The Alpha's Fight

Chapter 8 - A Secret Way Out

My injuries had barely stopped hurting from the previous day and now they had a dozen more companions join them after another rough training session with my father. I would be turning up at school tomorrow looking as though I had fought in a war over the weekend, which wasn't entirely inaccurate.

This time, instead of a dislocated shoulder, it was a dislocated knee I had suffered, as well as several more broken ribs. While I had been able to relocate the joint this time by myself, walking on it was incredibly painful. Scott and Jayden had managed to help me back to my room and grab me some ice to help with the swelling; they were the only people I didn't mind in my own personal space. I would be fully healed again in a few hours, but the bruises and pain would linger once more.

While I attempted to shower and change, my two friends braved the pack dining room to fetch us all some dinner; venison sausages and sweet potato bake with a pecan crumble topping. I managed to pull a thin long-sleeved t-shirt over my head and a pair of shorts so I could continue to ice my injury. I caught sight of the heavily red, purple and blue marks all across my side in the mirror.

"How's the knee?" Jayden asked as I lay on my back with a pillow under my leg on my bed.

I groaned, "I'm actually glad to be at school tomorrow." Just five short days and I would have to do this all over again.

I propped myself up on my elbows, "how was your warrior training?"

"How do you think?" She nursed the faint bruise on her own jaw she had earned today. None of us has escaped unscathed.

She had to go with her father. He was expecting her to become a pack warrior like him. Although I knew she wanted to be a warrior, she was also dreading it. Coupled with her fast-approaching shift, she would pack on more muscle, giving her the masculine figure that she was desperately trying to avoid.

"Hey!" Scott suddenly exclaimed, making me jerk unexpectedly and twinge my leg. "What if you said you wanted to be a tracker?"

"That's actually a decent idea. Scott could help train you and your father will probably see it as an honour," I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of my bed. My ice pack had fully melted, so it was pointless now.

The trackers trained for their stamina and their fighting style focused on their speed. As such, their physiques were finer and more svelte.

"But what if I'm no good?" She grimaced, absentmindedly rubbing her chest.

"Don't worry about it, I'll cover for you," Scott gave a supportive crooked smile. "I'm staying positive here that one day we're gonna be running the show, and you'll be able to train however the hell you want… are you ok?"

I looked over to Jayden, who was now fanning herself, appearing flushed.

"Jay?" I reached out to feel her forehead, she was burning up and there was a slight tremble to her skin.

Oh s**t! It was happening, she was shifting!

Both Scott and I had felt the moon's distance waning, so thought the time most likely for her shift had passed us by again. Guess I was wrong.

I tried to sling Jayden's arm over my neck to help get her outside, but Scott gently moved me out of the way.

"Don't worry, I got her," he nodded down to my injured knee. "Get the doors."

With a slight limp, I led the way to the woods outside, crossing paths with few people in the perpetually empty pack house. On the way, I mind-linked her parents to what was about to happen. Jayden was close with her mother, a lab technician in the pack clinic, but she was on a late-night shift and unable to get out of it. Although Jayden was somewhat fearful of her father, it was best he knew to avoid any backlash. Luckily, he was on patrol and on the other side of the pack. He said he was disappointed to miss his son's shift, but Jayden wasn't in the least bit upset about it. If any of us messed up and said the wrong thing in his presence, Jayden may never live to see her wolf.

We managed to get to the treeline as we heard the first crack of bone realigning and a pained roar erupt from our friend. It was rare for wolves without Alpha, Beta or Gamma blood to shift as young as Jayden; she was still only 17 and a few months away from her 18th birthday. Most would shift in their late teens or early twenties. She was going to be a remarkably strong wolf.

"Jay? We're gonna have to strip you down. I know it's awkward, but it'll help," I told her as I tried to lift her shirt over her head.

'Ok… whatever,' she growled out in pain, with another wave making her fold in on herself.

I was almost positive that she had just mind-linked and I wondered if she even knew. Between Scott and I, we had her free of clothing that would hinder and restrict her shift. The two of us knew well how much fabric could cut into the skin before it started to rip free, and this would be agonising enough as is.

'Dang, was I this painful when I appeared?' Hawk winced at the sound of bones cracking, reconfiguring, and the sight of Jayden's claws beginning to tear through her fingertips.

'You're still painful now,' I grumbled.

'Someone thinks they're a funny fucker!' He scoffed back, sarcastically.

After several more minutes of coaxing and reassuring our friend, a dark and dusky strawberry-blonde-coloured wolf lay heaving and trembling. She was huge, her size could rival Hayes, easily. Scott continued to gently thread his fingers around the fur of her ears, the two of us waiting till Jayden had caught her breath.

