Alpha Jasper

Thea

My dad’s at the dinner table when I step back inside. He’s a bit balding, and there’s a scruff of dark hair on his chin that’s trying to be a beard. We look alike, though. Everyone says we have the same nose, and our eyes share the same dark tint around the edges.

He smiles and puts his newspaper down on the table, giving me a peek at the front page. Jessica’s face is blown up big, with a scary headline and probably a nasty story about how she was depressed and it was suicide. If the town buys that, then there won’t be any rumors, and everything will be okay.

“Hey honey,” he says, looking at me over his reading glasses. I give him a warm smile and drop my backpack on one of the dining room chairs as I sit down across from him.

“I was just at June’s,” I lie. No need to bring up Casper.

Dad stands, tucking the newspaper under his arm as he heads to the kitchen. “You look cold. Want a drink?”

“Sure,” I say, rubbing my hands together. He doesn’t know I got here in someone else’s car, instead of walking all the way from June’s. I know he hates that I took a route so close to the Phantom Forest.

Dad’s in the kitchen for a bit, boiling water, getting the tea ready. Meanwhile, I kick off my shoes and hang my jacket on the back of the chair.

“Someone else went missing today,” Dad calls from the kitchen, making my blood run cold. “A boy, this time.”

This is the third person to disappear from town. It can’t be a coincidence. “Who?”

“Ryan Connolly,” Dad says. I close my eyes, a mental picture of the young boy filling my mind. Another one I went to school with.

His family is super rich, living in the best neighborhood, giving him the best clothes and car. He wasn’t a jock, but his money bought him popularity, and even girls.

“What do his parents think?” I ask cautiously. Ryan’s parents are big shots in this town, practically running the place.

Sometimes, we think his dad thinks he’s the stand-in Alpha, since no one took over the role after Jasper’s dad.

Dad chuckles. “Your boyfriend and his dad, along with half the town, are out looking for him.”

My dad adores Luca. Adores him. They get along so well they should be the ones dating.

My dad was the one who introduced me to Luca, letting us date right away, unlike other boys I’d shown interest in before.

“Apparently a guy just moved into the estate in the Phantom Forest. They might bring him in for questioning,” Dad says, setting my tea in front of me. Casper...

He wouldn’t be the reason they’re missing, would he?

I take a sip of my tea. “I guess it’s the only lead.”

I look down into my cup, surprised by the bitter taste it leaves in my mouth. Not the refreshing, tannin taste I’m used to.

And just as I swallow, my heart drops as I realize what’s in the cup.

Thick, black... almost like I’m drinking straight oil.

I put the teacup down slowly, trying not to scream. Trying not to cry out. Casper warned me. But this is my dad; he wouldn’t poison me.

“Like your tea? It’s new, supposed to calm nerves,” my dad says. His words hit me like a punch to the gut. He’s lying to me, right through his coffee-stained teeth.

My own dad just gave me a sedative, and he won’t admit it.

I can’t react. I can’t.

“I think I’ll go to bed,” I say carefully, already feeling my tongue getting heavy and pasty in my mouth.

He really did it. He really drugged his own daughter.

“Tired?” he asks innocently, locking eyes with me. I nod, standing slowly so I don’t fall.

Whatever he gave me, it’s working fast. It feels like it’s starting at my feet, weighing them down, before creeping up my legs.

He says ‘goodnight’ but I don’t reply. All I can think about is ‘why’. Why would he drug me? What does he want to do with me?

I need to get out of here, now, before I find out the answers without even knowing.

I slam my bedroom door behind me, stumbling over heavy feet, feeling like I’m wading through water.

I fall onto the bed, my arms struggling to pull myself up enough to grab my phone.

Luca will come here... He’ll save me.

I try to text, but my eyes are blurring, and my thumbs won’t move, like my brain has cut itself off from my body.

I have to crawl on my hands and knees to the bathroom, bending over the toilet to stick my fingers down my throat to throw up the tea.

After I rinse out my mouth four times, I drag my numb legs back to my room, before dizziness hits me like a truck, and I face-plant into unconsciousness.

I wake up once. I fight through a heavy fog clouding my mind, catching the sound of two familiar voices. Still on my bed, I peek through the crack in my bedroom door.

