Alpha Alexandre Brutus's Point of View

My eyes whipped open as morning light filtered through my curtains.

"Please, please let that not have been the best dream of my life" I whispered as I stared up at the ceiling. I took a deep breath and turned my head to the right and downward. Terri lie there, face against the mattress. She was burrowed into my side, her arms tucked under her body. Her hair was a dark, tangled mess but she looked absolutely perfect.

Without any provocation, Terri suddenly sucked in a deep breath and rolled over, turning her back to me. On the side of her neck I saw the two small bite marks from my canines. They would eventually heal, but for now they were there for everyone to see. I felt pride fill my chest.

As quietly and with as little movement as possible, I got out of bed and went to my bathroom to shower. When I got out, she was still asleep, practically taking up the entire bed. I chuckled to myself and got dressed. I wrote a short note and stuck it to the inside of the door. As I left my room, I glanced at her one more time before I shut the door.

I grabbed my car keys from the key bowl and headed out the door. It was my goal to be back at the house before she woke up. I drove to her house in my Ferrari and quickly packed up as much of her clothes, school things, and personal items as possible. It's a good thing she had so many large bags. Various shapes and sizes of multi colored prints and patterns decorated each bag. To be honest, I felt a little emasculated carrying them to my car.

"What the heck is Vara Breadlay anyways?" I muttered as I loaded the fourth and final bag into my car. I'd have to remember that she liked that brand for future gifts.

I sped back to the House as quickly as possible. As I bustled into my room with all four bags, I realized Terri was not asleep any longer. I heard the shower running and music playing. I gently placed all of the bags on to the bed and turned on my tv. I put on one of my favorite movies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and sat on the edge of my bed. About twenty minutes into the movie, I heard the shower turn off. Not long after that, Terri opened the door and came out in one of my large bathroom towels.

"Oh!" she gasped and grasped at her heart, "You scared me".

"I'm sorry" I said with a smile. She walked over to the bed and looked inside one of the bags.

"It's ok. Thank you for getting some things for me" she said, brushing a string of wet hair behind her ear.

"You're welcome. I thought it would be a good idea. I'm glad you saw the note" I told her.

"At first I didn't... And I was seriously considering killing you for not being here this morning when I woke up. But then I saw the sticky note and I decided you were worth forgiving" she said in a teasing tone and kissed me lightly on the lips.

I could definitely get used to having a mate.

"Get out, I need to change" she said with a smug smile.

"What? Really? But we just-" I stuttered aghast.

"Get out" she said again and pointed at the door.

I scowled at her but turned and left anyways. As I closed the door, I realized it would be good if I made breakfast. I meandered my way to the kitchen, as if I had not a care in the world.

It wasn't until I was in the middle of making an omelet that I realized I did have a care. My mate wanted to track down and kill a homicidal, trafficking gang leader who had mind controlled shifters as body guards. The urge to take back all of the support and positive words I had given for this plan was immense. If she found this Vladimir and his boss, she could be kidnapped or killed. To have finally reached this point with her only to have her taken away from me was... unimaginable. I would end up and embittered, volatile man like my father. I would-

"Stop this thinking. Now" my wolf interjected.

"How can I stop?" I thought back, "It's the truth".

"She's not going to die. And even if, on the off chance, she did, you would never become your father. Ever."

"Hey" Terri said from behind me. I turned to look at her and found her wearing sweats rolled up to the knees and a cut up T-shirt too large for her. Her wet hair was thrown up in a messy bun and she had a bright yellow headband on. She looked ready for a triathlon.

"Hey, what do you like on your omelet?" I asked.

"Bell peppers, onions, and cheese" she said, coming over to me with a curious expression.

"That's it? Where's the meat?" I queried.

"The eggs" she shot me the 'I can't believe you just asked me that' face.

"Whatever" I muttered with an eye roll. "What's with the get up?" I asked.

"This is my 'determined to work' outfit. We're making plans of attack today. And I want them executed in a couple days" she said, getting another plate down for her omelet.

"Yeah" I sighed, " a couple of days".

