Wolven Rising: Untold Stories

GR-9: Of Course

Shasta

Of course, she loved to read. Just when I thought she couldn't get any more perfect. I groaned into my pillow in frustration. Once I talked to Mason this morning, I had resolved to keep my distance from her. A resolve that disappeared completely the second I got back to my guestroom to find her waiting for me, book in hand, sweet smile on her face. One thing was now painfully certain. I wanted to talk to her, get to know her better, simply be near her. But there was no way I could do that without either freaking her out or pissing off both her brother and Kendria's new mate, who was also clearly another brotherly figure in her life.

You know there's something else you could do, Hunter grumbled.

What's that? I asked, desperate for any ideas.

You could be her friend.

Her friend? I scoffed. How could I do that? She was too good to be my mate, too good to be my friend. Mason's initial suspicion of my involvement with her made that really clear. Even without that, though, she was too good for me. I wasn't sure how I could be around her without wanting her. But why was that? Could I be feeling a slight pull towards her because she was my mate, but not quite eighteen yet? Could wolves even feel the mate pull early? Or was I just infatuated because she was so different from anyone other girl I'd met?

I wished there was someone I could talk to about this. My parents were long gone, and I'd rather die alone than go through the humiliation of asking Harlie's mom or one of the other older wolves about it. Kendria and Harlie would be sympathetic, but now that they'd found their mates...I just didn't think they'd be able to understand. Not really.

Alana was challenging, and in a completely unexpected way. It wasn't a challenge to get physically close to her, either. It was a challenge to figure out who she was, what made her tick, how to make her laugh. I wouldn't dream of using her the way I had other girls in the past. She wasn't a trophy or a prize. She was a treasure.

I'd say you're being too cheesy, but I much prefer it to your usual womanizing, Hunter teased.

I rolled my eyes. How was it that I was blessed with such a pretentious mutt for a wolf?

If you mean an amazing and perfect specimen of a wolf, then I have to tell you, I have no idea, Hunter said smugly.

---

Sweat was trickling into my eyes. I shook my head and beads of it went flying, landing with a dull patter in the dirt. I had pushed the pace of our two-mile warmup, but it wasn't nearly enough to burn off all the unsettled energy buzzing around inside me.

Neither were combat drills, as it turned out. I paired off with Fletcher, which turned out to be a bad idea. Fletcher was a few years older than me, and was a runaway from a different pack that we took in a couple of years ago. I mean, he was a nice guy, but there were things I didn't like about him. For instance, if I was bad with women, Fletcher was far worse. He was an unmated male who didn't seem to care much about finding his mate, instead taking what pleasures were offered whenever he left the pack. Plus, he was cocky about it. I hated that about him. Worse, it was too similar to my own recently given up ways, so it made me hate myself, too.

I ducked Fletcher's right cross and clocked him with an uppercut to the chin. "What the f**k, man?" He said, stumbling back and spitting out a little blood. Oops. "That's not the drill we're running!"

"s**t, sorry!" I said, waving my hands uselessly around as if I could conjure a cloth out of thin air to wipe the blood away.

"Whatever," Fletcher growled, taking his stance again. "Just don't do it again."

"Hey, mind if we join you?" Rowan and Mason walked up. Mason looked considerably happier than he had this morning. Things must have gone well with Harlie, then, since she was already ditching training in favor of stretches on the sideline. She only voluntarily participated in combat training if she was upset or angry and needed an unfortunate soul to take it out on. Rowan looked pretty relaxed too, so maybe Kendria was learning to be a little less stubborn.

"Sure," I said, breaking my fighting stance. "We're just doing some hand-to-hand combat drills."

"Really?" Rowan said, looking interested. "You do a lot of combat training in human form, then?"

"Definitely," I replied. "We can't always be in a place where we can shift, can we? Can't rely on our wolves for everything!"

Rowan sighed and nodded. "I completely agree. Since Sam became our head warrior, we've been doing a little more offensive training in human form, but not nearly as much as I'd like."

"Well, you can always change that when you're the Alpha," I offered.

He smiled. "Yes, I can. Finally."

"Would you mind showing us some of your drills?" Mason cut in, watching Ben and Harrison grapple, Harrison slithering out of a seemingly unbreakable chokehold.

"Sure," I said, happy to ditch Fletcher for a little while. "I'll show you a couple of combinations, then you can pair off with our warriors to practice."

I took both of them through some moves in slow motion, showing them how to avoid and counterattack in a variety of ways. Then I left them to practice with instructions to face off against Ben and Harrison when they felt ready.

Fletcher took his stance again with a slight sneer. Ugh, usually as long as I avoided him directly after one of his s****l escapades, he and I got along well enough on the surface, but something about today had me wanting to beat the crap out of him. The thought of Alana stumbling upon him sleeping naked from the night before flitted through my mind again, instantly making me angry. Even though it didn't happen, it was like the image seared itself to the inside of my eyelids, so it was all I could see when I closed my eyes. Fletcher's smirk dropped right off his face as I charged, tackling him to the ground and digging my knee into his chest, my arm at his throat.

"Great job!" I heard Kendria's shout, and looked up to see her standing next to Rowan, dressed for training. Apparently, she was too distracted to notice that I'd thrown away any semblance of a drill and just attacked the guy.

"Get—off—me, you asshole," Fletcher choked out.

I scrambled up. "Sorry," I said, not really feeling sorry at all.

"What's with you today, man?" Fletcher said, oblivious as always to my general dislike.

Alana's coppery hair and beautiful smile came to mind. Right behind it was picturing her in Fletcher's arms. "Nothing," I grumbled. "Just tired."

"Well, figure it out," Fletcher spat as he walked away to work with Harrison instead.

