In the Alpha’s Arms Novel

Dr. Morgan

“T’ll just tell you everything I know all at once… the doctor loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar. Lita nodded, leaning precariously onto the trunk of a car.

“The medicine you were given wasn’t meant for suppressing emotions exactly. It does suppress anger but it’s not something meant for emotional health. Instead, it was meant to suppress your wolf or make it weak enough to manipulate it. I’m not quite sure which.”

Genuine surprise swept her features. She hadn’t expected that she was given something meant only for werewolves…

“It’s not a new drug. That wasn’t the first I’d heard of it. In fact, myself and several other pack doctors had been investigating that medicine for a while. Each of us has come across instances of it being used but all were varying degrees of disastrous. Some died. Some went feral and completely lost their human side. Some couldn’t regain their emotions… becoming like phantoms. Your mother and her pharmaceutical company have been working on perfecting that medication for decades but you’re the first wolf it’s ever worked on. Though I guess not fully, since you still have a wolf and from what I hear, she isn’t one to be managed…”

His eyes flickered to the pack members walking by, “It works just the way it sounds. The medicine dulls your ability to create the intense emotions needed to shift and it can deny you your first shift. I’m assuming in your case, their hope was that they could control when your first shift happened. Probably hoping to push it back until you were so controlled and beaten down by that Alpha, you would be completely obedien…. kind of like training a dog or a horse… by breaking it.”

Lita didn’t know why it surprised her, didn’t know why it felt like her chest was caving in. She knew her family and she knew Brian. It shouldn’t have surprised her at all. But the pain was shocking. The feeling of deep, irreparable betrayal rang through her.

Dr. Morgan stepped closer, running a hand behind his neck, “You mother is of Alpha blood. Her husband is of Beta blood-

She noticed immediately that he didn’t say her father….

“Your brother was a Beta because that’s the only thing that combination can make… Betas or lower… but you, Lita, you’re an Alpha. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Alphas could only continue the line with other Alphas, Her father couldn’t be a Beta. Her father… wasn’t her father. As if reading her facial expression, Dr. Morgan nodded gravely.

“And that, I think, is the reason your mother has been hell bent on getting you to tow the line all your life. You were, no, are a threat to her life. Wolves who mate and marry are bound by that. Her infidelity gives her husband the right to strip her of everything, her rank, her money, her status, her company. Everything, you understand? That’s motivation enough apparently for her to perfect the medicine after all these years.”

“I don’t know how much Rafi knew, but that contract with Brian and his family was as much about covering your mother’s ass as it was about money and status. From what I can tell, you were meant to be the Alpha’s arm candy but your wolf was always meant to be a secret. They would pretend you were a Beta. Control the narrative, so to speak,”

“For how long?”

His eyes dimmed, “Forever, I would assume

Lita felt like vomiting. She’d not only dodged a bullet where Brian’s violence was concerned but she would have been a prisoner in her own life, subject to other people’s demands… forever.

Do I get to kill them? Please tell me I get to kill them.

Why do you have to be so dark?

You’re the one who keeps saying we’re going to get closure but you haven’t said I could eat Brian or rip out any throats… seems pretty selfish if you’re asking

Lita growled sharply, Stop pushing me, Nyx.

The good doctor knew months ago… that doesn’t bother you?

Of course it bothered her. Why hadn’t he said anything when she’d first mentioned it? Why hadn’t he mentioned anything in the following months? Why had he drawn her blood and done a physical at the tournament? Had he only fessed up once her wolf was out in the open? Had he planned to study her like a lab rat?

Her wolf didn’t reply to her flurry of thoughts, just dug in her claws and forced them to shift. Nyx wanted blood and she was tired of Lita trying to curb it. Lita burst out of her clothes, heavy paws dragging across the parking lot gravel. Dr. Morgan didn’t shift, unsure of what would set her off even more,

Dr. Morgan

Nyx growled and snapped at him. She swiped her claws at his face, nicking his cheek.

sure you

wouldn’t go back to your

I get why you’re mad… he latched on the tether of Litn’s mind as he backed away from her angry wolf, but I wasn’t mother with the information. I didn’t know anything about you! It would have ruined years of careful research if you told her. The other pack doctors and I had plous We’re going to put the evidence together and call for a counsel to remove all the wolves that administered the medicine. Your mother and her company would have to answer for what they’ve done. And we’re not just talking about losing their livelihood, I’m talking about losing their lives. Werewolves fucking with the shifting process is a serious allegation. I couldn’t risk you undoing all that work.

And that’s an excuse for keeping it to yourself? It was my life at stake! You couldn’t have known whether or not it had already hurt me or caused damage. Nyx barked an agreement and bared her teeth.

so you wouldn’t take

How would telling you have helped, Lita? If there was damage, it was already done before I knew. And afterwards, I confiscated the rest so any more. How would telling you before I had more answers have helped you? It would have confused you.

Lita didn’t have a response to that which frustrated her. Technically he was right. She was so emotionally volatile at that time, it’s hard to say what she would have done. She had almost went home to her mother when she used her Alpha tone. It was a risk. She could admit that. But it didn’t mean she could ignore the betrayal of it. It didn’t mean she would ever be able to trust any of them again, the doctor included. But if the doctors did plan to do something with that information… justice was a good enough reason to keep the information under wraps. She just didn’t know how’d she ever move past it.

Midnight’s scent hit her hard as he ran from the gym. Now it all made sense why he’d attacked the doctor. Keeping it a secret might have been the right decision but it severed any trust he’d had with the pack. Cole would have took that betrayal the hardest not only for the pack, but because she was his mate. Midnight’s nose assessed the situation then he stepped between the two, growling an order for Dr. Morgan to go wait in the gym. Then Midnight nudged Nyx towards the tree line, telling her to run it off. She growled, snapping at Dr. Morgan’s body once more before she listened. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Ace jogged over from the pack house, I’ve got her Alpha Cole’s wolf nodded once and returned to the gym, shifting and throwing on his clothes before he got inside. Ace found Lita shrugging on a hoodie from the shifter bin, where they kept miscellaneous clothes when theirs got too shredded. Lita was grumbling to herself and shaking her head as she dragged up some basketball shorts. Ace had the decency and strong enough will to live that he looked away until she was done.

“Tell me what’s going on?” Stace walked over, surprising them both as she tugged on Lita’s arm. She looked to Ace but he shrugged, “I just caught the tail end, where she tried to bite off the doctors head.”

“Come on,” he waved Lita and Stace to follow him, “You can tell me in the ring. We’ll work it out of you.”

“And if

if I break your jaw while we work through it?” Lita growled, eyes reflective.

Stace laughed but Ace rolled his eyes, “If you break my jaw, I’ll fucking die of surprise.”

Lita mumbled under her breath, angry but still able to smirk at her annoying friends, “If only….