Unwilling Ch. 02

There were thirty-seven werewolves in the room, eleven being submissives and the rest of the crowd being dominant, and feelings ran high with no one to balance them. Carl didn't seem to mind the clamor, but somehow he managed to keep them on track instead of ripping each others throats out. Darwin was privately impressed by Carl's talent to make everyone feel needed and heard, mostly because it gave him an insight into the past. At some point in the last ten years something had made Carl slip from being a good, reasonable Alpha, and made him become a crazy, raving monster without getting caught by anyone who could put a stop to it.

Sudden movement around him made Darwin jump. Chairs scraped over hardwood floor, chatter erupted from every corner of the assembly room, and on the other side of the table George talked to Carl. Darwin watched them out of the corner of his eye while standing, trying not to flinch at the expression of happiness on his father's face. It was the perfect moment to slip out of the pack headquarters and run like hell. His father would be disappointed if he didn't say goodbye, but damn, that was easier to handle than Carl.

"Darwin! A word please." He nearly made it through the front door when Carl's voice boomed through the room, easily drowning out the chatter.

The exit was there, right in front of him.

Every instinct screamed for Darwin to make a dash for it, to escape while he still could.

He clenched his fists, squashed his instincts with pure stubbornness, and turned around to walk back. On his way he crossed paths with his father, who was still smiling, and nodded a quick goodbye.

The door fell closed behind the last person to leave, and for a moment deep silence settled onto the room.

"How's university?"

Darwin flinched at the sound of Carl's voice, but kept his eyes fixed on the broad chest in front of him. Carl was like his father had used to be before his stroke. Mid-forties, in peak condition even though he had a little pot-belly to show off, tanned to the extreme, hair starting to grey at the temples. He looked like a well-worn worker's boot, leathery and ready to kick ass.

"Good, sir." Darwin answered through clenched teeth, fighting the urge to shiver and shy away from the accumulated force his Alpha represented. He had had a hard time behaving like this when he'd been younger, and less experienced. It went against everything the submissive side of him demanded, but it had saved his life countless times.

Carl sniffed dismissively, then his hand shot forward to slap Darwin. The smacking sound resonated through the roomy hall, then the echo died down. Carl kept staring at Darwin's face intently, and Darwin still didn't move or make a sound. His cheek throbbed with the force of the impact, but this was nothing. A small inconvenience.

"Oh yes. You're good, I'll give you that. But don't you believe even for a second that I don't see through your little charade," Carl hissed angrily when he didn't get the reaction he had hoped for. Again his hand shot forward, and this time Darwin did flinch, but only a little. Instead of slapping him again, Carl grabbed his neck and turned around, pulling Darwin with him like dead weight. "Do you really think I'm that stupid? Everyone of us learns their place when they hit puberty, and you're way beyond that," he snarled, marching Darwin through a hallway and then down a flight of stairs, right into the cellar. They passed a ping-pong table, a pool table, and a group of exercise machines, heading towards an apparently seamless wall. Darwin knew better though.

Carl stopped him with a cruel tug at his neck, and then used his other hand to push the hidden button at the top of the wall, camouflaged as part of the wallpaper.

There was a click, then a whirr, and then the wall in front of them swung open. To Darwin's knowledge no other pack member knew of the secret passage to what he called "Carl's negotiation room". Darwin had smelled the blood of others there once or twice, but he hadn't asked who they had been or what Carl had done to them.

He also knew better than to try and break free. It was a mute effort at this point, and only would make things worse for him.

Carl shoved him inside, then followed and pushed the door closed. There was a strange glimmer in the Alpha's eyes, an expression that Darwin called 'Carl's Hyde-side'. This wasn't the clever, diplomatic Alpha he had seen before anymore. This was a batshit-crazy lunatic, and he was heading for Darwin.

"Tell me the truth." Carl's voice was a dark, angry growl, and his gaze burned itself into Darwin's scalp.

Darwin knew the game though. "I'm a dominant, sir. It can't be helped. It wasn't my decision to be born this way," he snarled, measuring the exasperation and the light lilt of anger in his voice artfully. His instincts demanded to grovel at Carl's feet, to beg for mercy, and show his throat to quench his Alpha's anger, but to listen to his instincts meant he would disappear just like the other submissive boys.

He could feel Carl lean closer. "We'll see about that, won't we?"

This time Darwin couldn't suppress the yelp when Carl grabbed him.