Choosing Her Alpha

by Isoellen

  The doctor answered with a little cough. "Well, no. Sometimes there are tiny anomalies or cysts, polyps and so forth. The gloves keep me from feeling the delicate things."

  He cupped her. "Her labia have started swelling with her estrous. By using all my senses, I can check for anything that might be concerning. Labia majora and labia minor normal. Flushed with her estrous."

  His fingers were stroking top to bottom, feeling each part of her as he named them. It didn't hurt, but the touches felt like a violation. She didn't like it.

  She looked up at Kane. He was leaning down, hovering over her slightly, clenching his jaw. His coat open to reveal that wonderfully clean and creased white shirt of his stretching over the bulges of his pectoral muscles, over what she was sure were well defined abdominals, and tucked into his trousers beneath the belt with his guns. He radiated heat, spice, and sheer presence, creating a bubble of it over her.

  Why was he being so nice? He hadn't agreed to a marriage or anything. Yet his actions made her want to trust him. Just surrender.

  That was breeder biology, her great weakness. His behavior must have been his own biological response, then. She ran her fingers under his chin, over the shaved roughness of his beard.

  "Frenulum, prepuce, clitoris," The doctor said. He moved his fingers over flesh Sasha hadn’t known could be moved. Then, there was a gentle squeeze that led to a pinch and tug that made her kick out her legs and yelp.

  This was immediately followed by a massive wave of neck-to-butt body clenching, her abdominal muscles choking her internal organs. She snapped her jaw shut and met Kane’s glittering eyes.

  Wet spattered on the floor and the doctor said, "Let me just…" before rubbing at the part he had just pinched.

  It felt good, pleasurable, a relief. But she couldn't stop the yowling noise of protest that came out. She didn't want this man touching her and making her feel good. Her hips jerked.

  "Steady. Just checking for a normal response."

  "That is enough," Kane said with a blast of ice.

  Dr. Cassington coughed. "It's normal to test for—"

  "No. It isn't. Are you blind?" Kane's words were sharp, hard bites. "This girl hasn't reached her maturation. She is still legally a child."

  Sasha was watching Kane's throat as he spoke, the movement of his Adam's apple in the strong column of his neck. Threat radiated from him, thickening the air. Stupid doctor was very close to losing his life failing to notice the guns, the sword, or the man carrying them.

  "Okay, on to the vagina then." Dr. Cassington slid his finger in, and it didn't hurt until he started pressing on Sasha’s inner walls, looking for abnormalities, he said. One hand went to her mound and pressed down while he pressed up with the finger inside her, and she gasped at the invasive discomfort.

  "Tight, closed. As it should be. Of course, she is already making a nice honey. Using the speculum now."

  He reached down. Sasha felt his hot breath exhale on her innermost flesh, which caused more clenching and more of that wet to come out of her. She'd learned a little about health exams in school, but it was not enough to prepare her for this horrible doctor or what the estrous was really like. She didn't think anything could have made her ready for this.

  "Doctor," Kane barked suddenly. "Use the small one."

  "I'm sorry, sir. Her record says to test the vagina for width and length and a healthy breeder cervix. A bit of pre-stretching does no harm. You are a big male. I assumed this was your request."

  Kane made a sound. It was a menacing, broiling growl. Much like the bark that could silence Sasha, it was the final warning of a deadly animal. "Are you the only doctor here today?"

  The stool he was sitting on creaked as Dr. Cassington shifted his body. Stuttering, he answered, "W-Well, I think—I believe Doctor Bruns is here today. He only comes in once a month, but he handles research clients.

  "Are you ready to leave the room? I knew this would be difficult for you. I feel like I need to call security. They will just escort you out."

  Kane took off his coat, laying it like a blanket over Sasha. He dipped his head toward hers, his mouth near her ear, almost touching it. Her body heated, she shivered, then that horrible cramping.

  "Sasha, close your eyes and cover your ears. Now."

  Sasha wanted to ask what he planned. His body radiated an icy, purposeful calm, something she had seen before. Was it just yesterday?