By now, Mason had transitioned to trying out the newly-learned drill on Ben, and for a rookie, he wasn't half-bad. I could tell he was frustrated about losing, though. Maybe around here he was used to being second only to the Alpha. In our pack, though, without a unified pack mind or the extra strength awarded to legitimate ranked members, we'd grown to be resourceful, and our atypical training methods were obviously paying off.

Rowan and Kendria stopped talking and started kissing, quickly descending into a full-on make-out session right in front of us. Looking at them made me jealous. I wanted someone to do that with, someone that mattered.

Someone like Alana.

"Ahem," I said loudly as I walked over to them, breaking them apart. I couldn't bear to look at them anymore, just not for the reason they thought. "What do you always say about PDA during training, Kendria?" I shook my finger playfully to cover my deeper feelings on the subject.

Kendria turned red and looked confused. "Nothing?"

I forced a laugh. "True. But if there was ever an occasion for you to say something about it, I'm sure it would be not to do it during training."

Kendria punched me genially on the arm, taking my words as a joke. Even so, it hurt a little. "Thanks for the intel."

Rowan looked at us, looking a little scandalized. It was so funny that when I caught Kendria's eye, we both started laughing, this time for real on my part.

Finally, for just a moment, I was able to stop thinking about the impossible situation with Alana. And while it felt good to relax and allow myself to be distracted, watching Kendria with her mate also made it apparent that something was missing for me. Something important.

---

I stood under the spray of the shower in my guest suite, eyes closed. After the official training session ended, I had voluntarily run another five miles instead of calling it quits, and now I was exhausted. It wasn't even the workout so much as the fact that my mind refused to stop running a million miles an hour, in the same loop. Alana. She is off limits. I think I want her anyway. You only met her yesterday. She's the sweetest and most beautiful wolf I ever laid eyes on. Her brother would never allow it. I need her. I'm not good enough for her. Over. And. Over. Again. How did I get so obsessed with her in such a short time? I'd only met her twice. Normally, I could count on a sound chastising from Hunter to get my mind off of it, but he was being unusually quiet about the whole thing.

That gave me hope. Restart Alana obsessive thought loop.

I finally turned the water off and walked out of the bathroom, drying my hair off with my towel before wrapping it around my waist. Kendria told me during the weight-lifting segment of training that the Council had decided to conduct a trial regarding an injustice against one of our pack members and his fated mate. I didn't talk to Peter much, but I knew his story. I was glad he was getting a chance to set things right again.

Unfortunately, that also meant that we were back to waiting around like the first day, constantly on call in case the Council wanted to question any of us. Kendria warned that it was likely they'd want to talk to Harlie and me, but with the trial thrown into the proceedings, there was no way of knowing when they'd finally get around to talking to us. I wished I had brought more of my books with me to help pass the time. Maybe there was a library here or something.

When I bent over to pull a pair of sweats out of my duffel bag, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor near the door. Huh. Someone must have slipped it under the door while I was in the shower. When I went to pick it up, I caught the faintest scent of vanilla and caramel and knew instantly who must have done it.

I flipped the paper over to find a neat, cursive script. My eyes widened as I read the message.

Shasta,

I finished the book. I just couldn't put it down! If you have the time, meet me at the southwest corner of the apple orchard tonight before dinner. If you don't have the time, that's okay. I'm sure you're busy! I'll promise I'll find you and return your book to you if that's the case. But if you do have a little time, I'd love to talk about it with you.

Sincerely,

Alana

I found myself tracing the perfect letterforms that made up her name. She was such a considerate person, you could tell just by reading her words. And she said she'd 'love' to talk about the book with me.

That doesn't mean she loves you, you know, Hunter pointed out.

Thanks for your astute observation, I didn't catch that, I replied sarcastically.

What do you plan to do?

I gripped the edge of the paper tightly, hearing it rattle a little as my hand trembled. Should I go? I desperately wanted to. But what if she got the wrong idea? I didn't want to damage her reputation or lead her on or anything. Not to mention her protective Beta brother, the best friend of my Alpha's mate.

She didn't ask you on a date, Hunter said. Remember what I said this morning? You can be friends.

You say that in theory, but the reality is more complicated than that, I retorted, gritting my teeth. What was with this role reversal? Since when was Hunter lecturing me about human emotions? He was a mate or bust kind of wolf, single-minded in his goals.

I resent that, Hunter snapped. I've always been capable of much more than sniffing out a mate. I've just had to fight you all the time to try and get you to stop cheating on her, whoever she is.

Not for the first time, I felt that pang of guilt. Although this time it hit me more like a two-ton truck. Picturing Alana with a tear-streaked face and a broken heart as I revealed my s****l past with her filled me with instant shame and self-loathing.

Hunter?

Yeah?

Is it possible for a wolf to feel the pull towards their fated mate before their mate comes of age?

I'm not sure, Hunter said slowly. I didn't think it was possible, no. But I will say that when you talk to Alana, I'm not filled with the same anger that I usually feel when you flirt with random sluts in the human town. Whether that means we're feeling the mate pull or that she's refreshingly not throwing herself at you, I'm not sure. She's different.

I reread Alana's note again. She mentioned nothing other than returning my book and discussing the story. But at the same time, she wanted to meet before a meal, when most people would be in their homes or the packhouse, at a location that was nowhere near any buildings. What did that mean? Was she planning to profess some type of feeling or attraction to me? Or to let me down easy without the humiliation of witnesses? I didn't want to break her heart by sending the wrong message, not that I knew what the right message was supposed to be. I wanted to protect her, protect her heart from any kind of pain.

A myriad of unanswered questions spiraled in my mind. There was only one way to find out the answers.

Of course I would go. Was there really any other option?

But deep down, I knew the heart I needed to protect was mine.