The Alpha Protection Program

Chapter Three

There wasn't much Sophie could do with the barrel of a cold gun pressing against her neck.

Officer Levi had gone so far as to put her into handcuffs, that upon locking, immediately began to burn. Having always had sensitive skin, she decided this was the least of her worries considering the turn of events.

Being interrogated throughout a drive with an officer meant to take you home? Worrisome.

When the questions turn to accusations of being an animal? A mythical animal? Terrifying.

What were at first pleads of help, turned into negotiations, blubbering through tears to reach out to whatever rational side Levi might've had. Sophie wouldn't tell anyone, if he let her go. She could forget. She could pretend to be whatever animal he thought she was, if he'd just let her go- let her be willing. She do anything. But his one word responses about her "kind" would bring her back to square one, and another round of sobs. She was with a mad man.

Pulling the car over in a deserted highway, during the early hours of morning, to have a needle shot (quite roughly) into your thigh, the door slammed back into your face? Peaceful, actually. His request for silence was finally met.

The drive was a blur. Sophie couldn't move from her position slumped across the backseat. Couldn't form thoughts that meant anything. Just laid there, blinking at Officer Levi.

It was dawn by the time they reached their destination, and Sophie's system had mostly burned out the drug. She'd been testing her limbs subtly for the past few minutes, mind racing with every possibility.

When faced of the options of fight or flight, Sophie was a survivor, meaning that she knew both were equally hopeless. She didn't play weak- she was weak. A 5'1 woman against, what, a 6'2 police officer? She'd be stupid to try, especially when she wasn't fully recovered from whatever the hell he'd forced into her system.

Her heart had begun to race when the car jostled down a dirt road, and something akin to adrenaline and fury had her breathing quickened once the door came to a halt. Her eyes didn't follow him as he left the car. Anticipating her side opening, she laid there, motionless. A punch to the gut would have to do- just something, anything enough to get out of his sight. And run.

But her door didn't open.

And for another few minutes, exhaustion was creeping up on her, and Sophie's will to fight was diminishing. And the chill of the air was letting her know that she wasn't anywhere near home, the popping of her ears alerting her of the altitude. She wanted to sit up, scream, pound against the windows until the asshole came back to let her out- to not treat her like a dog left in a car while he ran errands.

She knew she had to be patient and play it out. Let him think she's still drugged. It was her only viable option, unless this was all some elaborate, sick joke.

Too bad she didn't have any friends or enemies to have planned that. She was a loner.

She heard his crunching boots, forcing her tense muscles to relax back into the seat. She stared blankly up at him, in an effortless attempt to unnerve him. No discernible emotion but distaste.

He gripped her upper arm, nearly dislocating her shoulder in his attempt to drag her out of the car. She feigned having little control of her limbs, stumbling out and into him. A house? They were at a house? Tall trees surrounded them. The brush looked thick enough.

When his eyes left her to shut the car door, Sophie made her move.

As he turned, she delivered a hard kick into his manhood. His grunt and lack of breath wasn't enough for him to let go of her arm. She viciously sank her teeth into his wrist and ripped away to sprint towards the woods, feeling blood pour into her mouth. If her vision wasn't so blurry, or knees not so weak, she might've seen how quickly Levi recovered and calmly followed her.

She might not have tripped.

Her head smacked the ground. For a few seconds, she heard, felt, or saw nothing. Everything came back at once, but a heavy boot squashed her like a bug back into the ground. With no breath in her lungs, and a stranger's blood lingering in her mouth until she swallowed, the world spun.

"Stop, you fucking mutt."

When the pressure left her back, she had no sense of time or control. She began to crawl, coughing into the grass. Get away, get away, get away.

He dealt a swift blow into her side. She curled up immediately, a last attempt to protect herself seeing how escape wasn't an option.

Sophie supposed his unwarranted hatred of her was excuse enough to further use a taser against a half-drugged, tiny woman of maybe 110. There was no screaming as the electricity coursed through her, just pathetic twitching. When it finally stopped, she was drained. She was gone. She was nothing.

His gun pressed into her neck more as an intimidation tactic than actual threat- he knew damned well she couldn't do anything. Levi didn't relent until he had snapped thick metal cuffs around her wrists. Throwing her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold, he carried her into the house.

And down stairs.

And into a cage.

And listening to the fading creak of stairs under his boots, met by darkness and the turn of a heavy lock, she was alone.