Stolen Fates - Anna

Alpha

Even before she opened her eyes, Anna could smell the forest. The scent of earth was rich and she could even smell the grass as if it had just been cut. A bird chirping and squirrel racing up a nearby tree caused one of her ears to twist and focus on the sounds.

Opening her eyes, where she would normally see the outline of her nose, a long white muzzle filled her vision. She watched the black nose at the end of the muzzle twitch as she sniffed the air around her. The next thing to catch her attention were the white legs that her head rested on. She jerked her head up but the weight pressed against her head didn't allow for much movement. 

She felt the low growl reverberate against her skull before the pressure was lifted and she felt the gentle brush of fur against her own. She turned her head and saw the sandy colored wolf standing beside her, his nose sniffing at her fur covered ears. He nudged at her side with his head and pawed at the ground beneath her, trying to get her to stand.

She pushed her body from the ground with her paws and felt her legs shake at the unfamiliar feeling of standing on four legs instead of two. She felt the other wolf brush his head under her chin and lick at the corner of her mouth but a howl in the distance had both wolves standing alert suddenly.

She watched the hackles rise along the back of the other wolf as he lowered his head and growled loudly, stepping in front of her. She could hear bodies moving through the forest and felt the soft whimper in her chest, fear causing her tail to tuck between her back legs and her ears to flatten.

Three wolves emerged from from the woods before them. One, gray and black, stepped ahead of the other two and pulled his lips back to expose his large canines at Charlie. The two wolves growled at each other and the forgotten pair flanked around the sides of Anna while the focus was on the gray and black wolf.

The pair showed no signs of aggression as they approached her slowly, flashing their eyes to Charlie every few steps. Anna snapped her jaws at the auburn colored wolf on her right when it stretched it's head forward to sniff at her. The wolf to her left, brown with patches of gray, pressed his chest into her shoulder and growled above her head.

Anna felt something snap inside of her and spun away from the wolf trying to dominate her, raising her tail and growling loudly in warning. With his head held high, he approached her again. This time he tried to roll her to the ground with his chest pushing into her shoulder. Her anger rose as she spun away from him once more and then lunged forward, her canines bared and snapping at him.

The brown wolf shook out his fur as he took a few steps away from her and Anna felt teeth bury into the thick fur at the scruff of her neck. The hold wasn't meant to injure so much as to control and she was having none of it. She yelped as she twisted away and the teeth holding her fur pulled hard, trying to keep the hold.

Charlie heard the yelp and turned his green eyes from the gray and black wolf before him. The other wolf cut off his attempt to come to Anna's rescue by standing between Charlie and the trio of wolves, growling low in his chest.

Anna snapped her canines with a snarl and a shake of her head, her muzzle scrunching as she and the auburn wolf circled each other, neither wanting to back down. The auburn wolf moved first, lunging at her with a loud growl. She met the wolf's movement and the pair snapped at each other's necks for a moment while raised on their hind legs.

Anna proved to be the stronger of the two as the auburn wolf fell to its side, still growling and showing its teeth but no longer aggressive toward her as she stood over it, her teeth holding the fur of its neck. She released her hold and shook out her fur, watching the two wolves closely as their tails moved lower to the ground and they moved back to the black and gray wolf.

Charlie moved around the trio and sniffed at Anna's fur, rubbing his head against hers after. The black and gray wolf lifted his muzzle and howled briefly into the air before the three turned and ran back into the woods. Anna's sapphire eyes continued to look into the trees for several long moments after they'd disappeared from sight and didn't look away until she heard Charlie's voice calling her name.

She wasn't sure when he'd shifted back or how he'd done it so quietly but admittedly, her attention had been firmly on the forest. She padded over to him and felt her stomach twisting painfully. The snapping of bones echoed in her ears as felt her frame shrinking back to human, the snow white fur that covered her body falling away and floating away on the wind.

Her forehead was pressed to the ground and her lungs burned for more air as she breathed heavily against the pain. It slowly faded and her body felt heavy with fatigue. She felt Charlie's hand brush her hair away from her face and leaned more into his touch.

"Are you alright? I wasn't expecting them to come down here but...you did amazing," she heard him speak proudly on a whisper as he wiped some of the dirt away from her face.

"I see why you took your clothes off first," Anna said on a half-laugh as she sat herself up and covered up as best as she could with her arms.

Charlie moved over to the tree trunk that he'd placed his clothes on and brought his t-shirt over to her, pulling the fabric over her head and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before moving away once more to pull on his jeans.

"Who were they," she asked and looked in the direction the other wolves had gone.

"Well," he began and reached a hand down to help her from the ground. After she'd taken his hand and was back on her feet, he kept his hands on her sides to help steady her. "The black and gray one...was my father. The brown one was Grant and the reddish one, the one you fought with, was Teagan...Grant's mate," he explained like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I think Teagan was angry that you wouldn't submit to her mate. I'm pretty sure that's why she went at you like that," he continued and gave a slight shrug of his shoulder before taking her hand in his and started them walking in the direction the wolves had taken.

"What was that all about, anyway," she asked as they navigated the woods back to the pack house. "I didn't really know what I was doing. It was like...I could see it happening but...I didn't have control," she explained and saw him nod his head to her words.

She heard him sigh lightly and then laugh softly as his arm moved to wrap around her shoulder, pulling her more into his side. "Baby, you don't take bullshit from anyone...not even me. I'm not surprised that you're wolf's the same way," he explained and she saw his smile grow before he continued. "That was their way of testing you...and you obviously passed," he said and pressed a kiss to her temple as they walked.