Back and Stronger: Alpha's Daughter
Chapter 61

Sophia was separated from Neil almost immediately as a group of officers descended upon her like a leopard pouncing on its prey. They surrounded her on all sides, making her feel claustrophobic. They’re eyes glowed, their malicious intent clear. Sophia fought back her fear. She would not cower. She wouldn’t allow it. She struggled to see through them. She needed to know what was happening with the males. She needed to know if Neil was okay. The yelling and ridicule from the pack members gave her flashbacks. Horrible flashbacks to the day she had been marched out of her father’s house, the blood of her mother still dripping from her hands. It made her think of the day of the pep assembly at school, when they had surrounded her and had no way out. Visions swam in front of her eyes and she bobbled. She felt an anxiety attack coming. She hadn’t had one in so long, but she would never forget the struggle to breathe, the uncontrollable shaking, the dizziness that washed over her. This was definitely an anxiety attack coming. Her mind moved so fast, and she couldn’t gain control. She closed her eyes, shutting everything out. She could feel the uniformed officers, as well as her father’s council looking at her with disgust, and anger. Hatred radiated from the pack members’ eyes. Pure unadulterated hatred. She was hated in a way someone with a heart as good as hers would never understand. Their feelings clouds their ability to have rational thought. If they had that ability, they’d have known a twelve-year-old child could never have done that amount of damage that had been done to her mother, shifter or not. The air chilled, like a tertiary wind was blowing but only on this exact spot. She shivered. She tried to remind herself to be strong. I’m not a victim, she said to herself over and over again with conviction. Be strong. Be confident. This was becoming her mantra as she faced the injustices that unraveled. She failed, under the volatile spewing of everyone around her. She wasn’t confident. And she wasn’t strong. Sophia was scared. She knew, whatever happened, life as she had known it, both of her lives, would be nothing compared to what was coming.

Her hands were roughly pulled behind her and the metal handcuffs were clasped around her wrist. She struggled against it for a second until the grasp on them tightened. She felt the cold of the cuffs mere seconds before they locked them into place with a triple click sound. She may not be able to explain the sound, but it was one she wouldn’t ever forget, because that very second was when she knew she was captured. Her freedom was gone, leaving her with less than she had at her fathers. Less than she had all those months of hiding out in the apartment. She struggled to maintain her balance, her equilibrium off from her arms being restrained behind her back at an awkward angle. The pressure on her wrists made her cry out in pain. She was helpless. Absorbing the pain in her wrists and the struggle to stay upright made her feel vulnerable and scared. She was now at their mercy. A mercy she wasn’t at all sure they have.

A tall officer, around 6 feet tall, a solid one hundred and eighty pounds of muscle, stood in front of her. She didn’t even glance at his badge or his name. She shook under his evil look. She didn’t have to glance, because she’d known him her whole life. He was one of her father’s friends. He held her on his knee at pack celebrations when she had still been in diapers. He came to birthday parties and for Friday dinners. He had bought her a stuffed dog when she was a toddler that she had kept until her bedroom moved from the beautiful space on the second floor to the dungeon downstairs. He said her name and when she didn’t respond, he said it again, poking her in the chest to get her attention. She looked up.

“You are being arrested for the first-degree murder of your mother...” the rest of his words drowned out as her brain struggled to understand. Her father had refused to allow her to stand trial six years ago, why was she being arrested for it now? Neil howled, loud and deep in his throat. She’d know his howl anywhere and that was his. She tried to pull away from the officers but only hurt herself more. He howled again and tears burned in her eyes. It was a howl of anger, of pain, and something she couldn’t put her finger on. But she knew one thing. Something was happening. She struggled to pull away from the hold that two officers had on her again, and they had had enough. The officer in front of her, the one she had thought of as an honorary uncle, pushed with one mighty shove. His use of force sent her propelling backward like a drunken stumble until she landed on her back side with a loud oomph. They laughed when she then toppled to the side because she had been unable to use her hands. She managed to keep her head from hitting the concrete, somehow. She was then yanked into a sitting position and held there by the two officers that flanked each side of her.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?”

She didn’t answer.

He leaned over her, so his body cast a dark shadow on her, blocking the sun she had thought beautiful and strong earlier.

“I said, do you understand the rights I have just read to you?”

Again, Sophia didn’t answer and one of the other officers, a female in the same uniform, the same hatred in her eyes, kicked her in the side. The pain splintered up her rib cage and she bit her lip to stop from crying out. She wouldn’t give them the fucking satisfaction.

“She said yes, Sargent. We all heard her. Let’s just get this filth behind bars.”

She was yanked up by her armpits, their fingers biting into her and making her eyes water. She stumbled when she saw Neil, the firm grips on her the only thing that had kept her from tumbling to the ground.

“Oh, goddess.” Sophia whispered.

Neil was enveloped by not just officers, but military personnel as well. He struggled against their hold on him, and his anger was palpable. Her knees shook, weakened, then gave out. She bumped into one of the officers who were escorting her, trying to replace her legs before she drifted to the ground. She was jerked upright by the same female officer who had kicked her in the side when she had lost her balance.

