Alpha Rages and Alpha Rights - a handbook for alphas

As an alpha, your particular hormonal balance makes you particularly susceptible to going into rages. Since rages are embarrassing and can have legal consequences, it is important to be informed about what you can do to control your rages and what rights you have after an assault.

60% of alphas go into a blackout rage at some point in their lives, where they are unable to control their actions or remember what they did while enraged. But nearly 90% of blackout rages are instigated by circumstantial hormonal imbalances - most frequently when the alpha has been exposed to an omega in heat.

Normal, low-stress situations do not inspire rages, but immediately after mating, or when a related omega - either a mate or a member of the pack (child, sibling, etc) - is endangered, a controllable hormonal level can spike, leading to a blackout. Alphas are very possessive with their packmates, and even if there is no actual danger, contact with a foreign alpha may inspire a violent response.

If blackout rages occur in other situations or occur frequently, see a doctor. It may be a result of a hormonal imbalance.

Although in certain circumstances, legal repercussions of rages may be suspended, remember that you are responsible for your own behavior, and even if you are not convicted of a crime, you may regret the results of your actions.

When are alphas likely to be pardoned for committing assault?

1) Immediately after mating.

A just-mated alpha is on a razor's edge of hormones. If planning a mating, make certain that no other alphas will come into the vicinity. Even their presence may spark an attack, and an attack on friends or relatives during the mating process will always cast a pall over the happy event.

2) A foreign alpha having sexual or violent physical contact with a related omega.

An alpha defending an omega from physical violence is always pardonable.

For sexual contact, it is only pardonable if either a. the omega is the alpha's mate, b. the omega is a minor, c. the omega is clearly not consenting to the contact.

Evidence of sexual contact - scent, sound, or visual evidence - is also a mitigating circumstance. A rage inspired by this, but one that includes premeditation and/or pursuit, is more questionable, though many alphas have been pardoned for hunting down the particular alpha that left scent evidence on the omega.

Any other assault an alpha commits is necessarily a crime, and will be treated like conventional assault.

TV*JW TV*JW TV*JW

"Dad?"

Tori's father looked up from frowning over the taxes. "Yes, dear?"

Tori shifted, not sure how to phrase this. "I've been thinking."

"Always a worthwhile exercise."

Tori punched him in the arm. She shook her head. "I've been thinking about being an alpha."

He put down his pen then, giving her his full attention. He swiveled around and patted his leg as if offering a place to sit on his lap. Tori raised an eyebrow. How old did he think she was? She pulled up a chair right next to him instead and curled against him.

"I was never really happy with being an alpha."

Her father sighed. "I can't help but think that was my fault. Your mother marshaled me into giving you the 'talk,' but I didn't know what to say. I never really had someone talk me through it. Locker room gossip, where everyone was obsessed with 'measuring' and which omegas had gone into heat, was all the help I had in figuring it out. And I didn't know what it would mean to you. I still don't, really."

Tori nodded. "Mainly, it was embarrassing. But it didn't help that you figured it out because I was..." cuddling up to mom when she was going into heat.

Her father laughed.

"Or that you kept laughing at me!"

He gave her a squeeze around her shoulders. "I don't know why you worry about it so much. Being an alpha isn't all of who you are. It isn't all of who I am, it isn't even most of it."

"But you're different."

"Growing up poor doesn't make me different. People think alpha is synonymous with privilege, but it's really not. You have to work just as hard as anyone, though not as hard as most omegas do."

Tori nodded. "Jade said I was lucky, to have a family that was normal."

Just then, Trina started to sing, loudly, from her room.

Her father winced. "I wouldn't call us normal." He petted Tori's head. "Being an alpha doesn't make your life magically different - for the better or the worse. It has an effect, but you make of it what you make of it. You choose what you choose."

"What if I choose to stop hiding?"

Her father turned to look at her face. "From everyone? Or from yourself?"

Tori wrinkled her nose. "You think I'm hiding from myself?"

"Uh..."

Tori laughed at his amusing face. "I was. But I'm going to stop. I don't think I'll ever be able to figure out which parts of me are alpha and which ones would be there anyway, so it's all me. It's all Tori. Tori's the one who can smell omegas and wants to punch idiot alphas. No one else."

"That's a relief to hear."

"But I meant from everyone." Tori glanced down. "It's easy to lie. It's easy to pretend. But it's wrong."

"You can't just dismiss a choice that could protect your life and safety as wrong."

"I know that." Tori shook her head. "I'm not rushing into this. I'm just... thinking about it. Small steps. LIke... telling my friends."

Her father nodded. "You could do that."

"Can you teach me to fight?"

Her father's eyes widened. "What?"

"If I'm going to do this, I need to be prepared."

"No, Tori. If you ever get into a situation where someone's attacking you, you run, you get out as fast as you can. You know that. We've done self-defence. You don't need to know how to hurt someone else."

"But what if I need to protect someone? What if I run into trouble that I can't just run away from?" Tori frowned. "If you don't teach me, I'll ask Trina."

