Chapter Three: Claws Beneath The Calm

The door creaked open and I instinctively stepped backward as my breath caught in my throat. In that room, for one second, there was only the soft echo of his boots against the stone floor.

As he stepped fully into view, my lungs ran out of air.

The Red Alpha was even more fearsome up close than my mind had pictured. His tall, towering physique spoke volumes about power; the green eyes felt like they were drilling right into me, holding me paralyzed with intensity. His face was chiseled, his features composed-smooth, like the lull before the storm.

I said nothing. My muscles were tight while I waited for him to say something.

He crossed the room, his hands clasped behind him, drinking in his surroundings. Finally, he faced me, the curl of his lip in a small, almost amused smile.

"You're quieter than I expected," he said with that voice all smooth and deceptively calm. "Good. I like my acquisitions to know their place."

I blinked to hear his words; his words dragged me from my stupor. "Acquisitions?" I said, shaking a little, the word mingling somewhere between confusion and indignation.

"Yes," he said simply, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "You're mine now, Avery. For as long as you're here, you belong to me.”

I stared at him, my blood boiling as the truth of his words caught up with me. "I don't belong to you," I said, the words firm this time even though my hands were shaking at my sides. "I don't belong to anyone."

He chuckled, a low, mocking sound. "You misunderstand your position. You're in my territory, under my roof. That means you follow my rules.”

I took one step forward, anger boiling to the surface through all the fear clawing at my chest. "You think you can just take me-tear me away from my home, and expect me to obey you? You don't own me!"

In an instant, his smile vanished; his face was cold, hard. He leant in, uncomfortably close. "Your home?" he repeated, sharp. "The same home that couldn't protect you? The same father that stood by and let me take you?"

My heart twisted at the words, but I shoved the doubt aside. My father had tried to protect me. He just… couldn't.

"You don't know anything about me," I spat, my voice trembling.

"I know enough," he said, his eyes glinting. "I know you're here now. And if you're smart, you'll stop fighting and learn to obey."

The calm authority in his tone set my teeth on edge, fanning the fire of my anger.

"Obey?" I spat back, the second step. "You think I'm going to swallow all this and then just walk away? After raiding my pack, terrorizing my people, and tearing me from everything I've ever known?"

His jaw snapped shut, but he said nothing, his dead-on gaze holding mine.

"You're a monster," I said, still running on. "You destroy people's lives without a thought. Do you like it? Watching people suffer? Does that make you feel powerful?"

His lips twitched but not with humour. His green eyes darkened and the veneer of calm began to crack. "Careful," he said low and dangerous. "You start to test my patience."

"Good," I said, my voice rising. "Because I want you to hear this. I hate you. You're nothing but a bully, hiding behind your strength because you don't know how to be anything else."

The silence that followed was deafening.

Then, he moved.

Faster than I could react, he was in front of me, his hand wrapping around my throat and lifting me off the ground.

I gasped, my hands clawing at his wrist as a wave of panic crashed into my senses. His hold was like iron, closing off my air as he held me without an ounce of effort.

"You think you can insult me and get away with it?" he growled out-the tone guttural, thick with rage. "You think your hatred means anything to me?"

His eyes were no longer human; some unnatural, feral light shone out of them, and contorting his face was a snarl that sent my blood cold.

"You have no idea what true power is," he snarled on, each word louder. "But you will."

I struggled against him, kicking and scratching, but it was futile. His strength smothered me, and the unbridled energy that came off him-made concentration impossible.

"Let me go!" I choked, my voice little louder than a whisper.

For a moment, I thought he wouldn't. His grip tightened, his growl deepening as his body shook with barely restrained violence.

Then, something shifted.

His eyes flickered, the feral light dimming as he stumbled backward, releasing me so abruptly that I fell to the floor.

I coughed and gagged, my throat burning, scuttling backward away from him until my back hit the cold stone wall.

He in turn doubled over onto himself clutching his head as if in agony muttering something to himself. His body began to shake all over; his fists clutched and unclenched as though he were fighting some invisible force.

He should have looked triumphant, wild and out of control like that. But a surge of fear was all that flooded my being.

This wasn't a man. This was a beast, a creature barely tethered to reason.

At last, he straightened, his breathing heavy, his eyes cold once more.

"Defy me again," he said, his voice low, a threat. "And you'll regret it."

I opened my mouth to answer him, but nothing came out. My throat was sore from his clutches, and utter terror about what had just happened had rendered me mute.

Without another word, he turned and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him. The echo this propelled into the silence was deafening and threw me into being utterly alone with my thoughts and the massed weight of his presence.

I wrapped my arms around my knees, shaking as the adrenaline ebbed and the weight of my predicament settled in.

I lay at the mercy of a man, little more monster than human, who could take me out with one blow.

And no one was coming for me.