  The door opened and two men entered the little room. Using that knowing, supercilious tone again that grated on the nerves, Dr. Cassington said, "Alpha, these men will take you to the waiting area."

  Constantine Kane prowled around the table. She heard a whoosh.

  "Alpha Kane, how can we serve?" one of the new men in the room asked. Eyes closed and ears muffled, Sasha could still hear the older man clearly. He sounded like a mature alpha. Mated, his scent marked in a uniquely softened way that made him less threatening than a drone.

  "I accuse and convict this man, Doctor Cassington, of molesting and abusing his underage breeder patients."

  "Sir?"

  "Hold him," Kane demanded.

  Doctor Cassington started yelling. "What the hell? I am the doctor! I am in charge. This is my room. Let go of me! You can't let this male accuse me of this lie. No. Stop! What are you doing?" His voice escalated as his fear ramped up.

  "Sasha, ears," Kane reminded her over the doctor’s yelling.

  Sasha put her fingers in her ears, dulling the doctor’s screams. Nothing dulled the sudden shocking scent of blood, terror, and urine, though.

  Chapter 10

  He’d cut off his hands.

  Sasha had seen things. In the last two years, there was all kinds of stuff she could never unsee. Even when her father was alive, they lived in a lawless sector where violence was more common than kindness.

  But the icy justice Constantine Kane delivered with a slice of his blade outdid everything she had ever experienced. This was a male who did not tolerate liars and lawbreakers.

  The smell of the violence, his rage, the doctor's fear, and the other alpha's bloodlust response were enough to make all her senses twist and tumble.

  Unfortunately, she didn't just smell it. She could feel it, every cutting, painful, and ugly emotion from every person in the room.

  The two combined were too much. She twisted to the side of the bed and emptied the contents of her stomach. The little she’d had had for breakfast came up, and then she kept heaving, leaving her hardly able to take a breath.

  Then Kane was there. One arm went around her and the other held her hair back from her face. He bent in close and made soothing noises, calling her his beauty, telling her she was remarkable, and promising she would be better soon.

  He was so good at the comforting that an errant thought entered her mind. He would be such a good father. Maybe he didn't want a breed-mate because he already had plenty of children. Sexually active alphas produced children. He had a harem of women to give them to him, one of whom was a breeder.

  She couldn't guess his age. Alphas had a life stage that made them look between thirty and forty, and they could park at that stage for quite a while. He could have a hundred children hidden in that massive compound of his, tucked away in the halls of his beautiful home.

  As soon as the thought came, it was gone. She couldn't stop heaving and her body was clenching with a spasm that felt like it was going to crack her bones. She started to panic, unable to breathe. Then a noise seeped into ears, her head, her nerves—a soothing, warm balm.

  A masculine purr.

  She gasped and spit, trying to turn and look at the male who purred for her.

  The sound faltered, as if the owner were as surprised by it as herself. High pitched and whiny, she made noises at him not to stop. He petted her hair away from her face and wrapped her in his coat. When he brought her to his chest, the purr started again.

  They moved to a new room. He got a new nurse who helped her rinse her mouth, put on her tunic,
and gave her warm, honey sweetened tea.

  Kane had his data pad out and was working at it while making commands. He was more than just a man her father respected or Merrick hated. Everyone respected him.

  He had security locking down Dr. Cassington's office, nurses, and assistants within minutes, demanding an investigation and inspection of the entire clinic. A man in officious Administrator robes came, took notes and made promises, but Kane wanted the superior-in-charge's name and insisted they both be in his office tomorrow.

  The office where he did his head popping.

  The second nurse, Sara, was more understanding than the last one. She was also much older, a mated breeder. Her husband, Doctor Bruns, was finishing with another patient on the other side of the office before he could get to Sasha. Sara encouraged the girl into drinking two cups of the tea, a bottle of water, and a mug of meaty broth, which Sasha politely declined.

