Prove it, Alpha

Four

Eve Hoall 

Her sleep was restless, as it usually was. An alpha was linked to those in her pack, and though she could not hear their thoughts like she could hear Zane's, she could sense their irritation, their uneasiness, their worry. It was the duty of the alpha to soothe as much of her pack's discomfort as possible, and when she failed, her baser Instinct--more commonly known as her Dominance--would punish her. She didn't need to focus or think or really do anything. The connection was a part of her, tethered deep in her Dominance, almost like second nature. The complaints came at her constantly.

The pregnant females in her pack were uncomfortable, and she could do nothing to soothe them, or their mates, of the pain. The pups missed her and called for her, fearing their safety, and she could do nothing to reassure them. Her beta worried, and she could do nothing to assure him that he was more than capable of running the pack for a mere six months. She had been little more than a child when she had taken over, and she had had no prior experience. Kinny, with all his knowledge and the trust of the pack and alpha, had nothing to worry about. But she could tell him none of that.

Her newest member was also in distress. But unlike all the others in her pack, Hoall could help him. With the fury of a mother caring for her last remaining pup, she would protect him even if he did not want her aide. She woke from her slumber, immediately alert and at the ready to defend her pack member from anything.

She was still slung across the back of the criminal. She could tell that this was one source of irritation for her Brutus. He didn't like that his new alpha was being handled by such filth. She understood his irritation. As protective as an alpha was of their pack, their pack was of their alpha. The feelings of adoration and possession were double-sided, and Northerners were not keen or prone to hide it.

The silver chains clinked between her and the criminal. Really they were the sole reason that the criminal, and not Brutus, was carrying her. The chains had been attached to him to keep the criminal from running away, and of her and Brutus, she was the best option to keep the criminal tethered. Silver no longer pained her, and as such she took the cuffs to her wrists easily. The pressure reminded her of worse days, but she had not let her pack members see her distress at the confinement.

But Brutus had an even deeper worry—one much less concrete and present. She couldn't read his mind. She could only tell that he had something on his mind, but until he confided in her, she could do nothing for him.

"You bit her on the back," the criminal said abruptly. "Did it feel good?"

"Silence," Brutus snarled in front of them. "You may speak when Alpha Chardoney allows it. We are on his land now, and his rules are law."

"Are they now," the criminal drawled, and Eve tensed. 

This disrespect of her pack member was not to be tolerated. She could easily have fought him, defeated him in their wolf skins. As a human? She had no idea. Alpha Eve Hoall, like most Northerners, had spent the barest amount of time as a human--only for meetings between herself and other alphas, and a few times each year to sate her primal lust. But she had never fought as a human. Hell, she could barely walk as a human. So she waited, anger stirring and growing inside of her as she tried to figure out how to use her flimsy body, with its thin appendages and lack of fangs or claws, as a weapon. 

The criminal continued, his voice just as cavalier as before. "And you just accept them without question? Do you even know why he thinks I'm a criminal? Why I'm about to be sentenced to death?" 

"Alpha Chardonney is King in this land and we obey his commands. Silence until your trial, mutt."

"You're not even curious?" His act of nonchalance did not fool Eve, nor Brutus. Though she could not see his face, not that his facial expressions would have helped one as unaccustomed to the human face as Eve, she could smell him. His body steadily grew damp under her weight, and in each new drop that rolled down his body she sensed a deep, rolling anxiety. The anxiety mingled with fear, and the predator inside of her--the most fundamental side of her--bared its teeth in glee.