'What's your wolf like?' I attempted to mind-link, amused at how her head turned instantly to me and her ears flickered.

'Perfect,' her voice was strained but clear.

'Are they…' Scott tried to ask, unsure how to phrase it.

'Like me… she's like me,' and I could swear there was a small smile on her wolf's muzzle.

Unfortunately, they would both be anatomically male till our pack was free for her to address it, if that was what she wanted. Maybe there was something I could do for them? Hormone tablets or blockers? Something! Although trying to get anything like that into the pack would be a nightmare and there was certainly nothing like them in the pack.

‘Can you stand?’ I asked, trying to get her on her feet.

Jayden was a little clumsy at first, trying to get used to four legs instead of two was a feat in coordination.

‘Well?’ Scott mind-linked expectantly. ‘Don’t keep us in suspense. What’s your wolf’s name?’

‘Seren, she says it means star,’ she trotted around, growing accustomed to all fours.

‘Huh, I thought it would begin with a J?’ Scott looked confused and I thought the same.

‘Probably because she knows what name I picked out, for if… you know. If I’m ever free to be myself.’

‘Really? What is it?’ I had no idea she had thought that far ahead.

‘I always liked Sadie,’ she inclined her head, her wolf ears flickering to the sound of the forest around us.

‘Did you want us to call you that?’ It might take us a while to get used to a name change, but if it helped her feel more like herself, neither Scott nor I would hesitate.

‘Not right now. All it would take was the wrong slip. I've already had you tripping over yourselves with pronouns. For now, don't worry.’

‘Ok. But anytime you want, we're cool with it,’ Scott reassured, scratching her head.

‘I know,’ Jayden licked his face, bowling him over while he laughed.

‘Think you can run? We can come with you,’ I encouraged.

The first run with your wolf was one of the most important bonding experiences. Unfortunately for me, my father had stood over me while I shifted. There was no care, no support, no encouragement. All he was there for, was to see how I measured up to his expectations. I was already a disappointment, having shifted a few months after turning 17. He had shifted not long before turning 16 and he had been expecting me to surpass that. But it was a biological process that would happen when the body was ready for it and not a moment before. He gave me no moment to rest, either. As soon as my wolf form emerged, he pushed me up and ran me till I collapsed, to see if I would be a failure in his eyes or if I would make an adequate heir. It had almost killed us, but Hawk and I put everything we had into keeping our pace up. Had we failed, we may have never seen daylight again. Ever since that night, Hawk’s singular reaction anytime our father was around had been unbridled rage.

While I had been there for Scott as he shifted, his father, Ford, had run him in the same way I had been. The two of us were determined that Jayden would never have to know that experience. Before shifting, I folded up our clothing and used my long-sleeved shirt to bundle them together to carry in my wolf form in case they were needed and so we wouldn’t have to return to this exact spot. We shifted and set out, letting Jayden set the pace and how far we went.

We flitted through the trees and over the increasingly craggy terrain as we approached the natural border of our pack that lay on the opposite embankment of the Milk River that flowed into the Missouri further east into the pack. We couldn’t go any further or we would be caught by the patrol, who could be here any moment. But given the fresher scent in the air, we should still have a good 15 or 20 minutes. Since we had some time, we dove into the river to doggy paddle around a little; it was so rare that we ever got any time like this, to simply enjoy ourselves. Sadly, I got our bundle of clothes wet with carrying them in my mouth across the river. If we were caught, we had the excuse of Jayden’s shift to bail us out of any s**t we would normally be in.

Shaking out our fur on the other side, I began sniffing out a trail I could put Jayden onto to help her acclimatise to her new, heightened, senses. Along the low rocky bank, by chance, I stumbled into some bushes, much to Hawk’s amusement. I had been slower than normal, with my injured knee, but it was easier to compensate on four legs. To my surprise, I didn’t crash into the high rock embankment, but through a craggy crevice, completely hidden by the foliage and with water running through it, trickling into the river. The gap was tight but manageable in wolf form.

‘Do you smell that, Scott?’ I questioned, his nose was as good as mine.

‘Yeah, fresh air. A little distant, but it’s there.’

The three of us investigated, Jayden letting the two of us more experienced wolves go first. Further down the way, a dim light of the almost full moon illuminated the exit, bringing us out onto another, much smaller river outside our pack borders. The crevice must have been formed by the water flowing over the years. Beyond us lay a meadow and small lake, with rocky hills leading away.

The clandestine conversation I had had with Sloane and Imogen the other day came back to me, about helping to find others like us, others that may want to flee from the persecution of this pack. Maybe this could be an escape route?

A secret way out?