Wolfsbane

Chapter 11

I had spent the last two weeks successfully avoiding Hades. I had been shadowing Ezekiel from afar and assigning others to watch over him when Hades was in the room. I even had Jasper pulling me away when I didn't have a ready excuse to leave. I had spent very little time sleeping due to not wanting to be caught unaware by the very large, very annoying Alpha that seemed to pop up wherever I went. I knew it was useless, considering he could follow my scent, but I just didn't have the heart to have any type of conversation with him. Whenever I couldn't get away from him, I could feel him looking at me. The sad puppy dog look that he gave me put me on edge and made guilt eat away at me. I'd never felt like this after sleeping with someone, and I knew it was because I hadn't intended to do so with him. I had a rule not to jump into bed with werewolves, but that night, all rules had gone out the window. There must be something mentally wrong with me. That was the only explanation I could come up with, and I hold told Jasper as much when I shifted into my wolf for our midmorning patrol.

"Oh, come on, Fallon, there's nothing wrong with your head. You just didn't think about your actions for once. Now you're like the rest of us." Jasper told me through our mindlink. His large brown wolf sporting a grin.

I narrowed my eyes at him and snapped my teeth at his haunches, narrowly missing as he jumped away. "I don't know why I bother to tell you things." I grumbled. "Besides, I won't be making the same mistake twice."

"With what? Sleeping with the hot Alpha or telling me you slept with him?" Jasper laughed.

I growled and moved lower to the ground before pouncing at him. He moved away quickly, and I chased after him. The wind brushed through my fur, and soon, I forgot why I was even upset with Jasper in the first place. My wolf was happy just to be out. There was very little reason for me to worry when she was patrolling with Jasper. She seemed to find his energy calming and having a task to complete usually seemed to keep her in control. Jasper jumped over a log about 30 yards ahead of me. I had been running lightly behind him, but it had been a few days since I shifted last, and my bones ached to move. As I approached the log, I calculated my steps perfectly so when I jumped, my back legs pushed off it, propelling me forward even faster. I raced down the small hill and nipped lightly at Jasper's heels to let him know I'd caught up to him. His muscles tensed a bit, and I knew he was going to move ahead of me.

"Jasper, we should slow down a bit. We still have a few more hours to patrol before the next shift takes over. Don't need you slowing down on me before then." I mindlinked him gently.

"Can I ask you something?" Jasper slowed to a trot beside me. Our eyes may have been looking in opposite directions, but we were still very much aware of each other.

"If this has to do with that male -"

"It does, and even if you protest, you know I'm still going to ask." He swished his tail against me, and I growled. I wasn't so fond of how touchy-feely wolves could be. "Is he your mate?"

"Don't you think by now I'd have felt the bond if he were? Even if he was, so what?" I slowed down even more. "I'm not a Luna. It's not in my blood to lead people. Guard them, yes, but leading them is something different. I don't want power like that over a pack. I just want to live my life fighting and dying for the people I care about. I don't need a mate for that."

"Alright, if you're sure about it, I will support you. If you change your mind about it, you just let me know." Jasper's eyes held the same bit of sadness that every other wolf held when I told them I didn't want a mate. To them, a mate meant the world, but I felt shackled by the idea of giving up my life to build a new one in a different pack. Sometimes, I think it would have been better had I chosen to break away from the pack. There aren't many wolves who choose that, but every now and then, I would come across a wolf that lived alone. They seemed content and unburdened by the troubles of a pack. Though the survival rate of a Rouge attack for a lone wolf was little to none. Maybe once Adrian recovered, I could consider leaving and becoming a lone wolf.