Max

As I watched Willow deal with them, I will admit my cock jerked a little. She took control and looked so strong for the first time since I met her. Don't get me wrong, she looked cute before but now, she looked sexy. 

"Enough of this!" Alpha Nicholas shouted as he rose from his seat. 

He advanced on Willow and I quickly pulled her behind me. I could feel her shaking hands gripping my shirt. Had her father beaten her? Why was she so scared of him?

"How dare you all come here and interfere with my pack! If your ingrate of a son," he shouted pointing at my father. "Hadn't got in the way, Willow would be mated to her true mate and all of this …."

"Enough!" 

We all turned to Beta Jesse as he moved to stand in front of his alpha, challengingly. 

"How dare you!" Alpha Nicholas seethed.

He took a menacing step towards his Beta but Beta Jesse stood his ground and didn't flinch. 

"You told her to refuse her mate, long before they showed up. You neglected your duties both as an alpha and as a father. You made your own daughter a servant in her own home! You put the safety and security of this pack at risk just to pamper your lazy and self-entitled mate!" he growled. "This is no one's fault but your own!" 

Beta Jesse took a rather deep breath and closed the already small space between them.

"Alpha Nicholas, I challenge you for the role of Alpha of the SilverClaw pack."

We all gasped. He was a beta, how could he expect to win against an alpha? 

"Challenge accepted!" he growled. "You'll regret this and when you lose I will make you and your family pay dearly for betraying me."

We all followed them outside. Willow clung to me as he joined the forming circle around her father and Beta. My father came up next to us and patted her shoulder. 

"Don't worry Willow," he smiled. "Beta Jesse has been training with his warriors. He's skilled, I am sure he will win this."

She nodded but I was sure she wasn't convinced entirely. I gripped her hand and tried to give her a reassuring smile. 

We watched as they both shifted. The Beta was smaller than the Alpha but as the fight started it was clear he was faster. Obviously, the alpha hadn't kept up with his own training, yet demanded his men train or be punished. 

Beta Jesse kept his pace almost effortlessly, not allowing Alpha Nicholas close enough to get a good hold. He'd caught him a few times and we'd panicked at one point when we noticed blood on his fur but he recovered quickly. 

I noticed Alpha Nicholas starting to tire, I glanced at my father and he smirked. Beta Jesse was intentionally tiring him out, it was the only way to take down a bigger enemy if you couldn't overpower them.

As soon as there was an opening, Beta Jesse flew at Alpha Nicholas and gripped him tightly around his neck. The alpha was defeated and he knew it. He tried to thrash and break free but it was no use, Beta Jesse had won. A beta had beaten an alpha. 

The pack cheered as they shifted back, both panting heavily. The air shifted around us and we could all feel our wolves reacting to the change. Beta … no, Alpha Jesse stared down at his defeated opponent. 

"This is my pack now, your children are welcome to stay but you and your mate must leave."

"I'm not leaving!" the former Luna Megan called out. 

"You have no choice, your mate is banished from this pack. Even if you stayed, I doubt you would be welcomed within the pack given how you have treated everyone. However, I may change my mind if someone speaks up for you."

She scanned the crowd expectantly but no one spoke up. Some even turned their backs on her. She turned to Willow and glared. 

"At least you should say something, after everything I've done for you! I took you as my own, fed you, clothed you and this is the thanks I get."

Willow stepped forward with her hand still clasped in mine. 

"You've done nothing for me Luna!" her voice shook a little. "I've fed and clothed myself. You forced me to do the job you were meant to do, you bullied me into doing everything you asked whilst giving me nothing in return. If I didn't do it then you would lie to Father and even when I did, you still would tell Father I hadn't."

She took a deep breath and took another step forward, releasing my hand. 

"Do you remember when I'd gotten sick because of all the late nights, early mornings and barely eating throughout the day? I'd overslept and that meant breakfast wasn't ready. You came into my room screaming and dragged me from my bed. I could barely stand, so you left me. The next thing I knew, Father was coming into my room. He slapped me and banned me from eating for the rest of the week, that was a Monday."

I glared at her father and wanted to rip his arm off. My father's hand on my shoulder was the only thing that stopped me. That and the countless shocked gasps we heard. 

"I was still ordered to cook and clean and you watched me making sure I didn't eat. I was forced to sneak some scraps off people's plates just so that I wouldn't pass out. The punishment would only get worse if I did."

"I found out why I'd received that punishment after it ended. You'd lied and told Father that I had refused to cook breakfast and when you asked nicely I spat in your face. You'd do that a lot, telling him I'd done things I hadn't so he would punish me."

"Willow?" Alpha Jesse's voice sounded so quiet, that we almost missed it. "I didn't know it was….."

She stopped him by placing a hand on his arm and smiling up at him. 

"It's ok, Alpha," she said with pride in her voice. "No one knew and I made sure as well. At first, I did it in the stupid hopes that my father would see me, but then I focused on the idea that I could escape when I graduated. I would be free then and they would be screwed. When Father refused to let me go to college and I didn't get the scholarship, I lost hope. Now I am free, thanks to you, Max and the others from his pack."

I took a step forward at that point and held out my hand for her. She happily took it and I beamed. I hadn't felt this happy and content since the first moment I saw my mate. 

"I promise to make it right Willow, I will do everything in my power to make sure you get the life you should have had all along," he promised. 

"She is my daughter!" her father growled. 

"Since when?" he growled back. "You've never seen her as your daughter before, so why now? Willow is old enough to decide her own life. You and the rest of your family must leave!"

"No!" We heard two little cries call out as they rushed up and gripped Willow around the waist. "We don't want to leave Willow!"

She hugged them and smiled.

"Why don't you want to leave her?" Alpha Jesse asked. 

"She's the only one that looks after us. She feeds us, makes sure we are clean and helps us with our school work!" one cried. 

"I like it when she reads to us," the other whimpered.

"Doesn't your mother do that? I've seen her spend lots of time and money on you," he asked. 

They shook their heads. 

"Their mother only has time for them when it's to hurt me, or to show off," Willow explained. 

"How dare you! I never have!" 

"Yes, you did!" the braver of the two shouted. "You told us to order Willow to do things for us, to be mean to her. You said if we did then you would buy us things, anything we wanted. You said the pack gives you money to spend on us but you'll only do it if we do what you say."

"Why you traitorous little …!"

"Stay back!" Willow growled, clutching the twins.

"The twins and Willow will stay here. Guards, take the former Alpha and Luna to collect a few items before taking them to the border. If either of you return here you will face death."

Although their faces weren't showing it, the guards gladly dragged them both away. Nicholas simply glared whilst the former Luna kicked and screamed, demanding she be allowed to stay and that everyone will pay for this!

"Can we really stay with you WIllow?" 

"Of course you can Ben, you both can."