The Alpha Target

One

As soon as Cora and her team arrived back at the Viper HQ, Cora dumped the redhead on the ground, shortly followed by a high pitched – yet muffled - squeal from the woman as her ass collided with the grass bed. Cora would have rolled her eyes and demanded the woman was being dramatic, but she had inflicted enough wounds on the woman during her capture to know the redhead was likely feeling rather delicate at the moment.

Rocco, who had been waiting in the parking lot for his employees to return, stared blankly at the target before meeting Cora’s gaze and shaking his head in defeat. The woman had more wounds than skin, blood was oozing out of her and from the nasty gash along the side of her head, she most likely had a concussion. “Really?” he deadpanned his subordinate, as the others attempted to hide their amusement while they left their head warrior to deal with the repercussions.

“What?” Cora asked, her famous innocent smirk sprawled across her lips. “You said bring her back alive. You said nothing about bringing her back unharmed.” And besides, the b***h deserved it. She had repeatedly referred to Cora as ‘Turkish Delight’ thanks to her pink-coloured hair and well, Cora hadn’t slept too well last night. The target had dangled the red flag in front of Cora’s eyes and who was she to deny such an obvious request for an ass kicking.

“One job, Cora. You had one job,” Rocco reminded her, wincing as he surveyed the target’s injuries while her sharp green eyes pleaded up at him. Though, Rocco wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. The woman kneeled before him, hands bound with silver and mouth covered with duct tape, was the lead suspect on an omega hunting case they had been working on. Given Cora’s history, his lead warrior was never going to let the woman get off lightly. Despite the strong spitfire Cora had become today, she always wound up becoming emotionally invested in cases where Omegas were involved.

Cora grinned widely. “And you got two for the price of one.” She didn’t feel guilty, not one single bit. Cora had seen firsthand the state the victims had been left in during ‘The Hunting’, a swift death wasn’t enough for this woman. In fact, death was too easy a punishment. But deciding the fate of a target who was to be captured only - not assassinated – wasn’t Cora’s decision to make. How the target was captured, however, was. While Cora may have been ordered to keep Sloane alive, it didn’t mean she couldn’t personally ensure the target received a fair amount of ‘payback’.

The odds had turned wickedly against Sloane’s favour when Cora was called the scene, especially when the latter decided Sloane should have a taste of her own medicine and be captured in the same way her victims had been. Sloane had gone from being the predator… to the prey. Evil, sure, but your mate and his girlfriend murdering you in cold blood for simply being an omega would make you that way. And besides, Cora was not that weak woman anymore, as Sloane got to experience first hand.

“And when the council ask what happened?” Rocco quirked a brow, crossing his arms over his chest.

She glanced back at the redhead, flashing her a pitiful smile. “Tell them she referred to me as ‘Turkish Delight’.” Then, as though that was the only information her boss needed, Cora swiftly turned on her heel and headed to her room to wash up.

Yep, that would do it, Rocco thought. He clicked his tongue, taking in a deep breath as his gaze returned to the wide-eyed woman crouched at his feet. Pressing his lips together, he reached for her arm and dragged her to her feet. She flailed as his grip tightened on one of her wounds. He shrugged at her cries as he marched her inside the HQ. “You had to dangle the bone, Sloan,” he shook his head. “You just had to dangle the bone.”

-

Cora rapidly spun her body 180 degrees before forcefully throwing a deathly kick towards the punching mat. Bishop grunted from the impact but continued to firmly hold the mat in place. A split second later, Cora was facing forward and threw a lethal uppercut into the mat before reaching the edges of the crash mat and yanking it down to meet the brutal blow of her knee.

Bishop curled over as he lost his balance and fell to the floor, coughing from the force of the fall. His crisp blue eyes met Cora’s gold ones, who was patiently waiting for him to return to his position, and he chuckled. He dumped the mat beside him and wiped the sweat from his bleached buzz cut. “If you wanted me on my knees beneath you, you only had to ask.”

Cora snorted, “that only happens in your dreams.”

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Cora sat beside him as she finally determined she had done enough training for the afternoon. Every day she would train for three to four hours, perfecting and sharpening her skills, pushing her endurance and testing her stamina. She was a force to be reckoned with, even with her five-foot-two height. She had made sure she would never be targeted for being weak again, a b***h sure, but weak? Never. Her past had severed as a lesson, a lesson Cora was adamant she would never learn again. When the Moon Goddess had given her a second chance, Cora had grabbed the bull by the horns and swore to make it worth it.

Bishop let out a dreamy sigh as he brought his arms beneath his head and laid against the ground. “And what incredible dreams they are.”

Bishop was one of Cora’s closet friends, just like the other four who were in her team. When Rocco had brought her to the Viper HQ three years ago, Bishop was one of the first people she had met. His parents had also tragically died at a young age and having something to bond over, they quickly became good friends. Like her, Rocco had found Bishop when he had given up on life and brought him to Viper, taking Bishop under his wing, just as he had Cora.

