Alpha Cravings

Chapter 7 Strange Things Are Happening

Phoebe
"Phoebe, Phoebe, Phoebe, are you there?" I hear my dad's panicked voice through the mind-link as I slowly open my eyes.
I groan at the stiffness in my neck when I try to move it. "Dad!" I answered back, realising I was still on the floor in the hotel room.
"Oh, thank God, your mother, and I have been trying to reach you for hours. Are you OK?" He sounded relieved.
"I think so," I answered, my heart racing, afraid to look at my fingers in case they were still ignited with burning flames.
"Where are you?" he sounded worried again.
"I'm at Damon's hotel. He brought me here last night to talk, but we only argued, so I kicked him out. But Dad, something strange happened..."
"Listen, sweetie," Dad cut in, "Rogues are attacking us. Your mum is hurt badly. Can you get back as soon as possible?" he asked, sounding anxious.
"On my way, Dad. I will be in wolf form, so have some clothes ready," I instructed him with a firm voice as I cut the mind-link.
Worry tightens its grip on my mind, suffocating like a heavy weight on my chest. A sickening churn in my stomach intensifies as panic takes hold, my thoughts consumed by my mother's safety. I can't help but pray that she's alright.
I got off the floor and noticed the scorch marks were still there. Last night happened, and it wasn't just a dream.
I grab the door handle and close my eyes. I took a long, deep breath, hoping to calm my rapidly beating heart.
I heard a gasp behind me, which was strange because I was alone. Then I hear the frantic voice of my dad.
"What the hell, Phoebe! You said you were at the hotel."
I opened my eyes and screamed in fright. There, kneeling outside on the ground beside our house, over my mum, who was barely conscious was my dad.
I screamed again as my eyes widened while darting here, there, and everywhere. "I... I was, what the hell is happening to me?" I questioned in a louder-than-normal voice as panic began to set in, hoping they knew the answer.
"Calm down, Hun," soothed my dad as he grabbed my hands. "Whatever is happening, we will figure it out later. Hurry and heal your mum so I can return to the fight," he spoke gently and reassuringly, hoping I could heal my mum hastily.
Rogues are wolves that have been banished from a pack for crimes they committed or have decided to leave of their own free will.
Looking over my mum's injuries, I winced at what I saw and quickly assessed what I needed to heal first. Because there were so many significant muscles and organs involved, I decided that I needed to treat the gash on her upper torso first, which stretched from her left shoulder to just over her right rib cage.
I promptly knelt beside her and placed my hands over the damaged spot. I felt the energy leave my fingertips as the wound healed.
Her second injury was a broken femur that broke through the skin. I got Dad to push the bone back through the skin, and once again, I placed my hands over the injury and let the energy flow from my fingertips.
Once I was sure the bone had healed back together, I closed her skin back over. Her wolf will take care of any more minor injuries that she has. I was just thankful that she was OK and responsive.
After Dad rounded up a pack member to carry Mum back to the pack's hospital for Dr Piper's examination, he took off to rejoin the fight.
Quickly shifting, I was right behind him.
We came across the rogues towards the beginning of the woods. It didn't take Ella long to realise that Jacob and Tessa were in trouble and needed her help, as ten wolves surrounded them. Coming to their rescue, she grabbed hold of a scrawny-looking grey wolf about to pounce on Tessa while my dad's wolf had a brown wolf clenched between his teeth.
The wolf quickly submits to my dad, who foolishly lets him go as he high tails it and runs back into the forest.
Two down and eight more to go.
Ella bounds over the top of a brown and white tan wolf as one had Jacob by the neck. As Ella bit into his side, he quickly let Jacob go.
"Thanks, doll," Jacob quickly links me as his wolf bares his neck, showing us his gratitude. "I had it all covered," he tried to reassure me.
Ella swung her head in Jacob's direction, flashing her bright white teeth at him, "You certainly did," I snickered in his head as Ella quickly grabbed hold of another brown wolf by the scruff of his neck and flung him into a nearby tree.
