Fated to the Alpha by Jasmine White

CHAPTER THREE

 

Well, it was now official.  I had slept with the enemy.  I was a traitor to my own pack.

 

At least that was what anyone would say if they found out about this.  But it wasn’t how I felt.

 

I actually felt better than I had in weeks.

 

It was still before dawn when I returned to the village.  I scampered through the houses on four paws, hoping no one was awake yet, which they shouldn’t have been.  I got back to my house and leaped into my open bedroom window, shifting back to two legs once I was inside.  When I listened to the sounds of the house, I could hear Dad still snoring.  That was good.  Still, I gave myself another sniff… and while I was pretty sure I had gotten most of Jeremy’s scent off me, I wanted to be completely sure.  Dad probably wouldn’t wake up if I took a shower now, would he?

 

I decided to risk it.  If nothing else, it was much nicer getting hot water to wash myself with as opposed to that ice-cold creek, and I didn’t have body wash out there in the woods.

 

Once I was thoroughly cleaned off, I strained my ears again, relieved to hear Dad still snoring.  I decided I had best get some sleep while it was still dark, not wanting to appear dead on my feet to the pack during the day tomorrow.  I quietly slipped back to my room and curled up in my bed, drifting off to sleep with a happy smile on my face.

 

Unsurprisingly, Mom and Dad were already up when I awoke.  It was the smell of Mom’s cooking that roused me, and I quickly threw on some light clothes and walked out of my room with my best morning face on.

 

“Morning, Mom.  Morning Daddy!” I chirped as I stepped out into the kitchen.

 

Dad looked up from his plate of bacon and eggs, and cocked his head.  “Well good morning, sweetheart.  You look chipper this morning.”

 

“Do I?” I said, trying to appear as innocent as possible.  “I don’t feel any different.”  I sat down at the counter next to Dad, and looked to Mom preparing a plate for me.  “Mm, that smells good, Mom!”

 

“Would you like some jam on your toast, Evie?”

 

“Yes please.  Strawberry, if we have any.”

 

As Mom went to put the finishing touches on my breakfast, I felt Dad staring at me.  I turned my head to see him studying me with a tilted head.  I suddenly started to grow nervous.  Could he tell?  Was he suspicious?  Was I acting too innocent?

 

As I watched him, a bright smile slowly spread across his face.  I tried not to bite my lip out of anxiety.  “You’re finally warming up to it, aren’t you?”

 

“What?”

 

“Leon.  Your engagement to him.  Becoming the wife of the alpha.  You’re finally starting to like the idea, aren’t you?”

 

I put on a smile that was half-fake, half-relieved. “Uh, yeah!  You figured me out, Dad!  I’m just giddy with the idea!  I think it’s—”

 

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Mom said.

 

I looked down to see the plate of food set in front of me that I had not even noticed before.  “Oh, yes, thanks Mom,” I said as I dug in, eating a little too fast.  I slowed down as I felt eyes on me, carefully chewing the bite of toast I had in my mouth.  I had to be more careful not to be so obvious.  That was the kind of thing that would surely give me away…

 

“What’s that smell?”

 

I nearly choked a chill running through me when Dad said that.  I looked up at him, wide-eyed.  Had I missed something?  I scrubbed myself three times, didn’t I?  Was that not enough?  How did he…?

 

“Something burning?” he said.

 

Mom turned around to see the eggs that were still on the skillet starting to smoke.  “Ah!” she gasped, rushing to the stove and picking up the skillet to turn the eggs over.  “Well, I hope no one wanted seconds,” she said.

 

I breathed a huge—but subdued—breath of relief, and went back to quietly eating.  That had most likely taken years off my life.

 

I got through the rest of my meal pretty uneventfully, other than Dad stepping out a little early to go tell Leon the “good news.”  Wonderful, I thought. Like I needed this scenario to get any more complicated.

 

When I was finished, I changed into something a little more presentable and walked out of the house, finding the rest of the pack up and about, going about their day. 

