The Lonely Wolf

15

Roderick

A few weeks had gone by, and I had been avoiding Ronnie every chance I had. She’s so used to solitude I don’t even know if she noticed.

I brought Devin to the school and did all that work just to find out what room was hers, and she wasn’t even there. Devin was so pissed. I know it was probably his wolf being anxious with her scent being so strong there. I was barely able to convince him to just write a letter and leave.

I thought for sure she was going to say something to me asking about it, but she didn’t. I don’t think she even knows what is going to happen.

This was way beyond what I had been trained to handle. Her being here and just keeping her head down and out of trouble until she graduates is one thing, but she's mated to the future alpha of one of the strongest wolf packs. She has to have a strong line also.

I ended up talking to my dad about her. He said he would come to our last cross-country meet today to check her out. He agrees that it would probably be better for Devin to reject her but wants to ensure our safety with her being around first. He said some wolves go absolutely nuts after rejection.

The opposing team’s buses are pulling up, and my team is just coming out of the locker room for warm-ups.

My dad, mom, and sister are by the side with their cow bells and horns. Everyone seems to have family on their sides since we have been doing so well. I was surprised to see even Ronnie waving at a guy and girl on the sidelines.

Today’s race was going to be a tough one. We’ll be running against two other packs, one of them has Gigi Murphey. Gigi is a pure blood Alpha, meaning both her mother and father are Alpha’s and their union created one of the largest and strongest packs in existence. Gigi is one of the only females whose speed and skill surpasses many males and so does her ego. Someone like her is who Devin needs to have as a mate.

They call for the females to run the course first. Being the team captain, I give them a pep talk to build up their spirits.

“You can talk as much as you want, Roddy, this group is still going to be following my dust trials,” Gigi says, mocking the ladies. Sophia gives a growl and her sister holds her hand. She’s just trying to get in their heads and the team knows this. I decided to take this moment to greet my parents.

I turn back to look at the team start and see Gigi still eyeing the teams. She walks through the crowd looking down at everyone but stops and takes her time looking at Ronnie, then looks back at me from across the field and yells. “Awe you let a mutt on your team? Come on, I thought you had standards!” She yells across the field at me.

“Is that the hybrid rogue everyone has been talking about?” My mom asks me.

“Yes. That’s Veronica. She’s a good runner,” I replied, not letting either of their comments get to me.

“Well, let’s hope she doesn’t lose her cool. You know, rogues are known for that,” my dad says.

“I think she’ll be good,” I reply, confidently. Ronnie is small but she's tough. She knows when to fight her battles.

“We’ll see,” he says as the shot fires off for the runners to go.

Veronica

Blondie has a lot of mouth. She had a lot to say about me being a hybrid and even yelled across the field. I wonder if her feet can keep up with her mouth.

The shot fires off and we begin running.

Bigmouths team is running in a line, so no other runners can get past them. They’re literally bumping the other team, knocking runners down.

“Ronnie, what are you doing?” I hear Stephanie ask. She’s supposed to be taking the lead on this run, but she's running too hesitantly for me.

“I’m getting through. Follow me,” I say, speeding up and getting in the position to be the lead runner. The team runs in a line behind me.

One player on the bigmouth's team attempted to use that bumping tactic she just did on the other team to knock me off course or injure me. I sidestepped, causing her to miss me and trip on her own feet.

The next two attempted to jam me up, but I did an aikido maneuver and spun them off of me. With three runners out of the line, we were easily able to break through, and I caught up with Miss Bigmouth herself.

This trail goes both uphill and downhill and, because I knew it well, I knew how to adjust my running to keep a good pace without tiring out. She didn’t like me catching up with her and picked up the pace. I knew I had to keep her at that pace so she would tire out.

The finish line was in sight. Miss Bigmouth began getting cocky and slowing her pace so she could pose for the cameras. It was my time to go full throttle. And that was what I did. Focusing on nothing but the finish line and my breathing, I ran until the finish line was no longer in sight. I got to the end and thought I lost the feelings in my legs until I realized I was being lifted by Rodrick.

“Can you please put me down? I just need to catch my breath. May I have some water?“ I asked the coach.

“Oh yeah,” he said and set me down.

The coach handed me a water bottle and I turned to look for the rest of the team. They were all finishing right behind me.

It’s so weird. Roddy hasn’t spoken to me in weeks. Now he thinks it’s okay to pick me up. We’re not friends.

I walked over by Jason and Nicole, and they congratulated me as we watched the boys run. The guys did very well also. Their times were good and there were no complaints about the cheating tactics. Once everyone was changed and out of the locker room, I heard talk about everyone getting together to celebrate. Roderick was talking to the team and inviting everyone somewhere until his parents came up and stopped him.

“Your intentions are well, but you know you can’t hang out with everyone,“ she says, then glances at me. She awkwardly slides to the side as I walk past.

“Oh Roddy. Sorry. I have plans already, so I won’t be able to celebrate with the team.” I turned back towards them to say, then quickly turned back in the direction I headed and walked right into a man.

“Woe be careful young lady,” he says. His touch instantly gave me a chill. I knew that voice. I look up frozen, actually being able to place a face with a voice. I didn’t see his face that day, but I clearly heard his voice. The voice that broke my heart at such a young age. The rejection that echoed my thoughts and caused unbearable pain. A pain in my chest that has been reopened.

“You’re shaking, are you okay?” I heard him asking, but I was unable to respond. I struggled to breathe.

I closed my eyes. Took a deep breath to suck in the emotion and made my exit, but not towards my friends who were waiting for me. They hired a new cook and another person to work in front, so they were able to come watch me run without worrying about the café. We were supposed to go get something to eat afterward.

Instead, I went to my room, locked the doors, wrapped myself in a blanket and allowed myself to cry in private.