The Alpha's Vessel [The Alpha's #2]
Chapter Ten

THEA PETROVNA

“Mummy.” Malik called out to her from the backseat, his eyes no longer heavy with sleep.

“Yes, baby?” Thea cooed at him as she turned to glance at him from between the seats, a soft look on her face.

Looking back at her little boy was yet another reminder as to why she was doing all of this. If it wasn’t for Malik, she doubted she would have been able to make it these past years and now, he was the sole purpose of her being alive. While she was afraid of Orpheus and what he could do to her, she was more afraid of what he could do to Malik.

Surely if he had already found a mate and started a family with her, he wouldn’t have demanded that they go back to his pack with him.

Just thinking of it sent a shiver down her spine; one which had her shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

“Where are we going?” Malik asked curiously while turning his head to glance out the window, staring animatedly at all the trees that they had passed after having just driven out of pack lands.

“We’re going back to the pack.” She stated simply before reaching into her bag to pull out a breakfast bar. While it wasn’t the most nutritious, it was just to keep him at bay until they were able to get their hands on some rea food. “Are you hungry?”

He nodded with a toothy smile. “Can we have pancakes?”

“We can stop at a diner to get breakfast. There should be a few on the way.” Anastasia sent her a questioning glance before returned her eyes to the road ahead.

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea.” She denied as she pursed her lips. “I’ll make pancakes for you when we get home, okay?”

“Okay, mummy.” He grinned and leaned forward slightly to accept the breakfast bar, Thea having already torn up the packet for him.

“I hope I can get some of those pancakes, too.” Anastasia chuckled.

“Of course! I owe you a whole lot more than just pancakes for what you’re doing for me.” She laughed softly, ever so grateful with Anastasia having her back like this, especially when she hadn’t provided much of an explanation on the phone. “What did you say to Marcellus this morning?”

“You mean after you called me, he picked up and nearly told him everything by accident?”

“He must be so confused.” Thea groaned as she remembered her word vomit. “But in my defence, I had assumed that you would pick up the phone.”

“Not when you call me at six in the morning.” Anastasia snorted before she chuckled. “It’s definitely one way to wake up in the morning.”

“Sorry about that.” Thea was quick to apologise.

“There’s no need to apologise, Thea. An emergency is an emergency and this is completely out of your hands so don’t feel bad. I completely understand where you’re coming from and why you need to leave, so don’t even worry about it.” Anastasia was quick to put a stop to the matter. “Plus, I love road trips. There’s just something so special about them.”

“Thank you.”

Before the Luna wolf could say anything, the car came to a rapid stop as she slammed her foot down on the break.

Thea couldn’t help but gasp in response while Anastasia yelped out loud, having been completely off guard.

“Mummy, I dropped my breakfast.” Malik whined from the back seat as he hunched over and tried to spot the half-eaten bar on the ground, but right now, that was the least of Thea’s worries.

“It’s okay, baby. I’ll clean it up in a little bit.” Thea hummed quietly as she stared ahead with wide eyes.

She couldn’t help but hold her breath as she locked eyes with the dark, large wolf that was stood in front of the car, baring his teeth menacingly at the three of them. As the car remained unmoving, the wolf stalked closer toward them, taking slow, deliberate steps, his eyes not once wavering from her.

Even though Thea had never seen his wolf before, she had no doubt in her mind that this majestic, devilish creature was none other than Alpha Orpheus.

Anastasia didn’t need to ask who it was either as the power was radiating off the Alpha wolf in waves, though a difference between other Alphas and him was that Orpheus gave off somewhat of a dark aura. While Anastasia was still new to the werewolf world and learning everything – not everything was the same as she had read about in the books – one thing that she had quickly learnt that while most of the werewolf world worked together and lived in sync, the same could not be said about Orpheus and his pack. It appeared that they purposely chose to disassociate themselves from everyone else.

Why? Other than a few rumours that floated around, no one truly knew.

