Hiding from the Alpa

Chapter 5:

I feel a ricochet of pain through my body as I cross over the territory lines and away from my pack. I can hear Connor's voice calling out to me, but I do not turn around. I will not turn around. My heart does a stupid little twist and I hold back a whimper at the pain in my chest. Everything within me begs to go back; to run back to my family and my mate and prove myself to them.

I want to crawl to Connor and cling to him until he wants me again. He chased after me, right? Something in him might still want me. As much as I try to convince myself of his change of heart, however, I know I'm lying to myself. He doesn't want me; he wants my sister. I am not what he wants.

I am not enough for him.

I stumble from tree to tree, my legs trembling as my strength starts to fail me. My hands shift back and forth from wolf to human, then my arms, until I collapse to the ground. I shift back and forth in painful waves of broken bones and sprouted fur.

I am in absolute agony.

I lay in a heap of constantly shifting bones. I have no clue how long I lay there: maybe hours; maybe months. I can feel my mouth stretched into a silent scream, but no matter how hard I try to make my voice heard, I cannot find the strength. I am going to die here.

"Holy s**t! Jack, get over here!"

The voice sounds dampened like it was underwater, but that might be the fact that my eardrums are changing back and forth.

"Holy Hell! What is wrong with her? Jack! Jack, Damnit, get the Hell over here before she explodes or some s**t!"

I have no fricken clue who or where Jack is, but I feel like I'll probably be dead by the time that he does, in fact, get "the Hell over here" I will be long dead.

A wave of pure Alpha power washes over me, and even though I am too weak to move even the slightest with my constant shifting I feel the urge to submit to him.

I’m guessing that this person is Jack. Taking his sweet time, huh?

I strain to see him, but I can only move my eyes; tilting my head is too difficult. I feel him getting near, standing above my head as he pushes his power towards me in a concentrated beam.

“Stop shifting."

Instantly my body responds, and I lay on the ground completely motionless; naked as the day I was born in my human form. My body flames with pain as the last aftershocks of my episode wear off.

I feel a hand on my head, smoothing away my hair from my face and I immediately feel calmer.

“What the hell just happened?“ his words were not yelled, rather spoken with calm precision, but I could tell in the underlying tone just how concerned he was. So it's not just me who has no idea what the hell is going on.

“It’s going to be okay“ He soothed, as I watch two sets of bare feet come closer in my line of vision and cover my body with some sort of towel or jacket. I can tell from their movements and the way that they defer to the man in my head that I am in the presence of two warriors; not of any high birth, but of important standing in their pack nonetheless.

“Jack, do you know who she is?"

“Not a single clue"

I try to see above my head to Jack in order to figure out who he is and what I’m doing surrounded by three powerful wolves, but I can’t move: I just struggle against my own failing muscles.

“Stop trying to move“ his grumbled voice urges me before I am picked up and carried like a baby in his arms. I make out the slightest hint of stubble and a pretty freaking good jawline before my eyelids close of their own volition and I fade into nothingness.

---

I awake in what is possibly the softest bed I have ever laid in. I have no earthly clue where I am, but I will say this: the person that decorated this room has absolutely zero interior decorating sense. The walls are the colour of slate, that sort of ratty grey that you get in the grout between white tiles after a few years of not cleaning it properly. This colour would make sense for a male's room, but it did not sit well with the floral curtains and decorative throw pillows scattered around the room periodically. Old mahogany furniture was placed mismatched throughout the room like someone had just thrown them in for function's sake and didn’t bother taking a look at where they put it. It’s the perfectionist's nightmare, but for some reason, it feels so homey I never want to climb out of bed and find somewhere else to go.

Regardless, I slip my feet out of the comforter and place them on the carpeted floor. On unsteady legs, and using a lot of help from assorted furniture and walls, I make my way to the bathroom sink where I splash water on my face.

Looking up I stare into the face of a stranger, with bruised eyes and sunken cheekbones.

How long have I been out?

The door clicks behind me, and I spin around to face a strange man.

“How are you feeling?" He asks and I recognize the voice. He must be Jack.

“Where am I?" I creak out, my voice weak and sounding something like a squeaky door hinge.

“You’re at my home, welcome to my pack.“ My eyes snap to his as I realize that this is the alpha of the pack.

Holy s**t.

I try to stand straight, squaring my shoulders and taking on the posture that I know all alphas daughter should: a non-threatening position that also carries the self-assuredness that my dad could kill him if he wanted to.

It failed miserably.

