Taken by the Alpha

Clarice Mont

“Does she need surgery?” Kim’s voice, filled with terror, bounced off the walls of the small room. Clarice looked at her mother, her eyes swollen and bloodshot from crying.

Her nose, though still slightly crooked, had stopped bleeding. Her face and shirt were smeared with dried blood from earlier.

Nathaniel held his daughter’s tiny hand, his eyes flicking to her nose with a hint of anger. “No, Mrs. Mont. Given that your daughter has her wolf, her nose should heal on its own in a day or two,” the healer explained. He stood next to Kim, clipboard in hand, adjusting his glasses to better read the papers in front of him.

Kim let out a sigh. “She just shifted recently. Will that affect her healing abilities? Does she need to stay overnight?”

The healer glanced at Clarice, who sat quietly on the hospital bed, then back at Kim. “Even though her shift was recent, it doesn’t matter. As long as she has her wolf, she’ll be fine...” His voice trailed off, waiting for Kim to ask more questions.

“Does she need to stay overnight?” Kim asked again, her gaze filled with worry as she looked at her daughter.

“That’s up to you. If you want her to stay for nightly check-ups and discharge her tomorrow, that’s fine. If not, that’s also fine.”

Clarice sighed. “Mom.” Her voice was hoarse from all the crying.

Everyone turned to look at her. She hadn’t spoken since they arrived.

“Yes, honey,” Kim said, moving closer to her. Nathaniel watched her, his eyes wide with concern.

Clarice cleared her throat. “I don’t want to stay overnight. Please discharge me now.”

Kim sighed, her eyes meeting Nathaniel’s. She was asking him, through their mind-link, if they should do as their daughter asked.

“Sweetheart, maybe it’s best to stay here tonight. Just in case you have some pain,” Nathaniel suggested, his hand moving soothingly up and down her arm.

Clarice sat up straighter, wincing at the pain. Her mother gasped, but Clarice’s quick smile reassured her.

“The healer said I’ll be fine in a day or two, and that I can go home. Please, I don’t like it here,” she pleaded, her brows furrowed. She tried not to move her lips too much, as any movement caused her pain.

“Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Mont, she really can go home,” the healer confirmed, knowing it would take more than his word to convince these worried parents.

“Fine. If you say so.”

As they strolled back home—which wasn’t far since everything was within the same grounds—Clarice found herself instinctively reaching for her mother’s hand. It was a gesture she seldom made these days, and her mother responded with a melancholy smile, old memories stirring within them both.

“Clarice...” her father began, his voice trailing off into a sigh. His shoulders slumped as they walked. It was around nine o’clock, and the sky had surrendered to the night, speckled with tiny points of starlight.

“You understand that I’ll have to pull you out of training, right?” he continued, striving to keep his voice steady and slow, hoping to prevent his daughter from becoming too upset. Despite his efforts, she was visibly angry, pulling away from her mother and shooting her father a fierce glare that only made her look more innocent.

“No! This was just one accident, and it was bound to happen! Please, this is the only thing I have, and I love it!” she pleaded, her hand flying to her left cheek to soothe the throbbing pain beneath her bruised skin.

Her father noticed her gesture immediately. “Look at you! Look at how bad you look right now! I told you this would happen, and we agreed that if it did, you would—”

“I know! I remember. But please, I'm begging you!” she interrupted, grabbing his hand and shaking it, desperate for him to understand.

“Clarice! You’re just a kid. You’re not ready for this kind of thing! Especially not training!”

Clarice recoiled from her father as if she’d been burned, and her mother gasped beside her. It was clear that Nathaniel’s words had deeply hurt her.

“Nathaniel Mont!” Kim exclaimed, her voice filled with anger. She placed her hand on her husband’s forearm, attempting to pull him back a step.

“No! She needs to hear this, Kim. She’s not ready! Just look at her. Look at her face! If she really wanted to train, she wouldn’t have cried on the training grounds earlier. She would have gotten back up!”

Clarice flinched, her eyes welling up with tears and her arms crossing over her chest. She fought to keep her shoulders from shaking.

“Nate,” Kim warned, her voice a low growl. Nathaniel shrugged her off, stepping closer to their daughter.

“I know what’s best for you, sweetheart. This isn’t it. If you were ready to train, you’d have healed instantly. But look at you, you look—”

“Hideous? I know!” Clarice interrupted, her voice rising in pitch. “I look broken, don’t I? Like I did last night?” Her words were punctuated by hiccups, her chest heaving with each one.

Nathaniel’s brows furrowed in concern. Kim cast her eyes downward, shaking her head.

“If you knew what was best for me, Daddy, you’d know that training and being outside of my own house is what’s best for me!” Clarice’s words came out in harsh pants, her sobs breaking through.

Nathaniel opened his mouth to respond, but Clarice beat him to it. “You’ve treated me like a baby my whole life! But look at me…” She pointed to her grown body, emphasizing her height by raising her chin to meet his gaze. Her eyes were glossy with unshed tears.

“I’m not a baby anymore! It’s time you realized that! I’m sorry for yelling, but you have to understand. I’m tired of this! Tired of feeling like an outcast, like I’m incapable of anything!”

“It hurts!” she finished, her voice gruff and hoarse. She struggled to catch her breath, her chest heaving with each loud pant.

Kim watched the dispute silently, her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face.

Nathaniel stepped closer to Clarice, his own frown mirroring Kim’s. He scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit. “I know. I’m sorry. I know, but you’re my baby, I—”

Clarice groaned loudly, the sound more like a strangled cry. She stepped away from her father, causing him to flinch in surprise. “Enough!” she yelled, turning on her heel. Just like last time, she ran as far away from her parents as she could.

She heard their desperate pleas for her to come back, their footsteps echoing behind her. But she only ran faster, ignoring whatever else her father had to say.

She couldn’t deal with them right now. Not with the throbbing pain in her nose.

And so, she found herself running into the same woods as before—the ones that had gotten her into so much trouble.