The Alpha and His Hunted Kitsune Princess

Exploring Pt. 1

Piper was loving this. Preston was so dominant right now and every part of me submitted to him. On some level, that had to be weird but I had no space to figure that out. This was so utterly hot and I loved it. I knew I’d have hickeys, but I didn't care. I needed more and my boyfriend gave it to me until I passed out.

I woke up in that forest again. I looked around running for that animal. I had to help her, even if it was just a manifestation of my robe. I called, “Hello!” I groaned, “An unconscious animal cannot you, Piper.”

I saw white, black, and blue in the distance. I began to run, but it was like I wasn’t making progress. I screamed in frustration then saw shadows near the animal. I screamed, “LEAVE HER ALONE!” My voice boomed and the shadows all disappeared into the clouds. I tried to run to the animal again, but no matter how hard I ran I couldn’t make it to her.

Then my alarm pierced the forest and it disappeared. I would’ve been disappointed but Preston certainly woke me up the right way. Orgasmic bliss flowed through me. I wanted to jump him, but I had class.

Preston looked pissed that my teammates took my cell phone. It wasn’t that big of a deal to me though. I was stunned when he told me he was getting me a new phone. When he left I jumped in the shower. I got out and saw I did have a hickey where my neck and shoulder met. I reached for the cover up, but I really didn’t want to cover it up.

I got dressed and went downstairs. Remi said, “Here is your phone.” I gasped, “It was already delivered?” Remi answered, “Uh huh by Sierra.” I asked, “Do you squeak when you say everyone that surrounds Melanie’s name?” Remi kicked her feet, “When you remember everything you DIE with me.” I laughed.

I admitted, “This is a nicer model than my phone.” I looked at the cover and promptly dropped the phone. Remi asked, “Piper?” I whispered, “I know those eyes.” Remi coyly asked, “Do you?” The eyes formed a silhouette of an animal. It looked like a fox's head but the colors were what I was seeing in my dream. No fox looked like that. The background on the phone was a picture of Preston and I on our date. Awww, I didn’t even see someone taking this picture.

I groaned, “I’m already having dreams after the robe I got with these colors. Now, it’s on my phone but I’m telling you Remi I know those eyes.” Remi said, “I believe you. What are these dreams?” I snorted, “I’m in a forest.”

Remi gasped, “Tell me everything. Right now.” I looked at the clock, “We need to get to class.” Remi waved, “Who cares about that? The dream!” I said, “There’s an animal that’s white, black, and blue. I know that sounds crazy.”

Remi disagreed, “Not even slightly. Continue. I sighed, “I can’t reach her no matter how hard I try. I can’t even get close to her. This time there were shadows.” Remi growled, “What?” I snorted, “Yeah, I yelled and they disappeared into the clouds.”

Remi asked, “Is that all?” I answered, “Yeah, it’s not much.” These were that animal’s eyes though. How did I know that? I had no dang idea, but I knew I was right. I rubbed my head as pain burst through. I shook myself, “Ok, so class.” Remi groaned, “If we must.” We left and went to class.

It wasn’t as eventful as our first one. I looked over the syllabuses but didn’t spot any more mistakes. I was kind of hoping to see Melanie again, but she wasn’t in our classes. Mom called me after our first class ended.

I answered, “Hey, mom.” Mom sighed, “I was about to send out a search party. You’re lucky Remi has been answering my texts. I know she would raise the alarm if you were missing. Plus, I didn’t have a sense you were in danger.”

I heard Nathan McD chuckled, “I told you some of the people around her saw her on campus and out last night.” Mom sighed, “Well, a mom likes to hear their child’s voice.” I apologized, “Sorry, mom. Some of my teammates took my phone.”

Mom gasped and Nathan McD growled, “What?!” I said, “Yeah, they didn’t want me to text Preston too soon after our date.” Mom huffed, “That is utterly ridiculous. They have no right to take a phone from you that I pay for.”

I assured her, “It’s fine. Preston got a new phone delivered to me with a cool case.” That made my heart ache for some reason. Mom said, “Well, that was very nice and pragmatic of him.” Nathan McD chuckled, “I doubt that’s what he’d call it.”

Remi squealed, “I met Sierra!” Mom asked, “Did you really? I know you girls wanted to meet all those women.” Remi giggled, “I have met so many of them. I can’t wait for Pipes here to remember it all and we can properly scream and giggle about it. My Petty Tax is getting paid, Hazel.”

Nathan McD asked, “Your what?” Mom laughed, “I’ll explain later. How is it being paid, Remi?” Remi answered, “We went to a club in a limo with dresses sent from Haley.” I pointed out, “Melanie sent those dresses.” Remi agreed, “Yes, but the dresses were from Haley. They were her designs.”

