Alpha Unleashed

Maeve

Shrill voices echo right behind my shoulder in the crowded locker bay. “Seriously, does she ever touch shampoo?”

“Not a chance. Just look at her—she’s a total fucking trainwreck.”

Letting my eyelids drop shut for a second, I shove the metal locker door until the latch snaps, then pivot around to meet their stares. “Got an issue?”

“Actually, yeah. Would it kill you to step into a shower every once in a while?” one of the she-wolves sneers, raking her gaze from my boots to my face like I’m foul gum scraped straight off the bottom of her heel.

“Or run a brush through that mess on your head. Try having an ounce of self-respect,” a second girl chimes in.

“Right, the kind of self-respect you girls have? Meaning I ought to cake cosmetics onto my skin and throw myself desperately at Alphas who couldn’t care less?” I shoot back.

All four of them burst out laughing. “Oh, honey. Not a single Alpha out there would touch you, no matter how hard you tried fixing yourself.”

‘Put them in the dirt,’ Vesper snarls inside my mind.

‘Drop it, Ves. None of them are worth our energy,’ I warn her back.

“Exactly, because if you take after your mother at all, you’d just wind up butchering your own mate anyway, wouldn’t you? Goddess help whatever poor bastard ends up paired with you. He’d bolt straight for the hills screaming just to save his own skin,” a third girl taunts, setting the whole group off into fresh peals of nasty laughter.

Heat and violent rage surge upward inside my chest. ‘Vesper, don’t. Just leave it alone,’ I plead silently.

‘I am finished leaving things alone,’ she growls, shoving my consciousness hard to the side as she surges straight to the surface.

“You four really think you’re clever, huh?” Vesper snarls right out of my mouth.

“At least none of us is a murderer bitch!” one of the bullies snaps back, completely blind to the fact that my wolf just took the wheel instead of me.

‘Vesper! Stop!’

There is zero chance of holding her back now. Pure fury has taken hold, and my wolf has officially reached her breaking point.

Vesper POV

Day after day, I have stayed quiet in the background, listening to every last wolf in these halls act superior to my human simply over the bloodline of the woman who birthed her. That ends right here. Maeve might tolerate their filthy mouths, yet I refuse to stomach another second of it. My coat might not be pure white, yet I am still an Alpha wolf—a pureblooded Alpha through and through. Clearly, the arrogant assholes filling this building need a brutal reminder of what stands right in front of them.

A guttural snarl rips from my throat as I unleash the crushing weight of my aura outward, savoring the rush of victory when all four she-wolves buckle instantaneously onto their knees against the linoleum.

“Repeat that straight to my face. I fucking dare you,” I snarl down at the trembling group.

Had I shifted into my true four-legged skin right now, hot drool would already be spilling past my fangs. Knowing full well how much Maeve hates messy primal displays—and realizing she is already going to chew me out over taking control—I hold back from letting spit hit their upturned faces.

Every single one of them tilts her throat upward in forced submission, though that barely scratches the surface of my anger. I endure this garbage constantly. Every. Single. Fucking. Day. And my patience is completely gone.

“Speak up! You had plenty of nerve running your mouths at my human a second ago. Say the words to me! Right to my face!” I snarl.

“Forgive us, Alpha,” the wolf belonging to one of the kneeling girls whimpers out.

“Clearly not sorry enough to keep a leash on your human’s filthy tongue, are you?” I snarl, leaning down right into her personal space.

“Controlling what our humans say isn’t in our power,” a second wolf pleads rapidly.

My head whips straight toward her. “Then let’s see how much your human enjoys sitting back and watching while I make YOU pay the price for her disrespect!” I snarl back.

Whimpers break out across all four of them, and just as I prepare to drive them flat onto their backs to expose their bellies, a heavy presence registers nearby. Him. Out of everyone enrolled here, only one person carries innate strength capable of rivaling my own. Kastor Vanguard V—or more specifically right now, his wolf, Torin. And at this exact second, Torin is burning mad.

Too bad. He can take a fucking number and wait his turn.

“Maeve!” Kastor barks, pushing clear through the tight ring of staring students. “Turn them loose!”

His heavy Alpha aura rolls outward across the floor toward me, attempting to shut my dominance down. Except his power doesn’t outweigh mine. Pushing my aura backward is entirely beyond his reach.

“No,” I snarl straight back at him. “I’ve had it! Sick to death of weak, brainless wolves assuming they get a free pass to torment my human or go after our younger brother over ugly gossip surrounding our biological parents. Releasing them isn’t happening. Sitting quietly while everyone around here forgets my true rank is over!”

