Taming The Sadistic Alpha

Unsavory acquaintances.

Paige quickly grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head, then ran to the window. She searched the tree line again, but there was nothing there.

Closing the blinds and walking back to her bed, she slid under the sheets and switched off her lamp, wrapping the covers tightly around herself.

Had she imagined it? Maybe the stress was starting to take its toll. She was acting paranoid again, and now she had started hallucinating. She shuddered at the thought.

Turning on her side, she closed her eyes and reached to feel for the pistol she had deposited under her pillow earlier that night.

Suddenly, the weight of the day or quite possibly the aftereffects of alcohol started to take hold. Paige, overcome with exhaustion, fell into a deep sleep.

Throughout the night, yellow eyes haunted her dreams.

The following day Paige had awoken exhausted. It was Sunday, so she had no work that day, but she still had a direct order from the alpha to deal with. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

Walking to her dresser and removing a pair of socks, she hesitated, glancing at a photo of her and her dad taped to the mirror.

Looking at her father and a happy nine-year-old version of herself, she felt a twinge of resentment before reaching for her headband and heading for the closet.

Paige really couldn’t blame her father too much. This was who he was even before she was born. Something her mother had hated about him. He had never been able to stay in one place for too long and his lifestyle took him all over the world.

One of his lackeys used to check in on Paige and leave envelopes of cash behind from her father, but then one day the man had just stopped coming.

Putting on her clothes, Paige’s mind wondered back to alpha Damien along with what afflictions he had in store for her. She grimaced. Maybe he wouldn’t even remember he had summoned her, she thought, as she felt a small glimmer of hope start to form. I mean, she was pretty insignificant in the pack, being basically human, and let’s not forget he was an Alpha after all.

She was sure he had plenty to occupy his day and, more importantly, dozens of other she-wolves to torment besides herself. She thought, nodding to herself confidently.

Grabbing her headphones, Paige did a couple of light stretches before putting them on, walking out the door and jogging up the sidewalk towards town.

The roads were mostly clear this morning since it was still early on a Sunday.

A couple of miles in, Paige slowed her pace as she started to near her destination.

The Blue Java was a small coffee shop where Mira, a young shifter that Paige used to babysit as a child, worked part-time as a barista.

Across the street from the establishment, Paige stopped to wait for the crosswalk light to turn green.

Some movement to the left of her suddenly caught her eye as she noticed a small woman wearing a crop top and mini skirt with a pink leather collar around her neck that connected to a long silver chain. As her eyes followed the chain, Paige noticed it was attached to a rather disturbing-looking small man's belt. The man was sporting a gold necklace as well as a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. A larger gentleman, twice the size of the other one stood across from the girl, casually scrolling through his phone, wearing a beanie, a wife-beater sporting sweat stains, and baggy cargo pants.

They appeared to be loitering and Paige decided right away that they were likely as unpleasant as they looked.

Just then, cargo pants stepped up behind the small woman, grinding his massive hips against her backside.

The poor woman appeared to be nearly as disgusted by the act as Paige felt watching it.

He then wrapped an arm around her waist as she tried to push him off of her.

“Come on honey... you can show my friend here a little love, he don’t bite... much.” Cigarette mouth croaked out then cackled while leaning against a telephone pole, lighting up another cigarette.

On closer inspection, Paige realized that the woman had a Mate mark on the side of her neck. Suddenly she felt sick to her stomach. Mates. Paige had discovered from an early age that the mate bond only existed in her opinion, so that the misogynistic males of a pack could literally own their own she-wolves. This was the small-minded way of all packs from what she’d seen.

Women were inferior and, once marked, were nothing but property. A gift from the moon goddess, they called it.

Paige, on the other hand, wanted to know what the moon goddess was smoking when she sold that pile of crap.

She snorted, then noticed cigarette breath had apparently turned his head and caught her staring.

Paige's eyes widened.

He must have mistaken the attention for something else, because he suddenly puckered his lips and winked at her.

Feeling appalled, she jerked her head back to the street sign before repeatedly hitting the walk button.

Moments later, to her dismay, she heard them approaching.

“Well hey there Sugar.”Cigarette breath croaked.

Paige reluctantly turned to face them, noticing that the small woman stood there with her eyes lowered as Paige ignored the man's comment, before turning her attention back to the road.

Seconds passed and when the light still hadn’t changed, she reluctantly peeked back at them and frowned as she watched Cigarette breath grab his crotch and pull up his belt before waltzing over and casually draping his arm over the young woman’s shoulder, dragging her along with him as he made his way towards Paige.

To her instant relief, the crosswalk light finally changed to green, but as Paige was about to cross, cargo pants quickly moved to block her path.

“Where you going, doll face?” Cigarette breath snickered, as he released the young woman to lean in towards Paige, holding his hands spread out at his sides, as well as puffing out a scrawny chest before continuing. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you looking at all this from over here abouts.” He croaked smugly, indicating himself as he flicked his cigarette on the sidewalk.

He then gave Paige a big toothy grin that she noted was mostly yellow apart from one gold tooth.

Paige stared at him in bewilderment and disgust, then blinked a few times before responding.

“Sir, I can assure you, you are mistaken” she said curtly, before turning, suddenly deciding she would cross the street anywhere else when she felt him grab her arm.

Paige looked back at him both surprised and annoyed, before attempting to yank her arm from his grasp.

“Aw, now don’t be like that... You wouldn’t play hard to get with a real man, would you doll face?” he asked wiping his nose with his free hand and wiggling his brows. “You know what I’m tryna say don’t you doll face?” He continued, both laughing and coughing on her while he held her in place.

The man reeked of cigarettes and cheap cologne and Paige had to hold back a gag.

Just then, a black Rolls-Royce pulled up to the curb and stopped, before a tinted window rolled down to reveal a male passenger who gracefully draped his arm out the window, revealing a hand adorned with jewels.

“Boss!” Cigarette breath squawked, instantly releasing her and standing at attention in front of the window with cargo pants bowing their heads slightly in respect.

After a closer look, Paige recognized the male passenger as one of her father’s business associates, Felix Sauveterre. She knew enough about him to know he was not a man to be trifled with.

As a child, Paige had always referred to him as the general peroxide. An inside joke between her and her father.

She noticed his thick peroxide white hair was currently combed back as he turned to glance at Paige with a look void of emotion, before looking forward again.

“Is this what I pay you for, hmm? To go around harassing my colleagues and their families.” He said casually, gesturing towards Paige without even sparing her another glance, his voice laced with a thick French accent as he spoke.

Both cigarette breath and cargo pants glanced at Paige, clearly confused.

With that, Paige looked away, unsure how to respond.

Felix sighed, putting his fingertips to his forehead “Imbeciles...” he muttered under his breath, then he turned to look at Paige. “Apologies, Ma chérie” he said. “These ones are new, and clearly in need of more training.” He gestured to his men.

The two men, who were obviously embarrassed, said nothing with their heads bowed.

“You should be more careful wondering these streets alone on this side of town, Ma chérie.” Sauveterre admonished, before nodding at something his driver said.

Just then, cigarette breath reached back and jerked the young woman to her knees beside him.

“Show some respect, wh*re.” He spat in a whisper.

Paige's eyes narrowed as a look of revolution crossed her face, before she turned on her heel, walking away without another word.

“That one is off limits.” She heard Felix say with a hint of irritation in his voice as she quickly made her way across the street.