The White Wolf

Chapter Five

~Payton~

I lay somewhere, not sure where it feels like a bed, but who knows, I can feel my magic being returned to me, I could feel my injuries heal. I doze in and out of sleep, but I’m never fully awake, not with my eyes open, I can feel Jake come and go. Eventually, I fall into a deep sleep, where I dream that I’m in heaven, or something like that, the floor looks like cloud’s there doesn’t seem to be walls but just the blueness of the sky. Then a woman appeared to me, she was beautiful, soft features, a curvy figure, she wore a crown made of leaves and flowers, her long blonde hair fell her back like a waterfall, her dress was plain and simple, baby pink, it was backless, the front had a rope around the seams on the top, I think it would fall straight down if it wasn’t for the rope that pulled it in at the waist. She was barefoot.

“Am I dead?” I stutter,

“no dear, just healing” she smiles at me, her voice is musical I could listen to her all day.

“Oh, oh, that’s something I guess” I half-smile at her.

“I brought you here during your sleep for a reason little one, I chose Jake for a reason, you need to allow him in”

“Humm, he still loves the other girl” I shrug, I know I am opening staring at her, but I can’t help it.

“He does, and he will, she was his first love, my dear, allow him to move on, I paired you two for a reason, allow him in, he’s learnt more from Jamie than you, Payton, give him a chance, you will need him in the days to come”

“I will Goddess?”

“Yes, my dear, I chose you because you are highly trained, well-loved and most of all you inspire, the wolves and vampires alike need you, be safe my little one”

With that, the dream disappeared and I was left to walk up naturally.

When I wake up, I find Jake asleep on the floor. I get up and nudge him gently.

“I’m awake Jake if you want to take the bed, I need to run”

“No, no, I am awake, you need to be fed, then we can run together” I smile down at him as he gingerly sits up. If I were him, I would have shifted into my wolf and slept like that. Be much more comfortable. He groggily gets up and starts to wonder downstairs, I follow him. As I do, I can smell another she-wolf has been around him, could have been his ex but I don’t remember her smell so much.

“Are you ok?” he says as he gets to the bottom step and looks up at me,

“huh? yeah, I feel ok. Why do you smell of another woman?” I question, my face must have shown my annoyance.

“I don’t”, as he turns to face me, I can see he’s not been marked but that doesn’t change his smell.

“You do, I can smell it on you, while I was sleeping you bedded someone else?” My heart feels like its frozen, he was with someone else while I slept. We are meant to be destined for each other.

“No, I most certainly did not, you would have felt that through your sleep, it would have woken you up, let's get you fed.”

“it’s ok, let’s just skip food, I’m not that hungry,” I say and shrug. Suddenly I don’t feel so hungry. When someone sleeps with someone else, temporarily their scents mix. He just smells like honey and chocolate, so maybe he’s telling the truth but why do his clothes smell?

“It’s your clothes that smell Jake, I’m not saying one way or another, but there is a reason your clothes smell like another she-wolf”. I shrug.

“hum, yeah, I think I’ll wash my clothes myself from now on. Guess I was too busy to notice before, between you and the pack breeches I asked others. Jamie said you should have woken up a lot earlier, so I was so worried, I only left your side to deal with the breeches”

“Breeches? Bad ones?”

“Not too bad, I need to train the pack more I guess” he still goes to the kitchen and starts making me food,

“Jake,” I say as I follow him into the kitchen, he looks up but doesn’t say anything “Jamie has probably told you everything, but I am from the Shadow pack, the Alpha locked me in a tower and trained me to use my White wolf abilities. Jamie helped me escape. I’m sorry I put in danger”

“erm, I had guessed you were from the shadow pack, while I was there I had heard rumours of two amazing fighters, I never got to meet you, I was kept busy and was told that you don’t train with everyone else, I still want you around Payton. Oh, and it’s been a week since you saved Jamie, he said it wasn’t normal.”

“A week? No that can’t be right”

“Why not?

“It used to be hours, a day at the most, even if I did manage to save them, not a week” I frown, a whole week, that’s crazy.

“you knew?”

“Well depends on how your classing knowing, but I wasn’t ever that successful, so it was like hours to recharge, and when I was successful because I was in my tower, I wouldn’t of known the amount of time gone by” I shrug.

He hands me food, and I start to eat, this is pretty good considering I doubt he’s ever cooked before. Once we’ve finished eating, I put the plates in the dishwasher and wash up the pans. Jake stands beside me, just looking out the window. Once I finish, I go to leave, and he grabs my hand and bends down to kiss me. Things quickly change from a sweet kiss to one that you don’t want your family to walk in on. He pushes me up against the cabinet, I move my hand up to his hair and run my fingers through it, one of his hands is on my head entwined in my hair, and the other arm wrapped around my waist. He pulls me in close then releases me. I instantly go shy. I’ve never been kissed like that before.