 

As I walked among them, a part of me could not help but feel a bit like an outsider. They were my pack; they always had been.  I had grown up among them all.  They had always been part of my life.  Yet, if a single one of them knew who I had been with last night, I knew they would have cast me out in an instant.  Was that loyalty?  Or was it that I had forgone my own loyalty?  That was how they would have spun it.

 

When it came right down to it, could I really even call myself one of them anymore?

 

Eventually, Charlene found me, moving to intercept me as I passed the circle where she and a few others sat around chatting about whatever.  “Hey, Evie,” she said—and then looked me over.  “You look different.”

 

No I don’t.  Don’t tell me I look different.  I am just the same as always.  Nothing’s changed.  Please don’t say anything is different.

 

“I don’t feel any different,” I said, echoing my words to Dad earlier.

 

Charlene looked at me suspiciously.  “No… there’s something…”

 

She took me by the wrist and led me away from where anyone was around, and then looked at me again.  Her eyes widened, and she raised a finger to point at me.  Dropping her mouth open, she suddenly gasped, “YOU HAD SEX!”

 

In a rush of panic, I clapped a hand over her mouth, desperately looking around to see if anyone heard her, and put a finger to my lips to shush her.

 

She pulled my hand from her mouth and laughed.  “That was a confirmation if I ever saw one!”

 

I grimaced.  “Tell me it’s not that obvious?”

 

She shook her head and scoffed.  “Girl, it’s written all over you!”

 

“No, please!  It can’t be written all over me!  Tell me it’s not written all over me!”

 

She retreated back, a little intimidated.  “Well… maybe it’s just woman’s intuition?”

 

“Leon can’t find out!  Neither can my dad!  In fact, no one can find out!”

 

“Okay, okay!” she insisted.  “My lips are sealed!”  Then she looked around, and leaned forward before saying in a conspiratorial whisper, “But you gotta tell me who!”

 

“No!” I declared, shaking my head.  “I’m not saying another word!”

 

“Come on, it’s me!  Was it Tucker?”

 

“No, it wasn’t Tucker.”

 

“Well then, was it Alex?  You know he had his eye on you for a while before Leon moved in.”

 

“No.  It wasn’t Alex.”

 

“Joey?”

 

“Stop guessing!  Please!”

 

“What are you ladies up to?” a voice said, making me nearly jump out of my skin.  I turned to find Leon approaching, a proud smile on his face and a pompous swagger in his step.

 

Thankfully, for as long I’d been wishing for her to stop talking, Charlene did know when it was the right time to button it.  “Oh, nothing,” she said.  “Just girl talk.”

 

“I’m sure,” he said.  He looked at me directly.  “I spoke to your father,” he said.  “He tells me you might be starting to come around on my proposal.”

 

“Uh… well… Dad might be getting a little overzealous… but…”

 

“I understand if you’re still nervous,” he said, putting what I think he meant to be a comforting hand on my shoulder.  “The wedding doesn’t have to happen too soon if you don’t want.  We can make it next spring, how about that?”

 

I just stared back, my mouth kind of hanging open.  “Uh… I… uh…”

 

“Just think about it,” he said.  “I’m sure it’ll seem more real the closer it gets.”

 

With that, he walked away.  No waiting for any further response; he had made his decision, and that was just that.

 

“I hate to say it, but I’m beginning to understand why you’re not jumping at the chance to marry him,” Charlene said.  “That was like he thinks you’re his PA or something.”

 

I said nothing.

 

“Evie?”

 

I still didn’t say anything.  I just couldn’t breathe.

 

*

“I knew the whole time what it meant,” I said as I lay curled up against Jeremy’s chest.  “But as soon as he said the word ‘wedding’ I just froze.  The thought of marrying him was always just an idea, until he went and made it real.  He was talking about it happening next spring.  He put an actual time frame on it.”

 

“What did you say to him?” he asked.

