Above an Alpha Ch. 05

Something thrilled low in Adria. The smell of him was pulling her closer, and his eyes were deep. Adria was becoming hyperaware of her own body, the air trapped in her lungs, the bare skin of her neck, her stomach there unprotected beneath her ribs, her feet feeling every groove of the earth through her shoes.

"How is it that no one has taken you for his own yet?" he asked. She didn't answer. "Don't fall under my spell now... tell me."

She half-snorted in her head. "Your spell?"

"Humans can't resist vampires."

"I find that hard to believe," she said, with effort.

"Answer my question."

It was the order that woke her up a bit – Adria didn't take orders, not even from her father in the last several years. "It's none of your business." She unlinked her arm from Quo's, and walked up ahead of him. She felt more clear-headed with every step. But, it was when she was clearheaded that she paused, and said it – something that had bothered her for nearly a decade now, but that she had never actually voiced. "It's my father. No one wants to offend him. He's the man in charge and... I suppose it would be different if I were worth the risk. But, well – given the choice of being a friend of my father's and a lover of mine, the choice is clear."

She kept walking, but Quo caught up quickly. Adria glanced shyly at Quo, and he smiled back before looking away. When he looked back at her, he said, "Well, your father must be smoking hot."

Adria grinned. "You're an idiot."

"Yeah, more and more I wish he were here rather than you." Quo rubbed his hands together. "...Especially come nighttime. I mean, I don't know your father, but just from knowing you – I want to be his FRIEND. And you know what I mean by, 'FRIEND.'"

"I'm being led on my quest by an idiot."

"By the way, what is your quest?" he asked.

"The demoness Zada kidnapped my sister. My father went to save her and never returned. Each of my ten brothers have gone as well. My mother and I are all that's left – and I'm afraid she's losing her mind."

"So we both must save our families from Zada."

"Yes."

"Except your family doesn't seem to do well against her."

"That's why I've been lent some power."

"You are powerful. Quite powerful. –The fact you've seen my face up close and haven't allowed your clothes to spontaneously combust off your body is proof. But do you know how to fight?"

"Sure."

He looked at her.

"No, I do," she added.

He continued to look at her. She felt exposed. "I fight with my brothers all the time."

"They give you many black eyes?"

"Of course not; I'm their sister!"

"Unless you're about to reveal that Zada is your sister as well, I'm not sure how playful sibling fighting is going to aid your cause."

"Well, I don't plan to get into a fist fight with her. I'm just going to... go in there and... take my sister, demand my brother's release and..."

"Get your ass kicked."

"My ass can't be kicked; I'm invincible."

Quo paused his steps long enough for Adria to get ahead of him, and then kicked her in the ass. She tumbled to the ground. "Your ass is invincible, meaning it's still there. But that has nothing to do with whether it gets kicked or not."

He put out a hand to help her to her feet, but Adria just glared at him and got up by herself. He continued, "Zada's strong, and you are strong, but she is going to fight you to keep what she's stolen. You have to be ready for that. We need a plan. You need to learn how to fight."

"Yeah? How am I going to do that in two days?"

Suddenly Adria felt her feet leave the air. She had enough time to realize Quo had a hold of her arm and a handful of her shirt – his knuckles were digging into the side of her breast. Then her back was on the ground – her breath was gone, and the weight of an entire vampire (which you wouldn't think was exceptional by looking at him, but in fact was yes, quite exceptional) pressed against her body.

"Practice," he said.

As she heaved for air, all she seemed able to inhale was the scent of him. Her hands, instinctively balled in his shirt, faltered.

"No, no – don't fall under my spell. You've got fairy gifts, remember?" he said, shaking her a bit.

She coughed, then replied, "We can't practice, it'll slow us down. Get off me."

"Get me off you," he said.

She kicked, and suddenly he was off her, in a strange position in the dirt twenty feet away. He was groaning. "Are you serious?! You couldn't have just pushed me like before?"

She got onto her forearms. "You knocked the wind out of me, you ass."

"Never kick a man there!" He rolled in the dirt. "Never!"

"I'll kick a man anywhere I want."

"I was joking before, but now I do want your father."

Adria got up. "So there. I know how to fight. Can we go?"

"No! I'm dying," Quo replied.

"You're not dying."

"You don't understand; I'm a vampire. I'm not like human men. You've gravely injured me."

Adria paused, and then walked over to him. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! My legs won't work for days now. You kicked me right where everything connects to make my legs work. Human men have a mess of sexual organs there to protect the leg engineering. Vampires don't."

"You mean you don't have a..."

"What I have is much different from a human's."

"What do we do?" Adria asked, beginning to feel guilty.

