Save Me, Alphas

“As alpha of this pack, it’s my job to do what’s best for my pack.” He folded his hands together on the desk and slowly raised his head to look at me. “I’m sending you away.”

“W-what?”

“Since you are not of legal age and nobody wants to take you in, I will be sending you away to live with your uncle.”

Uncle?

I frowned at him. As far as I was aware, I had no other family. It had always just been Mom, Dad and me. There was never any talk about other family members.

“Your parents never mentioned him?”

I shook my head.

“I’m not surprised,” Alpha Rowan muttered. “There’s been some bad blood between them for a few years now.”

“And you want me to go live with him?”

His eyes narrowed. “He is the only one willing to take you in.”

If there was bad blood between him and my parents, I was sure that I wouldn’t be treated any better at his pack than I was being treated at my pack.

“I turn eighteen in a month,” I told him.

“By law, you need to stay with a legal adult until you are twenty-one. Those are the pack laws.” He was silent for a few seconds. “I will not be breaking any more laws for you.”

I flinched.

Those were some of the things he always said to my parents whenever they asked for something involving me. All pack members claimed that the alpha was breaking the rules to accommodate the pathetic human girl.

“I’m going to be honest with you, Cora.” Alpha Rowan stood and walked around the desk to take a seat on the edge in front of me. “Your parents are dead. I find no need to keep you in my pack any longer. Ever since they brought you here, I’ve had nothing but trouble. My pack sees me as weak because I always have to break the rules for you.”

If I could move, I would’ve run. He was looking at me with such malice.

“You have three days to pack your things,” he said softly. “Everything you’re not taking with you will be put in storage until you can collect it.”

“O-okay.”

“Dismissed.”

I hurriedly got to my feet and nearly tripped over my own feet. Just as my hand wrapped around the doorknob, he stopped me.

“Cora.”

I slowly turned around to look at him.

“If anyone asks, not that they will, but if they do, you tell them that you are going to live with another pack. Don’t mention anything about your uncle.”

“Of course, alpha.”

“Good girl.”

I shuddered in disgust but tried my best to hide it. The last thing I wanted was to show any disrespect to my alpha. Like he pointed out, my parents were no longer there to protect me from punishment.

“I suggest you start packing right away.”

Stepping out of the office, I took a moment to suck in a few deep breaths before I hurried out of the pack house.

I kept my head down, trying my best to avoid any eye contact. The last thing I wanted was to draw any unwanted attention towards myself.

“Look who it is!” A familiar voice called before I could slip into the tree line. “The orphaned human!”

I kept walking, but they had other plans.

Something hit me in the back of the head, making me stumble and drop to my knees. Pain shot through my knees, it lingered where the object had hit me in the back of the head.

My breathing sped up, and my hands curled into fists as anger replaced the pain. I wanted nothing more than to spin around and punch her in the face, but I knew that she’d have me on my ass before the fight even started.

So I sucked in a deep breath, got to my feet and walked away, while trying my best to ignore their snickers and taunts.

Sometimes I wished that I could walk up to her and slap her so hard that she passed out. She has been making my life hell since we were old enough to talk.

I hated her.

At least now I didn’t have to deal with her any longer.

But there would be others.

I sighed when I reached the small cabin my Mom and I had been assigned to when Dad died. It was close to the border of our pack and mostly left unprotected, but Mom had assured me that it was perfect.

We at least had a roof over our heads until she had taken her last breath.

Tears burned my eyes.

It has only been two days since she died but it already felt like forever.

I missed her.

I missed him.

I missed hearing their voices, seeing their smiles.

I missed having her run her hand through my hair while she told me a story about her and Dad.

We might not have lived in the cabin for long, but it held a lot of memories.

My stomach twisted with unease as I glanced around.

Most of the stuff from our old home was still in the boxes. Mom didn’t want to unpack it because she said it would only make her sadder. She was full of life when we moved in, she had the will to keep living despite losing her mate. But one day she just woke up and decided she couldn’t.