 

“Nothing!” I said.  “I just kind of stood there in stunned silence.  You know, he didn’t even wait for me to say anything!  He just said it and walked away, like it was a done deal.”

 

“What are you going to do?” he said.

 

That was the ultimate question, wasn’t it?  What was I going to do?

 

I at least knew one thing for certain that I had only been ambivalent about before, I did not want to marry Leon.  Not when the idea of it scared me that much.

 

“I just wish there was some way I could say no to him.”

 

“If you ask me,” Jeremy said, “any alpha who would deny you your own life choices doesn’t deserve to be your alpha.”

 

“It’s not just him that I would be defying,” I said.  “How do I tell my father I don’t want to marry him?  There’s no way Dad will accept that!”

 

“So you can’t refuse to marry him without going against both your alpha and your dad.  So where does that leave you?”

 

“I wish I knew,” I groaned, pulling myself tighter against his body.  “I just don’t see a way out.  Not without running away altogether.”

 

“Would you do that?”

 

I blinked.  I actually wasn’t serious when I said that last part, but when Jeremy suggested the idea I stopped to actually consider it.  The idea did not seem any less frightening than the idea of marrying Leon.  Run away?  Abandon everyone I knew?  How could I do that?  Where would I go?

 

“Your silence is saying a lot,” he said.

 

I sighed.  “I guess this is what they call a rock and a hard place.”

 

“So then… you will marry him?”

 

I frowned, searching for a way to say no.  When I couldn’t find one, I shrugged.  “Hell, maybe it won’t change anything,” I sighed.  “For a guy who claims to want me for his wife, he barely seems to pay any attention to me.  Maybe he won’t even notice if we keep this up.”

 

He slipped his hand under my back, cradling me in his arms.  “Something tells me you don’t really believe that.”

 

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” I decided.  “Whatever he says or does, he can’t stop me from seeing you if I want to.”

 

“You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself of that more than me.”

 

“Can’t you just let me believe it for a while?”  I said before giving him a deep kiss.

 

The load of cum he had already given me tonight sloshed around inside me, dribbling out onto my thighs as I pressed my crotch against him.  I started to suckle at his neck as he massaged my breast, pinching my nipple in his fingers.  I moaned, pushing my chest into his hand.

 

I felt him hardening again as I rubbed my slit along the length of his dick, making my pussy hungry for the next round.  I rolled onto my back and parted my legs, letting him settle between them and slide easily inside my tunnel, which was still dripping wet from our mixed cum.

 

My eyes fluttered shut as he thrust forward, filling up my depths.  I groaned aloud, my fingers clawing at his shoulder blades.  My hips moved up to meet his thrusts, my legs hugging his flanks.

 

Before long, I rolled us over, putting myself on top.  I moved my hips back and forth on his lap, feeling him move inside me as I stared down at his face, illuminated by soft moonlight.  When everything in my life seemed to be conspiring against me, determined to take my choices away, Jeremy had become the one thing that I could call truly mine.  He was my lover, my secret, my safe place.  Leon could call me his all he wanted; he would never truly have me. Not the way Jeremy did.

 

I was so focused on his face, the pleasures running through me, and the soft sounds we were making, that I am not quite sure how I noticed the sound of something rustling in the bushes when I did.  I suddenly stopped moving, looking off in that direction.  “Did you hear that?”

 

“Probably just an animal,” Jeremy said.

 

“Maybe,” I conceded.  I started sniffing the air anyway.

 

Yes,  after a minute, I did smell an animal. 

 

The kind of animal I smelled was enough to alarm me seriously.

 

“You smell that?” I said.

 

This time he nodded.  “We’re not alone.”

 

Somewhat reluctantly, I slipped off Jeremy’s lap and crawled forward on all fours, slowly shifting into my four-legged shape as I moved, sniffing at the bushes.  Whatever or whoever was there apparently realized I noticed them, and was trying to retreat.  I leaped forward, catching the sight of a furry shape dashing out of the brush and charged after it.