"You'll have to carry me," he said.

"What?"

"You'll have to carry me."

"You're too heavy."

"You have super strength now; you kicked me all the way over here. You can carry me."

"Maybe I can find a wheelbarrow."

Quo looked around the vast wasteland they were surrounded by. "Sure, drop by Zada's. Ask if you can borrow a cup of sugar while you're at it."

Adria stared. Then she asked, "You said Zada is this way?" She pointed south.

"You can't leave me here! You know what's out here? Monsters. They come out at night and eat injured things."

Adria rolled her eyes and slumped. "Fine," she said. "How do we do this?"

"Crouch down, and I'll get on your back."

--

The cuff clinking closed on her ankle stopped Leah mid-story.

Mark asked, "Did she really carry him?"

Leah pointed to the cuff on her ankle. "What's that?"

"Oh, yeah," Mark said, taking the huge coil of chain to which the cuff was attached from the theta who brought it to the circle. "I can't have you running off anymore. I'm chaining you up in my bedroom."

Leah grinned. "Hilarious. But that's way too kinky for me," she replied, before grabbing a link between her fingers. She moved to pull it apart, but soon was looking rather disconcerted. The link didn't budge.

"I know what you are!" Kate announced pointing at Leah from across the tradition ring. "I found you and I knew right away what you'd need. That is chain all fortified with witch magic from back in the day. No one could break it."

"Witches smitches," Leah replied, pulling on the chain. She then went for the cuff.

"Finish the story," Sarah begged.

Leah looked around and realized her mistake. She enjoyed telling stories, captivating an audience, and she hadn't been in a classroom for a whole summer. As more and more wolves had appeared to hear the story of Adria, Leah got more and more into it. She didn't even bother going into the compound; she sat down in the tradition ring where more could gather. She figured she could do this, as the story was long and there was no way she could finish it before they had to go inside.

But she forgot about the wolf-mind-reading thing. Obviously Mark had been getting his other wolves to do the work of entrapping her the entire time she was telling the story.

"Crap Mark Mark Masters, you got me."

Mark grinned. He had won his mate.

Lucy felt her heart clutch in her chest at the sight of Mark so happy to have his mate chained up. She spontaneously and involuntarily pictured herself in that position – growing warm at the thought.

"Oh, who cares about that!" declared Sarah. "Finish the story."

Leah looked back at Sarah and turned her nose up. "No."

Mark moved in closer, holding the coil of chain in one hand and reaching out to caress Leah's face with the other. "Come on, Leah. You got us interested."

"Sorry, Mark Mark Masters, but there's something else I have to do first."

"What's that?"

She strung her arm through the coil and kicked him in the chest. He hit the wall of the main building. Leah started to run – the huge coil of chain in her arms, one end of it attached to her feet.

She tripped almost immediately.

"Okay. That was less than graceful," she said to herself. She looked up to find herself surrounded by mad betas. She pointed to the coil of chain. "Someone want to carry this for me?"

-------->

Leah was escorted to Mark's bedroom under heavy guard, where her chain was attached to the floor under the bed. Leah looked at the little bar in the floor where it attached. "Does he do this to all his women?" she asked the nearest beta. The beta just shrugged.

Mark wasn't there because as soon as he was able to walk he almost was immediately accosted by Kate and Earlene. "You need to get that girl out of here, Alpha," Kate warned. "The chain will hold her, but not her power."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mark asked.

"I remember her now, and I found the book to prove it – that story she's telling, well – she sure didn't get to the important parts. Look at this," Kate said, holding up a book.

"Really? I have to read?" Mark asked, bummed out.

Earlene sighed and took the book. "I took the liberty of perusing the book for you, Mark. If Kate's right, we need to get her away from the pack as soon as possible."

"What are you talking about? She's my mate; she's not going anywhere."

"She's dangerous – an abomination, and last time she ran into a pack," Kate began.

"Last time? What do you mean, 'last time?'"

"It says here that there was a rogue wolf that met a human woman and thought she was his mate – three hundred years ago on this continent. He loved her and wanted to bring her into a pack – so he could create a family that would be safe. Only problem was that when he did, several other wolves thought she was their mate too."

"The book says other things happened too, Mark," Earlene added. Everyone's scenting skills went haywire. Later they realized that some wolves weren't noticing mates sitting right in front of them. They could smell their prey, but sometimes were surprised to find out what it was once they closed in."

Kate waved off Earlene's concerns. "We didn't even get to the worrisome part. To try and keep his claim, the previously rogue wolf attempted to change her. Apparently she became," Kate grabbed the book and flipped to an illustrated page. She pressed the picture to Mark's face. "A monster!"

