The morning sun was barely hitting the glass windows when Raquelle finally walked back into her private office.
She had slipped out of her parents’ house at dawn, leaving her sleeping sisters behind to get back to her own territory.
The moment she pushed her office door open, she stopped.
Gamma Jake was already there, lounging comfortably in her leather executive chair with his boots kicked up on her mahogany desk.
He looked up, a slow, wicked smirk spreading across his handsome face.
“Well, well.
Look who finally decided to come home from her little family retreat,” Jake teased, his eyes sliding down her body.
“You look tired, Alpha.
Did your sisters keep you up all night gossiping?” Raquelle rolled her eyes, walking over to slip her blazer off and hang it up.
“Get your filthy boots off my desk, Jake.
I’m not in the mood for your games this morning.” Instead of moving, Jake swung his legs down and stood up, closing the distance between them with slow, predatory steps.
He stopped just inches away, his head tilting as he took a deep, deliberate breath, catching her scent.
“Hmm,” he murmured, his voice dropping into a low, rumbling register that sent a sudden spark of heat straight down her spine.
“You don’t smell like Dominic anymore.
Just expensive shampoo and…
family dinner.
That note I passed you yesterday…
I believe you still owe me a response.” Raquelle leaned against the edge of her desk, looking up at him with a challenging, fearless gaze.
Her inner wolf, Roxy, purred in approval.
“Is that so, Gamma?” “You know it is,” Jake whispered, his hand reaching out to gently catch her waist, his thumb stroking through the fabric of her shirt.
“You’ve been keeping me waiting for days while Dominic gets all the fun.
Tonight is my turn, Raquelle.
No business.
No distractions.” Raquelle was about to reply, a small smirk playing on her lips, when the heavy office door was suddenly rattled by a frantic, heavy banging.
The sexual tension in the room shattered instantly.
“Alpha!
Emergency!” a loud, panicked voice yelled from the hallway.
Jake let go of her waist, his jaw tightening as his professional shield snapped right back into place.
Raquelle straightened up, her expression turning dead serious as she called out, “Come in!” The door burst open, and the pack Delta rushed inside.
His breathing was ragged, his uniform was rumpled, and his hands were actively shaking as he bowed before her.
“Alpha Raquelle, apologies for the interruption,” the Delta gasped out, trying to catch his breath.
“But we have a horrific situation.
A young female member of our outer pack was just found near the northern border forest.
She was brutally beaten…
and raped.” The air in the room instantly turned freezing cold.
Raquelle froze.
The playful, independent woman from a few seconds ago completely vanished.
In her place stood a terrifying monarch.
“What did you just say?” she asked, her voice dropping into a deadly whisper.
“She was coming home from her shift in the city, Alpha,” the Delta explained, terror bleeding into his tone.
“A rogue dragged her into the neutral trees.
Our border warriors heard her screams and rushed the area.
The bastard ran, but our tracker squads have him completely surrounded in an abandoned warehouse just past the boundary line.
He’s trapped, but he’s fighting like a feral beast.” A raw, boiling fury exploded inside Raquelle’s chest.
Her pack.
Her people.
Someone had dared to cross her borders and hunt her women like prey.
“Where is she now?” Raquelle demanded, her knuckles turning stark white as she gripped the edge of her desk.
“At the pack clinic, Alpha.
The doctors are with her now.” “We’re going.
Now,” Raquelle commanded.
She snatched her blazer from the coat rack, not even looking back at Jake as she stormed out of the private office, the Delta and Gamma trailing behind her frantic footsteps.
The elevator ride down to the parking garage was thick with suffocating tension.
Raquelle threw her keys to Dominic, who had just stepped out of the lower control room, his face hardening as Jake quickly briefed him through a low whisper.
“Open the mind-link to the border patrol teams,” Raquelle ordered coldly as she climbed into the back seat of the SUV, the tires screeching against the concrete as Dominic floored the gas pedal out into the city streets.
Dominic’s eyes met hers in the rearview mirror, his jaw tight.