 

My quarry was fast, sprinting around the trees ahead of us.  I knew I couldn’t let our observer get away to report what they’d seen, so every time the creature ahead of me turned a corner I cut across, quickly gaining ground.  Before long, I was close enough to leap forward and pounce on my quarry, pinning it to the ground.

 

When I had the intruding wolf pinned to the ground beneath me,  that was when I finally got the chance to recognize her scent.

 

All at once, I shifted back to my two-legged form, recoiling back.  “Charlene?” I gasped.

 

Prone on the ground, she retook her own human shape, staring up at me.  “Something you want to tell me?” she said.

 

“What… what are you doing here?”

 

“That’s what I want to ask you,” she said.  “I was curious when you wouldn’t tell me about your mystery lover.  So when I caught you sneaking out, I decided to snoop.  So…”  She looked past my shoulder as Jeremy stepped up behind me.  “You want to tell me who that is?”

 

“Uh… well…he, uh…”

 

“I’m Jeremy,” he said.  “And you are?”

 

“Really, really interested now,” was her reply as she started getting to her feet.  “Where’d you dig this guy up?”

 

“Well… I just sort of ran into him the other night, when I went off on my own, and… well…”

 

Charlene continued eyeing him suspiciously.  She took a couple steps toward him.  “I can see the attraction,” she said, her voice still carrying a tone of wariness.  “But… there’s something about him…”

 

She leaned forward, giving him a couple whiffs.  “Wait a minute,” she said, sniffing him a few more times.  “That scent…  I’ve smelled him somewhere before…”

 

A moment later, her eyes went wild.

 

“He’s a MORGANDORF!” she shouted, her teeth extending into wolf fangs, and her eyes turning yellow.  She suddenly lunged forward, her eyes feral and full of rage, her teeth bared as she roared out her bloodlust.

 

I dashed forward and grabbed her, pulling her back.  “Charlene, no!”

 

“Let me at ‘im!  I’ll bite his junk off!”

 

“Charlene, please!  I need you to calm down!”

 

She stopped struggling against me and turned her attention to me, her eyes regaining their human shade.  “Tell me you’re not serious!  I know you are not crazy about marrying Leon, but this? You are fucking a Morgandorf? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

 

“So what if he’s a Morgandorf?” I said.  “It’s just a name.”

 

Charlene whirled on me.  “‘Just a name?’  Do you know where I know his scent from?” she snarled.  “It was two years ago.  I was out in the woods with Corey and Jana; we were watching some of the pups.  One of them decided to go chasing a rabbit, and next thing you know all the pups are following him, so we have to chase after them.  And then we ran into a Morgandorf gathering party.”  She pointed a stiff, aggressive finger at Jeremy.  “Including that dirt wad. 

 

“They took the rabbit the pups were chasing, and told us to piss off and leave them to it.  When one of the pups tried to protest, they threatened to kill the pups if we didn’t leave!  That’s who you’re fucking, Evie!  The Morgandorfs are pup killers!”

 

“Excuse me,” Jeremy spoke up, “that’s not quite how I remember it happening.”

 

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re gonna go on about how you were the victims in all this, and our pups were the ones threatening you!” Charlene snarled.

 

“Now, hold on,” he said, holding his hands up.  “I remember there being a lot of hostility, but I don’t remember anyone threatening the pups.  I do recall one of your pack stepping in front of the pups and warning us against harming them, claiming that she’d, and I quote, ‘have our livers over a spit with some peppers and collard greens’ if we hurt one fur on their backs.  Which, I might add, I thought was very unwarranted.”

 

“You can say whatever you want, you maggot-eater!  I know exactly what you are!  All of your damn pack!”

 

“I’m not denying some of my packmates that were there that day may have said some unpleasant things,” Jeremy said.  “And plenty of them will readily accuse the Caldours of a lot of the same things of which you are accusing me.  In my experience, high tempers and rationality are like oil and water.   And tempers certainly run high whenever our packs happen to meet.”