Mark took the book of his face and held it at a distance such that he could actually look at the picture. He then looked at both Kate and Earlene like they were crazy. "This is a bear," he said, pointing at the picture. "You're telling me, a wolf bit a woman, and she turned into a bear? What have you two been smoking?"

"Not a bear! A monster!"

"Kate, people refer to us AS MONSTERS," Mark said. "And look at this book. What is it? A hundred years old?"

"Three hundred, actually," Earlene said.

"Not exactly a reliable source," Mark replied.

"Hey!" Kate said, pissed, "I am much, much older than this book, and I'm as reliable now as the day I was born."

"Agreed. I would never trust a baby," Mark said, patting her on the shoulder and handing her the book back. "Look you two, I know she's a handful, but she's my mate and she's not going anywhere. Besides, how could that book possibly be about her?"

"She was just telling you a story where the characters are immortal!" Kate blustered.

"Yes, Kate. A story. That's it. She's... scared of being mated. A lot of women are. So she's trying to put it off by telling crazy stories. But that's all they are – crazy stories." He turned then, and walked toward the main compound.

"The pack that wolf brought her into died out," Kate said.

Earlene blew out a breath she had meant to hold as she watched Mark retreat into the house.

"I'm calling Opie," Earlene sighed.

Kate shook her head. "It'll be too late. By tomorrow morning that thing will already be the death of that poor little omega."

---->

Mark entered his room to find the chain uncoiled – completely. It covered the room like a rug, and Leah was still trying to break it.

Mark chuckled, and Leah turned to look at him, eyes narrowed. She was sitting in a corner of the room, looking rather defensive for once. "Mark Mark Masters, you are gorgeous and young and I don't want to hurt you. But if you try to take advantage of me in this situation I will be forced to treat you with true violence."

"Don't hurt yourself messing with that. It's not going to break," he replied.

"Did you hear me?"

"Yes."

She turned away and resumed picking at the cuff with some pieces of metal she took off one of Mark's now broken chairs.

Mark walked over to the bed and sat down, watching her. After a moment he said, "The pack doctor should be coming up soon. I had him attend to the ladies more thoroughly like you asked, as you were telling your story. You can tell him what medications you need. It would be easier if I could just turn you, but I'm not supposed to mate you until I've killed everyone who has challenged me for you."

Leah sighed. "Someone issued a challenge?"

"Trent. The one that thought he was your mate."

"The cute blonde with the glasses?" Leah suddenly asked, alarm in her voice. "You're not killing him?"

Mark did not like her reaction. She seemed concerned about Trent's well-being. "I don't want to kill him," Mark managed to say with just a small bit of calm. "He challenged me."

"But you won't kill him, will you? He seemed so nice."

"It has to be done." Mark hated this; she didn't even worry if he would be alright, she only thought of Trent. He looked at the wall, knowing he should leave, but too angry to move. She stood, hands on hips.

"Why?!"

"Because of you!" Mark shouted. "Because he wants you, and you belong to me."

"Then it shouldn't matter what he wants, should it?"

"Leah..."

"No, really. If I really belong to you, what's the problem with him wanting me?"

Mark stared at her standing in her piles of chain, barefoot, in her pajamas pants and his shirt. Luna, he wanted her. "Do you really belong to me?" he asked finally.

She paused. She looked at him, thinking. Then, she said, "You said that if you were still confused by the time we got back to the compound, that you would let the women go."

"I'm not confused," he said. "I know what you are; you are my mate."

She licked her lips, and moved toward him. "Let the women go, let the omega live, and I'll be whatever you want me to be." She neared him, and paused just a moment before sitting in his lap. She ran a hand through his hair. He immediately groped her breast, and watched the little surprise flit across her face before he pulled her into a kiss.

He was devouring her, and she actually began to push him away – finding she was in over her head, when he threw her back onto the bed and tore his shirt off of her. This time, instead of moving to remove her pants with his hands, he attacked her belly with kisses before moving up to the line to her breasts, sucking, pinching, softly biting until she cried out, "Oh Mark Mark Masters..." Then he took her mouth with his again, rubbing his crotch against hers, hard. He could smell her arousal spike as she began once more to give into sensation.

Then, as suddenly as he had begun, he stopped. "I'm going to kill Trent in the morning. Then I'm coming back up here and finishing what we started. The women aren't going anywhere, except maybe to another pack. You're staying here regardless. I love you." He licked her face, then got up and left the room.

As soon as the door closed, Leah smiled. "Well that was just mean," she said to herself. Then she laughed. At least Mark Mark Masters had given her a little more motivation. Leah wasn't sure exactly why, but she was certain just the same.

-She had to save Trent.