Chapter 3 Late night

Damon's eyes snapped open when he heard a commotion coming from down the corridor outside his room. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand: 06.37. Great, he had slept in! He climbed out of bed, swiftly throwing a plain black t-shirt on before opening his door and peering down the corridor.

"See the vampires face..."

"I wasn't expecting that."

"Damon will hear..."

Damon sighed internally before marching through the door and following the voices down the corridor. He turned a corner to find Ram laughing and joking with two other wolves, shaking something that rattled in his hand. Damon had seen the two wolves around over the last few days-Marcus and Mateo, he remembered. He grinned a predatory grin when he looked over his shoulder, catching sight of him.

"Damon has already heard, gentlemen," Ram said as he stalked toward the three men, his bare feet silent on the marble tiles. "I suggest you hand that over to Ram," Damon said, pushing a fraction of Alpha into his tone, warning Ram that it would be in his best interests to comply. Damon watched his internal struggle as he clutched the small jar tightly. "Don't make me ask again," Damon growled as he held his hand out, smirking when the other wolves placed it in his hand.

Damon looked down at the small jar in his hand, raising it to eye level to inspect its contents. His blood ran cold when he realized what was in the jar. He stared up at Ram, finding him glaring back with not an ounce of remorse on his face. Damon barely stopped his hand from shooting out and gripping the man by his neck. "The three of you, in the Ops center, five minutes," he breathed, turning on his heel to return to his room.

"We've been out on patrol all night, Damon," he heard Ram say behind him, stopping Damon in his tracks as the man sneered his name. "We are going to bed," Ram said, causing Damon to turn on his heel.

"It wasn't a request; it was an order." Damon roared, pushing a small amount of alpha into his tone. He remained expressionless as the three men took a step back, flinching when his tone washed over them. "You WILL be in the Ops center in five minutes," he said, turning once again and storming down the corridor, almost ripping the door off its hinges when he flung it open and marched into his room, slamming it behind him. He snatched up his phone from the nightstand, dialing as he tried to breathe through the fury coursing through him.

"Moni, get dressed, Ops Center, five minutes," he snapped out when she groggily answered her phone. He mashed the end call button before sending an institute-wide text, demanding they all be in the Ops center in five minutes. He tapped the screen a few more times, sending another text, before he threw his phone on the bed and got dressed. He stalked through the institute to the Ops Center.

Damon stood silently fuming as he waited for them all. Moni was first, strolling into the room with a shit-eating grin on her face. It soon disappeared when he showed her the contents of the jar, seeing his horror mirrored on her face.

"Where did you get this?" Moni asked as she stared down at the jar Damon showed her, catching the silent shake of his head. She could feel the anger rolling off him in waves; she didn't even feel sorry for whoever the target of his ire was; she was too disgusted. She looked up to see a few people shuffle into the room, yawning as they shuffled in. "Are you fucking shitting me?" she asked Damon as she stared at them; half of them weren't even dressed, still in their pajamas. "Do you still think you will win their respect?" she asked, turning to her best friend as he watched them with narrowed eyes.

Damon counted them as they made their way into the room. He looked up at the clock, seeing that ten minutes had passed as the trickle of wolves petered off. Only half of them had shown up. He stormed over to the computer screens, tapping away as he got angrier by the second, slamming his finger down on the enter button. A predatory grin spread across his face as the alarms started screaming, announcing an attack. It didn't take long for the room to fill up. He counted them as they all poured into the room, weapons ready, fifty of them all together. He turned the alarm off as the last of them arrived.

"So nice of you all to join us," Damon shouted to the crowd as they all stared around, confused expressions on their faces. "What part of that text made any one of you think it was okay to ignore a direct command?" he barked out, watching as half of them scowled at him. Nobody answered. He turned and walked over to join Moni at the top of the steps, catching her eye as she glared around.

"Everyone, this is Moni; a few of you may know her already," Damon said as he stared down at them. "She is now second in command at this station. If she gives you an order, you will follow it without hesitation. She speaks for me and has full authority in all matters that are brought before her; do I make myself clear?" he snapped at them. "I SAID, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" he roared out, pushing every ounce of Alpha into his tone that he could muster when they all stared insolently up at him.

Moni smirked when she saw the entire room cringe, their faces turning white as Damon tone smacked into them, like a physical blow. She watched as heads started bowing, not one of them strong enough to look him in the eye. A few of the Omegas in the room even started to whine as they realized that they were in the presence of a true Alpha.

It was only the fact that she was his best friend, their bond lending her some of his strength, and his oldest friend that she wasn't cringing back herself, having built up a tolerance for him over the years. He was powerful! Every instinct in her Alpha body was driving her to submit to him, to bear her neck and stare at the ground; she could only imagine what they were all experiencing. Her smirk turned into a full-blown grin when she saw faces start to turn towards her, staring up with incredulous expressions on their faces as she stood erect, staring down at them.

"RAM," Damon barked out, watching as Ram jumped, trying to stare up at him definitely. "Front and center, and bring your friends," he snapped. He watched as the two Beta practically tripped over their feet to get to the front of the room, their instincts telling them to obey the powerful alpha, Ram trailing after them as slowly as he could. Damon could see the tremble in the Alpha's body as he desperately tried to fight his instincts-the instincts that were telling him to submit to the apex predator in the room-his Alpha instincts to fight, warring with the instinct to run from the stronger Alpha.