“He’s blocking us off.” Thea murmured aloud; her eyes still wide as her heart thumped loudly in her chest.

“What do we do?” Anastasia couldn’t help but ask aloud, her hand already reaching out to shift gears.

“We need to reverse.” Thea gulped, hating the fact that he had blocked the road so they couldn’t drive ahead which meant that they had no choice but to head back to the pack. “Do you know another route? Is there another way that we can get onto the highway?”

“I think I know one.” Anastasia murmured aloud.

While this route was quicker, it appeared that they had no other choice. If the reversed back a little while and went the opposite way at the junction, it would add about an hour to their total journey time but this way, their destination would remain the same.

Her eyebrows knitted together as she changed gears and glanced in the rear-view mirror. Anastasia began reversing the car but unfortunately, they didn’t make it very far at all as a few wolves had appeared from within the forest to block off that path too.

“Fuck! They’re blocking us from behind too!” Thea couldn’t help but swear aloud even though it was something that she actively refrained from whenever she was around Malik, which was pretty much all the time. “Sorry, baby. Don’t ever repeat that, okay?”

“Fuck?” Malik questioned and Thea didn’t have time to unpack all of that right now.

“Ana, you think we’d be able to go into the forest?”

Anastasia bit her bottom lip as she weighed their options, alternating between glancing ahead and behind them but it only appeared that as the seconds passed, the Alpha wolf and the few pack members that he had brought along with him were closing in on them; taking advantage of the fact that they had them exactly where they wanted.

“This car is not made for that.” She shook her head gently. “I’m afraid that the wheels are going to get stuck and we’re going to end up worse there than here.”

“How are we supposed to get out of here with them blocking us?”

“We’re not.” Anastasia couldn’t help but whisper quietly. “I think that’s the point.”

As a few more moments passed and the wolves that were previously behind the vehicle were now circling the it, waiting to receive the command from the Alpha, Thea knew that there wasn’t nothing much else that she could do.

“I need to go out there and talk to him.”

“What?” Anastasia’s head snapped in her direction as she stared at her friend with wide eyes, unable to believe what she had just heard. “Are you crazy? You can’t go out there alone!”

“I have you. Besides, it’s not like he’s left us much of a choice.” Thea sighed and rolled her eyes as she reached for the door handle, squeezing it gently before pushing the door open and sliding out of the car.

“Let me come with you.” Anastasia was quick to offer but stopped in her tracks when Thea shook her head.

“I need you to stay in the car with Malik.” She instructed as she rose to full height, still clutching the door while her eyes wandered around the front of the car to settle on the Alpha wolf who refused to take his eyes off of her, almost as if he expected her to try and make a run for it any moment now. As if he hadn’t given her plenty of reasons to run but without Malik, she wasn’t going anywhere.

“I don’t trust one of these mutts around him. As far as I know, they’re going to try and take him if we both leave.” Thea turned her nose up as the wolf closest to her growled in protest, not at all appreciative of her comment but with his Alpha watching, he didn’t dare step a paw out of line.

Even though Thea was shit scared and felt her heart hammer dangerously in her chest, she refused to show it as she approached him. Instead, she remained composed. At least on the outside she did.

“Are you going to shift back or do I have to talk to your wolf?” Thea rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to back down despite the fact that he would be able to kill her with so little as a simply flick of his wrist if he wanted.

The creature merely growled in response but after a few moments, the fur stated receding and before she knew it, the devil’s spawn was standing in front of her in all of his naked glory, something which Thea was very aware of.

While Orpheus wasn’t the conventional kind of good looking, she couldn’t help but appraise him for his dark and sharp features. With a crooked nose, a sharp jaw, two thin, faint scars toward the end of his left eyebrow and a teardrop birthmark under his right brow, he definitely wasn’t the best-looking man that she had ever seen.

However, he was definitely the one that she would spend forever thinking about.