*The link is open, Alpha.
The lead tracker is on.* In an instant, a flood of chaotic mental voices burst into Raquelle’s mind.
The warriors at the abandoned northern warehouse were frantic, their inner beasts clawing at their consciousness.
*Alpha!* the lead tracker’s voice echoed in her head, rough and breathing heavily.
*The rogue is completely cornered in the basement storage locker.
He has a silver-plated hunting blade.
He already sliced through two of our warriors’ shoulders when we tried to move in.
He’s going completely feral!* *Do not let him slide past the perimeter,* Raquelle barked back through the mental link, her voice slamming into the minds of every single warrior in the sector like a physical blow, making them submit.
*If he tries to break through the walls, break his jaw.
But you do not kill him.
If that monster dies before I look him in the eye, I will hold every single one of you personally responsible.* *Understood, Alpha!* the tracker responded frantically, the link cutting out as the SUV slammed its brakes outside the pack clinic.
*** The pack clinic was quiet, the sterile white hallways echoing with the tense murmurs of the medical staff.
The moment Raquelle walked through the front doors, the hinges rattling, the nurses and doctors immediately bowed their heads, sensing the suffocating, furious Alpha power radiating off her body.
Raquelle walked straight into the private room at the end of the hall.
On the hospital bed lay the young pack member…
not more than nineteen.
She looked so small beneath the white blankets, her face covered in dark, ugly bruises and her wrists raw from where she had been held down.
She was weeping quietly, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably as a nurse gently cleaned her wounds.
When the girl noticed Raquelle standing in the doorway, her tear-filled eyes widened in fear and shame.
“Alpha…” she sobbed, her voice breaking.
“I’m sorry…
I tried to fight him off…
I tried…” Raquelle felt a sharp pain in her heart.
She walked right over to the bedside, bypassing the doctors, and gently took the girl’s trembling hand into hers.
“Shh, listen to me,” Raquelle said, her voice softer than anyone in the pack had ever heard it.
“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for.
You did nothing wrong.
Look at me.” The girl looked up through her tears.
“You are safe now.
Your pack is here, and your Alpha is here,” Raquelle promised, her grip firm and reassuring.
“The monster who did this to you will never breathe air again.
I swear it to you on my wolf’s life.” The girl gave a small, shaky nod, a tiny ounce of comfort finally washing over her face as she sank back into the pillows.
Raquelle stood up and turned around, walking back out into the hallway.
The Delta, Gamma Jake, and Beta Dominic were all standing there, waiting for her orders.
The entire medical corridor went dead silent, the air pressure dropping so violently that it became genuinely hard to breathe.
The fluorescent ceiling lights flickered under the immense weight of her rising authority.
Dominic stood with his jaw clenched so tight a muscle ticked in his cheek, his hands resting heavily on his tactical belt.
Beside him, Jake’s playful demeanor was entirely gone, replaced by the rigid posture of a Gamma waiting to unleash absolute violence on an enemy.
Raquelle turned to face the Delta.
The fury inside her had completely consumed her human consciousness.
The golden irises of her eyes suddenly bled outward, turning into a pitch-black, bottomless void of pure, lethal Alpha dominance.
Her claws subtly elongated, slicing into the flesh of her own palms as the smell of fresh copper filled the small hallway.
“Alpha?” the Delta whispered, stepping back in genuine terror from the absolute, unhinged darkness in her gaze.
The power rolling off her was making his own inner wolf want to drop to its knees and whine for mercy.
“Tell the warriors at the warehouse to drop their weapons,” Raquelle commanded, her voice sounding layered and demonic as her inner beast, Roxy, took full control of her vocal cords.
“Do not kill him there.
I do not want him to have an easy escape.
I want him alive.
I want to look him in the eyes when I break him.” She looked at Dominic and Jake, her black eyes flashing with a promise of absolute carnage.
“Bring the bastard here.” **** Hi!
I’m Leonie and I’m a newbie author.
I hope you enjoy reading my book….
Or should I say our book.
Love yah!