I heard a wolf howl in pain over the echoing sounds of snarls, growls, and force howls from battling wolves. Ella quickly lifts her head to look around. She knew the sound of that howl; it was the howl of her mate in distress.
She spots him six hundred yards away, bleeding from his front paw and the side of his head. Feeling torn, she wanted to go to him but knew she couldn't leave her friends. She lifts her snout in the air and howls, her cry of pain.
It's a pity she didn't think like me and ignored him, especially after last night's disagreement.
She grabbed another wolf, tearing that one to pieces as Dad badly injured another. I hear bones snapping as Tessa takes down a dirty, light-grey wolf.
When we finished with the other three wolves, Ella bounded away to Edmund's side. As much as I had tried to stop her, she couldn't ignore that her mate needed her. I would have left him there to bleed. Who did he think he was trying to order me around?
She licks his snout, then licks the blood from the side of his head until the wound closes. Once that was healed, she got to work on healing his damaged paw.
I couldn't see what all the fuss was about; they were tiny scratches.
Edmund affectionately rubs his body against hers, marking her with his scent, and licks the top of her head in appreciation.
For just a moment, he rests his head on hers as I hear Damon's sad voice in mine.
"I'm sorry, Phoebe, but I do love you," he softly murmured as he declared his feelings to me.
I scoffed. "After last night, I find that hard to believe," I sarcastically replied as Ella let out a low growl in agreement before we left them to choke on a cloud of our departing dust.
While we sprint away, we listen for any more potential threats.
As the last of the rogues fled into the woods with their tails tucked between their knees, the pack's warriors hooted and shouted in celebration.
The rogues couldn't defeat us, and thankfully, we only had a few minor injuries rather than any fatalities.
Exhausted, I made my way back home. After that ordeal, I needed a Diet Coke and a chocolate fix.
"I'm telling you, Mum, fire came out of my fingertips," I tell her while pacing back and forth in front of the couch where Mum was after getting home from the hospital later that day.
She puts down her knitting. "Well, you are a white wolf," she replies honestly.
I stopped my pacing as I glared at her. "But Mum, what if it's to do with something else?" I inquired, feeling frustrated.
"No! I think it's because of the stress Ella and you went through with Damon. I also believe that Ella will find peace without her mate and get back to normal soon," she kindly shares her thoughts while picking up her knitting again.
I stomped my left foot as my blood started to boil. "Mum!" I yelled, angry that she wasn't paying any attention to me.
"How did I travel from Damon's hotel in the manner that I did? And how did Dad and I manage to maintain a mental connection with being so far away?" I asked through clenched teeth.
The front door opened, which distracted me from my ignorant mother. As it closed, the scent of oranges hit my nostrils, and I knew it was my dad.
As I impatiently tap my foot, waiting for my mum's response, Dad enters the living room.
Quickly greeting her with a kiss on her forehead, he turns to face me. "I've been considering that, and I believe it's your wolf," he proudly grinned at me.
My blood rushed inside me, threatening to escape from the top of my head as my nerves throbbed in anger. "Grr," I let out, absolutely furious that they were trying to blame my wolf while disregarding my primary issue.
"But Dad," I yelled, my agitation increasing by the second. "Fire also came out of my fingertips! Why won't you both listen to what I'm trying to tell you?"
"Because we both share the same idea that it is your wolf," Dad replied while sitting at the bottom of the couch.
Putting Mum's feet in his lap, he starts rubbing them.
I clenched my mouth shut while I merely nodded in agreement with them while my nostrils flared in despair and went to make dinner before I did anything I would later regret.
Once dinner was finished, I headed up the stairs and entered my room.
Hopping into the hot shower, I let the water soothe my aching body. I crawled into bed after dressing in night shorts and a tank top.
Damon was the last person I thought of before sleep claimed me.
***Someone else***
Later that night. I silently watched as she emerged from the forest's darkness, glancing around to ensure nobody had seen her.
I watched as she ran for the back entrance of the pack house, entering through the maid's door and into safety.
In addition, I will be sure to keep a tight check on her from now on. I thought as I finished running the perimeter of our territory.