“It’s a bigger pack” my mom said again as we drove to the nearest airport, “respect the alpha and don’t give your aunt too much trouble, she’s doing us a huge favor getting you in on such short notice”
“And stay away from boys, especially the bad boy type” she looked back at me, my brother cackled from the seat next to me and I elbowed him.
“I’m not interested, especially in boys with an affinity for trouble” I said as I rolled my eyes. “I’m gonna focus on training, I won’t put a toe out of line, pups honor” I said raising my hand and she seemed satisfied for the 10th time that day.
I watched the clouds in the window and the cars speeding by, my thoughts on Jensen and how I didn’t even pluck up the courage to tell him I was leaving.. would we ever be friends again? My heart clenched as the feeling of doubt flooded me, but I would move forward, someday he would find his mate and maybe he’d forgive me.. Maybe then he would understand.
I watched the mountains beneath the planes wings as we left my home behind, my chest was tight with nerves and sadness, but a new pack, new forests, and maybe even new friends would be good for me. I ached for my best friend, but I was too much of a coward to face him.. I was too mentally weak to try to mend what was broken.
The first week had been hard, my aunt wasted no time in attempting to get me caught up in training, but I was by far the weakest pup in the pack. I’d earned a bottom slot as a weak submissive runt, some things never change I guess. But instead of hiding from the challenge, I pushed myself to meet it. I trained during the day with my aunt, and ran as my wolf by night to practice hunting and increase my agility and stamina.
I was just returning home from a long run, it was later than I had planned and the porch light flickered. I didn’t have a curfew, my aunt seemed to trust me. She was a feisty older woman, my moms older sister by 10 years, she never met her mate, but had spent her life training and traveling, finally coming to terms with being alone, settling into this pack. She was a kind woman, but very brutish, lacked all things feminine and didn’t have much humor.
She was already asleep when I let myself in, I pulled my robe tied as I stepped through the door, I kept it hanging on a tree near the edge of her property so I wouldn’t need to creep through the yard naked. I locked the door behind me and took the stairs two at a time, eager to crawl into bed, but dreading the first day of school and the first real training day tomorrow.
My room had its own bathroom, and I stepped into it, turning on the shower and gazing into the mirror. My black hair hung straight and flat, brushing my shoulders, my pale blue eyes staring back at me. I didn’t find I was all that pretty, I still carried a bit of pudge, just ever so soft around the edges. It was probably from my wolf being so late to show up, but I could already see some of my weight shifting to muscle in just the week I’ve been here. I stepped into the shower and let the water run over me, psyching myself up for tomorrow.. being terrified of a new school, without my best friend. I would get stronger, mentally and physically, then I could face him and apologize for being such a coward.
Ryver lead us forward and we stood for a moment, waiting for the other men in the group to follow. The women chained to me were whispering in hushed tones, Nya turned an ear in their direction to listen, we caught bits about magic, witches, and fear.‘They’re not wrong to be afraid, this is clearly the work of witches’ Nya growled to me,‘Nico will never find this place’ I muttered ‘To hell with Nico’ she snapped back, ‘how exactly are we going to escape this place? I hate to break it to you but no one will be coming to our rescue.’The realization truly slammed into me like a sack of bricks, I had no one left to even notice I was gone. My mate had rejected me, my almost chosen mate had replaced me, my pack had exiled me. I may as well be in a cage with the magic that encased us here. ‘Everything has a weakness’ I told her firmly, ‘even this place’ But we could both feel each other’s apprehension. A few moments later Heath and Fig approached from the stairs.“All clear and the gate
The rest of the journey was much the same, Ryver kept me close and I wondered if he had an interest in me, the implications of that honestly scared me, or if he was concerned I’d attack someone, which was the more likely of the two. Nya wanted to rip the throat out of everyone who came near us, Ryver included, or most of all actually. But every sunrise he tied us up and disappeared, returning with fresh meat, and always tucking his gloves into the silver collar around our neck, making comments about how he didn’t want to lose them, or jokes about having me hang on to them for him. Those moments were the only ones where Nya wasn’t daydreaming of his head being torn from his body, the relief from the silver calmed us both so much that we slept well in the warmth of the sun peeking through the trees, despite our internal clock feeling like we were jet lagged, the relief was so goddamn nice that we slept hard. Heath and Fig were the only two who approached, I couldn’t quite grasp who wa
We followed the large male for a few hours in silence, a few chained women whispered to each other, but our captors didn’t speak and the group of witches trailed so far behind us they disappeared an hour or so back. Nya was raging mad, the fur was singed off our neck and we dripped blood every few steps. She wouldn’t even speak to me as I tried to come up with ways to escape, the most she said was a muttered annoyance about humans. I watched through her eyes as she glared daggers into the head of the man leading us, we were a rather large wolf for a female thanks to all the training, but this man still towered over us. He yanked the chains hard causing us to slide forward, the women behind us shrieked in pain as they too were pulled forward. He wound the chains tighter around his gloved fists before glancing down at us. “I can feel your glares feral one” he chuckled and Nya bared her bloody teeth, “savage little beast you are, will you shift so we can speak?”Nya just turned her gaz
A month had passed since I was thrown from Emerald Falls Pack, I let Nya lead us through the forests, staying clear of any pack lands as we roamed. She was able to hunt and keep our body nourished, but I could feel the quiet creeping into our minds, being a rogue was a heavy burden for a wolf, we needed a pack, we needed companionship. However with the wars between rogues and packs going on we weren’t able to join another pack, even setting foot on their lands was an instant death sentence, and there would be no pleading my case to join anywhere since I would immediately be deemed a spy and locked up. I was truly fucked, it was Nya and I against the world now.We stopped at a river to drink, we were heading west hoping for some warm weather and to stay away from main packs inland. The sun was peaking through the trees as Nya lapped at the cool water, filling our empty belly with hydration and soothing our thirst. The mud caking our paws and legs was thick, but it aided in hiding our s
The sound of car doors closing had me looking up from my coffee, Liam met my gaze, pity in his eyes and I clenched my jaw. My forced chosen mate is here. Taking one last sip of the black liquid, I stood and strode toward the door, taking a deep breath to calm myself and my wolf.The morning sun reflecting off the car cut my vision briefly, the scent of wildflowers and morning rain wrapped around my senses, suddenly my wolf was urging us forward, and I stumbled the last few steps of the pack house.In front of me stood a female I recognized from my travels, Anne with soft blond hair and hazel eyes. She had been kind but hadn’t been my mate, I looked at her my eyebrows scrunching before scenting the air again. Movement behind her caught my eye, a small female, must be barely 18 or 19 peered around Anne’s shoulder, her giant blue eyes looked up at me and an expression of shock on her face.“Mate” she and I whispered together.Anne whipped around, her eyes on the beautiful girl, “Gloria?”
*Jensen*She was gone, our mixed scents still hung in the air around me and a twisted feeling of regret sat in my gut, Oren was shut off from me as well. I just sat there, watching the moon glowing red and the eclipse passing. Every inch of my body was in pain from the severing of the bond, and yet a sick sense of numbness was rattling within me.It wasn’t until the moonlight had eased back into its white glow that I finally looked down, my hands and crotch smeared red, blood? Had I hurt us being too rough? Was Jess okay? The realization of her innocence slammed into me a second later and I puked. For 10 years I had been so sure she had given herself to that fucking alpha, but she had waited. She had cherished the mate bond..I let out a roar and in an instant I’m smashing the couch, shredding cushions, r