A week after the meeting and pack vote, Sophie made her way down to the kitchen to begin her morning worship of the Goddess that is coffee. After filling the largest mug she could find Sophie sat at the large scarred wooden table and slowly sipped the heavenly brew and waited for the caffeine jolt to kick in.

Sophie and Zack had both been interviewed more than once but the council Alphas in the course of their investigation. They had mentioned both of Zack's parents had been questioned. She would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during those. But she was quite sure anything they said would be lies to cover their own asses.

She and Zack had continued to spend most of their time together in the last week working on her wolf. The increase in her senses and strength amazed her. Even though she still could not shift, she felt her wolf within stronger than she had in years. And she also knew it was thanks to Zack that her wolf was coming back to her. It had brought them a closeness that she did not expect.

Although they were still sleeping in separate rooms, she could honestly say they were building the foundations of what could be a strong mating. If she had intended to stay with him, she knew they could have eventually been happy.

In the days since they had completed the mating her wolf had continued to grown stronger and stronger in the presence of her mate. And as it should be, she was drawing strength from the mate bond to heal her wolf. And she would continue to strengthen as the continued contact with Zack fed her pack and bond starved wolf. The body and soul she shared with her wolf was almost whole again.

Humans had always misunderstood how the whole male/female wolf bond worked. Scientists, who were interviewed when the existence of shifters became known, speculated that the wolf was an entirely separate entity from the person it inhabited. They even had the idea that the wolf could talk to its other half.

But in reality their speculation and supposition couldn't be further from the truth. Yes in some ways a wolf shifter could communicate with its human half, but only in so far as to express emotion and in sometimes a.....knowing? Like when you meet your mate. The human part of the shifter could feel if his or her wolf was angry, sad, happy or confused and the wolf could also feel the emotion of the human side. But as for holding a conversation with your wolf half, yeah they put people in institutions for thinking that shit.

The reality is that although they could have separate feeling and thoughts a wolf and it's human counterpart were very much one entity. They were just two very different sides of the same coin. Two souls in one body.

Sophie couldn't be happier that her wolf was gaining strength. But with that returning health came the problem. Her wolf wanted her mate! She wanted to be close to him all the time. She wanted to rub up against him and mark him with her scent to warn other females away, and have him mark her. Again.

Her wolf didn't understand why they weren't together all the time and was pulling at Sophie constantly to go and find her mate. And it was getting harder to fight her. It surprised her just how strong her wolf had become in such a short period of time. Her mother had always told her that she would be an Alpha female one day. She always talked to Sophie about how strong her wolf was and that she would have to work harder than her friends to control her wolf.

And she had. She spent time with her father every evening after dinner, learning how to coexist with her other half, how to channel the strength of her wolf. When they died and she moved here, her wolf was only just beginning to mature. That's why her torturer had found it so easy to subdue her. He had not only beat the fight out of the human side but out of her wolf also.

But under the influence of the mate bond, her wolf was almost back to full strength.

After refilling her mug for the second time, Sophie began to feel the effects of the caffeine slowly sweeping away the sleep deprived cobwebs from her mind and she sighed contentedly.

It was eerily silent in the large pack house, and she wondered where Zack was this early in the morning. Thanks to her recently enhanced senses she knew he wasn't in the house

As her mind drifted, she almost jumped out of her skin when a loud banging broke the silence. Realising it was coming from the front door of the pack house Sophie quickly made her way there and threw open the door.

"Keep your fur on! Jeez you almost broke the door down, what's wrong?" She asked, as she threw the door open to see one of the young pack females.

"Phena! You have to come quick. The alpha went into town and Ron is going to hurt Beth! You have to come now! You have to stop him. We can't find any of the Betas, they must be on patrol. Please Phena you have to stop him." She sobbed almost incoherently.

"Calm down, I can't understand you, what's that about Ron?" Asked Sophie.

"He is going hurt Beth! You have to come now!" The young female grabbed Sophie's arm and began dragging her out the door, still trying to explain what was happening. "Beth told her dad she was moving out of home to stay with some of us and he went postal! She ran out of the house but he chased her and caught up with her beside the gathering hall. I think he is gonna kill her Phena. Please hurry!"

Horror at the thought of the gentle submissive young female at the hands of her asshole father gave speed to haste and they quickly arrived at a scene of chaos. Around twenty pack members stood around the arguing father and daughter each one shouting their opinion on the disturbance. Sophie could tell it was escalating quickly. The air was becoming think with hostility as Ron's cronies verbally warred with many of his daughters friends.

Sophie pushed her way to the center of the crowd just as all hell broke loose. Before she could get to him Ron lifted his hand and slapped his daughter across the face and she fell to the ground, dazed and obviously injured.