 

“Oh, you’re about to find out, shithead!” Charlene growled, before lunging at him again. 

 

I promptly jumped in her path to hold her back.  “Charlene, please!” I cried.  “You have to promise me you’re not going to say anything about this!”

 

“You gotta be kidding me!” she gasped.  “I’m gonna bring the whole pack down on this clown’s ass!”

 

“Charlene!” I shouted.  “Please!  For me!  You can disapprove all you want, but I need to know you can keep this quiet!  If Leon finds out, or my dad… I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do!”

 

Charlene’s face seethed with rage as she looked back and forth between Jeremy and me but at least she didn’t try to attack him again.  She clenched her teeth and her nostrils flared, but she finally said, “Fine.  For you, Evie.  I will keep quiet.  I’ll let you have your forbidden flight of fancy.  But as soon as this cretin steps over the line, and he will, his ass is mine!”

 

With that, she turned around, shifted into her four-legged form, and dashed off into the darkness.

 

I turned to Jeremy, who looked every bit as unsettled as I felt.  “You trust her?” he asked me.

 

“There’s no one I trust more,” I said.  “It’s not the first time I’ve told her something I’d rather die than let my father find out about.  But this… I’ve never seen her react to something I did like that.”

 

Jeremy looked past me, into the forest.  “Maybe… maybe you’d better go after her.”

 

I frowned, but I nodded.  I stepped up to him, placing my hands on his chest and leaning up to kiss him.  “I’ll see you again,” I said.  “I promise.  Whatever she does, I’ll see you again.”  Then I reluctantly pulled away, continuing to touch his hand for as long as I could before I shifted to my four-legged form and ran off to return to the village.

 

As I dashed through the foliage, I couldn’t shake a terrible feeling that something was going to make me break my promise to him.

 

*

I hurried home as quickly as my paws could carry me.  When I returned to the village, I caught Charlene’s scent trail, and found it led back to her own house.  I took that to be a good sign; she had not immediately run to Leon, or my dad.  With that worry assuaged, I returned home and showered, washing off Jeremy’s scent like I did before.  I went to bed, trying to sleep a bit less fitfully this time.  I’d gotten away with not smelling like my forbidden lover so far, so I was less worried about that.  Now that somebody knew, I was in a lot more danger of being found out.

 

It wasn’t that I did not trust Charlene.  To an extent, at least.  I knew she would never do anything to hurt me.

 

However, if she thought Jeremy was a threat, which she very well might, she’d rat him out in a heartbeat.

 

I woke up the next morning and went through my day as normally as any other; at least as far as anyone who saw me was concerned.  I greeted my parents, ate my breakfast, mingled with the pack, and generally did everything anyone expected me to do. 

 

Whenever I saw Charlene somewhere, I kept a watchful, wary eye on her, the hairs on my neck standing on end as I waited to see if she was about to do or say anything that might get me in trouble. 

 

But she acted as normally as any other day, just like I did.  Occasionally, she would notice me looking, and I kept expecting her to scowl at me, or something like that.   She would just smile and wave, and at one point she even spoke to me.  Barely.  She walked by me while saying, “Morning, Evie,” without stopping.

 

At least it didn’t appear that I was in immediate danger of being ratted on.  By around midday, I began to make myself believe that I was in the clear, and that nothing was going to go wrong.

 

And if I said it aloud I would have jinxed the ever-living hell out of it.

 

Some time in the early afternoon, we all heard a howl come from the forest, which I recognized as coming from Marla.  At once, everyone started buzzing around; that particular howl was one any wolf would recognize as a call for help.  Several members of the pack, including Leon, stripped off their clothes and shifted into their four-legged forms, dashing off into the woods to respond.

 

Less than an hour later, we saw our rescue party returning with the injured Marla, Rudy, Corey and Jana, who came limping along with their helpers supporting them, if not being outright carried.  Leon came bringing up the rear, looking all manner of righteously furious as he retrieved his pants.