  "My dear, you need food in your stomach. Just go slow. I'm going to be getting you all kinds of medication that will help you rest comfortably at home, but you can't take it on an empty belly. You need to eat and drink every four hours. Absolutely no less than every six hours, or you will be in the emergency room with this frightening alpha of yours." Her smile was gentle and amused. "You don't want that, do you?"

  Behind them, Kane grunted. He took the soup and spoon from Sara and started feeding Sasha. She made a face at him, scrunching her nose. He tapped her nose with the spoon, then filled it and held it to her mouth. Sasha opened for him.

  Sara cooed with delight. "Oh, what a good alpha. I know your mother, sir. She is going to be thrilled."

  Sasha's mouth dropped open. Soup went in. She gulped the unexpected offering. She knew that Kane was much older than her. Maturity went along with the unbeatable dominance thing he had going on. That this giant, killer of men had such a normal mundane thing as a mother who loved him was just another in a long, long list of surprises the day had brought.

  If his loving mother was alive, he could be living the effects of her breeder blessing, which meant he could be older than her father had been when he was killed. Much older.

  "My husband will just run a couple tests to check your heart and lungs. He doesn’t trust the machines. We find that the biggest risk to a difficult first estrous has less to do with the vagina and more to do with the strain on your respiratory system and heart. If your alpha likes, we can check fertility and all of that in about two months—but you don't need that today."

  "Why did that other doctor want to do all that other stuff, then?"

  "My Bruns and I, you understand, we are only in this office about six times a year. We are working on a pet project of his and travel to different locations. So, we didn't know about what was happening here.

  "The other doctor, he was following outdated procedures and taking some liberties. He won't be doing that anymore."

  Nope. He would not. Kane had ordered that he receive no medical attention. The man was already dead.

  "I do have some questions. Your records are strange, my dear. Do you mind? Can you answer?"

  "She can," Kane answered for her.

  Sasha cut her eyes to him. Kane's cold, shuttered facial expression didn't match the weird thing that had happened to his eyes, or the way his nose flared every time the pain gripped her and that wet came out of her. There was a rigidity to his body that made it feel like he was keeping himself in check. Despite the scary beast that he was, that didn't give him the right to answer questions for her.

  He pushed more soup past her lips and looked at her pointedly.

  Sasha swallowed. "Yes. Alright."

  "Thank you. So, you made all your regular checkups as a child. But there also seems to be some injuries. Broken collar bone, broken radius, some broken fingers. Do you remember these?"

  Sasha looked at her hands. "No."

  Kane tipped her chin up with his thick finger. He offered the filled spoon again.

  "That's fine. Did you know that those injuries healed abnormally fast? It looks like your father and a drone named Silas took you to a free clinic for these appointments. It says here that they had to re-break your fingers because they healed too fast and in the wrong way. The bones were offset. Do you remember that?"

  "The re-breaking, yes. I think was eight."

  "Cause of original injury?"

  "What does it say?"

  "All of your injuries are listed as childhood accidents. I don't believe that to be true. They are very consistent with physical abuse." Sara's eyes held kindness, but her expression was determined—a woman after the truth.

  Her father had protected her mother. He felt bad about her insanity, bad about giving her a baby girl she didn't want. He said it to Sasha all the time. Maura was insane, but it wasn't her fault. They just needed to be more careful.

  It didn't matter now. Kane needed to understand the levels the woman would go to hurt Sasha. She had come to him for help, for shelter from the threat of her mother that would follow Sasha even after Maura's bones burned.

  "My mother. Do you have her records? She was clinically broken when she had me."

  "You were not born with a breeder's blessing, but with her curse," Sara confirmed.

  Sasha nodded. "That would be it."

  She grit her teeth as another wave of pain hit. It was all kinds of awful. She wanted her bed, her pillows and stuffies around her, some of those soft blankets from the tent, a dark room, and to be left alone. All these people smells, emotional waves, Kane's spice—it was an irritation on top of an agony.

  Sasha could do pain. She had dealt with pain. But she wanted to deal with it alone, not pressed in on or picked at, forced to eat and drink when she did not want to.