Mom agreed, “Your petty tax is definitely being paid. Piper, don’t let your teammates take your phone. Ok? I don’t care if you sent Preston a million texts.” Nathan McD offered, “Neither does Preston, for the record. He’d actually like it.”

I laughed, “I think that would send my teammates into a tailspin.” Remi replied, “Some of them would deserve that. Some we just wouldn’t tell if you did that. They could repeat your methods with other people, and that wouldn’t end well.” What?

I sighed, “Well, it’s handled.” Mom huffed, “I cannot believe someone took your phone and didn’t give it back.” I said, “They told me they’d give it back at our scrimmage. I’m not sure I can go back to the old phone though.” The cover wouldn’t fit the old one and I needed this phone cover more than I could express.

Nathan McD laughed, “I’m sure he got you the latest model.” Remi hummed, “Pipes here loves the cover and it wouldn’t fit her old phone.” I smiled at my best friend, glad that she understood even when it didn’t make sense to me.

Mom asked, “What’s the cover of? Is it a picture of you and Preston?” I laughed, “That’s the wallpaper actually. It’s from our date and we are sitting on the docks.” Mom asked, “What’s the cover of?”

I admitted, “I don’t know really. It’s like a fox animal type head but the color is wrong. I swear I know these eyes though. Did I have a stuffed animal that looked like a fox that was blue, black, and white.” The phone dropped and I heard my mom gasp.

I asked, “Mom?” The call disconnected but I swear I heard her start crying. I asked, “Did I lose a sentimental stuffed animal?” Remi answered, “No, you didn’t lose anything. It’s just temporarily misplaced.” I snorted, “So, I lost it.” I knew something was missing.

Remi disagreed, “That’s not the right word. Let’s eat.” I reasoned, “I should call my mom back.” Remi snorted, “Let Nathan McD take your mom to pound town once he calms her down.” I made a face, “Why on earth would you say that?”

Remi replied, “Both deserve to go to pound town. Your mom lived like a nun most of your life and Nathan’s wife was murdered. Everyone deserves to go to pound town.” I gasped, “I’m sorry his wife was what now?!”

Remi winced, “I forgot you didn’t know that.” I asked, “Is my mom in danger?” Remi shook her head, “No, it’s fine.” Ok, so it must have been someone after her and not Nathan McD. How sad. Remi reasoned, “You knew he was a widower. You’ve met Mike and Jane.”

I stared at her saying, “I didn’t know his first wife was murdered. That’s kind of a big deal.” Remi agreed, “It is but it wasn’t his fault.” I gasped, “I didn’t say it was, but if there was some weird stalker after his wife because they were obsessed with him or something I should know.”

Remi replied, “Nope. No stalker after Nathan McD.” Good. We went to eat but no one came to meet us this time. I grumbled, “Today is boring.” Remi agreed, “So boring. That can’t be good.” It felt like she was right.

In our next class several people got texts and growls filled the room with gasps. I looked at my phone but I didn’t have an alert. Remi gasped next. I asked, “What?” Remi put her phone away, “It’s nothing for you to worry about.” People ran out of the class.

The teacher nodded to them all. I whispered, “What the hell is going on?!” Remi said, "Everything will be fine.” I asked, “Where the hell did those people go?” I recognized them as people who stood up for Melanie yesterday. Remi shrugged but I knew she wasn’t telling me the truth.

We left and went home and I decided to take a nap before our scrimmage. I woke up in the water. I screamed as the water shoved me around. I saw the rock coming and tried to get away. I screamed, “SORA!” Huh? Who was that? Wait, people said that in the hospital right? Who was Sora? Then I hit my head and woke up coughing.

What the f**k? I stormed out and found Remi. My friend asked, “Are you ok?” I asked, “Is Sora the name of the stuffed animal I have?” Remi said, “You do not have a stuffed animal named Sora.” I asked, “Who is she then?”

Remi admitted, “I can’t tell you.” I groaned, “Why?” Remi rolled her eyes, “Some stupid doctor's opinion.” I groaned, “Something is missing, Remi! I know it is. The ache in me feels better around Preston, but I know that something is missing! I know it. I always have.”

Remi whispered, “I know you do.” My best friend held me in her arms while I cried. I asked, “Why can’t I just remember?” Remi replied, “Because rocks and currents or undertows, I’m not sure I wasn’t paying attention, are our enemy.” I snorted, “Rocks?”

