Chained By The Alpha By Jessica Hall

“Cleo!” comes a husky, deep voice. I turn to find Zayn leaning in the window. He presses a hand to my forehead. “What are you doing here?”

I shake myself, wondering if I’m dreaming

“Cleo?” Alpha Zayn growls before opening my door. “You have a fever. Did your father not take you to a pack, Doctor?” he asks

“I’m fine. It’s just the pain meds,” I tell him, coming to my senses

“Slide over into the other seat,” he says, motioning towards the car. I stare at him. “Tt wasn’t a question. Slide over, now!” he orders, and I press my lips in a line. I am here for his

help. I won’t get it if I start arguing with him.

Alpha Zayn starts my father’s car, and I briefly wonder how I will explain his scent to my father. Oh well, that is the least of my worries.

The glow of the dash illuminates the Alpha’s face, his face a picture of confusion as he glances at me with his steely gaze. He looks handsome and clean as ever, quite the contrast to my sick, sweaty, bleeding self. His scent envelops me, vanilla and sandalwood. It’s intoxicating, and my racing heart slows a little as his scent calms me down

The huge gates open, and Zayn drives me through the gated community to his pack house, which is huge. He pulls up near the front door on the circular driveway. “You live here?” I ask, peering out in awe

Landscaped gardens surround his pack house,

made of stone and wood and appear to stretch for miles. “Yes, I do, unless I have to stay in the city for work,” he confirms, and I follow him out of the car, wincing in pain as my leg protests

Zayn looks down at my leg. A trickle of blood runs down the inside of my thigh. I groan, about to reach back into the car to look for a tissue when suddenly, my legs go out from under me. I shriek, grabbing hold of his shoulders before coming face to face with Alpha Zayn

“You never should have come out here,” he growls before walking toward the house

“I’m fine, put me down,” I snap at him when he jostles me, grabbing a handful of my bare ass peeking out from under my booty shorts

“Keep thrashing, and I will toss you over my shoulder,” he warns. So I stop, glaring at him

instead. However, he doesn’t seem to mind my death stare; instead, I see the ghost of a smile tug at the corners of his lips, which makes my blood boil

“What’s wrong with you?” I demand as he carries me through the front door

“I could ask you the same thing,” he replies, his lips curving into a smirk

“You show up at my pack house and wake me up wearing fuzzy booty hot pants and bunny slippers, with a fever, looking ready to drop dead in my driveway, and now you’re bleeding all over me. What is wrong with you, Cleo?”

I flush, suddenly aware of how ridiculous I look

“You didn’t have to bring me here, I was fine outside your gates!” I snap at him

“Well, you’re here now,” Alpha Zayn says. “Let’s see to that leg of yours,” he chuckles

“What’s so funny?” I ask, feeling irritation rising in my chest

“You,” he chuckles, “I can’t decide if you’re brave or just plain foolish.”

“T’m not foolish,” I say, scowling at him

“Really? Breaking your father’s punishment and coming here on your own to an Alpha’s pack, an Alpha you barely know?” he says, raising an eyebrow. “What if I don’t let you leave?” he taunts, and I stare down at him. He looks at me, his lips curving into a smile when his eyes flicker

“You won’t hurt me, you’re not that stupid, it would start a war,” I tell him

“My pack is the largest in the country. Do you think I fear war?”

I chew my lip nervously. His saying that really puts things into perspective at how foolish this indeed is

“Or your old man of a father? Pfft,” he chuckles suddenly, making me nervous as he climbs the stairs toward his house. “Never let your kidnapper take you to a second location,” he growls, and my eyes widen in horror at his words, having heard that once on a crime documentary. I curse myself again. Am I his willing victim? I thrash in his arms, but he laughs, maneuvering me. When I palm him in the face, he grabs my arm, trapping me, so I bite him as hard as I can

“Ouch, what the fuck, you damn cannibal! Chill, I am just playing; if I wanted to hurt you, I

would have killed you when we were trapped in the freezer!” he snaps at me. I let his arm go, pulling away to see I made him bleed. He looks at his arm and growls

“You took a chunk out of me! I should bite you back!” he growls, pushing his front door open

“Who says something like that and expects someone not to react to it,” I spit back at

him

He growls and glares at me. “You’re impossible,” I mutter under my breath as he carries me inside

The pack house 1s just as impressive on the inside as it 1s on the outside, with soaring ceilings and ornate furnishings

“Wow!” I blurt, looking up at the enormous round skylight that opens up the ceiling in

the foyer

Zayn walks through to a sitting room. A huge fireplace sits in the center of one wall,

and a huge flat screen on another. He sets me on the couch. “Stay here. I will get something to patch your leg,” he tells me, wandering off