 

In spite of myself, I was among those who came crowding around him, trying to find out what had happened.  “They were ambushed,” he spat.  “The Morgandorfs were lying in wait when our hunting party came on them.  An unprovoked attack.”  He ground his teeth together and said, “Well, they’re going to learn the penalty for fucking with us!”

 

He stepped forward once he got his shirt on, and called out to the whole pack.  “Everyone!” he shouted.  “We’ve just been violated!  The Morgandorfs are pushing us, so it is time we pushed back!  Tonight we are going to repay them for this attack!  We will get a raiding party together; and slip into their territory under the cover of night and hit them hard where they live!  We’re going to teach them what it means to draw blood from the Caldours!”

 

Most of the pack raised their fists and howled along with his bloodlust.   I had enough of standing by and doing nothing.  I stepped up to him.  “Leon, wait a minute!”  I said.  “What will this accomplish?  An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?  Is that really going to make things better?”

 

“We are not going to back down in the face of this kind of hostility!” Leon declared.  “We’re going to meet it like wolves!”

 

“But just charging into their territory and attacking them?  Do you think they are going to just roll over after that?  All that will do is make them even madder!  They’ll hit us back, and then there will be even more blood!  On both sides!”

 

“What would you have us do?” Terry demanded of me.  “Just ignore them?  Let them get away with this?  Didn’t you see Rudy’s leg just now?  He might actually lose it!”

 

“But we’re talking war here!” I said.  “They hit us, we hit them harder, they hit us harder… where does it end?”

 

“When every damn one of those filthy fleabag Morgandorf scum-suckers is belly up, that’s when!” old Tobias spat, practically frothing at the mouth.  Several others around him roared in agreement.

 

I looked around me, suddenly feeling helpless.  I could see now there was no stopping this; not when everyone around me was so full of bile and rage.

 

Then things got worse.

 

Leon put a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes.  “I’m leading this attack tonight,” he said.  “And as my future bride, I’m expecting you to be there.”

 

I felt the blood drain from my face as he said that.  “What?”

 

“You heard me,” he said.  “It’s obvious you don’t have a taste for what needs to be done.  But if you’re going to lead this pack with me, you’re going to have to learn.”

 

He turned back to the rest of the pack as I stood there, agape.  “The raiding party sets out at ten o’clock tonight,” he announced.  “Who’s going with me?”

 

“I am!” a dozen of my packmates shouted at once, raising their hands in the air.

 

After that, everyone started filing away, most of them looking to go tend to our wounded.  I simply stood there frozen, unable to move.  What could I do now?  There had to be some way out of this… was there a way I could warn Jeremy?  How could I?  He wouldn’t be expecting me, so it was doubtful he would be in our usual meeting place, and I couldn’t very well just waltz into Morgandorf territory; his pack would rip me to pieces.  Maybe if I came in carrying a white flag or something… it would be crude, but I had to do something…

 

“Don’t do it.”

 

I had been so caught up in my panic and uncertainty I hadn’t even noticed Charlene’s approach until she spoke.  I almost jumped when I noticed her standing beside me, speaking just above a whisper to let no one else hear. 

 

“What?” I said.

 

“Whatever you’re thinking of doing,” she said, “don’t do it.”

 

“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

 

“Don’t I?” she said, and took hold of my arm and started guiding me away, out of earshot of anyone else.  “Tell me you’re not planning to run off and warn that boyfriend of yours about this?”

 

“I… no, I…”

 

“Don’t lie to me!” she barked as quietly as she could.

 

I set my jaw and met her gaze.  “Charlene, do you really want this to turn into a war?”

 

“Evie, wake up!  This already is a war!  It has been for years!”

 

“But what are we even fighting over?  Land?  Game?  Something someone said thirty years ago?  What is the point of all this?  It doesn’t gain us anything except more bloodshed!”

