Alphas Justice

Kastor

Standing in the quiet aftermath, I keep my eyes on Knox and Carmen as they talk Vesper down. The sheer weight of her aura is breathtaking.

‘Almost everyone around here has forgotten that both she and her brother carry pure Alpha blood. People overlook her strength simply because she keeps it locked away, the exact same way we do,’ Torin remarks, thoroughly captivated as he watches through my eyes.

‘She could have dropped this entire school straight to the floor,’ I reply silently.

‘Every single soul except the two of us. Did you feel the weight of that?’ he rumbles, a low purr vibrating inside my skull.

‘I definitely did. Along with the rest of the hallway.’

“Young lady,” Principal Garver barks, taking an aggressive stride toward Maeve. There is no way I am letting his wounded pride and sheer stupidity provoke Vesper all over again.

‘If I recall correctly, she labeled him “insignificant and unintelligent”,’ Torin chimes in, clearly smitten with Vesper and her dominance.

I move in to intercept him. “Maeve, take a walk with Knox and Carmen. Giving Vesper some breathing room to settle down is probably for the best,” I tell her, holding her stare steadily.

Giving a brief nod, she sweeps one last glance over the crowded corridor before allowing her brother and her best friend to guide her toward the exit.

“Alpha Kastor,” Principal Garver starts, puffing up to challenge my call.

“Principal Garver, the sole reason you aren’t currently flattened on your knees or baring your throat on the tile in total submission is that Maeve kept a leash on her wolf,” I cut in evenly. “My advice is to turn around and give Maeve a wide berth for the remainder of the afternoon. Push this, and you along with the entire student body might find out firsthand what she is actually capable of. Because as heavy as that demonstration just was, she was still holding back.”

Genuine fear flashes across his eyes before he schools his features. Pivoting sharply on his heel, he marches off down the corridor, almost certainly rushing to dial Gideon Davenport and complain that his niece is stirring up trouble again.

“Man, that was completely insane,” Alpha Trenton mutters as he strolls over. The other pair of girls who had been cornering Maeve belong to his pack.

Shifting my weight, I fix my stare on the two girls from my own pack whom Vesper had pinned to the floor. The fact that they had the nerve to look me in the eye and lie earlier has my temper boiling.

“Give me the whole story. And don’t even think about lying this time,” I snarl, letting my Alpha command roll over them.

High-pitched yips escape both girls as they bare their throats in immediate submission.

“We told her nobody would ever want her,” one of them blurts out shakily. “We said if she ever found her mate, he would take off running out of fear that she’d murder him the exact same way her mother killed her father.”

Inside my head, Torin lets out a furious snarl.

“Did you honestly believe I would condone you tormenting another wolf? Or that you could feed me a lie to dodge the consequences?” I demand, my tone dropping to solid ice.

“No, Alpha.”

Keeping my glare locked on them, I refuse to let up on the pressure of my aura.

“Congratulations. Both of you just landed eight-hour border runs every single afternoon after classes and straight through the weekends for the next four weeks,” I snap.

“Alpha, please, no! The school year is practically over!”

“You should have weighed that before dragging my name and our pack’s reputation through the dirt with such pathetic behavior,” I bite back.

“Coming down a bit hard on them, aren’t you, Kastor?” Trenton remarks beside me.

I turn my head to look at him. Unlike me, Trenton doesn’t carry pure Alpha bloodline. Had Vesper unleashed the full brunt of her dominance across this hallway, he would have been eating the floor right alongside the students.

“Are you really willing to gamble on Gideon and Valeria Davenport catching wind that members of your pack tormented their niece while you stood by and did nothing?” I counter, already well aware of how he will react. The mere fact that he was prepared to brush this under the rug turns my stomach.

His gaze snaps toward his two she-wolves, whose eyes fly wide in panic. “Alpha, don’t! Please!”

“A month of grueling work won’t kill you. An all-out assault from the Davenports will wipe our pack off the map,” Trenton growls at them.

Both of his girls immediately dissolve into sobs. Tuning them out completely, I direct my final words to my own pack members. “Never humiliate me like this again,” I warn darkly before pivoting and striding down the hall.

Students scramble out of my path, splitting down the middle to clear a lane. The second I clear the heavy doors, I tilt my chin up and draw in a deep breath to catch her trail. Explaining why I’m so determined to check on her welfare isn’t easy, yet the pull is undeniable. Telling myself I’m only following up because two of my own wolves triggered Vesper’s outburst would be an easy excuse, not the actual truth. And I have never been an Alpha who hides behind convenient excuses.

Plain and simple, I am worried about her.

Following her trail across the grounds leads me out toward the metal bleachers bordering the outdoor track and field.

Not until I close most of the distance to their spot do I realize Maeve is crying. A heavy knot tightens in my chest at the sight of someone so fiercely resilient reduced to tears.

Caught up in watching her, I fail to notice I’ve given away my approach until a harsh growl cuts through the air.

“What are you doing out here? Looking to gloat?” Hearing that level of hostility come from Carmen catches me off guard. Aggressive posturing isn't her usual way of handling things at all. Clearly, though, her loyalty to Maeve runs just as fierce as Maeve’s loyalty to her and Knox.

