The Alpha's Fight

Chapter 14 - A Beautiful Dusky Blond Wolf

My chin rested on my fist as I stared out of my bedroom window at my favourite sight in the whole world. There were a few minutes spare before I had to leave for training, just enough to enjoy the most beautiful view. He had only just started up work and was busy in the orangery moving saplings around before it became too hot to work under the late summer sun.

The previous year, I hadn't seen him once. The year just passed since he left high school, I had been blessed to see him almost every day. Absence had done more than make my heart grow fonder; imaginary Taylor had been working overtime. I had tried to stay away from him, content with what I was doing currently, staring from my window. But for the last few days, my wolf had begged me to check on Taylor through the night. Sometimes, I had kept watch of his home for hours at a time, making sure to keep a safe distance, even falling asleep outside.

I used to curse my east-facing bedroom windows in the morning. Now they were a gift. Taylor's dusky gold curls shone brightly in the early sun, tied back behind his head. In the year he had been working here, he had been growing his hair out and, on top of that, his physical job had filled his physique out nicely too. He was 19 and still had a gentle and innocent look that was steadily becoming more mature and masculine. And I had gotten to witness the slight and gradual change daily…

'You keep staring any longer, you're gonna have to slap yourself around again, spanky,' Hawk chirped in, though I could feel his tail wagging around. These were the few moments my wolf actually felt at peace.

'You're the animal that can't keep away from him at night,' I reminded him.

Just a few more seconds of enjoying his features were all I could spare. I leant forward, trying to get a better view of him… only to smack my head square on the glass. Taylor's face instantly turned upwards at the sound and I dropped to the ground before he spotted me.

'Stealth ninja at work,' Hawk howled in laughter.

'Shut up,' I snapped, taking a chance to peer down to make sure I hadn't been seen.

That was my cue to leave before I did something else that was monumentally stupid.

Today was compulsory training for all warriors and trackers. Although my small group of friends would be attending, except Imogen who would be busy with her full-time job in the pack house, I would be spending very little of it training alongside Scott, Jayden or Sloane. Instead, unfortunately as always, it would be spent either at my father's side, pretending to learn his ruthless ways of training the wolves or 'sparring'. His idea of sparring was akin to an out-and-out fight to the death. His more disturbing lessons were ones he had begun more recently, alone; 'teachings' he had called them of "where we wolves should be placed in this world". Like I would ever want anything to do with a fanatical pack calling themselves 'The Moon's Eye', that thought our kind were meant to rule over all others and that our moon goddess had deemed it so, tasking them with their mission. Megalomaniacal lunatics, that was all they were. And if Nicholas admired them and their way of thinking, it was all I needed to be convinced of their evil.

Arriving on the training field, I spotted Klay near the edge of the group gathered. He still kept to himself, mostly, but he had been a huge help with the former White Leaf Pack members. Many still didn't trust me entirely and I couldn't blame them. I was the son of the man who had killed their leaders and forced them into submission. Only time would show I fought for their side, that I was nothing like Nicholas.

Jayden and Sloane chatted happily together and greeted me subtly as I passed them. Over the last three years, the two had become like sisters. And because Jayden had been living alongside Scott, she had been far freer to be herself in her own home. That constant anxious edge to her movements had eased, though she was still in deep turmoil over her mate and whether they would accept her. Sloane and Imogen had been instrumental in helping me with my plan to secure Taylor his gardening job. Imogen had suggested his name for the position, and Sloane helped keep a distant eye on him for me when I wasn't around. She also teased me mercilessly over my 'adorable crush', as she called it. Maybe it was selfish of me to want him close by, but having him near meant I could always watch over him and to keep my promise to his mother.

'Another day in paradise,' Scott smiled grimly, next to me on the training field.

'And we get to live it on repeat,' I sighed, bracing myself as my father approached to begin another day…

*

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*

Over the last three years, exhaustion had become my best friend. I was used to it. I welcomed it. It was the only way I could drown out everything swimming in my mind to drift off to sleep and stay asleep for more than a few hours at a time. Then why couldn't I drift away?

I was restless, Hawk too.

Something was pulling us, and the sensation was growing as I lay in bed. It was no use. The feeling wasn't relenting, so I threw my covers off, grabbed my jeans and my pair of boots I had discarded on the floor, and yanked them on. I picked up a t-shirt and gripped it between my teeth as I climbed out of the far window. This one led straight down to the ground and had a drainpipe nearby; this wasn't my first time sneaking out at night, it was easier than answering questions if I was caught by my father.