“We need to talk before it goes any further, I want to do this right.” He says as he looks into my eyes, it must be hard for him to pull away. Most mates would have mated by now.

“The right way?” I question as I frown at him. The right way? Like there is a wrong way?

“As Alpha, we do the mating ceremony different here, it's more of a wedding that humans have, and well, I was hoping my mate would be ok with that.” He goes from confident to shy.

“Oh. Have you never been with a woman?” I blurt it out I don’t know why I even said that I know the answer to that, he has an ex. “Oh, don’t answer that”

“I have yes, I was with the girl who you saved, we broke up the day before I met you.” jealously overcomes me, he’s willing to give her that but not me. I know I shouldn’t be jealous, it was over before I even come up.

The pain and jealously must have been written all over my face. He goes to speak, but I cut in.

“I think I need to shift and let my wolf out to help heal, I’ve never been a week without her before. Go back to bed, ill wake you when I’m back” my voice is harsh yet distant. He goes to help me off the worktop, but I flinch. He freezes. I walk out into the sunrise, the best time of day. As I walk up the path to the forest. Someone steps into line with me, Jamie. I sigh.

“I wanted to come with you” I don’t respond. “you know to keep you out of trouble” that had me smiling,

“trouble runs from me, Jamie,” I say rather cocky, I know but honestly, I can fight 3 or 4 people easily.

We get to the forest line and Jamie strips off, I’m used to waiting, we both leap into the air and shift at the same time. It’s nice to know our private little pack link is still up and running.

‘Did you hear any of that?’

‘Yeah, I thought he was going to take you right there, not sure I’d have been able to stop if you were my mate’ he chuckles in my head. I mentally roll my eyes at him.

‘Exactly. I didn’t want him to stop but he wants a wedding’

‘Are you serious? Can’t he just mate you like normal?’ rolling his wolf eyes. Like he used to do to me when I said I wanted a wedding.

‘I guess its sweet, hang on, you didn’t tell him, did you?’

No answer.

‘omg, you did. He was with someone else before me you know’

‘I know she’s a nice girl, I tried to kill her’ we both laugh and carry on our run. It's natural and fun, just like we were never separated. We get back and shift where we came in, I didn’t even think but I’m still in the PJ’s I was dressed in, they are cute though. We walk into the house and everyone is giving us weird looks. Jamie stays and I go find Jake. He’s in his study and not happy.

“Jamie told me you know.” I get the cold shoulder. Fine, want to play that game then. “I am fine, thank you for asking, strength restored so I can save another of your pack!” I emphasis on ‘your’. That hurt him. I turn around and walk out. I walk upstairs and into my room and slam the door.

“oh, sorry miss, I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” Says a timid girl in the corner of my room dusting.

“it’s ok, carry on. I’m Payton by the way. You are?”

“Jacqueline but everyone calls me Jackie”. She’s my height, lovely long curly ginger hair, she’s curvy too. Beautiful. 

“Ok hi, I’m just going to shower, you can carry on and Thank you”

I grab clothes and walk into the bathroom. I hear the door open and close I guess she’s going. Then the bathroom door swings open and I turn I tell her off and Jakes there, angry as hell.

“what do you want? I’m trying to shower you know!”

“you went on a run with him! He tried to kill you, and you just do that, AND you're linked to him” he shouts that last bit and I just stand there. The others must have been talking.

“So? You were sleeping with other people, and I can’t even have a mind link to my best friend. I had no company, Jake, I was muted on the pack link, I was completely alone, and I set up a mind link to my best friend. Oh, heaven forbid, I should have a friend” I say rolling my eyes.

“Muted? What the hell happened to you, Payton?”

“Apparently being a White wolf isn’t all it’s cracked up to be! I was hidden. I wasn’t treated awfully; it just wasn’t great. Please just let me shower,”

“You trust me now?” he raises an eyebrow; he doesn’t seem so sure on the whole trust thing.

“Something happened while I was being healed, I saw the Goddess, and well, yes our fates are more intertwined than a normal mating”.

He stands there shocked, and I move to cuddle him. His arms go around me, and I feel so safe and happy.

“Can I shower, once I’m out we will talk if you’re not busy with Alpha stuff?”

“Nick can take over the stuff for today as its ordering stuff and sorting some pack stuff out”

“Make sure you tell him, that you’re getting the whole story behind me, it will make the pack feel better for you not being there,” I say smiling, I don’t want the pack to think he’s choosing me above them.