“I asked you how you are feeling." He says again slowly and with a hint of annoyance crawling into his voice. I have no idea why, but I feel the need to push back.

“I’m fine."

Jack laughs, and the rumbling sound makes my heart skip a beat; whether in fear or excitement, I cannot tell.

“No woman in the history of that phrase has ever actually been fine.“ He takes a few steps towards me and I scramble back, catching my leg on the edge of the clawfoot tub and tumbling backward.

In a second he’s across the bathroom and catching me in his arms, pulling me close to him.

“Dammit, don’t be scared. I’m not gonna hurt you."

I don’t fight him as much as I want to, his chest is broad and rather comfy. I am exhausted and he smells good and I would prefer to be right here for the moment.

I’ll be a badass later.

He scoops me up and carries me back to the bed, laying me down carefully and pulling the covers back over my tired body.

“Rest now, call me if you need anything. I will stay here for a little while longer until you fall asleep.“ He strokes my hair out of my face and the touch is comforting and arousing all at once. I don't understand it.

“I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible, “ I say, and he gives an annoyed grunt.

“Do you even have anywhere to go, little wolf?“ He asks, and as much as I want to disagree with him, he has a point. “Do you know who I am?“ I ask and he gives me an infuriatingly handsome smile.

“Of course I do, Alpha's daughter.“ I tense at his words even though they are said with kindness.

"If you know who I am, then you know that my father will tear your pack to the ground if you harm a hair on my head."

His eyes sparkle with amusement, and I want to slap his stupidly handsome face. Instead, I allow the call of sleep to pull me under, not understanding his words as I become lost to the world once again.

"He's welcome to try."

-------

Connor:

"You have disrespected this pack, and you have dishonored my daughter!" Alpha Samuel's voice booms through the packhouse the second I return. He lunges at me, but I have no will to fight back. He can kill me if he wants.

Moon knows I deserve it.

He pounds my face with his fists over and over, and I revel in the pain. He doesn't shift into his wolf, obviously preferring the satisfying thud as his knuckles make contact with my jaw.

I am vaguely aware of the crowd of pack members and visiting Alphas watching on as Alpha Samuel pounds me into a bloody pulp, but it's not like I care. I know that I have already doomed both myself and my pack to a life of misery and destruction; no self-respecting Alpha would allow their daughters to become associated with a male who rejected his own mate. As the edges of my eyesight start to fade to black I repeat my mate's name like a prayer in my mind.

Charlie

Charlie

Charlie

Something, or someone I should say, throws themselves across my body, and I hear the Alpha's furious growl.

"Bea, get off him."

Samuel's luna shifts herself to cover me even more. "No Sammy, you'll kill him."

"I sure as hell hope so." Samuel tries to pull her off of my limp and beaten body, but she holds on tight, wrapping her arms around my torso.

I fade in and out of consciousness as the two bicker with each other; really, If I wasn't trying to embrace the cold void of darkness crowding in on my vision I would find them hilarious.

Suddenly, I am hit square in the chest with a pain second only to the moment Charlie accepted my rejection. Alpha Samuel and his wife's arguing goes quiet as I start to shake uncontrollably.

"Alpha Connor! What's happening?" I don't know who asks the question, and with the amount of pain I'm in, I don't care. My body burns with a searing fire of agony, but at the same time, the pain feels different somehow.

Almost... distant.

The reality hits me with all the force of a freight train.

Shit!

"Charlie" I moan, and I try to turn to my stomach in order to crawl my way to her. I can do it too; anything to get to her.

The shaking gets worse, and my hands start to shift in and out between my wolf and human form.

"Alpha!"

The walls are closing in and I can't stop shaking, but I cannot give in. Something's wrong with Charlie and I have to get to her. I call her name as loud as I can, but I don't even know if I'm even making a sound.

In an instant, it all stops. I lay still on the floor, and for a moment I think that she must be dead.

My beautiful mate, what have I done to you?

"Sam, what on earth was that?" The luna squeals, and I close my eyes, hoping that I slip away to go be with my sweet mate.

"I think... Bea, I think they are still connected somehow."

"How is that possible?"

"Maybe it's them... from the prophecy."

As the words hit their mark within me.

Still connected?

I reach within my mind, searching for where our mating bond should be. Sure enough, the smallest thread of a connection sits among the wreckage of my soul. I reach out to her through it, and when I feel her beating heart aligning with mine I sigh in contentment and allow the darkness to pull me under.

I have to get her back.

There's still hope.