The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 80

CYNTHIA POV

After days of ruthless torture, my sticky body is caked in dried b***d, sweat, and dirt. My red hair is dingy, and mats are already starting to form. It feels like nails have been jammed into my throat from the endless hours of screaming in agony and very little water to quench my unbelievable thirst. Only enough to keep me alive as a play toy for Tiberius, and his band of rogues.

The heat in the room becomes unbearable, my clothes sticking to me as I sweat like a man in the Sahara desert. Tiberius upgraded the cells in the last few years, making them much more similar to a human prison. However, he has included some perfect improvements for torturing unwelcome guests. Now that each cell is a sealed translucent box, they are more easily temperature controlled. Allowing my captures to crank the heat until this is a personal sauna. Once I am on the verge of passing out from dehydration, they provide me with enough water to keep me alive…Barely. After they almost kill me from dehydration, they drop the temperature to freezing, putting me right on the edge of hypothermia before returning to the heat.

The silver bars that used to separate each cell have been replaced, but I can tell they didn’t go to waste, as silver strips litter the floor, and all the walls, making it an agonizing torture to sit or stand anywhere. The vents in the walls slowly releasing a wolfsbane toxin in the air making it nearly impossible to breath when combined with a broken nose.

At least the sick bastard is smart enough not to have my pack members torture me knowing where their true loyalties lie. No that joy is only reserved for the rogues he hired, many of them secretly hate having to do it, and I can tell by the guilty looks on their faces. The guilt in their eyes says all I need to know; they are beginning to doubt the reliability of their leader. Despite the bad wrap rogues get, the majority of them left their packs because of abusive, unhinged Alphas. Now they are once again aiding a crazy, abusive, “alpha” by being his hired minions. It’s not that they want to be here, they want to feed their families.

The creak of the door opening pulls my attention towards the blurry man coming towards me, his heavy boots smacking against the concrete floor as he steps further into the tiny cell. “Well, Cynthia, you’re the one looking like s**t now,” Tiberius says, before kicking my foot, a small m**n of pain leaving my mouth as my only response.

“You know, I can make this all stop,” he says, squatting down in front of me, his figure is still blurry despite the closeness, my eyelids practically swollen shut. “All you have to do is call me by my rightful title and decide to stand beside me as my mistress.” He says as he pinches my chin roughly between his fingers, tilting my head side to side to observe his men’s handiwork on my face while his hand brushes my sweaty hair off my forehead.

“I’d rather deal with a hundred years of this torture than ever be your mistress” I say, ignoring how cracked and grainy my voice sounds.

“I can always arrange for this my dear,” he says, dropping my chin with a sigh before standing to exit the cell. I know he thought I would have broken by now and bowed at his feet in mercy to get out of this torture, but I refuse to be touched by this vile man.

“What the hell happened to the boy I once knew, and was friends with?” I whisper aloud the question that has been plaguing me since coming here. Tiberius’ heel scrapes against the ground as he turns to look at me one last time.

“I grew up and Alaric was gifted the one thing I treasured most in the world,” Tiberius voice comes out, the sadness heavy in his tone, but another emotion lays underneath; jealousy. “I knew you first, and I had been in love with you for years, but no you had to be mated to my stupid stepbrother. I rejected my mate for you, and you chose him!” Tiberius hollars, the ground shaking as he stomps towards me, the anger seeping into my skin like a knife repetitively stabbing the heart.

“Tiberius,” I say, with a sigh trying to be gentle with my words, “I never asked you to reject your mate for me and I never would have. Alaric and I never meant to hurt you, we just couldn’t deny the bond once it snapped into place.”

“Never meant to hurt me,” he mutters one last time, before storming out of the room without another word leaving me alone to remember when Tiberius mom found her second chance mate, the Alpha of SIlver Run taking him away my best friend.

******FLASHBACK******

Cynthia and Tiberius- 11 years old

Like clockwork my small frame slips past the guards patrolling the boarders, without them even noticing my presence, the blocking perfume working wonders to hide my scent. I know I shouldn’t be sneaking outside the territory lines, especially as the Alpha’s daughter, and definitely not to see some rogue boy but I couldn’t help it. I love the adrenaline rush it gives me, doing something that is so blatantly against the rules or expectations. Outside of the territory lines, I can be myself without expectations of what makes a dutiful daughter and a future Luna to another pack.