Luca and my dad are there, deep in a heated conversation.

“Now?”

“I had no choice.”

“Why? Why rush the next stage so fast?”

“He’s here. That damn man will ruin everything if he finds her. He’ll take her from us, because she belongs to him.”

I don’t need to hear anymore. I need to get out of here. And the window is my only option.

The one sip I took must not have been enough to keep me unconscious, because I can feel myself coming back to normal, as I quietly force my window open.

Still talking, Luca and Dad don’t notice me clumsily forcing my body through the window.

I collapse onto my stomach, the impact nearly knocking the wind out of me. The second they realize I’ve escaped, they’ll be after me, ready to do who knows what.

As my head clears, I manage to get to my feet. The drug I’d vomited up is slowly leaving my system. I’m free... but... where do I go now?

My boyfriend has betrayed me... and so has my dad. I don’t know which betrayal hurts more.

June's place. I can trust her. I circle the house, finding the path that leads to her home. I can run there, and never look back.

But then there’s the morning—half the police force is in on this.

Tears stream down my face, unstoppable. My mind is a jumbled mess, unable to form a coherent thought. Except one. Casper. He knew about the tea, and that someone would give it to me.

He even tested me, and I failed.

Suddenly, a wave of nausea hits me. The drug is still in my system, and it feels like it’s launching a second attack.

I drop to my knees in the middle of the path, confusion washing over me.

And then I see him.

He’s standing among the trees, shadows wrapping around his limbs, his eyes more violet than I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t look real—like he’s the embodiment of magic itself.

It seems to radiate from him in dark tendrils of the night.

Casper.

He looks almost disappointed to see me here, in the middle of the woods at night. Casper strides forward and kneels down in front of me.

His hands are encased in shiny leather gloves, seamlessly blending into the sleeves of his dress shirt. Why is he dressed so formally in the middle of the night?

Wait... “Why are you here?”

My voice is hoarse, sounding strange against the soft sounds of the night. And when Casper’s smooth voice fills the air, I sound even more unhinged.

“Why did you drink it? I warned you,” Casper murmurs, brushing my hair back with his gloved fingers. I shiver. He’s avoiding my question, and somehow, I know better than to push it.

“I didn’t expect it,” I admit, meeting his violet gaze.

Casper stands, glancing over my shoulder and sighing. I manage to get to my feet, swaying dramatically.

Thankfully, Casper steadies me, his hands gripping my shoulders to keep me from falling flat on my ass again.

“Why him?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper. “Why my own father?”

Casper looks grim. If he just happened to be in the woods at the same time as me, he might know why my own father decided to drug me. And maybe why Luca is involved too.

“Because of me,” he admits. “He was going to take you to a place so desolate, so isolated, you’d never escape, never see the sun again.”

His words stun me. So cold, so blunt. But what scares me the most is that he doesn’t flinch, standing by his brutally honest words.

“Why because of you? What did you do to him?” For a moment, it looks like he won’t answer, as he starts leading me down the path.

“I did nothing to him. It’s about what I will do to him,” Casper says cryptically. I frown, not quite understanding what he means.

He looks down at me as we walk. “I’ve been lying to you about a few things.”

“Like what?” I ask cautiously.

I’ve been lied to by so many people, and now, I don’t know who I can trust. My own father lied. My boyfriend.

Everyone I love and care about is turning against me, and I don’t even know why.

“My name, for starters,” he says. Casper isn’t his real name?

Suddenly, the sound of someone shouting echoes through the forest. We exchange glances, instantly aware of the other presence in the forest.

“We need to go,” Casper, or whoever he is, insists. He grabs my hand, the leather of his glove feeling strange.

He starts pulling me away from the source of the shout.

The abrupt change in direction and the urgency to move makes my head spin, the drug I’d taken earlier starting to take effect again.

“I can’t,” I gasp, my feet skidding on the path. “I might pass out again.”

And I’m right. Because as Casper turns to me, my vision blurs, and I know I won’t be able to stop myself from blacking out.

And the last thing I remember before darkness takes over is Casper catching me in his arms.

“I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I’ll protect you, I promise…”