turning to look me in the eye, “but I need a minute to process, and we also need to get you down to the field. You’re an Alpha; it could always start a little early.” He says, glancing at the clock, a worried expression on his face, trailing to glance at the clock seeing that it’s almost 11:20 pm. s**t, we do need to get onto the field soon.

Taking the hint and picking my battles, I gather clothes from my dresser while trying not to think about what will happen within the next forty minutes.

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Walking onto the training field, we see Matt, Theo, Andrew, and Charity standing in a circle, standing away from the other pack

members, talking amongst themselves, not paying attention to anything else. Damon hadn’t said a word the entire walk, both of us remaining in contemplative silence, which didn’t help the rising trepidation in my gut.

Before we reach the group, a current runs through my arm when Damon puts his large hand in mine. Spinning me around to face

him, his blue eyes find mine, his lips take mine in a fiery passion, and the entire world disappears. Everything around us became eerily quiet; the only sound that can be heard is the heart hammering in my chest.

As the fall breeze tickles my lips, I realize Damon pulled away from me, his nose rubbing against mine in a tenderness he usually keeps private. Private. Wait….eyes flying open, I look around me wildly, remembering where we are, only to find a few hundred pairs of eyes watching us silently.

Not a single pack member says a word or moves a muscle until one voice the entire pack recognizes, “FINALLY!” Laughter cuts through the field as the group collectively chuckles or claps in agreement with the owner’s well-known antics.

“f*****g Taylor,” Damon grumbles as a growl rumbles through his chest, but I still notice a small smile gracing his handsome features. “You okay?” He questions, his face covered with worry.

“I am now,” I say, clearing my throat, trying to let the fog settle, before turning on my heel and finishing our journey to our group of smiling friends. The rest of the training field is returning to its normal chatter as we approach our friends, anxious for answers.

“I didn’t think you were taking things public yet,” Charity says as a statement, but it sounds more like a question. Even in the dark, I can see her eyes flicker between us, waiting for one of us to explain to the rest of the group.

“I didn’t think we were either,” I say, turning my face to look at Damon, a questioning look on my face as I try to work out the logic behind his actions.

“We weren’t going to until my mom walked in your room earlier,” he drops the little bomb on the group, everyone talking over each other, trying to voice their opinion on the subject. At the same time, I stay silent, getting repeatedly hit with obvious realizations.

“Well, how did she react?” Andrew asks once the rest of the voices quiet, as he glances between Damon and me with a worried expression. My grasp on the conversation slowly fades as I retrieve memories of forgotten glances, subtle innuendos, and convenient seating arrangements.

“She was giddy,” Damon explains, shoving one of his hands into his pocket. “She tried to hide it, but it saturated the air surrounding us.”

“That makes no sense,” Theo includes, “less than a month ago, your father openly got into a fight with you about Elle. They have thrown every eligible male her way since I stepped onto this territory. None of their actions make sense. Why would they do that?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” Matt asks while my mind continues to race, adding the newest pieces to the larger puzzle. “Damon was too stubborn to admit his feelings, and, like any typical Alpha, he wouldn’t make a move unless he thought someone else might do it first; no offense Elle.” As he explains to the rest of the group, I don’t miss the way Charity watches him with a weird look before someone clearing their throat behind me calls our attention away from our conversation.

Turning to look over my shoulder, I see the Alpha and Luna standing there, neither of who remarks Damon’s arm wrapped around my shoulder and tucked into his side. “It’s almost midnight Elle; you must undress for your first shift and then stand in the middle of the circle,” Charles says, remaining stoic, but there is a glint of excitement hidden deep with his irises.

Looking down, it finally registers that I will have to stand naked in front of the entire pack. No one has seen me naked….except, well…Damon… Sensing my hesitation, he takes his shirt off, handing it to me, dropping a light k**s on my cheek, and nodding to the trees behind us. No words need to be spoken between us; the meaning is clear to me and everyone else in the field. Nonverbal actions speak volumes in the werewolf community, and giving his shirt to me, is a pretty big statement.

Taking the shirt in my hands, I hurry to the tree line, quickly changing, allowing the scent of sandalwood and eucalyptus to calm how unbalanced I feel, which seems to get worse the closer it gets to midnight. Walking out from behind the tree, I head straight to the ring. Per pack tradition, Damon, Alpha Charles, and Luna Olivia stand outside it to wish the final good luck before the shift officially starts.

Luna Olivia greets me with a warm hug while a tsunami’s worth of tears roll down her face, “Oh, honey, don’t be nervous, you’ll do great,” she says, refusing to let me go until both the men standing beside us cough attempting to hurry us along. Charles abides by the secret pact he signed upon becoming Alpha to remain unflappable in front of pack members by giving me a simple nod before joining his mate off to the side.

“Don’t worry, Biscuit,” Damon whispers as his thumb strokes my cheek, leaving a convoy of sparks in its wake. “I’ll be here the whole time. Get in the circle,” he says gently. I am filling my lungs with air as if it’ll be my last chance before the box fills with water stepping over the boundary.

Turning around in a circle, I stand facing the large field filled to the brim with all of the able-bodied pack members who have already shifted and those considered old enough to do so. Charity is annoyed as she stands between a glowering Hunter and smug-looking Matt on the other side. Theo and Andrew stand a few feet away from them, wearing the same serious expression, looking almost like twins. I can see Damon out of my peripheral vision as he paces back and forth, the burn of his intense gaze never leaving me.

‘I’m sorry, Elle,’ Scarlett’s voice comes out of nowhere, the first time I have heard from her in hours, ‘but this is going to hurt like a bitch.’ Her words were a magic spell calling forward unimaginable pain raging through my body like a silver bullet dripped in wolfsbane. My bones feel like they are being slowly ripped from the tendons as the muscles and skin are peeled back.

My vision begins to fade as the pain becomes impossible to bear, a bloodcurdling scream can be heard in the distance, and it’s not until my world turns black that I realize it is mine.