He smiles and walks out the room with a click of the door shutting I strip and shower. I come out of the bathroom fully dressed in, towel-dried hair, it’s all wavy, but I like it. I climb and sit on the bed and snuggle into Jake, he’s always so warm and I mutter “this is what home feels like”. I stay there for 5 minutes before I feel the urge to spill everything.

“Jake, my past, does mean that I come with a lot of trust issues, so please understand ok?” he nods, “ So my childhood was great, my dad was beta in the pack, my mum and dad madly in love, but he died when I was three, I don’t remember him, but I remember my mum after, then the Alpha took an interest in my mum, they eventually got married and he adopted me, and I grew up as the Alpha’s daughter. He didn’t want kids, as in our pack, the old Alpha is killed by the new Alpha in a challenge, he didn’t want his kids to do that. He treated me like a daughter, I was popular and well-liked. When I came of age, he trained me to fight, I started to become too good, he wouldn’t fight against me, so we stopped fighting. I started training with the rest of the group and Jamie rose to the occasion, we were both too good, the other kids wouldn’t fight us, so we trained with the adults, eventually, even they wouldn’t fight us, and we just trained against each other with them watching our techniques. I shifted on my 16th birthday, it was at the end of the party, and we were walking through the gardens, Alpha and mum up afront, I stopped to look at the roses, and I shifted. I looked down and I had white paws. My Alpha freaked and shouted at my mum, who ran to help me change back before anyone saw me. Then she took me to the tower and that’s where I stayed. The tower was turned into an apartment for me, so I had exercise equipment and a kitchen which was always fully stocked with groceries. The day after I was reintroduced the whole pack to make sure my mate wasn’t in the pack. After that I was left alone for what seems like ages, I trained, I practised shifting, I exercised, I watched tv, and read lots of books, I wasn’t allowed to see anyone, no mum, no Jamie. There were five guards on my door, they couldn’t take me alone, so more the merrier, I guess. Eventually, Alpha visited, and made me torture rogue wolves, he taught me how to torture, then he taught me how to heal them. It was awful watching them yoyo. Then I was allowed to see Jamie when Alpha thought it was taking a toll on me. That’s when Jamie started planning on me leaving.” I just stare at him. He leans in and kisses me. I lean backwards and he follows, his lips never leaving mine. We kiss like that for ages, he moves between my legs, we never stop kissing, he deepens the kiss. Eventually, he pulls back, smiles at me.

“I’m glad you could open up to me Payton. It means a lot to me”.

There a knock at the door and Steph pokes her head in, we have unexpected visitors.

“I’ll be down in 5”

He gets up and I follow him out, he heads to his room

“Where are you going? downstairs, is well the other way?

“changing my dear, not sure I want to stay in this, will you go down and talk to them?”

I nod, feeling stupid that I should have known and head downstairs, the guy was sitting in the lounge drinking tea with Steph and Nick.

“Hey, Alpha Jake will be down in a minute,” I smile at him and take a seat on the floor next to the armchair Jake will sit in. “So, I’m Payton, and you are Alpha?”

“Caleb Alpha to the Forest pack, nice to meet you” he extends his hand. I take it.

“How can Alpha Jake help you?” I’m sat on the floor studying him, he’s got dark brown eyes, and brown hair, when he smiles, he gets little lines around his eyes, he’s quite well built.

“I heard that Alpha Jake had found this mate,” he said with a raised eyebrow, “well my wolves are being picked off one by one, originally thought to be rogues, but now we think vampires”

I freeze, vampires? I know the evil is coming but didn’t think they would outright attack just yet plus the Goddess said they would side with us, so why attack us?

“Yeah, he did. So, vampires? What makes you think that?” I say crossing my arms,

“There have no survivors all the dead had no blood though, so I can’t say for sure as footprints are covered. Historically, a white wolf will save us, but one hasn’t been born yet, so we have to find a way to fight”, watching him, he looks nervous. I have so many questions, rogues can be draining blood, also no survivors is weird, covering footprints is also weird, usually, rogues don’t care, vampire care even less, the good vampires of course care, but wouldn’t kill pack members, we worship the same goddess, they even have their version of a white wolf.

Jake enters the room “what makes you say one hasn’t been born yet? Could a pack hide her from us?” Jake takes his seat on the armchair and moves so he can massage my neck, it feels so nice, and I didn’t even realise I was tense. 

“yes, quite possible I suppose, although the pack responsible would have a lot to answer for” he answers quickly.

“Well, I happen to know a white wolf, she was hidden by her previous pack, the shadow pack” Jake mentions if they found out they would assume that this pack was the ones to hide me.

