Alpha's Fire

Fight or Flight

Darkness surrounded Prue. She lay unmoving, feeling paralysed. She felt so warm. It wasn’t an uncomfortable searing kind of heat, but a pleasant caress - the kind that made her body feel weightless. Safe even. 

Her eyes were heavy as they gently fluttered open. The room was a wash of warm candle light that cast dull hews of orange and yellows. 

Keira was asleep upright in an armchair at the bottom of the bed, where Prue was lay. She stared puzzled until she remembered. 

The pain. The intruder. Her heart began to speed up as she took in more of the room. The door behind Keira was bolted shut, heavy-looking pieces of wood had been slotted into grooves, reinforcing it. She went to move her head, but the mere attempt shot red hot fire through her body.

She felt herself gulp, her throat was dry and lumpy, desperate for water she realised.

How long have I been out? Her thudding heart sped as panic rose in her chest, her breath getting faster. Fear was overtaking her as a gentle voice behind her whispered, “Prue you are safe.”

Prue’s whole being stilled, her thoughts stuttering as she processed the sound. The voice. The person. The warmth. The man.

She didn’t want to look. But she knew she had to. So slowly, excruciating slowly, she moved her line of sight down, down, down. Her breath caught as she saw two long legs spread either side of her own, belonging to the man whose bare chest rest lay against her back, propping her up. 

Prue was at a loss for words when Henry spoke again. “You are safe Prue.”

She said nothing. She couldn’t. She dared not. She was so... Vulnerable.

Henry moved his arm slowly and touched his hand to her forehead. Too intimate. She didn’t like it, but at the same time, she almost moaned at the contact. It seemed to melt the pain. 

“You’re still too warm, but better,” his voice seemed so kind, nothing of the savage purebred warrior he had been to her before.

“Can you speak?”

She wasn’t sure, her throat felt raw. Like she been screaming for a night and a day. “Water!” She managed to croak in a sound so small it was barely a whisper. 

As Henry’s hand left her forehead a whimper slipped passed her lips, the relief of his touch gone. He brought a glass to her lips and tilted it enough for delightfully cold droplets to trickle in. 

Henry kept going until she’d had her fill. “Can you move?”

“I’m sore,” she gulped, “What happened?”

His chest rumbled, stilling her thoughts, her soul, the danger of the male who’s legs she lay between. That was until she realised what was happening. Henry had let a small chuckle go. A laugh. How absurd, she thought to herself. I didn’t even think he could do that. Am I dreaming?

“All hell broke loose. After the,” he paused as if trying to control himself, “Intruder was captured, the male wolves went into a frenzy.”

Prue sipped from the glass again, her throat still raw, “Was there another attack?” 

“No. It was...” he sighed, “It was you.”

Prue almost spat out her drink, “What!?” She croaked. 

“Prue I need to ask you something personal and I need you to be honest because I need to know exactly what I’m dealing with.”

She didn’t like it but she nodded against his chest. The heat of him was seeping through her skin. Melting the pain in her limbs, like ice under a hot summer’s sun.

“Have you had your first heat? You must be in your 20s right?”

Prue cleared her throat as her cheeks began burning, it was not a question she would ever like to answer for any male. She felt an all too familiar feeling begin to heat her stomach, a swirling pit of rage very few were able to stir. 

Prue felt a snarl pass her lips. Maybe it was her mind catching up with the danger her body was in, being so close to this formidable male. A deadly male. A male that was now asking dangerous questions. 

She didn’t know when it happened or how it happened. It was like a blink.

One minute she was lay down, Henry’s heat melting the ache of her limbs, the next she was standing half way between the bed and the door.

Prue wore nothing but small white undergarments. 

She didn’t care about her body being on full display. Surely it was nothing the Alpha had not seen before. Her long blonde hair fell down her body, partially covering her toned physique as she scanned the room she now realised was not her own. 

The suite was a larger version of her own she realised, with one pivotal difference, all the windows were boarded up, just like the door. Her eyes darted around the room, assessing the risk, looking for an escape. She was trapped. She was locked in a room with one of the world’s most terrifying, brutal Alphas. 

As if sensing her rising distress, Keira’s eyes snapped open. Her lips parted in what she could only assume was shock as she looked between Prue and her brother who lay bare chested on the bed.  

“Prue,” she said gently. “You are safe.”

Prue felt as though the walls were closing in on her. Trapping her breath. Her body screamed to run. To flee. To find somewhere safe. 

In a voice she did not recognise was her own, Prue replied “Open. The. Door.”

Her teeth were bared as a deadly killing calm settled over her body. 

Henry made to stand attracting Prue’s menacing glare, like a cornered animal ready to strike at the first threat that moved. His sister held up her hand and he stopped. 

“Henry don’t move. You’ll spook her and right now she is stronger than us both combined.”

She raked her gaze over Keira, mulling over her words for a moment. It felt like she was taking a backseat in her own body. It wasn’t like when Elena came forward. No. Elena was like the second half of her being, her personality. This was like she was herself, but wasn’t. She was detached. She was now the killer she needed to be when hunting the worst of the worst. She was a numb Prue. An unfeeling Prue. A wolf refusing to be prey. 

