The Forbidden Alpha

When we get to the bottom we’re met with another door. The wall is made out of white stones and thrones hang down from the ceiling and curve around the door. It’s made of heavy wood and is locked with a long black bar.

I wet my lips as Ethan unlocked the door and pulled on the deadbolt before pushing it open. I don’t know if I could say I’ve ever been intimidated by a room before but this one gave off a strong presence.

Leaving the door open Ethan guided me to one of two tables in the room. My eyes strayed only for a moment on the case in the corner before sitting down. Ethan stood beside me and not even ten minutes had passed when footsteps were heard from the hallway.

We both turned and watched the door until an anxious-looking Olivia walked through.

My hands were bunched into fists in my lap, sweaty and cold. Gabe walked in after Olivia, who was then followed by Odis and two Deltas.

Olivia looked back and forth between me and Ethan before taking a seat at the other table. Gabe sat beside her and Odis walked in until he stood to my left while Ethan stood to my right.

The room was silent as we waited for Ethan or for someone to talk.

Ethan’s gaze caused me to turn my neck towards him. His gaze meeting mine and I found the strength to continue on strong. If Olivia was jeopardized we couldn’t trust her. I thought of the pups in our territory and thought of the pack members under our protection. We had no space for error.

I had to do whatever I could to ensure their safety as did Ethan and Odis. I had to be a witness today to Ethan’s judgment.

Olivia stared across the room at Ethan, her eyes distant even as she watched him. Ethan squeezed my hand before letting go. The sound of his footsteps resounding and bouncing off the walls as he made his way towards her.

When he stopped in front of her he searched her face before he cleared his throat.

“I’m glad to see you home safe,” Ethan said to her.

She attempted a smile but failed. It looked all wrong on her face.

“Where have you been, Olivia?” Ethan asked in a low tone.

Her eyes skid from Ethan to Gabe to Odis. Her mouth opened and closed, opened and closed again. No words came out.

Gabe reached over and gripped her hand. When she turned to look at him, he gave her a reassuring nod.

“I was kidnapped,” she murmurs.

“By who?” Ethan asks. His eyes analyzing her every movement. Olivia bites her lip before answering.

“Shane,” she says, her voice quiet before she casts her eyes on the floor.

My breath catches.

“Shane?!” Kor repeats.

“Why would Shane take her?” I ask Kor.

Kor shakes her head, “I don’t know… but what I do know is that it couldn’t have been for good reason.”

“Why would he kidnap you?” I ask, genuinely curious.

Olivia’s eyed me and bit down on her lip like she was trying to fight words from coming up.

Ethan continued to steadily search Olivia’s face watching every reaction and facial expression.

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

Ethan’s eyes gloss over before the curtain of white clouding his eyes are lifted.

“Doctor James will be here soon,” he says to Odis and nods at the door.

Ethan turns back to Olivia.“What happened while you were kidnapped?”

Silence.

She cocks her head to the left and looks up at the ceiling. Her right-hand grips her left wrist and twists. She twists and twists her wrist over and over again while she looks at the ceiling. Her eyes are drained of emotion as she visits the events of the past week. Judging by her demeanor and the way she holds herself… I have the feeling things weren’t pleasant.

“He did… terrible things,” Olivia says, as her eyes drop to Ethan’s. Her head was still cocked at a weird angle.

“Can you tell me what he did?” Ethan asks. His shoulders are still, his back straight, his eyes on her face.

Olivia tells us about all of the gruesome and horrible things he did to her. She spoke of the events as if they happened to someone else, her face voice of emotion.

Ethan listened closely, he sat quietly and analyzed her face as she spoke. Each atrocious act she shared was like a puzzle piece he was trying to piece together.

Tears were running down Gabe’s cheeks as he grabbed Olivia’s hand and placed his forehead against her hand. Odis looked sick and angry. So angry.

“Did anything else happen?” Ethan asked. Odis shot him a look, angry at the way he continued with his onslaught of questions.

Gabe glared up at Ethan despite him being his Alpha. Olivia was obviously not okay but we needed to know everything.

Olivia stared down at the floor before her fingers trailed down to the hem of her shirt. We watched the tremble in her fingers before she lifted her shirt.

She stopped briefly and her eyes met Ethan. “He said you took something of his,” she said it like she was talking about getting a cup of coffee. Olivia nodded her head. “So it was only right that he took something of yours.”

She looked at me next, “I told him that I wasn’t someone Ethan loved.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “but he said that I was important to you. I was your people.”

Olivia lifted her shirt up and turned her side towards us.

I gasped.

The raised skin was red and pussy around the mark. He had branded her like livestock, like property. Welts surrounded her mark.

“He said he didn’t like my mark,” Olivia whispered. Her arm lifted, her hand reached out and her finger caressed Gabe’s mark on her neck. “It made him angry,” she said as she looked at Gabe.

Desperation etched his features. Sadness. Anger. Pain.

“He wanted me to have his mark… so that I would never forget him,” she whispered.