Alpha Werewolf Complete Set

"Ownership of half-shifters is inhumane, Alex," he growls.

"I know that, sir," Alex says, a note of panic in his tone and continues hastily. "She's been told about her Master's passing, but she hasn't allowed anyone near her since he died.."

He's not telling Theodore something and he knows it by the way the boy is refusing to meet his eyes as he talks.

"We've attempted to bring her to the halfway home for half-shifters but she wouldn't allow anyone near her and there appears to be a mechanism of some sort on her door to keep anyone in."

"You've tried then?" he asks.

Alex knows he's said too much because he starts stuttering and mumbling instead of forming actual words. Ah. So this is why they've sent him the runt. They attempted to take her away for themselves before and they failed. They weren't going to let him know that he hadn't just inherited a building, he had inherited a cat shifter. "There are... extenuating circumstances," Alex begins carefully.

"What kind?" he asks testily in a tone that suggests neither Alex nor his firm will continue being employed in his company.

"She hasn't had food in a while because no one has been able to get in," he starts. "And um-" he stops, knowing he's just digging deeper into his own grave by talking.

"They tried to sell her, didn't they?" Theodore growls.

"Yes, sir," Alex caves pathetically quickly. He's really not suited for this kind of work.

Theodore makes a mental note to fire the lawyer representing him and his company and then have them discreetly removed from the world he finishes dealing with this. People who try to steal with him don't get to live for very long. They should have known this. "Did you know?" he asks Alex.

Alex grips the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles have gone white. "I wasn't- They don't know I'm here, sir," he says.

Theodore's glad he hadn't killed him straight away. "Good boy," he says after a stunned pause. That is unexpected. He did not think the boy would be brave enough to go against his superiors. But perhaps that's simply because he's younger and has heard of the stories about him.

"It's not- The will clearly say to leave her with you and she's- she's scared. It's not right, what they're doing," he says, and the steering wheel is bent out of shape now, his fingers gripping too tightly.

They spend the rest of the car ride without speaking. When they finally reach the house, he's surprised to see how debilitated it looks from the outside. Danny is richer than even him and that's saying something. The worn-down house is just a trick. The closer he steps towards the house, the more unsettled he feels. The house isn't debilitated. It appears someone had brought a bulldozer to it and attempted to bring it down to no avail. There's a thick scent of metal in the air, debris and broken concrete as well.

Alex clearly has a plan in mind because he unlocks the first door to the house. To his surprise, they are confronted immediately by another set of sliding doors. Alex reaches into his pockets for a key card and uses it on the second door.

They step beyond the door and it slides close behind them, only to be confronted with a third door. He's beginning to wonder if this is all an elaborate trap to get to him. He has made enemies everywhere. It wouldn't surprise him if someone's trying to kill him.

They get to the last door and are faced with a cage of some sort, one that appears to be built to keep everyone out as it is to keep the recipient in. The metal spreads beyond the edges of the door and he guesses that there is a layer of reinforced steel surrounding the entire building. It is clear that this house was built specifically for her. They are looking directly

into what appears to be a living room with a television set up in one corner and several tall scratching posts ten times the size of what he's used to placed strategically all over the place.

Beyond the archway, he spies a kitchen and a dining room table too.

He smells her before he sees her, sweet as peaches with an underlying scent of lingering fear and anxiety that leaves a bitter taste in the back of his mouth. His gaze roams around the room and it finds her perched high up, looking at him the same way he is at her, distrusting and curious at the same time.

She is truly spectacular, fur as white as snow on the top of her blond hair and a long white tail that curls around herself comfortingly. They call it her cage, but really, it's a house within a house with cat toys littered all over the floor. She's curled up on top of her giant scratching post.

She peers down at them from the top of her post, long hair falling across her feline eyes. She looks surprisingly clean for someone who seems to have been trapped here for a while, but he thinks it is just the feline part of her that demands she groom herself. Out of her long hair protrudes a pair of silky white ears that are impossible to ignore. She's not just a cat half-shifter. She's breathtakingly beautiful. She's wearing a thick white dress that goes only as far as her knees, allowing her fluffy white tail to peek out from underneath.

Upon seeing him at the door, her eyes widen and her lips curl up, side fangs glinting in the low light. She lifts herself up on her hands and legs, sinking sharp claws on her paws on the soft velvety material on her scratching post. Her ears are perked up, eyes narrowed like she's considering attacking them. She's just waiting for someone to open the door to her cage so she can make the first move.

Then, her gaze finds Alex and her expression softens. She leaps off the scratching post in one smooth motion to land in front of them. She presses herself against the bars of the cage, purring as she scratches her head over the bars. She lets out a soft 'mreow." Her voice is sweet and lovely, like a low purr that hums in his stomach.

"No snacks today, Nala," Alex says and he sounds fond. "Nala, this is Mr. Black. Remember Mr. Black?"

"Black?" she murmurs, blinking over at him.

"Theodore Black," Theodore says.

She tilts her head and blinks. She mewls at him and waits like she's expecting him to respond in kind.

"Hello, Nala," he says, crouching down and making himself as small and nonthreatening as possible. "Can you let us in, Nala?" he asks.