“Prue,” Keira’s pleading tone was gentle, “Listen to me. You are safe here but if you go outside those doors you might not be.”

Prue’s eyebrows creased in disbelief. 

“Prue,” Keira looked like she was struggling to find the right words, “What is happening to you, it affects unmated males in strange ways.”

She wouldn’t believe them. But the heat. The searing heat. It had been like nothing she had ever experienced before. She’d heard the old wives’ tales of course, about spinster wolves going crazy from the pain of their heat. She’d never heard of a lone female wolf. Ever. She’d been all over Europe and even parts of Canada. Still she’d never heard of it. Your body would only go into heat when you were a part of a pack. When the presence of males lingered enough to make the female feel safe enough to have young. Partly the reason why it was so hard for wolves to conceive when led by an awful dictator Alpha, like so many packs were. 

“Why would I believe you.” Her words were calm. Deadly. 

Keira dared a step towards her and flinched as Prue’a body instinctively jumped into a fighting stance - a cobra ready to strike. 

“Easy now,” Henry urged, trying to avoid spooking her, “Keira,” a warning behind his words. 

“Prue we have given you no reason to mistrust us. Why do you think Henry’s warmth brought you comfort. Your body reacts to the safety of an Alpha and come this fully moon you will need him. Think Prue. Why do you think there are so many children here.”

Prue said nothing, trying to sort through her thoughts. 

“Wolves do not go into heat unless they are apart of a pack,” Keira continued, 

“But there are certain exceptions, things that can trigger it, for...” she seemed to be struggling over the words, “certain wolves.”

Prue’s eyes snapped up at that. There had been a reason why she had tried to learn so much of their myths and legends. How ironic that answers were closer to home than she realised. 

“Certain wolves,” Henry continued, allowing the words to roll around her head, “Like those with Luna blood.”

Prue hissed. She was right. She really wasn’t safe. This clever Alpha and his pack had worked it out so quickly.  

She had to leave now. Leave her old life. Start again. Far away from her beautiful, quiet cottage that she craved so entirely. She would not be kept and bred like a prize mare. 

She rushed for the door attacking the large wooden beams that fitted into the slats across the door, desperately pushing. Faster she must pull it up faster. She’d almost managed to pull the first beam away as a heavy hand landed on the wood next to her head, a warm body pressed her against the wooden door. 

She thrashed, trying to scratch and bite but Henry held her tighter. The wood dug into her flesh, as he used his full weight to subdue her. She continued to fight against the sheer muscle pinning her in place but it was no use. 

She could feel his hot breath next to her ear as he spoke, “You. Are. Safe. You do not need to fear me. We respect our females and their choices.” His voice was stern.

She tried to listen to him, she really did but she could feel the heat of his half naked body pressing onto her skin. It was like soaking in a hot bath, tiredness  began to overwhelm her. Heat boiling in her ears. No, she would not be subdued. 

It was a trick.

With an unknown strength she thrashed with all her might. He moved ever so slightly, giving her enough room to buck against the hard muscle at her back. This time the force of her strength sent the Alpha staggering back landing on his ass. 

Well that’s new, she thought to herself. 

It was as though she and Elena were in the backseat together again, watching as Prue turned to the door and kicked with so much force it fell off its hinges. 

She was now running from the house. Gingerbeard and a few other wolves tried to stop her but it was no use. She left a pile of knocked out bodies in her wake. She wasn’t even sure how she was able to move so fast. Desperation? Adrenaline? Whatever it was, she hoped it was enough to bear the pain of her heat coursing through her? Maybe it was her flight or fight instincts kicking in? 

She ran through the village not sparing a look at the concerned onlookers gawking at the half-naked woman running at an ungodly speed. 

Henry called after her. “Prue, Prue!” His voice was gruff, commanding. Wolves found it very hard to disobey a direct order but she was not his pack and he had no power over her.

She could hear him commanding his men to stand down and get out the way, to not intervene. That meant nothing to her. That only proved that he didn’t want his people hurt in the process of her escape. 

“Prue!” His voice was getting so close, so desperately close. She dared not even spare a look back. Cold fear powered her from the pit of her stomach, forcing her legs to move faster. She jumped, leapt and swung herself between buildings, knocking what she could behind her to slow down her pursuer, doing anything she could to increase the distance between them. She dashed and darted until she saw the woodland at the end of a long alley lined by log cabin homes. 

She could have cried. Freedom was in reach. She yearn for it. The safe comfort of nature. Dusk had begun to fall, bringing a full moon with it. The bright light of it hung low over the tree tops. She was so close. She raised her hand as if to touch it, transfixed as exhaustion began to pull at her again. 

Still she forced her body to make the final dash, clearing the distance and disappearing into the trees, running until she could no longer hear Henry pursuit. 

The pack would be fine without her help, she assured herself.