Remi answered, “Yes, rocks. They are our enemy. It's the current or undertow’s fault you hit that rock and that rock had the AUDACITY to be near your head. Then the ocean had you opening your mouth because you were unconscious. It’s a whole scenario of things that I blame. Plus, ya know a person.”

I knew it wasn’t me. I huffed, “Stupid rock.” Remi agreed, “It was such a stupid, evil, mean rock. People said I couldn’t blow it up, but the friends I’m making now mean I’ll probably get that accomplished.”

I asked, “How could you know which rock it is? Also, it’s probably not safe for people to be there.” Remi said, “Nathan found you so I know which rock it was. The rock is marked for death.” I laughed, “Rocks don’t die.” Remi winked, “They can be BLOWN to SMITHERIENS though. That one will be. Mark my words.” I believed her vehemently. Remi urged, “Go get dressed for our scrimmage. I’ll do the same. Let’s kick ass and let our men buy us a dinner we earned.”

I laughed, “I love how you know we win.” Remi grinned, “We don’t lose, Pipes. That’s how I know this will all work out. The other team went on a run but we are getting our side out and going on a run ourselves.” I grinned, “I love that you’re relating this to volleyball.” Remi winked at me and I went back to my room to get ready.

I grabbed my spandex shorts and t-shirt we were told to wear for the scrimmage. Remi and I walked to the gym together. I said, “Our apartment is so nice and central to everything. I still can’t believe that’s ours.” Remi grinned, “I can. My petty tax has to be paid.”

When we walked in the gym. I smiled at Valentina and Anastasia. I laughed, “You guys came!” Valentina agreed, “We did. Melanie was going to come and bring Alexander but she’s a bit tied up at the moment. I’m not sure she’s going to make it. I actually don’t know about Mike and Jane either. Well, if Jane can’t come it’s because Theo is tied up with the situation.” What? That was a lot of people.

I asked, “Is Melanie ok?” Anastasia replied, “Melanie is always ok.” That seemed odd. People were not always ok. Remi said, “Let’s go warm up. Look at our lovely cheering section.” I whispered, “Those are people from our finance class.” Remi agreed, “And more.

We went over to our teammates and started stretching. One girl gasped, “Piper, you have a hickey!” One girl asked, “How?” One girl pleaded, “Tell it’s from Preston Conners.” One snorted, “It’s not.” Remi retorted, “Interesting since you saw us last night at the club, In fact, it’s Preston’s club.”

One girl screamed, “Oh my god! You got inside? I’ve waited in line every day since I got here and never get in. Please hook a girl up.” The same one that said Preston didn’t give me a hickey sneered, “So, what? Our teammate hooked up in a club.”

Remi snorted, “You fully saw who Piper was with, Sarah.” Another girl said, “Yeah, Sarah just because Piper scored where you can’t doesn’t mean you get to be rude.” A noise of anger came out of my throat.

Remi snickered while the rest looked at me in surprise. I said, “I don’t know where that came from. Sarah, I was with my boyfriend last night.” They shouted, “BOYFRIEND?!” One girl groaned, “Girl, no. You can’t just call him that.”

I replied, “He asked me to be his girlfriend and took me on the most romantic date of my life.” Remi added, “Plus, her family already loves him.” Another gasped, “He’s met your family.” Sarah snorted, “She met him at the club last night too.” I replied, “To be fair, I knew his mom already.”

One girl muttered, “Preston does care about what’s fair. They all do.” I asked, “What does that mean?” Another said, “Well, the Conners and the word fair are kind of synonymous at this point.” Several people snickered as if they had an inside joke.

I said, “Well, he’s coming.” Sarah rolled her eyes, “He’s not coming. There’s a whole situation going on he clearly didn’t bother to tell you about” I frowned. One teammate said, “Hey, you don’t know that! I have Piper’s phone. Stop being such a b***h, Sarah!” Sarah retorted, “She just said he got her a phone.”

One girl said, “Uhhh that kind of proves the point that he’s into Piper, Sarah. He got her a phone.” Sarah shot back, “He’s a billionaire. It’s easy for him to arrange a phone to be delivered.” One girl asked, “Hey, where did you guys move to?” Sarah sneered, “Don’t change the subject.” Remi laughed, “Please do. Sarah might keel over and die when she finds out where we live now.”

Before anyone else could say something Anastasia said, “Preston might not be able to make it, but it had nothing to do with you. He wants to be here for Piper.” I knew he’d come. Remi growled at Sarah, “Preston will be here.”

Valentina added, “Plus, I’m here and I’m pretty sure you know what that means.” Huh? Sarah laughed, “Then he can watch you lose, and realize I’m better.” I asked, “Do you want a black eye, Sarah?” Several people gasped but others went, “Ooooooooooo!!!” Sarah flushed red. Anastasia chuckled and her and Valentina went back into the stands.