Keeping my posture non-threatening, I make sure my voice stays completely level.

“I came out to make sure Maeve and Vesper are holding up alright,” I reply, catching the quick motion of Maeve’s hand as she scrubs the moisture from her face.

“Save yourself the trouble, Kastor. I’m completely fine,” Maeve calls out, keeping her back turned to me.

“Maeve—and Vesper, too—I owe you an apology for the way my pack members acted inside. They are going to pay heavily for what they said.”

A humorless laugh leaves her throat. “Save your breath. None of it changes a damn thing anyway.”

“It changes things for me,” I answer, taking another step forward, only for Knox and Carmen to close ranks and plant themselves shoulder-to-shoulder directly in my path.

“Walk away,” Knox rumbles. He may be younger than me, yet his wolf is clearly bristling over his sister’s distress. Carrying pure Alpha blood gives him an aura that easily outclasses most ranked wolves my age, let alone anyone in his own grade. Even so, he still can't match mine.

“Walking away isn’t happening until I verify for myself that Maeve and Vesper are alright.”

“Rest easy, Kastor. Going full psycho and slaughtering the student body isn’t on my schedule today,” Maeve remarks, falling back on her trademark biting sarcasm.

“You know that isn’t why I’m standing here, Maeve.”

Silence settles over the grass for a beat, and I watch both Knox and Carmen glance back over their shoulders at her. Whatever order she is sending down their private mind-link is strictly closed to me. Displeasure pulls their mouths into tight, reluctant lines.

“Leaving you here sits wrong with me, Maeve,” Carmen mutters aloud.

“I can handle myself, Carmen.”

Swiveling her head back toward me, Carmen pins me with a glare sharp enough to put me six feet under if looks could draw blood.

“Mess with her, and I promise you’ll wish you hadn’t,” she warns under her breath, looping an arm around Knox’s shoulders to steer him down the steps, leaving just the two of us by the bleachers.

Once their footsteps fade across the turf, I bring my attention back to Maeve. “How are you holding up?”

Getting to her feet, she turns around to face me, the skin around her eyes raw and red.

“Never better,” she mutters, punctuated by a slight sniffle.

“Drop the act with me, Maeve.”

“What is it you want to hear come out of my mouth, Kastor? That I am sick to fucking death of carrying the blame for my mother’s crimes every single day? That hearing other wolves throw threats at my little brother simply because of who gave birth to us makes me want to lose my mind? That I am counting down the hours until I can finally walk out of this miserable hellhole of a school, while simultaneously losing sleep over the sheer terror of graduating and leaving Knox behind with nobody to watch his back? Does hearing all that satisfy you?” she snaps fiercely.

“I asked you to be honest with me. I appreciate that you were. Tell me how to help carry it.”

She blinks hard, looking at me as though I just started speaking a foreign language. “Nothing. There isn’t a single thing you can do to fix this.”

“Why is letting me step in so out of the question for you, Maeve?”

“Because needing someone to step in shouldn’t even be a thing, Kastor! Alphas are supposed to hold their packs to basic standards of decency. Treating other wolves like equals should be the baseline instead of letting them gang up like petty, judgmental bullies. Have any of them stopped to consider how fortunate they are that I don’t just take the leash off Vesper and let her loose?” she demands hotly.

“I have,” I tell her steadily. “I’m fully aware Vesper had more than enough power today to force every student, faculty member, and Principal Garver himself down onto the floor if she’d felt like it. Yet she held back. Despite all the garbage thrown at her, she still chose mercy.”

“She chose ME! And she is the only one who ever has.”

“You know that’s a lie. Carmen chooses to stand by you. Your brother chooses you.”

“Knox was born into this, he didn't get a vote,” she shoots back.

“He had a choice then, and he has one every day now. Yet he backs you without hesitation, over and over. Plenty of people around here might be blind to who you really are, Maeve, but my eyes are wide open. Others might conveniently forget your bloodline, yet I remember. Plenty of wolves miss the fact that you answer their hostility with restraint, yet I see it clearly. I see you, Maeve. I know what you’re made of. And you have my full respect—both as a woman and as a wolf.”

“What is your endgame here, Kastor?” she asks quietly, the fight draining out of her voice to leave pure exhaustion behind.

“Let me back you up.”

“You want to back me up?” she repeats, studying my face like she fully expects there to be a catch or an empty promise waiting around the corner. She couldn't be more wrong.

“I do.”

“Keep my brother safe.”

“Already handled. I put the arrangements in place yesterday,” I reply, keeping my gaze steady on hers.

“Wait, what? Why would you do that?”

“Because it was the only right call to make, and because you have spent way too long fighting the entire world by yourself, Maeve.”

Suspicion narrows her eyes again. “And what exactly do you get out of this deal?”

A small, genuine smile tugs at the corner of my mouth as I hold her stare. “I get to hang onto whatever small measure of respect you and Vesper currently have for me.”

Standing at the base of the bleachers, I watch her blink once, then twice, a slight crease forming between her brows as—for the first time since I’ve known her—Maeve comes up completely speechless.