twenty
The Alpha
*ROSEA*
I’ve never felt secure or safe. I can’t quite remember the last time I just walked somewhere and could do so without throwing a peek over my shoulder; I can’t remember the last time I went to bed and could just close my eyes without being afraid of Jordan—
“Rosea!”
My eyes snap open, and I startle awake. My eyes instantly fall to the side, but Forest isn’t there. Maybe he got up and went for a run, or he has early training. Just how late – or early – is it? What happened?
“Rosea,“ A voice snarls, and before I can grasp what’s going on, someone grabs me by my hair, tugging me out of bed.
I try to fight against his grip, but he is strong. Jordan is so fucking strong. It doesn’t matter what I try to tell myself, how much I despise him or how awful of an alpha and mate he is, it doesn’t take away the fact that he is so strong.
He easily tosses me around the room, stomping down hard on my hand until I can hear the bones break, the pain so blinding that it’s beginning to dull everything down around me. I try to scramble away, screaming for help—
“Rosea!”
A hand grips my shoulder.
Goddess, don’t let him get away with this! I know I shouldn’t put up a fight, but I just can’t help it. I don’t want him to force himself on me again. He does whatever he wants anyway, and he was finally having fun with other women and barely touching me, why does he have to do so now?!
I scramble to my feet, running out of my room, just to get knocked over by a chair in my way.
“Rosea!” A voice yells. “Rosea, it’s me! Forest. It’s just me!”
“Forest…” I breathe out.
“You are safe, Rose. It’s just me.”
No one calls me Rose, but Forest. Jordan always called me Rosy in this condescending tone of his. I blink a couple of times, noticing I am sitting on the floor, in a corridor that is not my home. This is not the pack house I grew up in.
It’s Forest’s suite, and it’s dark outside. It’s probably still the middle of the night. Jordan is nowhere to be seen. He probably doesn’t even know I am here.
A warm blanket is wrapped around me. “Can I touch you?” Forest asks quietly, sitting down next to me.
No one can see me weak.
Dignity is all I have.
Yet I can only nod.
Forest wraps his strong arms around me, and instead of hurting me like Jordan would, with his strength, he is so gentle. Like he is scared of breaking me. He puts a hand against my head, his thumb gently caressing my neck.
“I am sorry,” I mutter. “I was just dreaming. I… It’s nothing…”
“I will never let that asshole come near you,” Forest says, the tone of his voice angry. “Never! And if he even looks at you the wrong way, I will rip his head off his shoulders. Not like anyone would miss him anyway. And when I am done with him, I will dismember that backstabbing loser of a beta.”
“Clemmens?”
“Yes, and then, whoever else you want me to get rid of,” he says. “I am not joking, Rose. You are here to help me, and in two days, you have already done more than I could have done in years. But I swear I am not taking advantage of you. You are here, and you are under my protection, and I don’t give a flying fuck if you only play the part of my luna or if you are here as a friend or ally or just to use me; I don’t care. If Jordan makes a move—“
“And we know hewillonce he knows I survived,” I add, finally voicing out what we both know, and what I am terrified of.
“If he makes a move,” Forest repeats. “He will need to get past me. And he won’t. I will rip his dick off so that he can hurt no other woman ever again.”
I can’t help but smile a little. “You wouldn’t do that.”