 

“You can argue philosophy all you want,” she said.  “But this is reality.  The Morgandorfs aren’t going to back off and stop attacking us just because you’re banging one of them!”

 

“So that’s it?” I shrugged pointedly at her.  “We just accept it, and keep fighting?  There’s no way around it?”

 

“It’s called pride, Evie,” she said.  “And if that’s not enough, try survival.”

 

“You know, call me crazy,” I said, “but the idea of more fighting and bloodshed seems counter intuitive to that.”

 

“So, instead you want to go out there, warn the Morgandorfs that we’re coming, and give them an advantage?  If you go out there, you will be betraying your own pack!  Is that what you want?”

 

“What I want is for all this violence to stop!”

 

Charlene frowned, and stepped back from me.  “Okay.  If you’re not going to let go of your fantasy, even if it means turning your back on all of us, then I wash my hands of you, Evelyn.  I am going to be there tonight, next to Leon and the rest of our pack, ripping the Morgandorfs a new one like they all deserve.  If I see that dirtball you call a boyfriend, I’m gonna rip out his intestines and use them to make a scarf!  And if you get in my way…”

 

She paused.

 

“If I get in your way, what?” I asked, nervous.

 

She hesitated.  “You’ve always been my friend, Evelyn.  So don’t make me do something we’ll both regret by getting in my way.”

 

With that, she walked away, as I stared after her in disbelief.  Did she really just threaten me?  She was supposed to be my best friend!

 

I looked around at the members of my pack around me, all riled up and hungry for blood, with me seeming to be the only one thinking differently.   Apparently, that made me a traitor to them.

 

As far as I could tell, my pack was betraying me.  This pack, which had always been my whole world, now seemed alien to me.

 

The only one who understood me belonged to a whole different pack.

 

As I stood there, I honestly started to wonder if betraying my pack would be such a bad thing right now.  It actually crossed my mind.  What did I really owe them anymore if this was how they responded to me when I dared to say that maybe they were wrong?  What was there really to stop me from just saying, “Fuck you all!” and running off and leaving them?

 

No.  I could not do that.  They meant more to me than that.  At least I thought they did.

 

*

The pack assembled near the edge of the woods at ten, just as Leon instructed.  Everyone was pumped and raring to go, several of them cracking their knuckles or hooting with excitement, or whatever got their blood pumping harder.

 

I was the last to join them, and everyone seemed relieved when they saw me approaching.  “Finally,” Leon said, shedding his jacket.  “I want you by my side for this, Evelyn.  When the Morgandorfs go to sleep, yours and mine will be the faces of the Caldours that haunt their nightmares!”

 

I had spent most of the day since the afternoon dreading and anticipating this action.  I had paced around anxiously, racking my brain for ways to get out of this.  I had considered going back and pleading with him not to do this, but I knew even as the thought formed in my head that it would never work.  I had considered running away and never coming back—because if I did run away, I might just have to also do that second part.  I had considered going to the Morgandorfs, damn the consequences, and giving Jeremy the heads up to get out of there as fast as his four paws could run.

 

Ultimately, I’d come to a decision.  Ever since I made that call, I’d thought that actually doing it would be the most difficult thing in the world.  But as I stood there now, looking at Leon’s smug face, so sure of himself, so convinced that he had me where he wanted me, it suddenly became a lot easier.

 

I marched right up to Leon and said something to him that I’d never said to him before.

 

“No.”

 

All eyes suddenly whirled on me.  Leon’s in particular stared at me, open wide.  “What did you say?” he demanded.

 

“You heard me, Leon,” I said.  “I said no.  I’m not going with you.”

 

Dad stepped up beside me.  “Evelyn, don’t cross me now!  Obey your alpha!”

 

“I won’t be party to this!” I declared.  “I’m not going to run with you, and I’m not going to fight!”

 

“Evie…” Charlene said, cautioning me against anything further.

 

Leon stepped toward me, pointing a finger at me, as he looked me in the eye.  “Now listen, Evelyn,” he said, “you’re going to be my bride, so…”

 

“No, I’m not.”