Once my boots touched the ground, I sprayed on some of my scent cover. I had perfected it a little more, but it still never lasted long. It lasted just long enough to hide my scent from around the outside of the pack house and my direction. I set off in a slow jog, pulling my shirt over my head as I went and slid the small spray bottle into my back pocket, blushing a little when I felt the small tube hiding away. I had taken to carrying that tube around with me for the last few days, when I began feeling drawn to Taylor's home… in case I worked up the nerve to knock on his door.

It came as no surprise my feet had led me so quickly to Taylor's home. Hawk was alert, his senses trained on the house, more than usual. The single light on upstairs went out, so he must've been going to bed.

Why couldn't I tear myself away?

This was ridiculous! I was like some seedy stalker.

'No. You're infinitely more pathetic, because you're sitting out here pining like a pup,' my wolf mocked. 'If you were seedy, you would've stolen his underwear…'

'NO!' I silenced him before he said anything else incredibly gross and stupid. 'I'm not about to be that wolf.'

'Like you wouldn't coat ourself in his scent with anything you could get your hands on.'

'There are literally a million better ways than that!'

My argument with Hawk was loudly interrupted by a resounding bang coming from the back door of the house along with a cry of pain.

Taylor.

Every ounce of me was pulled in his direction, his very soul cried out for me and I was all too happy to answer. All I could see was the top of the greenhouse and the back door over the hedge. I couldn't be certain what was happening, but he had to be shifting… this was why I had been so drawn to him. I squeezed through the gap at the edge of the house to see a figure writhing in the grass. A scent of fresh rain, both familiar and new, hit me square in the face. Taylor's. It was addictive before, but now? I wanted to drink every last bit of him.

I hurried over, skidding to my knees by his prone body and ran my hand across his back. At the contact, my skin ignited with tingles. His writhing halted and he gripped the front of my shirt to pull himself up, to look at me. That smile I had seen so many times, the one I desperately wanted to belong to me, slowly spread across his lips.

"Mate," we said in unison as our eyes met, his voice sounded like honey.

He was astoundingly handsome under the sun, but under the moon, he was ethereal and his eyes were no less enchanting. My hand slipped along his jaw, his whole face leaning into my touch, sighing at the comfort the mate bond brought us. It was beyond anything I could have ever dreamed or imagined.

"I wanted it to be you. I've never wanted anyone like you. Will you be mine?" I asked, filled with hope that through everything, I could have this one fragment of happiness.

He nodded without hesitation, a huge smile across his face even though he grimaced in pain from his impending shift. Hawk howled in elation and I couldn't help myself, surging forward to kiss him, taste him. My imagination held nothing compared to reality. Our lips moved on their own, by instinct, and my hands tightened around his waist, holding him as close as possible. His fingers threaded through the short beard I had been growing, cupping my jaw and deepening our kiss. Our tongues melded together and I wasn't sure whether his sounds were those of pleasure, pain or both. He never pulled away, how I had always feared. He hadn't denied me. Taylor was accepting me as his mate, he wanted me. All the longing I had endured, all the wondering, finally answered… he belonged to me and I belonged to him, fully.

This was everything I had dreamt of and wanted. It would be selfish, reckless and probably the dumbest thing I could do, but I didn't care. Taylor had been my one ray of sunshine and now that I knew he was mine, I wouldn't let him go for anything. I could do this, have him and keep him safe.

He pulled away from my lips, groaning in pain, leaning his forehead against mine. His skin was burning up as the first bone began to snap and twist in a new alignment.

"I need to get you undressed. It'll help with the shift," I whispered against his skin, nuzzling into him and tightening my arms around his figure.

"You already… trying to get in my pants?" He got out between deep breaths.

"And it's working," we both laughed, but another wave, larger this time, made him fold in pain.

I helped him pull the t-shirt over his head and blushed profusely when he took his shorts off. My sweet blond boy had been packing something impressively perfect all this time? My imagination hadn't done him justice. I held him close to me while he shifted, whispering support the whole time and stroking his bare skin as tufts of fur began to sprout.

It wasn't long before the young man in my arms had vanished, replaced by a beautiful dusky blond and petite wolf.