Alpha's Pet - Free and Complete

Four: Preparation

"You want to challenge me?" Alice demanded. Her arms fell to her side as she approached. Sure he was taller than her, but she didn't care. "I've taken you down once, Jared, I'll take you down again."

"You fought me when I wasn't at my best. I don't have those same issues anymore."

Alice snorted. "And yet the perfume of your breath still tells me you are still trying to find all of your answers at the bottom of a bottle. What is going to be your excuse this time?"

"You know the rules," he spat. "I won't stand here and be insulted by the likes of you." He glared past her at Justa. "Bring the human. I want him chained up so he can watch me put you back where you belong."

Alice took her hand and slammed it into Jared's chest. The man was sent reeling back and landed on his ass and glared up at her. "I was going to wait until the moon was in the sky to witness this, but f**k it. We're going to do this right now!" he howled at her.

Jared got to his feet and left in a huff, his shouts alerting the rest that hadn't quite woken up. Alice shook her head and bent down to put the items he had disturbed back in place. 

"Are you okay?" Justa watched her but didn't move to help. Just a cautious stare of an animal prepared to be hurt.

"I've been challenged," Alice replied. "Because I brought you here, I have to defend my place in this pack."

"And what if you lose?" Justa demanded. "I'll just be slaughtered in front of everyone?"

"Tortured," she replied. "They'll do to you what was done to my forest brother. But, you shouldn't worry about that. I'm not about to lose to the likes of Jared. You haven't seen me fight yet."

Justa stared at the wall. "Why not just give me up?"

Alice raised a brow as he turned back to her. "You think he'd just give this idea up? You're just an excuse to get what he wants. He's the drunk that lost this position to me, fair and square. I'm older now than when I got it from him the first time, and this time I won't be gentle."

"But if I'm so much trouble, just let me go. I don't care what they do to me. There's no need to keep me as a pet."

Alice shook her head. "No, you're mine now. You can fight it all you want. You can deny it all you want, but, Justa, I've made my decision. You'll be there to watch, and I expect you to behave while out there." 

Justa sighed. "I had hoped that this extra trouble would convince you to just let me go. Why hang onto someone who is just going to make life more difficult for you? Go get yourself a real pet, not a broken piece of s**t like me."

Alice sat back down in her seat and leaned close. "Why do you consider yourself that? I don't see a broken human or even a piece of s**t one. What I see is something that mystifies me. I know it's not right to keep you, I'm not stupid. But I refuse to let you go. You're too precious."

And that was true.

She wanted to know why this human was different. Why did this vessel of flesh cause her such unrest?

Why had she dreamed about him and what it would be like to indulge in bodily desires?

No, it was best to not think about that. He was a pet, she wasn't about to have any relations with a pet, no matter how much it piqued her interest. Especially not a human one.

"I'm not precious, I'm just a black rock."

Alice frowned at him. "We will continue this conversation later. I'm going to eat this breakfast you've prepared for me, and then we shall get ready for the fight."

Justa wrinkled his nose. "Shouldn't you wait until after the fight to eat?"

Alice c****d her head to the side, a single piece of bacon held between her fingers, and her brows furrowed as she stared at him. "Why?"

"Cramps?" Justa suggested with a twitch of his lip. "You could get cramps and lock up during the battle. At least that's how human bodies work."

"Ah," Alice smiled and bit off a piece of the crisp bacon. Her eyes fluttered. "I haven't had bacon in so long. We usually don't have the patience to actually cook or anything. When you're hungry it is so much easier just to eat whatever you find."

She swallowed and her smile grew. "In any case, we are not human. We look it, but even this form is far different from yours. I have strength, I have powers, and my mental capacity is far greater than the average human." She paused and ducked her head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that as an offense."

Justa lifted a brow as he brought the coffee towards his lips. "Why should you care about offending a pet?"

That was a good question. Humans were prey, a pet from one was unheard of. They were weak, stupid, and unskilled. 

And yet this one had made himself useful at least. Her house had never looked better, and she truly enjoyed the meal laid out before her.

A chorus of howls erupted from the pack and Alice set down her bacon as she looked at the entry. "Now? I can't even finish?" she frowned. "This is unheard of. He's the challenger, I should be the one that decides the time of the fight."

"Alpha!" A man barged into the room. He was tall to the point of having to duck his head to avoid hitting it on her ceiling.

His muscles bulged as he glared over at Justa, his lips lifting in a snarl. "The rest of the pack is demanding you come out, now."

Alice took her time as she deliberately finished her bacon, never turning away from Mark's eyes. She swallowed and nodded. "I can hear them."

Mark waited a moment and as she didn't answer he ran a hand through his short-cropped black hair. "Alpha," he groaned. His eyes flicked from her to the doorway. "They won't wait long, please."

"I am the Alpha," Alice answered as she set her drink down and stood to her feet. "I do not know why the pack thinks they can bully me into accepting this fight of Jared's, but when this is over," she paused and she smirked, "punishments will be handed out."

Mark shivered. "I know, but please. I've refused to allow them entry, but they're going to demand it soon."

He glared over at Justa once more. "Why not just give him to the pack? We'll kill him and this can all be over. Why are you putting your title on the line for a human?"

Alice scowled. The more the pack pushed her on this, the more she wanted to keep Justa. The longer she was determined to keep him. A dark thought crossed her mind and she chuckled.

"You should tell the pack to be careful, if they keep trying to control me like this, I'll mate with him just to prove a point."

Mark paled and took a step back. The glare was gone from his eyes, and the sneer erased from his lips. "You can't be serious."

Alice laughed. Mark's expression was funny enough, but Justa was staring at her as if she had grown another head. The man was pushing himself against the wall.

"Relax," she growled at the both of them. "I won't actually do that."

Mark breathed a sigh of relief.

Justa continued to glare at her. He didn't think it was as funny as she did apparently. "I have no interest in you like that."

Alice laughed again. "I wouldn't force you in the first place, calm down." The howls sounded again, closer this time. Mark had tensed and took a defensive position in the doorway.

Alice put a hand on his back and the wolf relaxed beneath her touch. "I've got this, don't worry." She glanced over her shoulder at Justa. "Grab his chain and bring him. I know the others won't accept this unless he's present."

Alice didn't wait to see if her orders were followed. It was Mark, he always followed her orders. Instead, she strode through her tunnels and out into the park. The sun hadn't even set yet or turned the sky the reds and yellows she loved so much. 

Jared had ripped off his shirt, the remains of it in tatters around his chest. The asshole probably thought it made him look stronger. It wouldn't take her long to correct that for him. 

She stepped into the arena and let her power flow through her. The black clothes she had donned earlier shifted and melded to her body. Leather formed around her curves and hardened for armor. Chains erupted from the leather collar and tied around her hair, forming a low slung ponytail that kept it out of the way.

Jared's eyes raked over her figure, just as they had the last time she fought him. Alice glared at him. Not for the first time she wished she could throw that wolf into a vat of fire. "You challenged me for the lead of this pack? Well, here I am." 

She turned around so everyone could see her. "I am here to defend my position, prove that I'm your Alpha and that no one here is going to touch my pet." At the end of her words, she smiled and bowed as the audience booed.