***

"So it's underground?" Terri asked Natasha. We were in the meeting room that was adjoined to my office. Terri had me send out a mental message to Nate, Natasha, Beta Andrew, Jason, Sophie, the Twins, and Sienna so they would meet to discuss the best plan of attack.

"Yes. The entire installation is underground. There are three ways in, here, here, and here" Natasha indicated the entrances on the schematic she had drawn. Terri stood straight up and tucked a stubborn piece of hair behind her ear. She had decided to let her hair down in an effort to hide my "embarrassing" bite mark. When she had seen it in the mirror, she blushed seven shades of red and yelled at me for five minutes. I got a little mad when she called it a supernatural hickey, but decided to let it go because she was just having a 'girly' moment. It didn't matter whether she hid it or not. Any shifter was going to be able to tell she was mine since she now smelled like me.

"Which one has the closest access to Vladimir?"

"This one" Natasha said, fingering the spot that lie deepest in the forest.

"Ok, so we need to completely destroy these to entrances so that he can't escape and we can't be ambushed" Terri continued.

"I agree" Natasha nodded. "Vladimir sleeps here in this room. It's about twenty feet from the room where he does all his business, so if we come in that door, he's going to be within easy access".

"How do we make sure he's in when we go to attack?" I asked.

"Every Tuesday, Vladimir has a phone call from his boss at seven o' clock. That's when we attack" Natasha answered me.

"How do you know so much?" I asked skeptically.

"When you have nothing to look forward to but your death or your revenge, you start planning very effectively how you're going to kill your captors" Natasha said with cutthroat veracity.

I nodded at her and she returned her attention to the table. I turned to look at Terri and found her in deep, personal conversation with Nate. They were whispering to each other, her brow furrowed and Nate had his arms crossed over his chest as he muttered to her. I glared at them, trying to figure out what Nate was saying that was making her so distressed. Terri looked up at Nate and nodded deftly, then looked at me.

"How many guards does Vladimir keep near him?" Terri asked. She slowly and casually made her way to my side. She took one step to her right, placing her body halfway in front of mine. She stepped back slightly, leaning her body against my taller frame. I placed my hand on her left hip and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"He keeps about thirty guards of all types of shifters. Lions and hyenas, like you've seen, as well as tigers, dingos, wolves, et cetera" Natasha said after looking at the two of us closely. It seemed the whole room was confused and unsure as to what to do about our actions.

"How many people should we take?" Terri asked, turning and looking up at me.

"Fifteen, but only a small group will go inside the bunker" I said. We had superior fighters and preemptive strive on our hands. I had confidence that's all we would need.

"I agree" Beta Andrew finally put in his opinion. "Fifteen should be enough to take down the outside guard".

"Most of the guard are posted outside the facility. But the few that are inside will be tougher to fight as we'll be in a confined space and they'll know the layout better" Natasha added.

"Well I'm going in to the bunker" Terri said sternly. "So is he" she gestured with her thumb at me. I had to fight cracking a smile at her possessive statement.

"I'm going" Nate said instantly.

"Alright" Terri said with a nod. "And you, please" Terri asked of Natasha. "We need someone inside who knows the complex". Natasha nodded, despite the sour look on her mates face.

"I will lead the group that stays outside of the bunk, for protection. I want Jason and Sienna with me. I'm the most comfortable with their fighting styles" Beta Andrew said.

Jason looked like he was about to object but I quickly opened my mouth.

"I think that's a good idea. I'd feel safer knowing some of our strongest fighters are there for backup". Jason glared at me for a few seconds but let the subject go.

"I'll go in the bunker"
"I'll stay outside" William and Brett said simultaneously.

William looked at Brett, who had chosen to go in the Bunker, and nodded calmly.

I knew exactly why Brett chose to go underground, and it would have pissed me off a hundred times over, except that Terri was in my arms and she was my claimed mate now.

"I'm not that great of a fighter so I think I should stay on the outside..." Sophie said quietly.

"Alright, Andrew we need to sit down and choose another five members to go with us. Terri, Nate, Natasha, Brett, and I will go into the complex to get Vladimir" I said with finality.

"Then in two days, we attack..." and Terri ran through the execution of the plan for the next hour.