Her father let out a breath. "The most important thing to learn is try to end it as fast as you can. The longer things go, the worse they get. Stay smart, stay out of range, and try to incapacitate your opponent quickly."

Tori nodded fiercely.

"I can show you a few techniques, but use the strongest muscle you have, Tori." He tapped her on the head. "That one."

"I don't want to fight. But," she flexed her hands, "I tend to punch things, and it hurts. I think maybe I'm doing it wrong."

Her father frowned, then stood up and pulled her to the center of the floor. "Make a fist," he said. "Yes! I thought I taught you this already! You're doing that all wrong, here, put your thumb here, now keep your wrist straight."

When Tori's mother came home she found the couch cushions on the carpet and her husband and daughter doing rolls and talking about low centers of gravity and taking out an attacker at the knee.

"Alphas."

TV*JW TV*JW TV*JW

The tequila tasted like piss, but the more Jade drank the less she could feel. Her brain buzzed numbly and it was a relief to be able to think about the next day without wanting to recoil in horror.

Cat had gone to the bathroom and she had taken the opportunity to stagger to the table and empty half the bottle without being watched by her disapproving gaze. If she got drunk enough she might even be able to handle the My Little Pony movie that Cat was desperate to watch (the old one, with the Smooze).

"Jade, Jade. I think you've had enough of that."

Jade spun, bared her teeth and snapped at Tori, clasping the tequila bottle into her chest. "You don't get to tell me what to do, alpha. You don't have any power over me!"

Tori stepped back raising her hands in surrender, but frowning curiously at her. Jade liked it when Tori frowned. She was prettier when she looked upset. She wanted to see her cry. She wouldn't look like such a dork then.

"I don't have any power over you, but I'm your friend. As a friend, I'm saying you're going to be less than happy tomorrow if you keep going like that."

Jade smiled and shook her head. She sauntered toward Tori and twisted a lock of her hair around her finger. She smelled delicious this close up, the alpha musk softened by strawberries and vanilla, and soap. It was nice when an alpha actually bothered to use soap. "Tomorrow's shit anyway. Throwing up all morning will be a nice distraction."

"Jade," Tori's hand landed on her arm, cupping it gently, and Jade didn't mind much. She wasn't in heat or even verging on it. She could handle Tori's touchy tendencies and pretty hair. "What's happening tomorrow? You've been... kind of sad lately. I thought it was my fault, but..."

Jade laughed. "Nothing to do with you, this time. You just make it worse."

"What?"

Jade tugged Tori onto the couch and settled in next to her, laying her head on her shoulder and breathing her in. "Your mom's really cool."

"Um, you know, my mom should really not come up in all our conversations. It's kind of creepy."

Jade lifted her head and laughed in her face. "What? Annoyed that she's hotter than you?"

"What? No! Wait... she is?"

Jade tapped her nose, and Tori's breath hitched in her throat. "Face it, To-o-ri. Trina is hotter than you. I mean, she'd only be attractive to a person if she were dead, but as a corpse, she smokes you." She completed it with a gesture that shaped a set of curves in the chest area – ones that Tori really lacked. Not that she wasn't curious, to see how she looked with her shirt off.

"Jade! Don't - say stuff like that! It's gross!"

Jade leaned back against Tori's arm. Stuff like that? Stuff about death? It shouldn't be so tempting. "I'd make a pretty corpse too," she said softly. "I mix my own poisons, you know. I could do it. Would you cry? I'd like that - to see you crying over me." Jade's eyes started to burn, and that wasn't the point. She shoved the tequila away from her, dropping it on the rug. "Shit," she said, rubbing her eyes, and knowing the eyeliner was going to smear everywhere. "Shit," she said again.

"Jade..."

"No!" Jade yelled at her. "No. This is you. This is your fault. My life has been shit forever, and then you show up with your stupid family and your stupid bambi faces, like you're not a threat, like you're different, like you'd make me not hate myself for choosing slavery, but you can't fix things. I can't choose you!"

Tori's eyes went wide. She swallowed. "Would you?" The words were tiny, hardly there, half a whisper half a murmur. Her face was tentative, as if she didn't know whether she wanted the answer to be yes or no.

Jade's eyes narrowed. "You just want to be friends, Vega. Stop dangling your ass in my face like a piece of meat."

"I- um, just, I mean... friends first." Tori was as red as she could get, and Jade grinned, leaning in close until their noses touched.

"Am I giving you a sexuality crisis, Vega? Or is it just my boobs?" She rose up on her knees until Tori's face was right at chest level and started to lean forward. Tori shrieked slightly, and squirmed to escape, very unconvincingly.

Jade laughed and fell off of the couch, rescuing her bottle of tequila from the floor. She climbed back up again, undoing the top and taking a drink, then pushing it toward Tori's mouth. "Here, your turn. It helps with the crisis."

Tori chewed on her lower lip and shook her head. "I'm okay I think."

"Excellent." Jade flopped over, leaning on her shoulder. "It's cool though. You'll get over me. And I'll be over you soon. And then we can be friends." She sighed. "I'll need friends. I'll need you."

"So we're friends now?" The hope in Tori's eyes was sickening.

"I've lowered my standards to accept you. Feel grateful."