Rage like nothing Sophie had ever felt before surged through her at the sight of the poor female lying at her feet. Ron still hadn't noticed her arrival and began screaming at his daughter to get up and get home where she belonged. Whether he didn't realise, or didn't care, how badly he had hurt her when she didn't move he stepped forward and made to grab her.

Sophie's wolf didn't like that! She didn't like that at all. An enraged growl tore from Sophie's human throat, louder than should have been possible in human form.

Ron quickly looked around trying to see who was challenging him and found a livid Sophie staring at him through her wolf's eyes.

Even sensing how close to the surface Sophie's wolf was, Ron still didn't have the brains to back down. "Stay out of this girly!" He snarled warningly. "This is not pack business, it's family business!"

He again went to grab his daughter, but found instead his wrist in the vice like grip of his Alpha female. Sophie couldn't stop the next growl ripping from her as she increased the pressure on the spineless weasels wrist.

Her voice, when she finally found it, was guttural with her wolfs presence. "Did you not hear your Alpha the other night when he told the entire pack that violence against weaker members would not be tolerated. Or was it that you didn't understand what he said?" Sophie growled out. "No, that can't be it. Because you are not stupid or deaf are you Ron? No you are not! What you are is a bully! A bully who thinks he is above punishment! Well let me tell you one last time! You will apologise to your daughter and beg her forgiveness for hurting her and you will let her move in with her friends, where I'm sure she will feel a lot safer and loved than she ever did living with you. Do I make myself clear?"

Ron's face grew redder and redder as he listened to Sophie. And she could literally see the point he decided to challenge her authority.

As he puffed out his self important chest and straightened to his full height Sophie new this was not going to end peacefully.

"I've had enough of you bitch!" Screamed Ron. "You think you can tell me what to do? You are nothing but a damaged female who thinks that because you mated with Zack that you are suddenly in charge! Well let me tell you girly! You ain't in charge of shit! Now get out of here before I loose what's left of my temper and give you what you deserve!"

Sophie seethed with rage. "And what's that Ron? What are you going to give me?" She asked contemptuously.

"Why don't you come over here and find out!" He snarled menacingly.

Sophie looked around the gathered crowd, and saw with some relief, two females had helped Beth to her feet and were quickly pulling her to the side away from her unstable father. "You know what Ron? I think I might just do that!"

Sophie could never let the shiver of fear that run up her spine show. She may be a stronger wolf now than she had been, the years of abuse and taken it's toll on her. But she could feel her wolf and she could sense the wolf's confidence that she could stand against the pathetic excuse for a male standing before her. So she pushed all the uncertainty and fear to the very back of her mind and stepped up into Ron.

She could almost feel Ron's unease, as he realised she was not going to back down and her wolf chuffed its satisfaction at his obvious discomfort. "Well Ron? I'm here. Right in front of you! What are you going to give me?"

In that split second Ron made his decision to attack. He knew he had to try and save face in front of his friends and that meant not backing down from the challenge clear in Sophie's words. After all she was just a pathetic weak female. He could take her! Or so he told himself.

Ron's wolf flashed in his eyes as he quickly lifted his right arm and threw a powerful punch aimed directly at Sophie's face.

Sophie could feel her wolf's rage at the attack and its determination to protect her. So she did what her father used to tell her to do in situations like this. She gave control over to her wolf.

Being a passenger in her own body was a strange sensation. She could see and feel everything her wolf was seeing and doing, but had absolutely no say in any of it. She felt her whole body vibrating with rage and determination as she blocked, punched and slashed at a now struggling Ron.

She realised very quickly that her wolf was toying with her opponent. She wanted him humiliated in front of his friends. She wanted him to feel vulnerable and weak, the way he had made his daughter feel. She wanted him hurt and afraid!

Quicker than her wolf would have liked Ron began to tire and his arms dropped to his side. Sophie's wolf stepped back, suspicious of his too quick defeat, to see what he would do next and was not surprised in the slightest when he pretended to fall forward and grabbed a handful of dirt quickly throwing it at Sophie's averted eyes.

Ron's last ditch attempt to defeat the alpha female fell far short. With one quick slash of claws across his exposed throat, Ron dropped to the ground.

Sophie's wolf slowly relinquished control back to her and she looked around at the gather crowd which had doubled in size. "Pick him up and get him to the pack healer now! Zack can deal with him when he gets back!" She ordered. "And hear me when I tell you this is the last time I will show mercy. To anyone! He knew the rules and he chose to break them. He is lucky my wolf didn't kill him. This ends here!"

Sophie's spoke quickly to the ones holding up a shaky Beth, telling them to take her home till the healer was done with her father then turned and began to walk back to the pack house.

Once she was out of site of the gathered pack she leaned against the side of a building and let the tears go she had been holding in since her wolf gave back control.

Terrified! Elated! Exhausted! Proud! Shocked! Every emotion she could name bombarded her. But she had did it! She had finally defended a weaker pack member and herself! She knew this was her turning point. She could not and would not look back!