Walking further into the woods it takes another ten minutes to reach the hiding spot Tiberius always meets me at to find him already sitting there reading a book, his shoulders hunched and his face stern with so much concentration he doesn’t even notice I am there.

“Tibby!” I call, rushing over to him, a warm smile plastered on my face in greeting. When he looks up and sees me rushing towards him a relieved smile breaks over his face and the tension previously in his shoulders disappears.

“Thank the Goddess,” he exclaims, as his eyes roam over my body checking for any cuts, or bruises, which is something he does everytime we meet up. “You were so late I was starting to get worried something happened to you.”

“Sorry, Tibs,” I explain, using one of my nicknames for him, that would get others killed. “My parents have an Alpha visiting from Silver Run so I have been busy playing the “perfect hostess” with my mother. It was exhausting, I never want to be a Luna, it’s all etiquette and poise.”

“I am sorry,” Tiberius says, wrapping me into a warm hug, as his arms gently stroke my hair in comfort. Being an Alpha’s daughter can get lonely, many kids use me for my rank or to get closer to my older brothers, who are the next Alpha, Beta, and Gamma in the pack.

“It’s okay,” I reply, pulling away from the warmth of his chest to look him in the face. “How is your mom doing?”

“Better, I guess,” he replies, the sadness evident in his words and tears threaten to spill down his cheeks. “She is finally starting to eat, and leave the bedroom somedays but for the most part she still locks herself in their ignoring the rest of the world.”

“I am sorry Tibb,” I reply, not really sure what else to say to comfort him. After the death of his father, his mother has withered away to the shell of her former self. To be honest, I was surprised she survived at all, mates don’t typically live much longer without their mates, the other half of their soul. It’s especially shocking when you remember all the horrible things Tiberius’ father did to his mate, and son. How she managed to stay with the bastard who put her through all that is beyond me but that’s how the bond works.

Keeping a person stuck into a relationship that is toxic or abusive just because they fear what will happen to them if they are mateless.

“It’s okay,” Tiberius mutters, a twig snapping behind us causes both of our attention to snap behind us, to find his mom walking through the woods, her feet bare, and pajama’s are still on her body, and her hair is sticking out at odds and ends. Her face remains stoic as she walks through the forest as if in a daze.

“Mom?” Tiberiuls calls, worry in his voice as he watches her continue on, her movements deliberate and determined as she ignores him to go further into the forest and away from their humble home. “Mom!” He calls out once more his voice sounding more urgent this time. Hopping down from the boulder both of us follow her into the woods, saying nothing as we quietly follow her journey.

After ten minutes of aimless walking, a low growlfrom behind us causes us all to stop in our tracks, to slowly turn and find a massive reddish brown wolf, his size big enough to be an Alpha. He was with two other medium sized wolves, a honey colored one, standing next to him. They don’t smell like rogues, nor do they smell like my pack members. They continue growling as they circle us like pray until Juliette, Tiberius mom, raises her gaze to meet that of the brown wolf, causing the whole world to stop spinning for a few minutes and a breeze to swirl around us.

Instantly, shifting to human form, a beautiful middle aged man with brown hair, and honey colored eyes, stands before us but all of his attention is focused on Juliette, who hasn’t stopped staring at him either.

“Mate.” They say in unison, the air around us stilling in stunned silence as they walk towards one another cautiously.

“Do you know that man?” Tiberius asks, the skepticism evident in voice, and the nerves clear in the way he trembles. I understand his fear, the man is obviously an Alpha while they are a rogue family.

“Yes,” I say, “that’s Alpha Edwin of the Silver Run pack. He has been in town doing business with my father. Don’t worry Tibs, Alpha Edwin is a kind and decent man. He doesn’t abuse his packmembers and will care for your mother better than your father did. I can promise you that. His old mate passed a few years ago and they had a son together around our age, although I have never met him.”

“Ah, I see,” was the only thing Tiberius said in response, instead watching quietly from the sidelines as his mom introduced herself to her new mate, noticing the color already returning to her cheeks while she stares at the man before her.

Three days later, Alpha Edwin returned to Silver Run with his new mate, and stepson in tow. Our goodbyes would be the last time we saw eachother in person, although we did write frequently throughout the years. There had never been the right time to visit him.

Until I turned nineteen, still mateless which is rare for females, and asked to accompany my brother to Silver Run then that’s when all the s**t hit the fan.