Her Promise

Her Secret | Chapter Three

MEL

I was never a very good wolf. I barely qualified as a good human, so it wasn’t a huge stretch that I sucked as a wolf. When I got my wolf, I was pretty happy until it came time for my first shift. My dads had asked if I needed them that night, but I insisted I was okay. By that point, we were a comfortable family unit, but it still felt like there was this imaginary wall between us. They had always been mildly superhuman or superwolf in my mind.

My wolf and I got along. We had differing personalities, like plenty of other wolves, but we didn’t fight. The only thing we had trouble meeting eye to eye on was shifting.

I hated shifting. I avoided it. It hurt and took forever. I’d seen others do it seamlessly, but I couldn’t. And I was definitely too ashamed of that fact to ask my dads for help. What could they do anyway? Shifting was supposed to be instinctual; apparently, I didn’t have any of those.

Eventually, we came to an agreement. Once every two weeks, I snuck out of the house late at night, traveled to a secluded part of the massive expanse of forest within the pack borders, and shifted so my wolf could work herself out. Then I spent days trying not to let on how sore and tired I was.

With it being summer vacation still, I could sleep in and stay in bed unless my dads were on one of their ‘you don’t get out of the house enough’ kicks. It truly was a gamble.

Dad got to go home early since Luna Missy was coming with Alpha Maddox and their son. Alpha and Luna doted over their grandson, and everyone at the packhouse loved their visits. Getting off work early for Dad meant that Papa also came home early, and I was able to push them out the door by dinner to insist that they go out together. I knew they would be out super late, so it gave me plenty of time to go out to the woods.

“Can you hurry it up?” Piper asked in my head.

I rolled my eyes as I trudged through the brush. “You know I don’t want an audience. This is painful enough without someone at school finding me. They don’t need something else to tease me about.”

“I really think you shouldn’t be so resigned about this. Maybe the Luna would help you. She is always so pleasant,” Piper offered.

“Our Luna doesn’t have a wolf. How could she help me with my inability to shift?”

“Alright. What about the Beta’s daughter? She and the future Alpha seem friendly,” Pip countered.

“Liam and Delilah are popular kids. That’s far from a good idea. I don’t need the future Alpha thinking even less of me, either. He is responsible for making sure our pack is strong. What if that included kicking out weak wolves?”

“You worry too much,” Piper huffed. “We both know the future Alpha is a kind boy.”

“One of us has to worry about things,” I told her. I finally found my usual place in the woods. It was this old cabin that was super run down and busted up. I had staked the place out for a week before shifting here.

“Okay, let’s get this moving. I need to stretch my paws,” she demanded. Piper always got antsy until she actually got control. We at least had enough of an understanding with each other that she didn’t take over while I was still on two feet.

I went through my routine. First, I slid out of my sneakers and set them on the decaying step to what used to be the front door. Next, my socks were stuffed inside those. Then I slowly undressed, neatly folding my clothes and stacking them in a pile next to my shoes.

A rustling in the trees stopped me right as I pulled my shirt over my head. I gripped it to my body and looked around. “Hello?” I squeaked. My eyes scanned the trees around me, but I didn’t see anything moving.

“It was probably a squirrel,” Piper sighed.

“Why do I feel like someone is watching me?”

“Because you’re paranoid.”

LIAM JR

Delilah was hogging all the pillows. I spent the better part of the morning sparring with her, Dad, and Maddox. Then we spent most of the afternoon in the pool. Despite trying to play with Mav, I couldn’t not notice the little white bikini she wore.

In a way, it wasn’t her fault. She was tall and slender, athletically toned. She didn’t have a huge chest, so her small bathing suits seemed skimpy on her. It was amazing how ignorant she was to how hot she looked.

She stole one of my hoodies before we crashed. Well, she crashed. It wasn’t until last fall that it occurred to me that I really liked it when she stole my sweatshirts.

I snuck out of my room, tiptoed down the hall, and made it to the backdoor unnoticed. I needed some fresh air to clear my head of all things Delilah Hale. I was counting down the days until her birthday. I would finally know if we were meant to be.

Loving Delilah was a Catch-22. My parents instilled the importance of the mate bond in us when we were young. Dad had even told me about everything that happened to him and Mom. I knew my fated would be my perfect compliment and make for the best Luna. As my 17th birthday grew nearer, I really hoped that perfect compliment was Delilah. I couldn’t imagine someone knowing me better.

But then I had to consider if it wasn’t. Dad had said when I felt the mate bond for the first time, there would be a moment where my axis shifts, where my world starts to center around a single point. It felt wrong that I could feel that way with anyone but Delilah.