The other four members of their team were Darca, Joni, Trey and Declan. The six of them were a close unit. Not only were they a team, but they were also best friends, which is what allowed them to work incredibly in-sync and become the number one squad in the Viper Association. Each of them the very best at their particular skills, they were unbeatable. They had all lost everything and everyone, only to find something new within each other. Many called them dysfunctional and co-dependant, but Cora saw them as family.

When Cora arrived at Viper she was a broken shell of a woman who believed she had nothing left to live for, she had a story so traumatising it wasn’t difficult to understand the lack of motivation to get out of bed every day. But that was the catch, everyone at Viper had a traumatising story, everyone who first stepped through the door believed they had nothing left to live for. But she was no longer that woman and neither were they. She’d spent the last three years working her ass off, becoming someone her parents would have been proud of and ensuring she was the best of the best. Someone shifters like Dion would be petrified to take on. She was no longer that timid omega, not in the slightest. She was strong, confident, motivated, capable. If only Kai could see her now.

And despite swearing to never trust anyone again, Cora found that her five teammates had broken down the towering walls surrounding her heart and they had crept their way inside without her knowing. Now, not only did she have one person she could fall back on, she had five. The longing she once felt for her mate, for the need to have that one person who would love you unconditionally, it had vanished. Because she no longer needed to find her soulmate in one person, she’d found it in her five best friends.

As Cora and Bishop contently laid along the grass bed of the training field watching the pink and orange sunset creep over them, the sound of Joni’s voice yelled beside them. Her long golden hair was scaped into a mid-pony, amplifying her sharp bone structure. Cora had always found herself rather jealous of Joni’s high and defined cheekbones, she looked as though she belonged on a runway or the cover of vogue. Unlike Cora, who had a deep olive skin tone, Joni had porcelain skin and if she hadn’t known Joni for so long, Cora would have been convinced Joni had never seen sunlight in her life.

“If you daydreamers are done, Rocco wants us in his office,” Joni shot the pair an expectant look that told them she wouldn’t be moving until they were on their feet. Joni was the one who held each of them accountable, she was a stickler for the rules and control. Joni was never late, always on time no matter what. If she was needed somewhere at 9am, Joni would be there at 8:45 unlike Cora who couldn’t be on time to save her life.

“New job?” Bishop’s eyes lit up with glee as he jumped to his feet, before reaching out his hand and pulling a reluctant Cora off the ground. The downside of being the best? Never having a day off.

Joni nodded. “Darca, Trey and Declan are already there.” The three began making their way to the boss’ office, while discussing what their theories on the next job could be.

“I don’t really care, but I swear if the next target calls me ‘Grapefruit’, ‘Turkish Delight’ or a ‘little doll’ I’m shoving their heads up their asses so they can taste their own intestines.” Cora mumbled, pushing open Rocco’s door without knocking. She was probably supposed to knock first, but she never did.

Bishop snickered, resting his arm on the top of her head as they joined the others in Rocco’s freakily clean office. “But you are a little doll,” he teased. “You’re cute, tiny and you have candy floss hair.”

“Here we go,” Declan chuckled, shuffling in one of the guest chairs that sat in front of Rocco’s desk so he could watch the interaction.

Cora yanked her head to the side, making Bishop’s arm fall from her head. “Would I still be cute if I cut off each of your fingers and force fed them to you until you gagged, choked and then died?”

Trey barked out a laugh and shook his head, his ash-brown curls wiggling with the movement. “Damn, Cors. You’re extra prickly today.”

“Death by your own fingers,” Declan nodded in appreciation to the idea, his brown eyes dancing with amusement. “That’s a new one.”

Darca rolled her eyes before sending a pointed look towards Bishop. “You know you don’t poke the bear after an Omega case.”

Rocco cleared his throat, regaining the attention of the group as he leaned back in his desk chair. “Anyway… you have a new job. Now, I don’t know all the details as of yet, but I do know that the case is a level five.”

Cora’s attention suddenly piqued. All cases were ranked from level one to level five, with one being a low-risk low-profile case and often involved matters regarding rogues. If a case was level five, it usually involved a crime that was not only punishable by death, but a high-ranking wolf or wolves. Cases that were level five were on a need-to-know basis and had to be dealt with discreetly. To limit information being leaked or getting into the wrong hands, the council or the contractor would do the brief of the job themselves.

“Like I said, with it being a level five, I don’t know much yet. But this is a high-profile case which supposedly involves an Alpha who is known for being incredibly dangerous.” Rocco continued. “I know I don’t have to say this, but there can be no missteps here. I don’t want any of you getting hurt.”

“Who is doing the brief? Council?” Declan enquired.

Rocoo shook his head. “Blaise Hendrick.” The room filled with gasps.

“As in King Rex Hendrick’s brother?” Darca probed.

Rocco nodded. “He’ll be here first thing in the morning, so I want each of you here by 9am.” Rocco’s eyes flickered to Cora. “In fact, make it 8:30.” Cora rolled her eyes, but chose not to say anything. It was probably a wise call. “Do not be late.”