Jughead Jones. Leader of the Serpents. Son to the Serpent King. Alpha. In that order. Also, a rare occurrence in his gang, he was an Alpha leader without a mate. Something he was teased about fiercely. He took it in his stride, however. He knew his friends meant no harm; knew that his father didn't care one way or the other if he got a mate – just as long as he kept balance stored amongst the gang. And he did. He was a natural born leader. Prepped by FP himself and an Alpha, it was bound to happen. Just then, Sweet Pea, a Beta and his righthand man came in, scrolling through his phone.
"Peabody is looking to move," he said casually, and Jughead nodded. The Serpents had been tracking Penny Peabody's movements for awhile now. She was a ruthless woman; took with no regard to who got hurt in the process. He didn't know all that much about her besides the fact that her favorite activity was to capture lone wolfs, turn them into soldiers for her gang. The Serpents tried to stop that from happening.
"Where is she relocating to?" Jughead asked, mind moving furiously fast.
"Warehouses, edge of town," came the reply. Jughead nodded.
"Grab Quin, Toni, and Fangs," he said, and Sweet Pea gave a nod of acknowledgement, ducking out of the room to go gather the members requested. He came back with them in tow a few short minutes later.
"What's up, boss?" Quin drawled, lighting a cigarette.
"Peabody is on the move. We need to stop her," he said, and they all hummed their agreement. One of the things about being their leader was that Jughead was in-tune with his packs' thoughts. He threw on his leather jacket.
"Not our wolf forms?" Toni asked.
Jughead shook his head. "No. Tonight, we're the Serpents."
XXX
Jughead's boots crunched the leaves underneath them as he kept his eyes peeled for movement. He spotted someone in the rafters to his left and admittedly turned and shot, aiming to injure. The man fell with a groan – mission accomplished.
"Well, well, well," Penny's voice filtered out. Jughead looked at her, taking in the blonde woman before him.
"Penny, this shit ends tonight," he said, voice carefully controlled.
"Ah, Jonesy, why are you trying to take my fun away from me?" Penny pouted, eyes alight with devilish intent. Toni snorted.
"Fun?" Toni demanded. "You're kidnapping innocent wolves and forcing them to work for you."
Her tone was icy, barely concealed anger hidden beneath the surface. Jughead pressed forward a bit, making sure she wasn't in direct line of fire should shit turn south. Quin, Fangs, and Sweet Pea fell into line with him and Penny smirked.
"Always protecting the girl, aren't we, Jonesy?" Penny taunted. Just then, she whistled, and two men came forward. One he immediately recognized as Malachi, her own righthand; the other man, he had no clue who he was. He mentally catalogued his features to look up later.
"Yes, boss?" Malachi asked lazily. Penny smirked.
"Our boy here has a thing for saving the girl," she said, tone soft and deadly. Jughead didn't understand what was being exchanged between the two of them but he watched with beaded eyes. Something was unfolding; he needed to figure out what.
"Ahh, he would really love the Cooper girl, then," Malachi smirked.
Something shifted in Jughead's memory at the name Cooper. Everyone knew who the Coopers were. The perfect family – the type of wolves that had Alphas clamoring for a chance to prove their worth. Out of his peripheral, Jughead spotted Sweet Pea shift around. He understood the elusive words, too.
"She here? The Cooper girl?" Pea asked. "Which one, by the way?"
Jughead watched as Penny nodded to someone behind her and then heard the clanking of chains, followed by a whimper. His stomach churned uneasily as he waited for someone to emerge. Two people came forward, dragging a third between them roughly. Eyes landing on her, he immediately took stock of the muzzle on her mouth and the chains around her wrists.
"Penny, what the fuck." Toni's voice was a hiss, eyes on the girl.
"Meet Betty," she said, moving to run a hand through the trembling blonde's hair. Jughead felt something primal stir in him at the sight of discomfort the girl was emanating. She was a clear Omega; he knew that much.
"Don't fucking touch her," he growled, Sweet Pea following it up with his own sentiments.
"Jonesy, you know my business," Penny said, mirth in her voice. "Blondie is going to be a wonder for us."
"She should have a say in this," Joaquin's voice came out; smooth and controlled. Penny laughed, tracing her hand along the muzzle around the girl's – Betty's – mouth. She closed her eyes, shrinking away.
"She doesn't have one, though," Penny replied, voice biting.
"Jug, what do we do?" Sweet Pea asked lowly, so low only him and the Serpents by him could hear.
"My count, open fire. Whatever you do, do not shoot Betty," he replied quietly, nodding at Toni. She nodded in return, understanding what he was saying.
"Okay, Penny," Joaquin said. "What do you want. In exchange for her?"
"Nothing. I mean, look at her. An Omega, an unexperienced one at that, and she'll be exactly where I need her," the woman replied, shrugging a shoulder. Jughead looked at Betty, trying to convey that it was okay. She blinked, eyes watching him uncertainly.
"Count of three," he murmured. "One. Two. Three. Now."
Shots filled the room, with Toni pushing Betty down, and Jughead, once more, stamped down on the primal feeling inside of him to reach the Omega; to protect. He was, in a sense, by aiming at Malachi. A swift shot and the man was on the ground, bullet lodged in his knee. He ignored his cry of pain, instead watching as Sweet Pea clocked Penny over the head. Once they were out, the other two guys in the group were easy. Swift blows to the face by Joaquin and Fangs and they were down for the count. Jughead surveyed the damage before slowly making his way to Toni and Betty. Toni was trying to talk to the girl, but she was shaking tremendously.
"T, let me," Jughead said, and she nodded, shifting back onto her knees as Jughead got down on his own. He slowly placed a hand on Betty's shoulder.
"Hey, there," he said softly. Even though the muzzle took up half her face, Jughead could still see the fear in her eyes. "It's okay. Can I take this off you?" His tone was soothing. She nodded slowly, watching him warily. "Yeah? Good." He looked at Pea, who nodded, and began to work on the chains around her wrists. Jughead slowly worked on the muzzle, untying it from behind her head as he talked gently to her.
"It's okay, you're okay," he promised softly. Easing the muzzle away from her, he placed it behind him, out of her line of sight, and looked at her. She still looked so very scared.
"We're not going to hurt you, okay?" Jughead asked softly.
"You're an Alpha," she said quietly, and he nodded. "Not a bad one."
It was said as a statement and Jughead nodded again.
"Does your family know you're missing?" Toni asked quietly, and pain filled the girl's eyes.
"They're dead. All of them," she whispered.
"How?" Sweet Pea asked gently. Betty swallowed.
"Hunters," she mumbled, clutching her chain-freed wrists. "I ran. My-my dad told me to. I ended up in the woods and Penny and Malachi found me."
Jughead nodded. "Okay. Come with us. It'll be okay."
She looked at him, then at the other Serpents, before closing her eyes. "Must be fucking crazy to go off with even more strangers but what the hell."
He chuckled and a ghost of a smile crossed her lips. Things were about to get interesting.