So as I attempt to work on Marrying the Alpha and Becoming Female Alpha, these stories just relentlessly keep popping into my head. Has that ever happened to anyone? Or is that just me? Maybe it's just me....
Anyway, give this one a try?
Also, Hallie is only 10 in the italicized portion of this chapter, so a lot of the things running through her head might be a little ridiculous. But she's a child, keep that in mind. :)
Chapter one
"Let me go," I ordered, trying to pull myself from my captors grasp.
"You're a feisty little thing aren't you?" His voice was soft, melodic, as if coaxing me to give in to his cruel intentions.
I continued to thrash against his hold, all of my futile attempts to fight back to no avail. He was still able to pull my small form into the running van parked behind the alley that he dragged me into.
I had only left the confines of the pack territory because my father, the alphas third in command, was gone to a pack meeting, and well.... I really missed him, and so I'd ventured out to find him, and now here I was with this strange man, who had the stench of a smell I was unfamiliar with. My werewolf senses were strong enough to decipher some scents, but this one hindered my senses, I didn't know it.
"Don't worry pup, you'll be in great hands. All you have to do is relax." His voice found it's way to the spot behind my ear, and I felt myself shudder at his warm breath.
"Where are you taking me? I want to go home!" I pleaded with him, tears falling from my eyes. "My parents will worry! Alpha Jackson will be very angry! My dad is the third in command, he-"
Smack.
I raised a hand to my now throbbing cheek, my eyes widening astonishingly. Never in my ten years had anyone ever laid a hand on me, and this vile man in front of me had.... He'd slapped me and I didn't understand why! What had I ever done to deserve this? I was obedient... I never disobeyed my parents, or the alpha...
"Shut up Hallie Swanson, you will never see your parents again, so you might as well get the idea out of your head. And as for alpha Jackson..... well..." The man smiled, his eyes lighting up with anticipation. "Alpha Jackson will pay for what he's done to me..."
I bolted upright in the cage I was bound to, my heart beating a million miles a minute. It was only a dream, yet it had seemed as real as it had been the day that it happened, and I couldn't shake the unnerving feeling that there was some hidden meaning behind Henry's words.
Henry. Henry had been the man who kidnapped me that frightful day nine years ago, and he was as vile now as he had been at that time.
I wasn't the only person he had taken, there were several other girls in what I assumed was a basement, but I didn't actually know where I was, it could have been an actual house for all I knew. I wasn't aware of much of anything for the first year or two, considering I was so young, but I tried everyday to read and write, so that my young mind wouldn't forget everything I was taught. I carved lines on the concrete floor every single day that I was here and I learned to lose hope after the first three years.
No one was coming for me, it was plainly obvious that I had been forgotten.
Maybe it was because I never shifted, a werewolf was supposed to have their first shift at a young age, ten at the latest for most, mostly due to a pups fast recovery. However, after a pups first actual shift, they weren't able to shift again until they turned sixteen.
I did neither, and it was obvious that I never would.
Maybe that's why mom and dad..... No. They loved me, no matter what they wouldn't abandon me like this....
But why had there been nothing for ten years? No hint about Alpha Jackson, my mother, or my father looking for me?
The silence of not knowing, was deafening.
"Hallie?" A young, child-like voice broke me from my reverie and my attention was immediately drawn to her.
"Freya." I murmured, staring at the twelve year old girl in the cage opposite mine, her face bloodied and bruised. She was taken at nine and she'd shifted at ten, which I had been there to help her with. She was so small, so fragile, a lot like me, and sometimes I wondered what kind of people would do this to someone so young?
Someone like Henry.
"I'm starving." Freya voiced, her tiny form shaking.
I nodded, my own stomach grumbling. "Just endure it a bit more, I'm sure Henry will bring us food any minute now."
I frowned, only realizing for the first time that Henry was late. He's never late, he'd never been late, not once in the nine years that I had been here. "He's late." I whispered, my eyes wide.
There must be something wrong.
As if on cue, voicing what I knew to be true, a loud crash could be heard from the top floor. Shortly after, smoke began to seep through the cracks in the door and I, along with every other girl in the room, was launched into a fit of coughs.
