A hard, quick knock on the door saved him from having to answer.

But the sly smile blooming on the Alpha's face told him it wasn’t anything he was going to like on the other side.

"Enter," Alpha Trevor barked.

The door opened to reveal Mervin and Valmer, the two enforcers, each holding someone with a sack over their head. They didn’t even step into the room, just threw the people they were holding inside and shut the door again, locking it with a harsh snick.

"The last party guests have arrived."

The people on the floor carefully got to their feet and slowly tore off the sack from over their head. Remy knew even before he saw their faces who they were—his mother and Hank. They had tape over their mouths, but as they reached up to remove it Alpha Trevor growled fiercely.

His mother's eyes widened, and to his credit, Hank stepped forward and in front of his mother, shielding her from the more dominant wolf and not backing down.

"Why are they here?" He had to talk louder to be heard over the screaming vampire. As heartless as it sounded, Remy knew he had to tune the vampire out and focus.

"To make sure you do as you are told."

Remy tried edging over to his mother and stepfather, but Alpha Trevor's gaze narrowed on him, and he saw the Alpha's teeth had elongated and sharpened into deadly canines.

"Do you know there are three things that identify an Alpha before they mature?"

Remy froze. His wolf stilled, too.

His mother shrieked behind the tape and tried to get out from behind Hank, but his stepfather stood firm, not letting her get around him to face the crazy Alpha.

"No," he answered shakily.

"They are always born in a single birth, they can shift with amazing speed and the last thing, the most important thing. They are immune to other Alphas’ dominance," Alpha Trevor snarled, advancing towards his mother.

"Don't!" Remy didn’t know what the hell to make out of everything the Alpha had said. Okay, sure, he ticked the first two boxes since he was born without littermates and his shift had been coming faster and easier every time he ran with the pack. But the last one was stopping him cold.

No one could refuse an Alpha's order. But a few minutes ago, Trevor had given him an order and he hadn’t felt compelled to carry out the terrible acts against the vampire. Remy had expected to be forced into doing things he didn’t want to, but if he looked back and analyzed his feelings there had been nothing inside his head but fear and anger. The Alpha voice hadn’t affected him.

Holy fucking shit on a stick.

Alpha Trevor spun around and screamed in his face before heading towards his mother again. Remy didn’t even think before he grabbed the Alpha's arm.

"Remember my promise, pup," Alpha Trevor spat, wrenching free of Remy's hold.

He looked over to his mother—her eyes were wide and panicked.

Had she known? Was it true—what Alpha Trevor said? It couldn’t be, though. He wasn’t an Alpha. Remy would know if he was an Alpha.

Sure, his wolf had been getting a bit more dominant over the last few months, especially around the full moon, but it couldn’t be because he was an Alpha. Shifters weren’t controlled by the moon as portrayed in popular stories, but they were still children of the moon, so they had a certain reverence for the silver circle it he sky. And their animals were much closer to the surface, too.

He'd started shifting faster and faster when he wanted to run as a wolf, his change slipping over him like another skin in mere seconds compared to the minutes it took other shifters.

Alpha.

He rolled the word in his mind, tasting it. Remy was a leader, people in the garage looked up to him and he tried to look after his family and friends as best he could. But did that mean he was an Alpha, or just that he had some leader personality traits?

"Alpha Trevor, please…"

"No. The time for talking in over. You refused my order to break the vampire and now your family will pay the price. I think I'll start with your bitch of a mother. I always did fancy having a go on that ass.” Alpha Trevor growled, leering at his mother. "Betas!"

Immediately the betas and enforcers filed into the room. The enforcers grabbed Hank, dragging him away from his mother. Sam and Sean marched up to him, eyeing Remy with gleeful expressions. "We've been promised your head, fagwolf."

Remy only spared them a glance as Alpha Trevor stormed over to his mother and grabbed her by the hair, throwing her to the floor and following her down.

His wolf bucked at his control and he growled. "Don’t. Touch. My. Mother." His voice was deadly quiet and even the Betas hesitated before they came any closer, but only for a second. Sean took a swing at him, the punch connecting with his jaw, while Sam kicked him in the stomach. The blows felled him and he collapsed to his knees as his vision blacked out for a few seconds. The Betas continued hitting him, stopping him from getting up when he tried.

Valmer came over to join in the beating, striking him with the force of a freight train. They were betas and enforcers for a reason. And they were damn strong motherfuckers. The strength of a kick to his ribs lifted him off the floor.

"Urgh!"

He spat out a mouthful of blood onto the beige carpet and tried to catch his breath. His wolf was desperate to get out. But if he shifted, then there was no hope of this being resolved without severe bloodshed and or death.

"You think you're so special, strutting around in your pansy car. You're nothing.” Sean spat, blowing putrid breath in his face.

Remy took advantage of the break in between hits and tried to jump to his feet, but he didn’t get as far as standing straight before Sam's fist smashed into his gut. It sent him crashing back to the floor with a grunt, clutching his stomach.

He could hear the vampire struggling in the chains. And he could hear Hank's mumbled shouting behind the taped mouth. But the sound that tore through him was his mother's cry—she sounded scared and hurt.

With every breath, his body ached, but he dragged himself around so he could see his mother. She lay on the floor on her back with her hands held down at her sides as Alpha Trevor leaned over her and licked her face, laughing as she tried to fight him.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Remy let every bit of wildness within him free.