“and is she, she?” How did he cotton on so quick? I guess he may know the pack quite well, and I will smell different to them as I haven’t bothered to hide my scent today.

I smile at him, “I am sir, I was taught to fear other packs, I didn’t realise hiding meant so much, I can, of course, help you, have you tired fighting yourself?”

“no, we have not, fighting a vampire is a set skill base that we have long forgotten,” he says sadly, I get that, I only know because they attacked me when I was on my own.  

“Really? Is there a way for them to know about the white wolf? And have a way to detect that person?”

“No why?” this piqued his curiosity.

“because when I was on the run, I came across a fair few, after a while I learnt how to detect and hide from them, but still they kept coming, now and again I’d come across a pack and id listen from a distance to see if they have trouble too, but they hadn’t” they are all looking at me now, “what?”

It's Jake that speaks up, “how long were you out there for?” clearly disgusted that his mate was treated like that.

“Like a month?”

He lends down and picks me up and places him on his lap. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” He nuzzles into my neck,

“It’s ok. Jake, I used the vampires as training and that was kind of fun, leading them into traps and all sorts” I laugh at the memory, but he freezes, probably doesn’t like the thought of his mate out there defending herself and her finding training fun.

“So, we could set up a training camp? Where I train, you can send a few wolfs to be trained here, like your second-best set of warriors, then once they are trained, they can train other pack members, while you send your best here? Would that work Jake?”

“Huh, erm yeah it would.” He smiles at me and I snuggle into him.

“you let your mate speak for you?” his tone was harsh, but he seems curious.  

This makes Jake angry, “she doesn’t speak for me, however, as she would be the one doing the training, surely you want to sort it out with her?” I do little circles on his wrist and he relaxes just a bit. Having someone question your ability to lead is not a good thing, especially amongst Alphas.  

“We do things a little differently here, Jake is my Alpha, however, I am perfectly capable of choosing what I want to do, and as I’m the white wolf, I can decide if I want to train your wolves, and if Jake was going to force me, well I’ve already left one pack against the wishes of the Alpha, I will do it again. Jake respects me and treats me like an equal. Do you have a daughter?” Smiling at Jake.

“well, no”

“well, I guess you wouldn’t know how you would want your daughter to be treated then. Hopefully with respect. Well go back to your pack and figure out how you want to work this, I would recommend that you send 4 good fighters over, ill train them, and then you can send your best that way you’re not left without decent fighters.”

“yes, I will do that, but I want to see your wolf and what you can do”

“ok” I hop down, and everyone follows me, I grab the boys who had tried before, and Jamie, with everyone following me. Jamie, you’re on their team, and you're all against me.”

When we reach outside there is a horsebox,

“well I would prefer to see what you can do with real vampires” Caleb stands there, arms folded. The door comes crashing over and four vampires came rushing out.

“Ah hell, Jamie now” I bite my finger until it bleeds, instantly their red eyes all train on me.

“Dam it Payton” he growls at me, as he rushes to my side, shifting in the process. They are newly turned vampires that have been starved. They can’t process anything else but my blood, who knows how long he kept them in there. Jamie easily takes out the first two ripping out their throats. The other two were fighting me, in hand to hand combat. Punching, them kicking them anything to keep the crazy hungry killing machines from me. The guys standing there with a massive smile on his face, Jake standing there furious, Jamie who can shift just as seamless as I help out. We used each other to fight, I’d use him jump up and roll down Jamie’s back, as I shift. Eventually, we take care of the last two, the others start cheering.

“You,” I say pointing at Caleb, everyone freezes, “You set this up, you had no idea if I could do that, you could have killed us!”

“But I didn’t do I?” he smiles at me.

“I’d lose that smirk if I were you, you couldn’t even give us a heads up. You have no idea what I am capable of and you pull this.” I was losing control, Jamie had stepped in front of me, Jake stood in front of Caleb, I am sure it was to protect him and not me. After all, I didn’t need the protection of anyone.

“Send your warriors, we will train them, but you overstepped a line today and that will not be forgiven lightly. However, I will not watch sister packs die, so we will train your men to protect you.” Caleb leaves as Jamie tries to help me gain control.

“Take walk Bambi” Jamie nudges me towards the forest. I take off run, as I get to the forest line, I can hear Jake and Jamie arguing over who was to follow me. Last I heard was Jake telling Jamie he needed to learn how to cope with me. I frowned and shifted, I started wandering towards the pond. I love the water when I’m annoyed as I got close, I shifted back into human form, just as the Goddess shows up. The water starts to act like there is a fountain in the middle and out of the water steps our Goddess, beautiful and radiant as ever.