Alma

ChapterTen:Dante

Dante:

The last few weeks have been rather eye-opening to the inner workings of the pack. Whereas the females of the pack don’t respect Alma, they do listen to her. A few times Alma has picked up a phone call or answered a text from one of the females of the pack and dropped everything to go and help them. She has settled disputes and oversaw dominance battles; tended wounds and celebrated a couple of females finding their mates. If a female didn’t know what to do, they sent Alma a call, and Alma helped them. One time she even went to listen to a girl named Faith just cry because that was what she needed to do. Honestly, Alma made a wonderful Luna.

While Alma served as the Luna, Aubrey still tried to hold her claim. Aubrey had brought the females together hoping to set up a fundraiser for her parents’ pack on the same night as Bet’s mating celebration, which ended up being a total fail. Alma and Heather had attended to see what Aubrey was planning, and to say they were upset was an understatement. For the first time in a week, Alma had nearly lost control.

I know there is something wrong with Alma’s wolf, but she won’t open up. My wolf is growing more restless, telling me to “fix it”; the problem is, I don’t know what to fix. I figured when we went for a run before going to set up for Bet’s party, I would ask. But, that didn’t happen because we were also bringing Mark. Mark was a great person, and had been a huge help to Alma and Heather in planning Bet’s party. I was super thankful for that, since stress makes Alma’s control slip and she becomes more feral-like.

I also have gotten to know Alma for who she is. Whereas I had thought she was a reactive, angry female wolf with a vengeance streak, I’ve found she has more qualities. She rents the basement of the library so her friends have a safe space to work and hang out, and whereas it is a little unnerving down there the first few times from all of the magic and power from the weapons, it feels safe. We had brought down some cushions and bean bag chairs, and an air mattress so all of us could have more comfortable movie nights, which happens once a week, regardless of who shows up. Last week it had just been Alma and I, and whereas it had been a little awkward at first, we ended up having a lot of fun watching cheesy B movies.

Aside from the cheesy movies and nice gestures, Alma is purely Alma. She loves horrible jokes and puns, but is also able to flip from happy to dead serious in a matter of one sentence. Her wolf is always on the surface, which is manageable for Alma. It is when her wolf begins to panic that Alma struggles. I try to ease as much of her worry and panic as I can, but it doesn’t always work. The other day it happened during our political history lecture, and she ended up in the quad, partially phased and howling while pacing in a circle. It had taken two hours to get her calmed down enough to phase back, when she just cried; I had ended up bringing her to my room for the night to make sure she didn’t panic again. She won’t open up to me, or to Bet or Heather, who I’ve texted with before but had yet to meet, and she’s getting worse. I desperately want to help her, but don’t know how.

At dinner, Alma’s wolf is closer to the surface than normal, brightening her eyes and flushing her cheeks with effort to hold the animal back. She can’t sit still either, bouncing her leg or moving her hands or tapping her fingers against the table. Her eyes keep shifting from side to side, like she’s worried something is going to come up and attack her. Luckily she is going for a run. Running as a wolf definitely helps her, a lot. She was calmer afterward, and her wolf was more controlled, if only for a few days.

When I wasn’t with Alma, I was dodging Aubrey, or meeting with Brent, Carole and Tyler, who were my Gamma and my Delta respectively. After the males got it through their heads that Alma was off-limits, they settled down quite a bit, to the point where there has been nearly no disputes over dominance. One of the submissive males, a small first year named Kian was attacked and in the infirmary. After I had visited Kian and made sure he was okay, I found out what had happened and made sure to pay a visit to the dominant male, Owen, who had attacked unprovoked. Owen, a sixth year student, had thought Kian was trying to go after his mate, who was assigned a group project with Kian. Owen had taken his punishment with grace, and was made to publicly apologize to Kian, and was to help Kian around campus until Kian was fully healed. Owen wasn’t too happy about it, but his mate Makenzie was ecstatic because she got to do her project and spend time with her mate at the same time. Since then, Kian has gained a little popularity, which he accepts with red cheeks and a ducked head.

Katira, Aubrey’s younger half-sister, has also been seeking me out. I don’t know why, and I want to talk to Alma about it. Garv and Jerry are just as confused as I was about the situation-- a month ago, Katira had never come to me with an issue. Now, it seems like everyday she has another “problem” that she needs help with. Yesterday she wanted help with an art project. I had redirected her to another shifter that could help and ran.

Again at dinner she found me as I was trying to find Alma and her crazed wolf. I ended up losing Alma, which made my wolf push to the surface. I ended up telling Katira to go find another pack member to help her before just walking by. While Alma and I are eating and Mark is writing his essay, I pull my phone out to message Nao about Alma’s recent behavior. Her response was nearly immediate, saying it might be grieving, or it could be her bonds readjusting. I remember Alma mentioning her pack bond to her home pack was decaying instead of breaking, which meant the pack rejection ceremony still hadn’t been done. It was bound to drive her wolf a little crazy.

Each member of Alma’s pack can tell something is wrong, but when asked she just says “I’ll be okay” and continues about her day. To say we were all worried was an understatement. But, pushing Alma means forcing her control to slip, so we don’t push her any more than she can handle. This is why, after we finish eating, when Alma is quick to get to the woods that the school owns, Mark and I simply comply.

My wolf again presses against my skin; I can feel his fur and his breath at my ear, again telling me to fix it. I simply knew what to fix. I'm beginning to worry that I won't be able to fix it when I finally figure out what it is.