I stayed by her side, taking care of her and silently praying that she wouldn’t leave me alone.

So much for all the praying.

A tear rolled down my cheek, but I quickly wiped it away. All I had been doing was crying.

Crying wasn’t going to bring them back. It wasn’t going to make anything better.

Raising a hand, I rubbed the still-aching spot on the back of my head.

I didn’t know what to expect of my future. There had to be a good reason for the bad blood between my…uncle and parents.

Why had they never talked about him?

My eyes locked on the box with all the photo albums. There were no pictures of him. I knew because I had studied all the albums late at night when Mom was sleeping.

It only had pictures of them and me.

A stranger. I was going to go live with a stranger.

A new pack.

A new life as an orphan.

What was I going to do without them? Who was I going to complain to when one of the pack members were being mean to me?

A sob fell from my lips before I could stop it. It was instantly followed by another.

Sliding down the door, I pulled my legs to my chest and buried my face against my knees as I cried.

My whole life had been thrown on its axes and I wasn’t sure if I could handle it on my own. I wished now more than ever that I had grown up in a normal human environment. Maybe then I would have had friends and more family to support me.

Eventually, my tears dried up.

I splashed my face with some cold water and then started packing up the things in my room, leaving only the stuff I was still using.

All my clothes fit into the two suitcases I found in Mom’s room, but there was no space for anything else.

The photo frame I had of us was placed in the box with the photo albums.

I took some things from Mom’s closet and then searched through the boxes for a few of Dad’s things.

There was a navy blue jacket he always made me wear in the winter because I got so cold.

Within three hours I had finished packing everything I wanted to take with me to my new home.

All the other stuff was packed neatly in the boxes and stacked in the living room.

Alpha Rowan said that it would be stored in storage until I could collect it, but I didn’t trust him, so I was taking all the valuables with me.

Sure, he had protected me for most of my life, but he has never really given me a reason to trust him.

I jumped when there was a sudden knock on the door, startling me out of my thoughts.

“Cora? Open up, we need to talk.”

My heartbeat escalated and sweat broke out over my skin.

He knocked again, snapping me into action.

I pulled the door open and watched with a frown as he hurriedly stepped inside the cabin and pushed the door closed behind him.

Dean glanced around. “All packed up?”

“Y-yes,” I stuttered, feeling unnerved by his presence in the cabin.

“Good.” He swallowed loudly as he turned to face me. “We need to talk.”

“O-okay. Do you want to sit down?”

“No, I won’t be staying long.” He shifted from foot to foot, eyes darting around.

For some reason, he seemed extremely nervous, which made me nervous.

To think that a few years ago, I used to have a crush on him. My tormentor found out and told everybody, including him. He had joined in on them making fun of me whenever he got the chance.

“Did Olivia ever explain mates to you?” he asked.

I frowned at him.

“Come on, Cora. We already had the sex talk in school. You must have had some questions for your mother.”

“I don’t want any part of whatever this is,” I told him as I hurried towards the door.

“It isn’t a game.”

“Yeah, right. Someone is recording this right? You just can’t let me leave without making a fool out of me one last time?” I jerked the door open. “Please leave.”

Dean growled and stormed over to me. Pushing the door closed, he slammed me against it with a hand wrapped around my throat.

“I am trying to have a serious conversation with you,” he hissed, eyes flashing.

I started trembling with fear.

He was seconds from shifting. I could feel his claws digging into my skin.

“S-she told me,” I stuttered, remembering his question from earlier. “I k-know what a mate is.”

“Good. Good.” Dean stepped closer, pressing his body against mine. “I don’t have to explain things to you then. I knew it from the moment I first laid my eyes on you that you were mine.”

His eyes darted over my face.

“I believed that you might shift once you hit puberty. You’re my mate, Cora. The Goddess fucking gave me a pathetic human for a mate.”

Another growl fell from his lips as his hold on my throat tightened, cutting off my air.

“We could have been so good.”

“D-Dean.”

“I don’t want a you as my mate. You’re weak and so fucking pathetic. How will you take care of my pack?”