“You want to watch what happens to loverboy?” she asked, then shoved Sophia down onto the curb. Her ass hit hard and she tipped backward until she engaged her core and managed to keep herself upright. She watched what was happening like it was a television show that she couldn’t take her eyes off of, but it was anything but entertaining.

With horror, Sophia watched the officers beat on Neil trying to subdue his struggling. His veins popped out of his neck and arms, and his muscles bulged at the strain of trying to break their hold. He was yelling, and one grabbed his club from his tactical belt and raised it high above his head, threatening to beat Neil with it. She screamed. She hadn’t realized until the sound left her mouth, but she screamed, and the female officer laughed cruelly.

“Enjoying the show?” One of the other officers asked. “Just wait. You may regret watching this. He’s not who you think he is. And you threw it all away for him.” What, what the hell did that mean? And threw what away? The living hell she had to function in... are these fucking people delusional? Or just so much under her father’s rule that somewhere along the way they had lost brain cells.

The fighting with Neil continued, unraveling in a terrifying scene right before her eyes. And she was helpless to do anything to help him. One of the men wearing the military uniform pulled out a black square. He yelled something but Sophia couldn’t hear it over the cacophony of voices. He stuck it in the middle of Neil’s chest. Two tiny dart-like things attached to him, and within seconds he stopped fighting. His entire body convulsed. Sophia screamed as he dropped like a dead horse, not moving at all. She tried to send him a message, but she didn’t get the telepathy thing, and definitely not in human form. Please, she begged the goddess, please make him not be dead. She sobbed hysterically and tears rushed down her face. They cuffed his legs and his ankles quickly. If they killed him, they wouldn’t cuff him, she thought to herself in an attempt to keep herself calm. The military man with the black box pulled the dart-like spindles from his chest and Neil moaned. Sophia fought back sobs as he lay there moaning. Thank the goddess he wasn’t dead. She searched for Scott and Connor. Connor was on the ground, bloody, like they had beaten him into submission, but his hand moved on the concrete. Just his fingers really, but thank the goddess he was alive. Scott had military men in front of him as well. He wasn’t cuffed but they surrounded him, poking at him. He looked calm and he wasn’t losing his temper or yelling, that was, until his eyes narrowed in a look she had seen the day they picked him up in the tunnel. He was pissed. But he was holding on. Please hold on, Scott, please. Sophia thought. Neil’s going to need you.

“You worried about him, too? How many lover boys do you need?” the female officer hissed. Then she cackled. “Don’t worry about him. He won’t be leaving any time soon, but he’s not headed for death like you and him.” She jerked her chin at Neil and Sophia snapped her head back to him just as they were pulling him to his feet. She heard them tell him he was being charged with first degree murder; Sophia screamed but they continued. She knew he would be facing death, just as she was.

“You are also being charged with multiple crimes against humanity to include torture, enslavement, enforced disappearance, willful killing, taking hostages, and genocide.”

What? What they hell were they saying? Sophia struggled to process the words. No, she thought, no fucking way. They read him his rights. Neil’s eyes sought Sophia’s where she sat on the ground. He looked at her intensely, like he was trying to convey a message to her, but she was too shocked, too upset at what she had heard to get what he was trying to tell her. She couldn’t even try to read it. What the hell did they just say?

Sophia was yanked back up to her feet. Pain shot through her wrists, but her shoulders and arms had gone numb. The tingly feeling wasn’t painless, but it wasn’t painful either.

“Seen enough? Heard enough?” The female gave her a shove from behind and she stumbled forward, dropping to her knees. They didn’t leave her alone long enough to fall over, because as soon as she hit, a pair of hands grabbed the center of the cuffs and yanked her up, her arms extending behind her at an angle that she felt for sure she had dislocated her elbows and shoulders.

“There’s more.” The female cackled, enjoying all of this too much.” Lover boy over there committed quite a few crimes that he should have died for.” She leaned her head closer. “He should die, and so should you. Death is too good for the two of you. But we have ethics.”

Sophia couldn’t hold back the snort that escaped her lips and the woman’s eyes turned menacing. Ethics my ass. Sophia glared. She had enough of this shit. She grabbed Sophia by the back of her hair and yanked.

“Something funny?”

Sophia refused to answer her. She would not. That seemed to agitate the officer more and she yanked Sophia hard, then continued to walk her to the police car, shoving her from behind. The officer opened the back door and placed her hand on Sophia’s head. When she shoved her in, instead of using her hand to guide Sophia’s head so she didn’t smack her head off the frame, she moved her hand to the side and pushed it up, smacking Sophia’s forehead off the cold steel of the car. Sophia winced as the pain shot through her skull.

“Whoops. You shouldn’t have been fighting me.”

Sophia glared at her. What the fuck? She hadn’t been fighting her. No, she didn’t give a fuck, not a single fuck about being a good person anymore. The woman shoved her the rest of the way in, while Sophia seethed.