Was this the end? Or was there someone here to save us?
__________
The Toronto Pack
Alpha Jackson sat behind a big mahogany desk, his head bobbing to the information that his beta. Michael, was inferring to him. It wasn't abnormal for Michael to relay to him, every detail regarding the pack security, but what was abnormal, was for Michael to look so shaken about it.
"Michael, get to the point. What has you so.... shaken?" Alpha Jackson raised an eyebrow at his beta, not wanting to admit that his beta was afraid.
"Sir.... It's Alpha McHenry...." Michael's voice cracked the tiniest bit. "He crossed onto our territory this morning and he's waiting for you at the pack house.... He wants to talk."
Alpha Jackson sighed, shaking his head. "What is there to fret about Michael? I've invited Matt here to discuss business."
Michael frowned, "but sir. Alpha McHenry has already been to our territory in search of his mate, why would he need to come back?"
Alpha Jackson silenced him with a look. "You're my beta, Michael. You are not my superior, I ask the questions, I don't answer them."
Michael only nodded and stood to his feet. "Should I have him brought here, sir?"
Jackson nodded, "yes. And Michael?"
Michael looked at him, "alpha?"
"Have Thomas brought here. What I want to discuss with Matt.... It's very important that he's here for it. It could hold information that he would very much like to be aware of."
Michael nodded and left the room.
***
Two hours later found Alpha Jackson seated across one of the youngest, and most powerful Alphas on the continent, and not even he himself, could deny the powerful aura that radiated off of him. It almost left him quaking in his shoes. Almost.
Alpha Matt, looked intently at Jackson, his expression unreadable. "Why have you brought me here Jackson?"
"I am in need of your help." Jackson admitted, his eyes glancing at his third in command, Thomas for a fleeting second.
Matt eyed Jackson wearily, as if waiting for something. "Why should I help you?"
Jackson smiled. "I have something you want."
Matt laughed. "I seriously doubt that."
Jackson stood to his feet and began to circle his office, which the three of them were seated in. "You acquire the ownership of the entire North side, do you not?"
Matt narrowed his eyes at Jackson. "What does this have to do with me helping you?"
Jackson grinned. "I can help you attain what you seek."
"How will you do that?" Matt's voice was hard as ice.
"I own the land that is located there, the vacant territory was given to me thirty years ago when I became the Alpha. I will give it to you.... If you help me."
Matt stood to his feet elegantly, "What may I help you with? Surely-" His voice was cut off momentarily as he scanned the room, searching for something. "What is that smell?"
Jackson frowned. "What smell?"
Matt clenched his fists, his nostrils flaring and his eyes turning a coal black, a sure sign his wolf was threatening to break free. "It's very faint.... but it's there, I can smell it."
"What does it smell like, Matt?"
Matt hissed and his attention focused once again on Jackson, his eyes returning to their normal color. "What is it that you need my help with Jackson? I am a very impatient man, I don't like to be played with."
Jackson nodded, still wondering what exactly Matt had smelled. "I need to find a girl."
Thomas, who had been quiet through the whole ordeal, gasped at the words of Alpha Jackson. "You told me there was no hope!"
Jackson silenced him with his hand. "Behave yourself Thomas, there still isn't any hope. But I'm at my wits end, I have been searching for your daughter for nine years, I have nowhere else to search." Alpha Jackson turned his attention to Alpha McHenry. "Please, I beg of you to help me find her. Thomas is one of my closest friends, his daughter means a lot to this pack. If you help me, I shall give you the land you acquire."
Matt sighed, his face a mess of emotions, his eyes seemed to be different.... Almost, as if they were now searching for something that wasn't there. "As you wish, but mark my words Jackson, if we don't find this girl you speak of, you will give me the land that I acquire regardless."
His voice left no room for argument.
Jackson flinched. "Of course."
Matt smiled. "What's her name?"
"Hallie, Hallie Swanson."
"Well then, I suppose we should get started."
And just like that, the infamous Alpha McHenry was gone.