The Alpha's Runaway

Chapter Eight

That night, I woke up in pain. My skin felt like it was on fire. I whimpered at the feeling as sweat started to form on my brow.

I’m in heat. I recognized dimly.

“Laura?” I heard Grant’s muffled voice as he knocked on the bedroom door.

Kleio whimpered as she heard him, trying to take over so she could open the door.

‘No.’ I shoved her down.

Grant knocked again, louder this time.

“What’s going on?” Henry asked Grant tiredly.

My mate ignored, “Laura!” He begged, pounding his fist against the door.

‘Keep him out.’ I told Henry weakly via mindlink.

‘Crap.’ Henry realized, ‘Jess! Get over here! Bring Lance and Charlie! Addie’s in heat! We need to stop Grant, he can’t control himself!’

After a minute, I heard footsteps rushing toward my room. The banging stopped.

“Let go of me!” Grant snarled, “Laura!”

“Stop fighting us, Theseus!” Lance ordered, “You’re not in your right mind and you’re going to do something you’ll regret.”

“We need to get him out of the house.” Charlie said.

“His family’s cabin.” Lance responded, his voice strained, “He’ll be far enough away to get control of his wolf.”

There were sounds of a scuffle, gradually moving away from my room. After a while, the noise faded and someone else knocked on the door.

“Laura?” Jess asked, “It’s me and Gwen.”

I whimpered as I got off the bed, the heat suffocating me. Opening the door, I let them in. Gwen immediately slipped my arm over her shoulders and I leaned on her for support.

“Let’s get her back to bed.” She told Jess quietly.

They set me on top of the comforter and I curled into a ball, willing the pain to go away. I heard Gwen walk toward my bathroom then return a minute later. A cool, wet cloth pressed against my forehead.

“How is she already going through heat?” Jess asked, “I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen for a while.”

“It’s not.” Gwen agreed, “But Grant first picked up Laura’s scent a month ago. She must have done the same. It basically tricked their wolves into thinking they found each other sooner than they did. Now, nature is pushing them to complete the mating bond. We’ll need to keep an eye on her and Grant until it’s over.”

“I’ll stay with her tonight.” Jess said.

“Okay. I’ll check on you two in the morning.”

I could hear Gwen walking away, shutting the door behind her. Jess took the cloth from my forehead, dipped it in water again, and put it back. Eventually, I drifted into an uneasy sleep.

-Grant-

A week after Laura first went into heat, the girls finally deemed it safe enough for me to return to the packhouse. The second I returned, Lance dragged me into the office to take care of pack business.

“The Harvest Moon pack was attacked by rogues.” Lance informed me, his gray eyes full of worry.

“Again? That’s the third pack this month.”

“I know.” He said, “The attacks are getting more frequent.”

“Are your cousins okay?” I asked. Lance’s mother grew up there before marrying his father.

“They’re fine. The women and children were in the safe room when it happened. Mason is worried Harvest Moon will be attacked again.”

“Why would the rogues break their pattern? They’ve attacked each pack once before moving on to the next.”

“Mason thinks they’re looking for something. What better place for it to hide than the largest pack in the region?”

I frowned, “Do they have anything hidden within their pack boundaries?”

“No, but the rogues don’t know that. It’s possible they could be grasping for power. We should send ten volunteers to help protect their lands, as well as prepare our own pack for rogue attacks. If they are willing to take on the largest pack in order to gain power, they could target us next.”

“Do it.” I said before pausing, “Is it possible… The rogues aren’t looking for something, but someone?”

“Someone?” Lance asked before it clicked, “You mean the Daniels?”

I nodded, “These rogues could be the ones that destroyed their pack. We know that whoever did that is chasing them. It makes sense.”

“It’s possible but we don’t have enough information.” Lance shook his head, “We need to know more before telling them anything. If they think whoever is chasing them has found them, they’ll bolt.”

“Okay. We’ll find out what we can from our mates about their past. Subtly. I’m going to set up a meeting with Mason and Alexander. We need to monitor the rogue situation. We can’t do much until we know more. Is there anything else?”

“There is. The Daniels are Alpha-born.”

“I know.” I told him, “I saw their wolves at training. Did Viv tell you?”

He shook his head, “No.”

“How did you find out?”

“When Viv had Mina pinned, Kiera started to move closer. Viv growled at her, and you could feel her Alpha aura. Kiera backed away in submission. It also explains why they’re not intimidated by us. They’re respectful, but they’re not afraid to approach us like normal wolves. It will make it easier to find out who they are. I’ll mindlink Gwen and ask her to look into packs that have been wiped out in recent years, as well as reports of missing Alpha-borns.” 

