The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 96

ELLE POV

As soon as my feet cross the bathroom threshold, I immediately go to the shower and turn it on. Walking to the sink, I do the same. I turn my back against the wall of mirrors while standing in the middle of the room, away from anywhere that could contain microphones, not trusting the sick f**k not to record me. Using my hands to shake out my hair, I use my covered mouth to murmur as quietly as possible.

Sensing what I am trying to do, Doreen removes the emerald gems in my hair, pulling the hair in front of my face, making slow work, and acting as if they are a struggle to remove when in reality, they easily slide out of the hair.

“Doreen who is loyal to Tiberius?” I ask, cutting to the chase, not sure how long we have until he comes calling to continue his torment.

“Goddess, no,” she returns, not even moving her lips, which makes me think she has had practice talking in this manner, “not even the rogues who work for him like him.”

“Then why do they?” I ask, trying to match her technique of talking but failing miserably.

“Because he has most of their mates locked in the basement,” she continues, “he has kidnapped them and keeps them locked in the basement. When the rogues came to collect, he would make them slaves in hopes of gaining their freedom.”

“Why don’t they revolt?” I ask, my eyes narrowing as I watch for subtle changes in her body language, but I don’t have to because they are as clear as a sunny day, her entire body shaking with fear.

“One move, and those cells are activated,” she whispers, shaking her head, “they’re little death chambers. Have you heard about the human concentration camps from World War II?”

“Each cell is a mini gas chamber?” I ask as she removes the last beads from my hair.

“Yes,” she says solemnly, “even some pack members who tried to revolt are stuck there.” Doreen moves behind me to unzip my dress, lifting it over my shoulders when it should be pulled down my h**s, giving me the perfect opportunity to reply.

“Jesus f**k, that’s horrible,” I say in a rush of air as the fabric grazes my face, “is there a way to get people out? Like the elderly, pregnant women, and children?”

“Yes, but it’s difficult,” she says, leading me to the scalding hot shower that reminds me of Damon, wishing he was here to wash the scent of this horrible man off of me.

“Do it,” I say as I wash my face with the facewash sitting on the machine, “all able-bodied men and women who want to help should stick around; I feel a pissed-off Alpha will be showing up any day now.” With a subtle nod of understanding, I see her head shifting to the floor quickly as her eyes glaze over with a quick mindlink.

We stay quiet the rest of the shower as she helps by washing the areas I cannot reach with my chained hands. Once all the soap is rinsed from my body, she helps me from the shower, wrapping me in a fluffy grey towel.

She quickly dries me in the middle of the room before scrutinizing my body intensely for any sign of a mark on my body. After spending a total of ten minutes looking but finding nothing except the tranquilizer wound that would have healed completely if not for the silver.

Doreen’s nose lifts in the air as she tilts her head, looking at me speculatively, her eyes narrowing like she is trying to decipher something but keeps quiet, walking into the closet instead. Coming back with a summer dress. And some shorts to wear underneath. Helping me step into the dress, she lifts it over my h**s before fastening the halter top behind my neck.

“Thank you for your help, Doreen,” I say with a genuine smile, “I appreciate your kindness,” I tell her in a normal tone, not caring if anyone hears me say this to her. Once we re-enter the room, I find Charity in the same spot we left her, still on high alert; the only difference is her heels are thrown away from her on the other side of the room, leaving her barefoot.

“Charity, please walk with Doreen so that she can help you get washed up and out of that dress,” I glance at her once beautiful blue dress covered in mud and with one shoulder strap ripped, and her once blonde hair dingy with leaves stuck in hit from when she was thrown onto the ground earlier.

Not saying anything, knowing it’s best to say less in this situation, she nods and quickly follows behind Doreen while I sit down, letting my mind wander to tall, gorgeous eyes of the brightest blue I had ever laid eyes. Letting out a sigh, I try not to let the tears fall down my cheeks. Inhaling deeply, I steady my breathing patting my eyes dry with my hands but doing nothing to hide the red cheeks or puffy eyes.

Not saying anything, knowing it’s best to say less in this situation, she nods and quickly follows behind Doreen while I sit down, letting my mind wander to tall, gorgeous eyes of the brightest blue I had ever laid eyes. Letting out a sigh, I try not to let the tears fall down my cheeks. Inhaling deeply, I steady my breathing patting my eyes dry with my hands but doing nothing to hide the red cheeks or puffy eyes.

I don’t know how long I have been sitting here thinking about getting home to Damon, taking comfort in the sandalwood and eucalyptus I have come to love. I am lost in all the scandalous ways I will greet him when we finally reunite from this nightmare that I don’t notice Doreen and Charity reenter the room.

“Luna,” Doreen says, gently pulling me from my thoughts while standing in my line of vision with Charity in a dress similar to mine and shorts on underneath. Almost like wearing little prison uniforms. “The Alpha requests our presence once more.”

Doreen’s eyes are again trained on the floor as she walks to the door and into the hallway, with us trailing behind her obediently. Other Omegas are milling around the hall, absentmindedly working, or so it seems but based on the buzzing excitement rolling around the room, I would guess their true purpose is to lay eyes on Charity and me.

Only a few meet our eyes with smiles spreading across their faces while they glaze over, mindlinking others in the pack. The further we walk, the more I realize that those smiling are only doing so because they’re the camera’s blind spot, which is exceedingly difficult to find in this house covered in cameras. No wonder this pack is terrified; they have been living in the Big Brother house twenty-four-seven for years.