She could feel more than see Tori smile. "I do."

"Now be a good alpha and kiss my feet in appreciation." Jade kicked off her boot, swiveled around, and brought up her socked foot to Tori's face level. Tori's eyes widened in shock. Jade started to laugh at the hilarious look on her face. But then Tori took hold of her foot, gently, and Jade's laugh caught in her throat. Tori ducked her eyes and then bent her head to press a light kiss to the top of Jade's foot.

All of the desire that had gone oh so pleasantly missing since her heat had ended suddenly rushed right back into her. Jade's stomach turned over. Her thighs clenched together involuntarily, her nipples suddenly hard and sensitive against her bra.

"Oh, I should..." Tori slid off the couch and knelt on the floor, keeping hold of her foot, and brought it to her mouth one more time. "Better?"

Jade just stared at her. "What?" she managed.

Tori cocked her head to the side. "Well." She shrugged with a shy and yet confident smile on her face. "Sikowitz said it. If you're going to play a dog, be a dog."

Jade scrambled up off the couch. "I'm going to go- over there, and pass out. If you follow me, I'm not responsible for what I do, okay?"

Jesus Christ. She wasn't anywhere near her heat and she was considering going through Cat's drawers to find her vibrator. (If she had one... that her brother hadn't done something unspeakable with.)

TV*JW TV*JW TV*JW

Tori slid back into the movie room from the bathroom and found Jade passed out in Cat's lap. She settled in next to them. Cat cast her a curious glance. "What were you two doing while I was gone?"

Tori shrugged, feeling shy about it. "Nothing really, just talking. We're friends now."

"Yay!"

Tori leaned back against the couch, staring at the TV without seeing it. She looked over at Jade, her eye-makeup a mess, drooling into Cat's leg, and reached out, stroking her hair.

Cat gave her a soft, interested look. Tori flushed. "I- I'm just worried about her. She seems... off."

"You love her."

"Cat!" Tori squeaked. That was way too far too fast! She was just getting used to the words: 'kind of like' and maybe: 'amazing boobs.'

"It's okay. I love her too. And she needs it."

Tori swallowed. Okay, that kind of love, maybe she could handle that. It wasn't quite the twist in her stomach when Jade flashed her kitten-in-the-cream smile. It was just caring about someone who needed it. She wished Jade would explain why she needed it. Caring was just an exercise in misery if you couldn't actually help. And the way Jade had looked today, when she had started to tear up, it seemed like something that she might not be able to help, and the thought made Tori feel even sicker than she already did.

TV*JW TV*JW TV*JW

Jade stumbled home in the morning, puking in the bushes on the way. Her mother looked up when she came in and quickly moved to pour a glass of water. She came near her and breathed in.

"Oh," she said, following it with a slight hiss of breath.

Jade rinsed her mouth and spat, then took a sip, pressing a hand to her temple. "Asprin?"

"You need to change and shower, Jade, your father-"

"Your father will what?" Jade's dad strode into the room and grimaced at his hungover progeny. Then he sniffed. His face went still and cold. "Were there alphas at that party I let you go to?" He put a hand in Jade's chest, shoving her into the counter. She gasped, the wind knocked out of her.

"Dad."

He drew his hand back, made a fist and paused, frowning. He opened his hand and then swung, cracking his palm across her cheek, so it wouldn't leave a mark.

Her head snapped to the side. She hissed in air. Her hand came up to cup her cheek.

"What do you think you're doing, Jade? You've known the rules for years. You don't get close to alphas. You don't let them get their grubby paws on you. And today? Today is the day you come home with alpha all over you! Are you trying to ruin everything for me?"

"No sir," Jade whimpered. Her head was pounding and she needed to puke and her face stung viciously. Her eyes burned.

Jade's father leaned close and took a long sniff. "He didn't knot you."

"No sir."

"And how does your alpha compare to Gavin?"

Jade couldn't help the weak laugh that came out. Her alpha? Tori? Tori compared to Gavin? "In height, money and education? Not at all." In about a hundred other ways… much more feminine, better voice, would never, ever, think of buying me.

"Would I approve of him?"

"Definitely not."

"If I ever smell him on you again, you will regret it. And if I ever catch him with you, I'll kill him. If he knots you, I will hunt him down and kill him. Do you understand this?"

Jade swallowed and gave a slight nod.

Her father stroked her hair and ran his hand down her cheek. "You're my responsibility, Jade. I will do whatever it takes to take care of you."

"Yes sir," she whispered.

"Now be a good girl and jump in the shower. I expect you to be your bright and charming self for Gavin."

He turned and strode out. Jade slumped, bringing her hand up to cup her burning cheek. The one he had caressed felt even worse. Her mother set two asprin on the counter beside her.

Jade turned on her. "How can you just stand there? How can you let him do this to me?" This was her mother, and yet she seemed to care even less about her than Tori's mother did.

"You know I can't..."

"Why don't you leave him?"

"How could I leave him?" her mother said softly. "He's my mate."

And her mother had had as little choice in the matter as Jade did. Jade grabbed the asprin off the counter and fled.