I ditched my shorts and shifted, letting my wolf take control and work out some of the energy trapped within me. The summer nights were still warm and relatively humid, but there was enough of a breeze to make it feel nice.

The whole time I was in Stary Pack, I missed Delilah. But I also decidedly lacked the frustration she left me with. At least I hadn’t come home to her hooking up with anyone. She ‘dated’ sparingly, but the last one sent me into a jealousy-fueled rage for weeks. I broke someone’s nose during practice and got benched for it.

I didn’t pay much attention to the direction I ran. Connor moved as he pleased, and I tried to push away all thoughts of Delilah.

“It almost pains me how much you fawn over her,” my wolf teased.

“She has to be my mate, right? I mean, we’re the perfect team. Who better to be my mate?”

It wasn’t lost on me that everyone thought we would be mated. Delilah always shrugged it off, making me worry a little.

“Only time will tell,” he lamented. I couldn’t tell what side Connor was on sometimes, but we shared a body, so it was in his best interest to help me through all of this. I couldn’t do anything about my attraction to Lilah unless we were mates because it could ruin everything. I still needed her as my best friend if I couldn’t have her as my mate. And eventually, Beta.

“Someone’s out here,” Connor said, catching a scent on the wind. We weren’t in a frequented part of the woods.

“Probably a patrol or someone just stretching their legs,” I shrugged it off.

“Smells familiar, though,” he said. Connor slowed to a trot, and I finally recognized where we were. Uncle Damien had told me about this little cabin close by that Missy had snuck off to all the time when we were still small. Before she met Maddox, she had a boyfriend, and they met out here to escape the packhouse.

“There is someone out here,” Connor said, crouching low into the brush. Through his eyes, I saw someone near the dilapidated cabin undressing.

“We should leave her alone,” I said.

“Curious,” Connor hummed.

When I looked more closely, I realized why he was curious. The girl’s wide eyes scanned the area around her, going right past us. A nervousness remained fixed on her face as she turned away from us again and started to slowly fold her shirt. I recognized those big brown eyes, though.

Mel.

What was she doing out here so late? Surely Azeron wouldn’t want her out by herself like this. She didn’t seem like one who was very adept at self-defense. Even though Blood Eclipse was a strong and safe pack, it wasn’t something to take lightly. Being out alone in the woods at night could be dangerous if you couldn’t handle yourself.

I watched, mesmerized, as she slipped her cotton panties down her legs and added them to the neatly folded pile of clothes before stepping a few steps back. She faced away, but I couldn’t help but admire the soft curve of her ass and the dimples right above it.

“Is she shifting?” Connor questioned.

“I think so…” I responded. Mel shook her arms out and shifted her weight from side to side. I watched in curiosity, interested in seeing her wolf.

“What’s taking so long?” he said.

“I mean, not everyone can move as quickly as we can.”

Mel seemed to be stalling or maybe pumping herself up? I didn’t want to frighten her, so we stayed still. Soon her body began to contort slightly, and she groaned in pain. But where most wolves slowly elongated and morphed to their four-legged form, Mel didn’t quite get there.

I was stunned watching her shift play out. It took longer than even first-time shifts I’d witnessed. She made pained noises and breathed hard through the process until her small wolf finally scrambled onto its legs. She licked her paws a few times before taking off in a stumbling run away from us.

“That was… abnormal…” Connor cringed.

“It looked painful,” I frowned.

“Maybe she is dysfunctional?” he offered.

“Dysfunctional? Like she doesn’t know how to do it?” That thought confused me. I didn’t need someone to teach me how to shift. I just felt it, and it happened. It was natural. Instinctual. It was like breathing or linking.

“Junior, why is Delilah’s body the only one in your bed?” my dad’s voice cut through our debate over Mel.

“Sorry, Dad. Didn’t get enough in today. Wanted to move my legs some more,” I shot back quickly. After Dad’s s*x talk, Uncle Damien had cornered me and flat-out asked if he had to worry about shredding the next Alpha to pieces for touching his daughter since we spent so much time together, including nights. I quickly assured him I would not be laying a finger on Delilah. Uncle Damien seemed more or less satisfied after I also promised to keep other guys at school away from her. What he didn’t know was that it was for both our benefits.

“You’re going to overwork yourself,” Dad chided me. “You just spent a week with Michael, and I know he wasn’t easy on you. The man might be retired, but I’ve seen him run training.”

“Yea, he made me puke once,” I agreed. The best course of action was to be agreeable and not nervous.

“Get back to the packhouse. You need rest. No training tomorrow,” he declared. “And no more late-night runs unless I say.”

Well, s**t.