Alpha's Pet - Free and Complete

Eight: Broken Bonds

Alice's world collapsed around her. "What?" she whispered. What had happened to the warmth that had sprouted between the two of them?

"You heard me," Justa replied. "Take this collar off of me, now."

"It's too dangerous," Alice shook her head. "It's okay if you don't trust me. You'll trust me in time. I just want to keep you safe."

"No, you don't," Justa replied as he took a seat in front of her. "You want to keep me a prisoner. You have no intention of letting me go."

"That's not true," Alice whispered. 

"It is," Justa replied his eyes locked on hers. "Even if I feed your pack, even if I help you adjust yourselves to actually pass as humans, you won't let me go."

Alice sighed as she looked away. "I'm sorry," she answered again. 

Here she was, Alpha of her clan. Someone that never said those words, let alone to someone like a human, and she was willing to do almost anything so he wouldn't glare at her. Just what witchcraft had this human created?

Justa paused as his eyes narrowed on her. "I think you really are. Now tell me, what is the real reason you won't let me go? Why have you taken me, prisoner, as your pet."

He wanted her to explain herself? Alice's wolf whimpered as she herself bristled at it. Why should she have to bear herself like this? She'd never acted so submissive to anyone!

She couldn't, she was the Alpha. She couldn't afford to be weak. She couldn't afford to explore her emotions or feelings. 

"I watched you attack those others, I watched you stand up for my brother. I had to find out more. I wanted to save you, learn more."

"And yet now every time I see your eyes on me, you look at me as if I'm prey," Justa answered. "I see none of this curiosity you speak of. I see a predator hunting. With me on a leash like this, all I can do is wait until you decide to devour me."

Devour him?  Oh, if only he knew what she wanted to do. Devour was such a tame word for the thoughts that ran through her head. 

Alice shook her head. "It's not that kind of prey," she whispered. He raised a brow at her but waited for her. "I told you that my wolf wants you."

"You did."

"The truth is, I think her emotions, her wants are spilling over into me as well. I'm finding it hard to not touch you, not to want to dominate you."

If her words shocked him, he didn't show it. He merely nodded. "I see."

He glanced away from her and Alice's stomach once more tied into knots.

"You became obsessed with me because you saw me help the wolf, right?" He asked as he turned back. His eyes questioning.

"Obsessed?" she winced. 

"You are obsessed," he said with the barest of smiles and a sigh. "But here's the thing, Alpha. I'm not this saint that you appear to think of me as. My reasons for stopping them aren't so rosy colored. You think I did it out of the goodness of my heart?"

"You couldn't stand to see them do that, right? "Alice asked. Strange. There was darkness now. Something was off from the way he normally acted. Those eyes she loved so much were almost gray as they stared through her.

"I'm no saint," Justa spat. "There's only one real reason I tried to stop them. A selfish, stupid reason."

"What is it?" Alice questioned as she leaned closer. Were those tears shimmering in his eyes?

"A long time ago when I was a cub as your people would say," he stopped to chuckle. "I had a best friend. That friend looked identical to that forest brother of yours. He was with me from as far back as I could remember and he was my pet."

"What happened to him?" Alice choked on the words.

"He died," Justa answered His words were simple, but the emotions playing over his features were not.

Alice's eyes dropped to the table and she watched as his fist quivered before he sighed. "It was a long time ago. That wolf was not my friend."

"Why would that change my opinion on what you did?" Alice frowned. "You still tried to stop something that was wrong. It doesn't matter that your motivation was past memories."

She reached over and curled her hand over his. Had he always been so warm to the touch? Had his cheeks been like that? His hand tensed beneath her and he hissed as his eyes sharpened. 

"I'm not trying to do anything," she replied to his look. "But you're not as bad of a person as you think you are."

He laughed. Justa pulled away from her as he threw his head back and laughed. This wasn't the melodious laughter he'd done before. This was a harsh biting sound that made her heart twist.

"Justa?"

"I'm the last one you should think of as a good person. You think you know me, Alice. You don't know a thing about me."

"Then tell me!" Alice demanded as she got to her feet and loomed over him. "Please, tell me more about you. Tell me why you think that you're not this person I think you are."

"Alice," Justa replied as the darkness seethed in his eyes. "My past is more than you can handle. More than I can handle at times. I'm nothing but a harbinger of death. If you keep me here, I'll bring death to your pack."

Alice couldn't even fathom this human hurting her or those she guided. "We won't be so easily taken out. You've seen our strength."

Justa chuckled again, another self-deprecating snort. "I won't be hurting any of you directly. Consider it like bad luck. If I stay here, others will suffer. It will be small things at first. Things you can write off, but it will get worse."

Alice frowned as a chill crept through her body. "I don't care about any of that. I don't want to let you go, you're right. I want you to stay here with the pack," she licked her lips. "With me."

"You've taken me prisoner, and you expect me to just go along with all this?" he demanded as he lifted his head and glared at her. 

"I don't want to stop calling you my pet," Alice admitted as she glanced away from him. "But you are more than that." She got up from the table and went to his side. His head jerked up as he watched her.

"Relax," Alice clucked her tongue at him. She stepped behind Justa and the passionflowers flooded her senses again. Her mouth watered. 

Control, she couldn't allow it to slip again. She didn't want him to hate her. It would crush her if that happened. Her fingers traced the contours of the collar until she got to the latch. She pressed her finger into the mechanism and if slid open, falling off Justa's neck.

Justa turned and glanced from her to the chain. "Are you letting me go?" he asked.

"No," Alice answered. "I want you to stay here for that week."

"Why should I stay?" Justa demanded. "Why should I subject myself to more chances for you to attack me?"

Alice ran a hand through her hair, the dark strands tangling in her fingers. "I need your help, and I do want to keep you safe. I promise that I will take you to any human settlement you want. Just, give me this week."

"And what will you give up if you lie to me?" Justa asked his words soft.

Alice winced again. "What do you mean? I just took the collar off, I showed you that I can be trusted."

"No," Justa corrected. "What you showed me is that you could be setting this up as a trap. As far as I know, you're just telling me this to get me to agree and you'll collar me again."

Alice grunted. "Fine," she growled at him.

Justa again watched her with his eyes calculating as she held the collar up. 

She didn't want to see him look at her like that anymore. Fine, she'd keep her word, but she'd still convince him to stay with her on his own accord in a week. "Watch," she ordered.

Flames were never her expertise. As she summoned them into her hand her fingers turned black and smoke billowed from her palm. The fire raged and the collar and the chain attached to it melted into a silver puddle that fell to the ground and sizzled. 

"No more collar, no more chain."

Justa nodded and held his hand out to her. "Alice, are you promising that this arrangement will only be seven days total, six more days if we count the one that's already been used up? If you can agree to that, shake my hand and seal the deal. And if you break this, you give up your alpha position, and leave your pack for good."

Alice thought about the offer for only a few moments before she put her hand in his. It would be fine, as long as the others never found out about this deal she'd never have anything to worry about.

Six days to win him over? He'd already called her Alice, that was one step accomplished. 

This was going to be too easy.