The Alpha Next Door ✓

Chapter 4- "We won the bet"

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My eyes snapped open.

What time was it? What day was it?

I took a couple of deep breaths. It wasn't like time even mattered anymore. I blinked, allowing myself to capture the intricate details of the forest around me through my wolf eyes. I almost smiled when I saw how beautifully the droplets of rain glistened on bright green leaves. 

Yawning, I stretched out my long and shaggy legs and then stood up, wondering what breakfast would be today. 

Maybe a rabbit, or a fresh fish...  I thought. My stomach grumbled happily in response to the thought of fish. The last time I consumed proper food must've been over a day ago. But who cared? It's not like the forest had too many options anyways.

Maybe it was time to go back to the packhouse.

The thought triggered a round of pain to rattle through my frail body. I roared against it and dashed out of the forest. A big part of me told me to stop and go back to my safe haven, the forest. The place where no one could judge me, or stare at me, or assume anything. But the other part of me, the small measly one told me to stop being selfish and check up on Amber and Arizona, the only people who actually mattered here. 

As soon as their names appear in my mind, and I think of their concerned faces for me, I run faster. I run even faster, reminding myself that I'm not the only one with problems. 

Once I reached the packhouse, the burst of different summery scents greeted my nose, but the one that made me helplessly whimper was his  scent. Cinnamon and fresh pine. It had been a few months since I returned to the packhouse. I'd needed time to myself, and isolation from everyone else had given me a sense of peace.

 But now that I was back and smelling his scent again, I couldn't help but think, I love his scent yet do I love him? The wolf inside of me said yes, though my brain said no. Where was my heart when I needed it? I was just so confused, I thought that a couple of months in the woods would give me time to stop thinking about him, but here I was again wondering about my love for him. I was only 16, was it even normal for wanting to scream or cry every time I thought about him?

No. 

God damn it. I wish I was normal.

"Tag! You're it!" 

My ears perked up and I turned around to see a young, small wolf. He had short brown fur and his hazel eyes were full of youth and freedom. They turned to a dangerously dark shade the moment they my own eyes. Realization dawned on the pup and he yelped and ran off. 

Shit. Did people talk about me that often while I was away?

I gulped, and swiftly trotted to the back of the pack house towards my room.  What a stupid pack, I thought. My window was still open after all these months, exactly how I'd left it. 

But the thing that struck me weird was the abrupt scent change. His room was right next to mine, and I had been mentally preparing myself for his scent, yet I couldn't find a trace of it near my room at all... He must've moved rooms because my own scent was lingering and he couldn't stand it. I had to remember that I wasn't the only one affected by this rejection, however was it as painful for him as it was for me? I highly doubted it. 

In front of my bedroom window on the second story stood a large oak tree, the same I'd been playing on since I was eight years old. After all these years of climbing it whether I was in wolf or human form, it was easy for me to leap up it and jump through my window and into my room.