His whole body was muscular, chiselled and defined to perfection, something which became all the more apparent as he took a few steps forward until the tips of his toes with flush with the tips of her shoes. He towered over her modest height of five and a half feet by at least seven or eight inches; just about the length of the appendage between his legs. Something which she had had the displeasure of experiencing first hand, though it was just too bad that he had violated her in the worst possible ways, and was back to do it all over again.

“What are you doing?” Thea asked once his growls had begun to die down.

“I could ask you the same thing.” He grunted as he reached out to grab her upper arm, trying to pull her into him but when she resisted and tried to yank herself out of grasp, surprisingly, he let her go.

Instead of trying to attack her again, this time, Orpheus chose to use his words.

“Tell me, why are you trying to run away after what we talked about last night,” he demanded, not asked.

“I didn’t do any talking.” She snorted but couldn’t help but gulp in fear when he growled lowly and snapped his sharp canines in her face. “You demanded that Malik and I go back to your pack with you today.”

“Yes.” He confirmed with a sharp nod of his head, watching her closely.

“But you didn’t stick around to hear that I have no absolutely no intention of going anywhere with you.”

“Oh, is that so?” Orpheus sounded aloud with a dark look in his eye as he took another step toward her. Unexpectedly, he didn’t reach out to grab her like last time and instead, kept walking forward until she had no choice but to take a step back.

Very quickly, one step turned into two, then three and before she knew it, the back of legs hit the car behind her.

“So, you’re not coming back to my pack with me tonight?”

“No.” Thea was embarrassed to admit that her voice was barely above a whisper but she was quick to clear her throat and force the denial out again but this time, it was much louder and stronger; just like her.

“And what made you think that it was up for discussion?” He cocked a questioning brow as he leaned in toward her, his cock now throbbing against her stomach.

Thea couldn’t help but squirm in disgust but with his body pressed up against hers and his hands braced on either side of her hips on the car, there was no escaping.

“You can’t dictate what I can or cannot do, and you certainly cannot make demands that I come with you like I’m some sort of lapdog.”

“I beg to differ. As far as I’m concerned, I can do what I want. Too bad for you there’s nothing you can do about it.” Orpheus snorted but before either of them could say anything further, the sound of the car door opening met their ears and Thea was quick to snap her head to the side, her eyes wide as she spied Anastasia stepping out of the car with Malik in her arms.

“Show some respect! You don’t get to talk to her like that!”

“Shut up, you bitch!” Orpheus roared loudly as he finally lifted his gaze to send death glares at the Luna of the Lupum Griseo pack. “You tried to steal my mate and child from me. I don’t want to hear another word out of you so it’s best you keep your mouth shut before one of these wolves give you something to plug it with.”

Anastasia couldn’t help gasp at the crude words that came out of his mouth. It was made even worse when his warriors laughed, as if there was anything remotely funny about his words or the situation that they were in.

But all Thea could focus on the fact that he had just confirmed that he knew Malik was his.

When his head turned back to face her, his lips curled up at the corners, she couldn’t help but stare up at him in shock.

“You thought I wouldn’t know that the pup is mine?” Orpheus chuckled darkly as he dipped his head and pressed his forehead to hers, only growing amused as she tried to push him off her. “Who knew you and I would make such a cute kid? How do you feel about making another one?”

Thea reared her head back in shock – as if the rest of the situation wasn’t shocking enough already – at the suggestion that she could possibly want anything to do with him after he had so savagely raped her and then left her to her own devices.

For all he knew, she could have passed out and died in that alleyway, but it appeared that was none of his concern.

She opened her mouth to scream at him and his terrible suggestion but the words were quick to die on the tip of her tongue.

When the ground started shaking and the distant rumble grew louder and louder until she could finally see what all the commotion was about, Thea could hardly believe her eyes.

Not that she needed further confirmation, but the guilty and sheepish look on Anastasia’s face was the icing on the cake.

-

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Layla Knight

05.12.2020