CHAPTER 2

 

 

 

 

Pulling up to my house two hours later I shut off the engine and stared at the house that my dad and I shared. Sometimes it was hard to go in there and face my dad. My mom died a three years ago. She was hit by a drunk driver one night coming home from working as a nurse at a community hospital. Her death hit my dad and I hard, but my dad never really recovered from the lost.

My mother was his mate and losing her sent him on a downward spiral that he never climbed out of. He is just a shell of his former self. He walks around on autopilot just barely getting through the day. At one point in time, he was our packs head physician, but after my mother's death he was not able to handle the stress so Alpha Phil thought it was best if he took on a lower role as an assistant and only handled minor health problems.

Each morning I make his breakfast in the morning and drop him off at the pack clinic before I head to school. One of the other assistant’s drops him off at home and once I come home I make dinner. Our days consist of me asking him questions and him giving me yes or no answers. At times I have to repeat myself and I often wonder if he even notices my existence at all.

Letting out a deep breath I jump out of my Jeep grabbing my gym bag and head into the house. The house is dark as usual. My dad usually doesn’t turn on any lights when it gets dark. I don’t think he even notices the difference between day and night anymore, or maybe he just doesn’t care to notice. So once I walked in I head for the lamp beside the couch and click it on. I was not surprised to see my dad sitting on the couch sipping a beer and staring at a blank TV screen.

“Hey dad” I said. “Did you eat yet? Are you hungry?” To that he nodded yes he was. “OK, let me put my bag up and I will make you a plate.” I stated heading to my room.

 

After getting my dad fed and off to his room to bed, I went and prepared for bed myself. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling for a long time. I was anxious about something. What? I had no idea but I could feel my wolf stirring and that put me on edge. I lay in bed for another hour tossing and turning still not able to sleep. I stared at the ceiling willing myself to go to sleep when a howl sliced through the quiet night. It caused me to jump out of bed in high alert. The howl went on for a period and I know exactly who it was. Dad!

I raced down the short hallway and into his room just as the howl cut off. I raced to his side and held him down as he thrashed about in the bed. He eventually settled down after a few seconds and I stroked his hair as he slumped back and his breathing returned to normal. His eyes were still closed and I knew that he slept through the whole episode. These episodes do not happened often, but every so often he would dream of my mother and his wolf would surface. Causing him the howl out in anguish. I always have a mild heartache on these nights.

Once I made sure my father was over his episode I gave up on trying to sleep so I grabbed a small pack for my clothes to bring with me. I exited the house though the back door to go for a run. At times when I couldn't sleep I would go for a run through the woods to clear my mind and calm my wolf. And after what just happened with my dad a run is exactly what I need.

I stripped out of my clothes, stuffed them into my bag and shifted into my wolf. With a quick shake I grabbed the bag between my teeth and took off towards the woods. There was nothing like running while in wolf form. The wind whipping through my fur as I ran at full speed through the forest as the scenery rushed by. I felt wild and free without a care in the world. These were the times I could let go of all of my baggage and truly be myself. At top speed I was nothing but a blur of movement as I zipped through the trees, I could run all night.

 

After an exhilarating run through the woods behind my house, I shifted back into human form and pulled on my clothes as I walked towards my favorite spot. It was a huge lake that runs in the middle of the woods called Fort Peck Lake. Something about staring at the water that flowed smoothly down the banks that always put myself and my wolf at peace.

Just as I was about to close my eyes and connect with the nature around me a twig snapped. My head followed the sound as another twig snapped. Checking for any other sound or movement, I scanned the trees in the direction I heard the sounds. I didn't see or smell anything but I heard another twig snap followed by a low snarl. Shit! Who the hell is out here with me? As I quickly realized I was no longer alone. I slowly stood up still watching for any movements to indicate where my intruder was located. Then I saw it. A pair of red glowing eyes that was then accompanied by six other sets of the same red eyes. Rogues! All of my senses were now at full alert.

“Perfect timing” I thought with a small smile. “I guess I will be working off my steam in other more thrilling ways” I said under my breath as I slowly stood and faced my unwelcome company.

“Look who we have here boys” One of the red glowing eyes said in a gruff voice. “A little red riding hood came out to play with us”. The other red eyes laughed mockingly at me. They stepped up coming in to view of the full moon. To say they were ugly was an understatement they were beyond that. Each of them had greasy hair that shined in the moon light and I could now smell the disgusting scent of something like sewage. I almost gagged. This was true for all except the one that had spoken. Even in the moon light I could see his striking features. His eyes lost their red glow as he sauntered from behind a bush. But even though he had almost paralyzing looks I still recognized him as rogue. And I was still left wondering why I couldn’t smell them coming.