“What on earth is happening out here!” Principal Garver bellows, shoving his way past the onlookers before letting out a sharp scoff. “Naturally, Maeve is right in the middle of it.”

Redirecting the full brunt of my aura, I slam that invisible weight squarely into his chest, watching his knees wobble as he fights just to stay upright on his feet. Up goes his chin, baring his throat in involuntary deference to superior power.

“Count yourself right among the weak, brainless wolves testing my last nerve,” I snarl coldly. “Clueless from start to finish, lifting zero fingers to keep my human protected inside these walls. What kind of pathetic excuse for a principal even are you?”

“Expect a phone call going straight to your uncle over this,” Garver chokes out past his strained throat.

“Be my guest,” I growl back. “Going twenty-four hours without your daily whining phone call blaming Maeve for breathing wrong might actually make him worry I dropped dead.”

“Vesper, please, let the girls up,” comes the gentle voice of my close friend Nyla, who shares control with Carmen. Stepping carefully toward me, she holds both palms open out front in a peaceful gesture of appeal.

“My patience ran dry, Nyla,” I rumble quietly toward her.

“Alpha, I swear we never even provoked her! Out of nowhere she just came right after us!” one of the pinned bullies cries out, casting desperate eyes toward Kastor.

Fury spikes sharp inside me as I drive my aura down harder over the four of them, reducing the girls to trembling, cowering heaps.

“Liar!” The sheer force behind my furious snarl detonates outward through the corridor, instantly compelling every single bystander wolf packed around the lockers to tilt their necks high in absolute submission.

“One truth stands clear whenever Maeve and Vesper are involved,” Kastor speaks up evenly. Pivoting slightly toward him, I brace myself, half expecting some arrogant remark that will shatter every shred of respect I currently hold for him.

Keeping his eyes locked firmly onto mine, he speaks loud enough for his lying pack member to hear every syllable. “Starting fights has never once been Maeve’s way. Day in and day out, she minds her own business. Yet the moment somebody picks a fight with her—or targets anyone under her protection—she finishes it,” he states clearly. Holding my stare without wavering, he lowers his tone slightly. “Beyond that, Vesper, I recognize precisely what stands before me. A pureblooded Alpha. Carrying the blame for whatever crimes your mother committed does not fall on your shoulders.”

Unmistakable, genuine respect resonates straight through his words, catching me off guard enough that I actually shift half a step backward, conceding just enough floor space for him to move closer.

“Maeve!” Hearing my brother’s voice pulls my head sideways, right as Knox stops short with a visible jolt upon recognizing me peering out through his sister’s eyes instead of my human.

“Vesper,” Knox tries again, dropping his voice to a calm, steady register. “Keeping this going won’t work. Let Maeve take the front back.”

Unflinching and completely devoid of fear, he closes the remaining distance at an unhurried pace, giving my temper room to settle.

“Listen to him, Ves. Hand the reins back over to Maeve. Trust us to sort the rest out, I promise,” Carmen adds quietly behind him.

“Enduring constant daily cruelty inside these halls wears thin,” I rumble deep in my throat.

“Believe me, I get it,” Knox answers softly, stopping directly before me and holding my gaze. “Together, we’ll find an actual way forward. Right this minute, though, Maeve needs control back in her hands. Can you step back for my sake?”

Warmth softens my expression into a genuine smile. “For you, little brother, there isn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do.”

Stepping right in, Knox wraps both arms tightly around my shoulders. “Love you, Vesper.”

“Love you right back,” I murmur, holding onto the embrace for one quiet beat before finally releasing him and retreating inward so Maeve can take charge.

The exact instant I pull away, Maeve reels my heavy aura straight back inside our skin. Half the students ringing the locker bay drop straight down onto the floor, while plenty of others suck in ragged, desperate breaths like oxygen finally returned to the hallway.

Before settling completely, I surge forward to the surface one brief final second, fixing an icy glare onto the four bullies sprawled awkwardly on their backsides right at my boots. “Burn today’s lesson straight into your memories, she-wolves. Force me to remind you of your rank a second time, and walking away pretty won’t be an option.”

‘Ves, sweetheart, pulling stunts like that cannot happen again,’ Maeve scolds gently inside our head.

‘Just try stopping me. Anybody eager to fuck around with us is going to learn firsthand what crossing paths with a pure Alpha wolf actually costs. Who birthed us means nothing to me. Whatever blood stained her hands means even less. Keep pushing for psycho-crazy, and psycho-crazy is exactly what I’ll deliver,’ I fire back fiercely, retreating all the way down into the quiet dark and leaving full control squarely with Maeve.