The coach came over, “Divide up into your groups and warm up. We have quite the audience today.” I grabbed Remi demanding, “You hit her IN THE FACE with your spike.” Remi grinned, “Really?” I answered, “Yes. Right in her face.”

Remi cooed, “And what will you do?” I answered, “Ace the s**t out of her. THEN I will dump it and score so many points on her slow unable to read the setter ass.” Another girl on our team said, “She kind of deserves it. Plus, her serve receive sucks. You can definitely ace her. They might take her out of the back row with this plan though.”

I shrugged, “Then she can sit on the BENCH where she deserves.” Remi agreed, “Yeah, let’s send her to the bench. I love this plan. Piper, it’s fine.” I asked, “Is he really not coming?” Remi asked, “Do you have a text saying he’s not coming?” I checked and answered, “No.”

Remi said, “Then he’s coming.” I nodded, “I feel like he is.” Remi replied, “Exactly.” I asked, “What about the situation Sarah was talking about? Why would she know and not me?” Remi sighed, “A bit of an alert went out. No one singled Sarah out to tell her.” What the hell?

I checked my phone, “I don’t have an alert.” Remi said, “It’s complicated to explain.” I put my bag and phone up, turned around and got a ball. Remi and I were pepping for a bit before we began our warm up time on the court.

Preston wasn’t here yet, but I was still confident he was coming. I was running our plays and setting the balls the coach was tossing me for our hitters. Our diggers were on the other side. When we had one minute left, we started serving.

The timer blew and we collected the balls to put in the cart for the other girls to use for their court time. I whispered to Remi, “Preston is here. Don’t ask how I know.” I could smell him. Remi winked, “I don’t doubt you at all.”

Then my man burst through the door and pretty much everyone stopped. Suck on that, Sarah! I ran over to him. Everything felt right again. Preston’s arms were so tightly wrapped around me I knew he’d had a bad day.

Whatever situation was going on, it affected him. I hated that I wasn’t there. Maybe he didn’t want to burden me with it. My boyfriend knew I was busy so he didn’t call. That would be crazy but it did seem like what happened.

Piper pointed to two guys I hadn’t noticed when they walked in saying they were his friends. How many people was my man bringing to a scrimmage? His family was obviously going through something so I offered Preston and out. That he did not take and I won’t lie, it made me feel really good.

One teammate had missed that Preston got me a new phone and we went over that again. Several were on my side that I’d needed a phone. The girl who took mine actually looked a little sheepish.

Our coach called us over and I saw my family come in, minus my little sister. I barely managed not to roll my eyes at my dad. He really hadn’t let Miska come. Our coach said, “Ok, first of all you guys are starting lineup. Second, we do not take our teammates' phones. Got it?”

One girl blushed, “I was trying to help.” The coach said, “I need to be able to contact you guys and I think we all know it can be dangerous to be a woman walking at night. No taking phones. If anyone takes your phone, it will be me." Everyone nodded.

We sat on the bench and got a drink. Preston was in a serious conversation with my family. I leaned forward but I couldn't hear them. That was weird, I had excellent hearing. I asked, “Remi, can you hear whatever they are discussing?” Remi answered, “I cannot. I find I don’t like that.”

I did smile when Preston shook my dad’s hand. Why did that move me? I don’t know but it did. Remi said, “That was weird, but let’s win this game.” I reminded her, “Hit Sarah in the FACE.” Remi laughed, “You don’t need to tell me more than once, girl. I got you.”

I side hugged her because this overwhelming sense that Remi always had my back hit me. I leaned my head down and we got to work. Sarah got taken out of the game pretty quickly, but Remi did nail her in the face the play before.

Sarah was sulking, but I enjoyed every single second of it. I told Remi, “You’re on fire.” Remi laughed, “We are the starters for a reason and people need to be put in their place. Preston is your man.” I agreed, “Damn straight.” Remi grinned, ‘That’s the spirit!”

I could hear our section was very loudly cheering for us. The signs Anastasia, Jane, and Valentina were holding were adorable. Mom got one at one point too. Remi laughed, “This is the best.” It kind of was.

We won handily and our coach spoke to the crowd while we were at the net. Sarah talked to someone that was clearly her friend before stomping off to the locker room. I ran over to Preston and hugged him.

I realized Miska had a stalker like I did. I lied saying I remembered because I wasn’t going to out Haley. I appreciate that my therapist told me about my stalker. It was also a reminder I really shouldn’t have let my teammate take my phone.