She has a bad feeling and if she does not somehow join them something destructive will happen. She can't sit back and allow her animal to control her, especially one as articulate as the foreign voice. Her wolf stands in guard; she's a lover not a fighter but this time she stands to protect her. But something else lingered in the corners of her mind. A shadow with wild amber eyes she saw in the mirror. It was different. Not her wolf, not her fear. Focused. Tempting in a way that made her bones ache with curiosity, it promised her the sweet taste of vengeance.
Let's play a game... you hide and I will give you ten seconds before I seek.
How is this possible she is speaking in her shifted form. Normally, shifters telekinetically communicate. This event clearly did not just confuse her but the alpha whose eyes are wide in shock.
One. Two. Three.
She's counting relatively slow. She's being controlled but she can't identify by what. She stalks closer the second every second he scoots back.
You don't look like you having fun. Life sucks when the tables are turned right? Four. Five. Six.
She does not move a muscle. She can smell the fear before seeing it. The tables turned, she's stronger, she is making an alpha crumble in fear and she loves it. For all the humiliation, pain and fear he brought her... she wants to know what will happen when she gets to ten. The door behind her opened-
"Damn it, Parker! You said you just wanted to apologise- what the hell is this?
She laughs. Nothing is funny. She faces the Deucalion who does not move from his spot. He came in with two other men dressed like nurses, but they are betas. The nurses ran to the corner in utter terror.
Chaos says freeze. Goodie, you brought an audience to the games. Seven. Eight. I've been dying for this moment.
"Alex, what are you doing?" Why is he shaking in fear? "That's Alex?!"
Her mother's husband speaks. His passive and quiet but his not innocent in this game. He knows his nephew and he left her with him for over a long month.
You will get your turn, you will never know when and the game, but your day will come. Nine. Until then, it's my turn to seek. Ten.
By then Parker shifted to his large wolf. He roars commanding submission. He could never tame her; no alphas manipulation has ever worked her.
Ready or not... I found you.
She locked eyes with him. And he knew. Today would be the day this monster finally realised the magnitude of the soul he'd tried to crush. She wants him ruined. To taste his blood. To watch him suffer. To tear him apart and throw him into a pit of lions.
'Yes. Let him feel it. Yes. Let him suffer. Yes. We. Need. Him. To. Suffer.'
The shadow the tempting darkness coiled like a snake, seducing her into revenge. But if she took his life, no matter how justified... She would become like him. The darkness fed off her trauma. Her pain. Her buried rage. It offered her power but at the price of her soul. No. Her father was right he told her that strength isn't just power it's control. Why should he listen he also abandoned her because he was a useless coward? She looked at Parker one last time. And she screamed not for help, but to expel the monster threatening to take over.
She attacked. The alpha is objectively stronger than her, but she has hatred that has been building and burning. He she sunk her jaw on his left leg and until she heard a snap. She ran into him throwing him across the room she did not give him a second to recover because she used the large nails to rip and dig into his side. She wants to kill him, but she wants him to suffer first.
The pain in her side struck suddenly. A sting. An injection. Sedative. Her jaw was on his skull threatening to bite down and drag his lifeless body away. But her wolf returned, silent and protective, curling against her like a shield. Then... the other presence did too. The shadow didn't feel evil anymore. Just... quiet. Watching. Waiting.
.
"Thank fate, you awake. Bring forth every single nurse who was on duty last night! I want to know who is responsible for my daughter's condition!"
The doctor bowed terrified, and it hit her. She shifted on the bed, but the mother just held her down. The nurses on duty yesterday line up in her room trembling before the Luna, even the humans feared the influential woman who can cause them their jobs. Behind her mother she saw her stepfather failing to meet her gaze. With that she pieced what story was fed to her mother. Pissed, she defied her mother and stood between her mother and the innocent people.
She didn't say anything, she didn't have to. She felt more put together, more confident and that was evident by her packs mate's sudden submission. She hates her pack, but these nurses and doctors were innocent for whatever crime they were being crucified for. Her mother smiled at her which broke the tension of wills and she hugs her tightly. It was as if she was excited to have that carefree little girl she officially killed with her last absence.
"Why do you call them?"
"Oh, honey you speak?! They are responsible for not taking care of you properly. Last night Parker-"
Her mother confirmed everything. She faced the cowardly and smirked at the pathetic, pitiful man.
"They did nothing wrong. If you want to take out your frustration, at least be just and take it out on those who deserve it. Or yourself, if not let it go."
She faced her stepfather with another smirk because of her mom's confused expression. The story they fed my mother must be one missing all the side dishes. She nodded to the people to leave, and they followed her silent command. Yes, an omega was able to render such fear from those who saw her breaking point.
"Fine. Let's go home, we need to have a family meeting. Honey, is Parker all healed?"
Parker? Ugh. Parker the bane of her existence. The infection she couldn't cut out, the rot she'd been forced to breathe in for far too long. Anyways… what happened to him? Her head throbbed with the remnants of rage, but her soul. Calm, almost eerily so. Like the eye of a storm that had finally passed. Flashes of the night before danced in her mind the heat, the pain, the temptation. Her wolf had been ready. She had been ready. But at the last second, she'd pulled back from the brink.
She'd stopped her mind from craving a body. She could've ripped him apart limb by foul limb and the world would've called it justice or executed her for self defence. But she didn't. She chose to let him live, and that fact alone should keep Parker up at night.
Whatever happened to him? He deserved it. Every scream. Every broken rib. Every shattered illusion of control. She didn't need to remember the specifics her soul knew. He should be counting his lucky stars he's still breathing because of her mercy.
"No. But his alpha, he will walk it out. Although the doctors say that his leg will never be the same. Honey, please get their discharge papers."
Her mother nods clearly proud of her change. She hates her mother more than she does this man whose mouth utter absolute garbage.
"I do honestly apologise for yesterday. Here, this is a token of me and my family's deepest apologies."
He hands her a black card and she felt absolutely disrespected. This man is not used to this side of her and is evident by the way he looked at her in curiosity. She took the card and moved to sit on the bed.
"I won't say anything. But..."
She enjoyed keeping the enabler on his toes the way his eyes flicked with uncertainty, the hesitation in his breath. Last night changed everything. She'd faced the worst and survived, and now the darkness inside her was no longer a threat it was a companion. A source of fearlessness she hadn't known she had. Not long ago, she would've tried to please the alphas. Smiled. Nodded. Stayed small. But now? Fuck it. Fuck the titles. Fuck the power games. She had her own.
Keep that monster away from me for as long as you live. Whenever I leave, don't try to find me or track me. Lastly, take care of my mother as a mate… not an alpha.
He nodded, agreement trembling off his lips, but she wasn't done. The dark inside her stirred, calmly now, like a waiting storm she could command.
"This is a blood oath."
She didn't entirely understand it, but her shadow did. And when the words fell from her mouth, she felt the bond seal in her bones. The man's silence and swift exit confirmed it she had finally flipped the power dynamic.