It was getting increasingly harder to breathe. I clawed at his hand, trying to pry his fingers away.

“How will you carry my children? They will be bastards just like you.”

“P-Please.”

“I Dean Rowan Sutton, reject you Cora Milton as my mate, and the future Luna of my pack,” he said.

I felt nothing but the pain of his fingertips digging into the skin of my throat.

His eyes narrowed.

Black spots appeared in my line of vision, and just as I was about to pass out, he let me go.

I dropped to the floor, coughing.

Mom told me about the pain a female felt when she was rejected by her mate. She told me about the pain she felt when she lost Dad.

I was somewhat prepared for it.

But I felt nothing.

No pain.

Only fear.

“G-get out,” I croaked. “Leave!”

He took a step towards me, making me crawl away from him.

“Pathetic,” he growled.

And then he stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him.

I instantly hurried towards it and locked the door.

Fear still lingered hours after he had left. It was the first time in my life that I had been placed in such a position, and I never wanted it to happen again.

It made me feel weak and I was sick of feeling weak or being called pathetic.

I took a long bath, trying to calm my racing heart. Once the water started cooling, I got out and dried myself with the towel I left out.

I avoided my reflection in the mirror and hurried out of the bathroom. Once I was dressed, I climbed into bed and stared up at the ceiling.

In three days, I would be sleeping in a different bed in a different house in a completely different pack. I should be thankful that I at least had a home, and that Alpha Rowan hadn’t kicked me to the curb. He at least made contact with my uncle before he kicked me out of his pack.

My mind started racing with different scenarios of how my uncle would welcome me into his home. It could be disastrous.

But at the moment, a new beginning was just what I needed.

Uncle forgotten; my mind trailed to what had happened with Dean.

I felt like he expected a different reaction from me. Had he expected me to cry and kneel over in pain because he rejected me?

Too bad.

My reaction wasn’t the same as a she-wolf because I didn’t feel the mate-bonds like them. After all, I was only a pathetic human.

Letting out a sigh, I switched off the lamp and turned onto my side to face the wall.

There was no use dwelling on things I wouldn’t be able to change.

***

Something was slowly pulling me from my sleep. Frowning, I rolled onto my back and blinked up at the ceiling.

I had only just managed to fall asleep after tossing and turning for a few hours.

The room was brightly lit by the full moon high in the sky.

My frown deepened.

When I climbed into bed, I had forgotten to close the curtains, but that wasn’t what woke me.

There was another loud creak.

I held my breath and listened carefully. No more sounds followed, but just as I slowly relaxed, someone entered my bedroom.

My lips parted but my scream was cut off by a hand clamping down on my mouth.

“Can’t let you leave without giving you a proper farewell bitch,” he snarled.

The hand was replaced by something softer. I gagged at the smell that filled my nostrils.

A second later, my body went limp and then my surroundings started fading until darkness surrounded me.

***

The darkness slowly faded.

My ears were ringing but the longer I was awake, the more it faded, allowing sounds to penetrate my ears. The first thing I heard was the sound of thousands of crickets filling the air.

My fingers curled into rocky dirt beneath me. I could feel the cool breeze moving loose strands of hair around my face.

I didn’t need to open my eyes to know where I was.

Whoever grabbed me from my bed, had dumped me in the middle of the forest.

I had no idea whether I was still in pack territory or not, but something was telling me that I wasn’t anywhere close to the cabin.

Panic threatened to overwhelm me.

Dad had taught me that panic was usually the main reason someone dies, because if you panic, you can’t think clearly. He had told me a lot of things about survival, but I couldn’t remember a thing at the moment.

My breathing sped up as my heartbeat escalated.

I slowly sat up and glanced around.

Thick bushed and tall trees surrounded me.

Nothing looked familiar.

Getting to my feet, I stood on shaky legs and slowly turned in a circle. My eyes darted around, searching for anything that might seem familiar.

It slowly sunk in.

I had been dragged from my bed and dumped in the forest in the middle of the night.