We enter the dining room, where Tiberius sits with papers spread about him; his Beta is missing while the heir, Zachary, is lounging like a cat in another chair, pouncing on Charity the second we walk through the door.

“Any mate marks?” He asks, his hard gaze locked onto Doreen like a laser ready to inflict maximum damage.

Her voice strong, and stare averted, she replies without hesitation, “Other than the unhealed wound from the dart, there are no other marks on our Luna or her friend, Alpha.”

“Really?” he questions, looking up from the paper with a smile, “come here, pet,” he says, patting his leg, wanting me to sit down while the Beta practically drags a scowling Charity to do the same.

Wincing as I lower myself into his lap, I can feel his nose running along my skin, inhaling wildly as he pulls me closer, shoving his face into my hair to a territorial growl leaving his lips. “Why can I still smell that mutt on you?”

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THEO POV

“Seriously?” I reply dryly, not in the mood to deal with whatever nonsense that is about to come from her mouth, “it’s been a long time? I would think there are more things that are more important than that, Cynthia.” The way her name rolls through my mouth sounds like I regurgitated garbage, spewing it all over the room.

“It’s Luna Cynthia,” she growls, her eyes narrowing as if she is trying to intimidate me but things have changed in the last few years.

“As far as I am concerned you’re no longer my Luna,” I deadpan, “you stopped being my Luna the second you prevented me from doing my job as a Beta to Elle.”

“Is Elle here?” She asks excitedly, “did Damon mark her?” She fires off, walking towards me arms outstretched in desperation. Flinching away snarling, “don’t f*****g touch me.”

“Elle is here,” I tell her, happiness breaking out like an infection while her exuberance fills our silver induced translucent box. “But Damon didn’t mark her.”

Her rapidly growing happiness deflates quicker than a popped balloon as her face processes the information presented to her. “Wait…no…that can’t be possible! He was supposed to mark her, Theo!” She says frantically, her body leaning against the wall as tears roll down her face in panic her breathing shallow and erratic.

“And how were any of us supposed to know that?” I ask, a rumble coming from my chest, “you set up this mysterious plan and kept everyone out of it who it actually impacted, real brilliant on your part, truly.” The sacarsm coating every word is poisonous enough to kill.

“You don’t understand,” she tries explaining through the sobs, “we had no choice! You were all children and too young to make that choice. You were only twelve and thirteen year-olds for Goddess sakes! We couldn’t put those choices on any of you then!”

“Maybe not then,” I counter, my anger spiking, “but once we grew up there were plenty of chances for us to be informed! Rather you decided we were your personal pawns to move freely about the chessboard at your will.”

“Theo, you don’t understand,” she tries again, her tone slowly turning to icy condesention her body steeling itself as she continues talking like I am a child.

“Come off the bullshit, Cynthia,” I snarl, prowling towards her, and if the Silver cuffs weren’t enclosed around my wrists Cerebrus would have already demanded to deal with her. “I remember how much you loved chess, and being the smartest person in the room. You craved it to the point of desperation.”

My words cause her to do a double take as she looks over my face her eyes narrowing speculation, “if Elle isn’t marked then you shouldn’t know that….” she trails off in confusion, her hands running through her greasy hair in frustration.

“Well I wouldn’t know because I was kept out of the loop as her Beta,” I remark like a whip lashing out into the air snapping when it hits its mark. “The one person other than her mate meant to protect her.”

“As I said,” she argues, biting her nails, as her body rocks against the wall as she starts rocking trying to soothe herself. “You were too young to handle it. You all were. As your parents-“

“Whatever,” I snap, “I don’t care for your reasons Cynthia, because it backfired. For being such a smart woman you don’t seem to get it that the crazy man upstairs WON!” I shout, causing her to back away from the anger in my words.

“His name is Tiberius,” she whispers, her tears covered in tears, as her face is streaked with dirt from being left in this cage for days.

“I don’t give a f**k what his name is.” I growl, my body shaking violently with the fury trying to stay contained within my skin. “Elle is going to lose everything to him and it’s all your f*****g fault!”

“Please, Theo,” be begs, her nose bubbling with snot, as she gets on her hands and knees crawling towards me like the bottomfeeder she has become. “you have to believe me I never meant to put her in the path of that villainous monster!”

“That’s rich,” I ridicule, “calling him the villain when where I am sitting you’re just as big, if not, a bigger villain than he is. You let your ego and arrogance lead you into making all the wrong calls regarding your daughters safety. How does it feel to know your ambition to become the smartest woman in the room has actually made you the dumbest?”

Not wanting to turn talk to her any longer I sit in the corner in the far right corner, my body uncomfortable sitting on the thin silver strips embeddeded into the concrete floors and clear walls. Successfully ignoring Cynthia’s sobs of regret, I keep my eyes locked on the cage next to mine in anticipation of Elle’s entrance.

I don’t know how long I have been sitting here listening to Cynthia’s endless sniffles and self pity before the door to the next cage opens with Elle and Charity stumbling through the door in matching halter sundresses. Charity is sporting a bruised cheek but Elle’s injuries include a swollen eye, broken nose, and split l*p. As my eyes scan over both, neither seem to be limping or holding a broken bones.

Elle’s eyes finding mine before she rushes towards to the see through wall, before her eyes flicker to the woman sharing a cell with me. Her face swollen, and redhair a mess. Elle’s attention unbreakable as she stares at the woman their identical green eyes watching each other with intensity before an earth-shattering question leaves her lips in shock.

“Mom?”