“This little red riding hood does not want to play with anything as disgusting as you and your disgusting friends” I growled out. The leader eyes flashed before he took another threatening step toward me, which caused me to crouch into my fighting stance.

“You have a bad mouth on you, red. I think you need to be punished for that” He said.

“Bring it on stinky” I said. Just then I heard a few more growls that caused my eyes to get a bit wider as six more rogues came into view joining their friends. “Shit” I said under my breath. Six I can handle, but thirteen was pushing it. I had no other choice but to make a run for it, and that’s exactly what I did.

Since they were blocking my route back to my house I turned and ran the other way. Track really came in handy during times like this. As they gave chase I tried to pay attention to the direction I was running, making sure I did not run into any human neighborhoods. I jumped over fallen tree limbs and uprooted stomps. I weaved through the trees gaining momentum as I went. Just as I was gaining speed I noticed a quick movement to my right and panicked thinking that one of them caught up to me. The movement captured my attention causing me to stumble over a root and fall to the ground face first. I quickly jumped up to face my attackers when a large male jumped in front of me growling at the rogues who were high on my tail. He was a huge shirtless wall made of pure muscle and he radiated strength and power. Alpha! My mind screamed. I could feel his power radiate off of him.

The rogues surrounded me and my mystery wolf that still had his back to me. Seeing that he was not a threat I turned my back on him to face the rogues that were closing in on my back. I growled at them letting my inner wolf out to play. As soon as she came out, one of the rogues launched at me. I bent low grabbing his outstretched hand and using his momentum to my advantage, throwing him over my left shoulder into a nearby tree. He hit the tree hard with a loud thud and landed on the ground unconscious. I turned my attention back to the remaining rogues to have two come at me at once. The first throw a punch that I swiftly ducked and countered with a punch to his ribs. I then turned in time to block the punch that was directed at me from the second rouge with my left hand and countering with a solid punch to his face breaking his nose and sending out a gush of blood. I went back to my first attacker and dropped him with a roundhouse kick that knocked him out cold.

My wolf was enjoying the violence and the cries of pain that my assailants were making. All of this just egged her on. I was caught off guard by a rouge that got behind me and kicked me hard in the back. I fell forward but caught myself, reared back and kicked the rouge in the gut. Quickly turning around I landed a punch right in his jaw. I heard his bone crushing and then him dropping to the ground. The rogues were dropping like flies and I was jumping around throwing kicks and punches like a wild ninja. If I had my throwing knives or even my sword this fight would have been finished a long time ago. But never the less I still enjoyed feeling my attackers flesh underneath my claws as I broke skin and ripped out jugulars. What can I say; this girl likes to get dirty.

As my assailants hit to the ground with a thud I was rushed from behind and a heavy load fell on top of me. He roughly turned me around to face him.

“Who the hell are you? Why are you on my property?” He asked with a snarl. It was the Alpha that came to my aid in the fight. He currently had me pinned to the ground by my shoulders. I could have gotten out of the hold but my wolf was stopping me.

In the moon light, I could faintly make out his eyes which were wide and staring at me. He had a strange expression on his face that at first I did not recognize until he said the words I have feared for so long. “Mate” It came out with an air of disbelief attached to it.

My breath hitched as I stared into his eyes. With both of us breathing hard, he stared back at me. He then slowly lowered his head to the crook of my neck and took a long sniff. Which sent shivers all the way down my spine deep to my core. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing to avoid moaning out loud. He then did something that not only shocked, but scared the hell out of me. He licked my neck, from the base all the way up to the spot right behind my ear. “Um, Honey” He said in a husky voice.

Shit! My wolf was panting with desire. “Traitor!” I screamed at her. Many warning bells went off in my head and my heart accelerated with panic. This was not good. I needed to think of something quick. Getting my bearing and really needing to get away from this stranger that just labeled me as his “mate”. I reared my knee up hitting him square in the balls. A dirty move I know but I couldn't think about that right know. I was on a different kind of survival mode. His eyes went wide with surprise then pain as he rolled off me with a gruff holding his family jewels. I quickly jumped up and looked down at him for a millisecond before I hail tailed it back home.