The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“That fucker could have left me to die. Instead, Todd gave himself up before I could be raped, bred, and killed,” I replied. “It doesn’t matter. It’s all in the human system now. You have to let the anger go for now. Amy needs you.”

Kai let out a breath. “I know. It’s just difficult to control my wolf.”

“You should take a break, Kai. Get showered and changed, have a decent meal, maybe let your wolf out for a hard run. Beta Susan can watch over her daughter without you while you refresh.”

“You haven’t even slept, have you,” Adrienne asked. He looked worse than me, and I’d had the shit beat out of me. He didn’t answer; he didn’t have to. “Come back to the Summit and get some food and rest.”

“I can’t be that far away,” he protested.

“There’s a hotel not far from here. Get a room and get some room service and sleep.” I finally convinced him, and he hugged me before he walked towards the elevators. I waited until he was gone before I rolled my wheelchair over until I was next to Beta Susan. “What are the doctors telling you?”

She looked just as bad as Kai, but no one was going to tell a Mama Wolf to leave her pup. “Amy had a depressed compound fracture right here,” she said as she pointed to a spot just below the back of her head. “The neurosurgery team removed the bone fragments, stopped the bleeding, and moved the larger pieces of bone under the skin of her stomach to keep them viable for re-use. Right now, the key is to control the swelling inside her brain. If the pressure is too high for too long, parts of her brain could die,” she said with trembling lips.

“Oh, Luna,” I said as I let out a breath. “What is the treatment?”

“They expect the swelling to be gone within a week, at which time they will piece the bones back together. After that, they will bring Amy out of the coma, and we find out what kind of brain damage she might have. That area of the brain handles visual functions. My baby… my little girl might not be able….” She couldn’t say any more; it was too terrible to contemplate. I hugged her from one side while Adrienne hugged her from the other. Finally, she dabbed her eyes with a Kleenex and continued. “The doctors said it could be weeks, maybe months before she can leave the hospital.”

Months? I couldn’t be gone that long. “What about your family?”

“Siena is going to stay in Michigan, but she will be here when Susan has to return home for other reasons,” Mom said. “Luke is going to move in with us for the rest of the school year. If it goes into summer, he’ll go live with Siena’s Pack.” Luke was a sophomore, so I could keep driving him to school. “We need to get home, Vicki. Leo doesn’t want us around all the other Alphas, and you need to get back to school.”

“You’ll have a bodyguard anytime you leave the house,” Adrienne said.

My face fell. A minder? “What?”

“This isn’t negotiable, Vicki. First, there is your newfound fame. I don’t know if you noticed the crowd of press outside, and you haven’t seen what is going on in the cyber world. You are a celebrity, and celebrities need protection from the weirdos. Wolf or otherwise,” she said. “You can’t shift with broken ribs, and the Summit only left you in more danger. Colleen Underwood has already been in contact with your school, and as a law enforcement officer, she can carry firearms on or off-campus. She will not leave your sight. If you are going somewhere more public, other Pack Warriors will be along.” Colleen was a Deputy Sheriff in Dakota County; the Pack must have swung a deal with her boss to get her assigned to my protection detail. She fixed me with the look that said, ‘don’t fuck with me on this,’ so I didn’t bother.

“Fine,” I said with that tone that meant it was anything but fine. “When do we leave?”

“As soon as we get to the airport,” Mom said. “Your bag is packed and in the car. You need to say goodbye to Amy now.”

“Can I go in,” I asked.

“Family only,” Susan said. She leaned over and embraced me. “I’ll give her that when I can.”

“Thank you. I know you’ll take care of her.” Mom let the nurse know we were leaving the hospital, and an orderly came over to push me out to our car. Hospital rules, you know.

The press was gathered in the lot across from the Emergency Room entrance when we were spotted. They started to push forward, which the Police didn’t like. “Enough,” I said. “Go back over there and behave, then I’ll make a statement.” The police helped get them off the access road as Mom helped me to my feet. I walked over and stood in front of the cameras as they yelled questions at me.