  "So then you healed yourself. As a little girl. Before taking a mate. You may not know this, Sasha, but that is very, very unusual. I have a few notes from your father too. They were retroactive."

  "Retroactive?"

  "He had a private file that he kept on you that unlocked after his death was recorded. Many fathers do this for their daughter's future alpha. I wish yours hadn't, though. Had we known half of what was happening in your life, the danger you were in, plus what you were capable of? You would have been removed to a safer environment. My husband would have sent the enforcers himself."

  "My dad was there. He was a great dad. He did what he could to protect me."

  Sara's eyes went to Kane's, and they silently disagreed with her.

  Feeling defensive for her father's sake, Sasha started to explain to her the depth of her mother's calculating, hateful insanity. Kane shoved a spoon of soup in her mouth and then another.

  Sara patted Sasha's knee. "In your father's notes, he records your ability to heal yourself and him as well. You even healed his hangovers." Sara chuckled. "You also took care of the drones. Your father kept a stable of them." The censure in her voice was clear, but Sasha didn't understand it.

  "Don't call them a stable. They worked for us. We have a pub, make flavored gin and honey mead."

  Kane gave her the last of the soup, slipping in the spoon before she could say more. This conversation was making him unhappy. The gold had faded from his eyes, only to be taken over with more cold.

  "They were slaves," he informed her with an air of final authority.

  Sasha shook her head in rebuttal. He had no idea what he was talking about.

  His expression was firm. "They. Were. Slaves. It is why you lived in Sector 10. Your father wanted to keep drone slaves, and there are only three sectors where that is still possible."

  "That's not true."

  "It is true. It is why I was that man's enemy."

  Sasha shook her head again. "No."

  "Yes."

  Sara gave Sasha’s knee a pat. "I need to know if you remember doing any of the healing, Sasha. If it was intentional, a gift you developed over time with use, or if it was accidental and you didn't know."

  Sasha closed her lips mulishly. She didn't want to answer any mo
re questions.

  Kane made that noise.

  "I knew!" she blurted involuntarily. Oh, this man. She didn't like him anymore. "I thought I could help. I wasn't always sure. But it was the right thing to do, anyway."

  "That is just amazing, Sasha. Simply amazing."

  Someone rapped at the door, then opened it and entered the room without waiting. A gray-haired alpha came in with a smile.

  "Sasha Dover, and you are Alpha Kane. How nice to meet you both. I am Dr. Bruns. Seems we have had a traumatic day, yes? Are you doing okay with that, miss? No hysterics at all?" He clicked his tongue.

  "On behalf of my profession, I apologize for that man. I thought we had weeded out his type. Terrible." He stayed near the door until Kane nodded.

  The Doctor relaxed, a mild loosening that Sasha wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been watching so closely. "This will only take a moment. Plus, I have your lab results. All normal for a first heat. You weren't taking the supplements, though, so that is going to make your final transition more uncomfortable, I am afraid. Did my wife have a chance to mention that?" He stopped at the sink to wash his hands.

  "We were discussing her records, dear. So interesting. You are going to want to add this amazing girl to our patient list—with Alpha Kane's permission, of course. I haven't had a chance to talk with her about what her body is going to put her through in the next six months. I'm so sorry, we got caught up in other things..."

  Sasha, bothered that neither Kane nor Sara understood about her father and mother, decided to make it clear that Kane had lost his chance to become her alpha.

  "Constantine Kane is more or less keeping me prisoner. He is not my chosen, not my bonded husband, or my contracted husband. I want to apply for the Selection. The other nurse said my dad left a list for me—I want that. As far as I know, my mother is still alive and is my legal guardian."

  Her words sucked all the air out of the room, leaving hollow stillness in their wake. The two medical professionals held their breath. They watched Kane warily, the biggest monster in the room, unpredictable and unstoppable.

  He handed the empty cup to Sara. "Can you bring more, please? Or maybe the tea?" His words felt cold and careful.