 

Yes.  I said it.

 

Everyone around me gasped in shock.  Leon recoiled back, his eyes flaring.  “What?” he spat.

 

“I’m not going to marry you, Leon,” I came out and said.  “Because I don’t love you.   You can’t make me just because you are the alpha.  I’m not some property that you can just decide what I am going to do.” 

 

I was going to say more, but that was when Dad grabbed me by my collar and started pulling me away.  “It seems I need to teach her a lesson or two,” Dad said apologetically to Leon.  “Go on without me.  I’ll make sure to get her straightened out.”

 

Leon frowned, but turned with a sigh and resumed stripping.  “Let’s go, everyone,” he said, as the rest of the pack started shifting into their four-legged shapes and disappearing into the woods.

 

Dad pulled me along, making me walk backwards toward one of the houses, where he finally pressed me up against a wall and looked angrily into my face.  “What the hell were you thinking there?”

 

“I think I said pretty clearly what I was thinking,” I said.  “I don’t want to fight the Morgandorfs, and I don’t want to marry Leon.”

 

“I meant, what were you thinking trying to defy him?  Leon is your alpha!  He deserves your respect!”

 

That’s what Dad had always told me.  I didn’t think I really believed it anymore. 

 

“Why?”

 

Dad blinked and pulled his head back, as if he could not believe what he’d just heard. “Excuse me?”

 

“Why should I respect someone who doesn’t respect me?  He treats me as if I’m a new suit he’s picked out to wear to the ball!  And you want me to just go along with it because he’s the alpha and that’s how it is!”

 

A part of me knew I was getting in way, way over my head, but something would not let me stop at that point.  “In fact… is that really so different from how you think of me?”

 

Dad’s nostrils flared, and he pointed a finger at me, inches from my nose. “You take that back right now!” he demanded.

 

“No, I won’t!” I barked, swatting his hand aside.  “I’ve bowed to you and rolled over on command all my life, but now you’re going to listen to me!  This whole marriage arrangement was never about me!  If it was, you would have at least considered asking how I felt about it, instead of just telling me to ‘learn to accept it!’  All you have cared about is having your daughter married to the alpha, so that you can have your precious legacy on the alpha line!  I’m not going to be your fucking bargaining chip!”

 

“Don’t you dare talk to me that way—”

 

“I’ll talk to you however I damn well please for once in my life!  I am my own she-wolf, and this is my decision to make!  It is my goddamn life, not yours!  Or Leon’s!”

 

Dad spent a long while silently regarding me.  He huffed and puffed quietly through his nose, while I waited, wondering what he was going to do.

 

He backhanded me hard across the face.  I dropped to the ground, holding my bloody lip, staring up at my angry dad.  “I have tried to teach you respect and obedience,” he fumed.  “I’ve obviously failed.  Now you’re going to go back to the house, and you’re going to wait for me, while I decide what to do with you.”

 

Then he actually turned his back on me.

 

Wow. He really did not get it.

 

I sprang to my feet and ripped my clothes off, and I rushed toward the woods, changing to four legs in mid-stride.  I heard my dad shouting, “Dammit, Evelyn, come back here!” before he started to chase after me. 

 

I didn’t slow down for a second, regardless of what form of tree or rock or foliage sprang up in front of me.  I ran like a beast possessed, dashing and weaving through the forest, hell bent on reaching my destination.

 

I wasn’t sure how closely Dad was following behind, or if he even was anymore.  I no longer cared.  All I could think about was Jeremy.  I could only imagine the chaos about to unfold where he was… and if Leon or someone else in my pack got to him before I did…

 

It was too much to imagine.  I had to get to him first.

 

I didn’t exactly know the way to the Morgandorf village, but my pack had left a scent trail as conspicuous as a neon sign.  All I had to do was follow them… knowing they would already be there when I arrived, and praying Jeremy wasn’t one of the first ones they found.