I looked like crap compared to the last time I’d been in front of cameras. “First off, I would like to thank every person involved in the search for me after my kidnapping. My family and friends, strangers, law enforcement, EVERYONE who tried to find me have my thanks. I would also like to thank the Sheriff’s Deputies and EMT’s who found me and brought me here. I was lucky that my kidnapper lost his nerve and let me go, and I know so many other victims don’t get this ending. There is one other victim that needs your prayers. My best friend, Amy Miller, is upstairs in the Intensive Care Unit with a traumatic brain injury. The back of her head got bashed in to keep her from interfering in my kidnapping. Right now, she is in a coma as the doctors fight swelling in her brain that could have devastating consequences,” I said as I wiped away a tear. “Please pray that she makes a full recovery.”

They shouted questions over each other, so I pointed at one reporter. “Miss Lawrence, how did you get your injuries?”

“You mean you can tell I got hurt,” I said to laughs as I touched my swollen and bruised face. “Yeah, I don’t look anything like I did the last time I was on television. The older kidnapper used me as a punching bag while I was chained to the wall. In a few weeks, my face will be back to normal, and my broken ribs will heal. Like I said, I got lucky.”

“Vicki, how do you react to people calling you Sharkbabe?”

I laughed, then grimaced as my ribs hurt. “I can’t control what people say about me. I’m not a model or an actress; I’m a high school senior with a passion for sharks and shark conservation. Let’s just say I don’t think I’ll be doing any photoshoots for a while.”

I answered a few more questions, then as I turned to go back to the car, someone shouted at me. “What do you say to those who say this was all a publicity stunt to boost your career?”

I froze, taking a moment to breathe and push my wolf back before it came out and killed a bitch. I turned and looked at the camera, making the disgust clear in my face. “I’d say that is a sick and twisted thing to believe,” I said. “I’d give up everything I have in a heartbeat to watch my best friend walk out of the hospital right now. You should be ashamed of yourself.” I turned and got into the back of the car, letting Adrienne buckle me in. We pulled out as the cameras rolled.

“You handled that well,” Adrienne said as we turned onto the main road.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Can you believe that asshole?” I was still mad.

“Assholes and idiots are everywhere,” Mom said. “You can’t stop them; you can only hope to contain them.”

“Let’s go home,” I said. I wanted to be surrounded by my Pack again.

………

I grabbed my purse off the seat and pulled my phone out, powering it up. As I expected, it had blown up with messages of all kinds. My phone’s voicemail was full, and I had thousands of text messages. I started filtering the results, starting by hiding anyone who was not on my contact list.

That got it down from ludicrous to merely unmanageable.

Sorting by person and stacking took care of those who had tried to call or message over and over. I tried to look through and gave up. I composed a short message thanking everyone for their concern, saying I was going to recover while Amy needed our prayers, and that I would be home and back to school soon. I also said that it would take me weeks to get through all the messages, so please don’t be offended if I don’t respond to you right away. I sent that to everyone on my contact list.

Mom’s phone dinged, and she smiled as she looked at the message. “That was a good idea,” she said. “Don’t worry about responding. Who do YOU need to talk with now?”

“Dad,” I said. I called Brent’s phone; he’d stayed in Miesville with Mark and Chase while Mom flew down after my kidnapping. “Hi, Daddy,” I said.

“By Luna, it’s great to hear your voice,” Brent said. “How’s my Sharkbait doing?”

“Fine, Dad,” I said. “I guess it’s Sharkbabe now.”

“Not for me. You’ll always be the little girl who would run under my chest on the Pack runs,” he said. “I saw your press conference at the hospital. Your makeup could use a little work.”

“I’d need a five-gallon-bucket of cover-up for this shiner,” I laughed. Ow. “Stop making me laugh! That hurt!”

“I’m sorry, baby. Have a good flight, and I’ll see you soon. I cleared a path out to the smoker so I could make your favorite tonight.”

“Ribs?”

“Yep. You can have all the broken ones,” Brent teased, making me laugh AGAIN. This time I gave a little yelp of pain, but I didn’t care. Daddy could always cheer me up.

“I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, Vicki.”

I hung up and went back to my contact list, and one name jumped out. I hadn’t talked to her since my appearance on Fox and Friends, and I was curious about what the reaction was to it. I hoped she would have good news for me, and that she would be up already. I sent her a text, and she responded right away, so I called her. “Vicki! My God, girl, you’ve had a time of it!”

“I know, Ocean. I think I would be safer free-diving with sharks than having dinner with my family,” I said. “I’m heading to the airport now and going home, and I’ll be back in school tomorrow.”

“Are you sure you’re ready? I was just watching the news, and you looked, um, kinda like?”