I nodded, “Okay. She already knows they’re Alpha-born, but I’m not sure where she is in her research. It may take a while. She won’t be able to do much when Laura is there in the library with her.”

He nodded and I dismissed him, then pulled out my phone, making a quick call to the neighboring packs. We discussed ways to deal with the rogues in the region for a few minutes before hanging up. Finally, mentally exhausted, I left to find my mate.

The third-floor loft was empty, as was her room. Heading back downstairs, I resolved to check the library. As I opened the door, I heard Gwen’s voice.

“Here, can you take him for me?” She asked, before handing Will to Laura and searching the shelves. The table closest to the window was already littered with open books. She pulled several large volumes from the shelves before setting them on the table.

“Hey, Grant.” She looked up and waved before taking Will back from Laura.

My mate smiled when she saw me, a tired, but content look in her eyes, “Hi.”

“Hey.” I give her a quick kiss, “How’s the research?”

“We haven’t found anything about triplets in particular. There’s some about wolf and witch hybrids, or wolves with abilities linked to a totem, but neither cases apply. Both my parents were wolves and we have no totem. It’s only been a few hours though. I’m sure we’ll find something if we keep looking. A lot of this is interesting though. I’d love to go back through and just read all of this when I have the time.”

I chuckled, “I’m glad you’re having fun at least.” Looking at Gwen, I added, “Mind if I borrow Laura?”

Gwen sighed dramatically, “If you must.”

I offered my hand to Laura, who took it and followed me to her room. She practically collapsed onto her bed, yawning.

“How are you feeling?” I asked tentatively, stretching out next to her.

“Better. It was exhausting though. I spent the entire time trying to keep my wolf from running to you.”

“I know what you mean. I had to do the same. Alpha wolves aren’t exactly easy to control, are they?”

“Nope.” She agreed tiredly.

“You have about an hour before training starts. You should take a nap.”

“A nap sounds good.” She murmured.

I wrapped my arms around her, and her head rested on my chest.

“Did you want to talk?” She asked once she got settled, “It sounded like you wanted to say something without Gwen being there.”

“Yeah, I did. The full moon is in two weeks.”

“Okay?”

“I know you said when you first got here that you weren’t sure that you wanted to join the pack, but that was before you met everyone. You should talk to Viv and Cameron. If you want to join Silver Woods, you’ll need to lead the pack run on the night of the full moon. It’ll create the bond between pack members.”

Laura pulled away and sat up. She wrapped her arms around herself defensively, “What would you say if I told you I still wanted to wait?” She asked quietly. I could have sworn I saw a flicker of fear.

I smiled sadly, pulling her back into my arms and kissing the top of her head, “I understand. I know it’s a lot in such a short time. I meant what I said. You are worth the wait. We can take it slow.” I murmured softly.

She immediately relaxed, “Thank you.” She said simply.

I pressed another kiss against her temple before whispering in her ear, “Get some rest, beautiful.”

Within minutes, she was asleep.

-Addie-

Grant woke me up just in time to get ready for training. I groaned, instantly regretting the nap. The last thing I wanted was to feel sluggish during training. Getting ready quickly, I pulled my hair into a ponytail as Grant and I walked downstairs and headed out the door.

As soon as I came within range of Jess and Henry, the lethargy vanished.

Interesting… I thought. Ever since Gwen asked me about unusual powers, I’ve started noticing the slight changes that occurred when I was near to my siblings. As we trained, I noticed fluctuations in my endurance depending on how close I was to Jess, Henry, or both. From the looks on Gwen and Grant’s faces, they noticed as well.

I wanted to see how it would affect my strength and speed. Jess, Henry, and I still held ourselves back when sparring around others. While it meant we couldn’t quite progress in our training, it helped us to blend in. The last thing we needed was to stand out and call attention to ourselves. The marks on our shoulders did that enough.

With Henry training the group next to us, I sparred with Jess. I could feel Grant watching me, and I made the mistake of glancing at him in the middle of a match. Jess drove her fist into my stomach and I doubled over, gasping.

Jess smirked, ‘You’re distracted.’ She said smugly over mindlink, ‘As long as Grant is standing there watching, you’re going to lose.’

I recovered quickly and returned the favor by catching her next strike and throwing her to the ground. I pinned her, sending her a mindlink of my own, ‘Not a chance.’

She smiled and I helped her up.

“Never underestimate me. No matter what, I will always take you down.” I smirked as we prepared to go again.

“Can’t blame me for trying.”

I laughed softly before we started sparring again.