Spare Me, Alpha

Ch 1: In Which She Finds out that Lying is Easy

Running as a wolf would have been easier to get away from the rogues, but her sister, Lilly, was only three years old, and Heather wasn’t sure she’d keep a tight hold of her even if she was told to… she was a rather spoiled child who didn’t like following orders, but other than that, she was the sweetest little thing – except for her unceasing questions, that is.

“Heather?” She called out.

Her sister inwardly sighed at that. “Yes, Lilly?”

“Where are we going?” She asked for the sixth time, her electric blue eyes sparkling at the idea of an adventure.

“Away.” Flat was tone and whispered was the response.

Heather and her sister had been on the run for four hours straight. She had first run in the woods leading to the main road, and when she reached said road, she stopped a driver and begged him to drop her at the next bus station.

Something in her pleading eyes must have triggered his fatherly side for he was soon offering her a drive to wherever she wanted but she politely declined. She refused to get a fifty-something looking man – a human no less – involved in something as dangerous… in something that could harm him greatly.

Heather didn’t even look at the destination of the bus, she just entered, Lilly cradled in her arms.

The drive took two hours and half. And she arrived at a big town which was mostly – albeit not only – famous for its casinos. Las Vegas.

Heather had only 300$ left in her pockets, money which she had saved for her parents’ wedding anniversary’s gift.

Her tears welled in her eyes at the memory of her proud father, of her gentle mother, of fellow pack members,

“Heather, are you crying?” Lilly asked while rubbing her eyes in a gesture that obviously suggested she wanted to go to sleep.

Heather sniffled, willed the tears away, and answered hastily, in a gruff tone, “No.”

“My birthday is only in three months. Is this trip my birthday present?” She asked anew.

Heather smiled ruefully at her sister’s innocence. “You could say that, sweetie,”

She then couldn’t help but hug her and tell her in a resolute tone, “I’m here with you. And we will stick together, always.”

Lilly beamed at that and said, “Pinky promise?”

Heather giggled for the first time since they left their home, and crossed her little finger with that of her sister and said, “Yeah, pinky promise.”

Heather asked for the cheapest motel around and headed there.

The receptionist, who was an old lady, looked her up and down and asked just upon seeing her, “Are you even of legal age?”

“I’m twenty-one,” Heather lied through her teeth.

The old lady narrowed her eyes at her, and Heather pursed her lips. “If you can’t give us a room, I’ll go elsewhere.” She told her in a challenging tone.

“No, no. You just don’t look like an adult.” The receptionist said hastily, obviously in need of customers.

“I’m told that often,” Heather joked while cringing on the inside at how easy it was to lie to a human without being discovered.

Heather paid for one week in advance in cash and was thus handed the key to room 15 – the most decent one, she was told by the old lady.

No sooner had Lilly’s head hit the mattress that she was fast asleep. Heather, on the other hand, cried in silence at having to carry such a burden at the young age of 16. How would she feed Lilly? She’d have to get a job in a city where she knew nobody, without credentials. She’d have to lie about her age to everybody. She’d have to find someone willing to take care of her sister while she was on the job and for a reasonable price… Lilly had no one but her, and she would step up to the challenge.

If only I had been killed by the rogues as well, she thought for a brief moment before shaking her head. Don’t think negatively, she told herself sternly.

Teenagers – normal ones – didn’t have to run from their home or town because some wolves attacked. But she was not normal. She was a werewolf, and would always be one.

Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, she heard someone speaking near the door of their demure room.

“The scent leads here, sir,” a man said.

Heather gripped her shirt right where her heart was located.

Surely, the rogues hadn’t found her!