Alpha Brothers - the Lonely Brother (book 3)

Chapter 9

Chapter 9
Tarna
It had been three days since I had spoken or seen Malcolm. I wasn't sure if he was avoiding me or not, but either way, I hadn't heard from him. But this sudden separation was good for me, I think.
It had given me time to think, though I always had time to think. Maybe it was time to move on. The idea of helping Malcolm with his wolf did play on my mind over the days but it seemed impossible. Malcolm seemed proud and not open to help when it was offered. Even if it was coming from his rogue mate.
I groaned and stood before making my way to my clothes box. I found some jeans, a singlet, a jacket and a scarf before pulling on my boots and heading out of the cave.
The air was thick this fine morning and the clouds threatened to rain. I always loved this weather. I loved the smell, the way the water droplets hung on the leaves and not to mention that I felt like the only being in the forest. All the other animals were always trying to run for cover when I was trying to welcome the rain. But I guess the other animals didn't have a pool to warm them up.
I froze when I heard a stick snap behind me. Please don't be the alpha, please don't be the alpha. Knowing that standing around would give me my answer, I turned. I was just about to attack the being behind me, when I realized that it wasn't the alpha. Malcolm's smug face, made me groan in frustration, knowing that my fear amused him.
"What were you goin' to do?" Malcolm asked, stomping through the bushes to get to me, "Jump me?"
I shrugged, "it's still a plan dependin' on what you want. You stalkin' me now?"
"I haven't seen you in three days, I was just checkin' up on you," he told me.
I laughed bitterly, mocking him, "right, you're my guardian now."
"Don't say it like that."
"How am I supposed to say it? I'm not five. I can look after myself."
"So you keep sayin'."
I frowned, not knowing what he was getting at. He had turned this situation all on me. It was no longer his fear of commitment or whatever. It was now my fear of someone looking out for me.
"What ever happened to 'I don't want a mate'?" I asked, trying not to hide how pissed I was.
He cleared his throat awkwardly, taking a step forward.
"I've thought about it and then I've stopped thinkin' about it, I've forced myself not to think about it but I can't stop thinkin' about it."
I frowned, trying to get all of that in my head.
"What?"
He sighed, "look, Tarna, I'm not a...I'm not a good person. I've done some -."
"Right, the Macangus attack," I finished for him, not accepting it as a good enough reason, "Malcolm, you were protectin' your family."
"That's not what I'm talkin' about," he told me, almost pissed that I had jumped to the wrong conclusion.
"Then what? So you've killed some people so -."
"Tarna!"
For a second, I was flying. The world became a whirl wind. Pain shot up my back causing my whole body to go numb. The world came to a blurry stand still making my stomach stir. I frowned, confused as I watched the fuzzy figures move around in front of me. My legs and arse started to get cold and I realized that I wasn't holding myself up. I was sitting on the forest floor, leaning against the tree.
Blinking my vision back to normal, I realized what was happening in front of me.
Malcolm, fighting a wolf that he was barely half its size.
Why wasn't he shiftin'? I asked myself.
He was fighting the wolf with his bare hands. The wolf scrambled for grip on the forest floor as Malcolm clamped his hands over the wolf's muzzle. He stumbled on his feet, trying to fight the wolf's strength. When the wolf won out, and Malcolm fell to the ground, the adrenaline kicked in.
I stood, pulling off my clothing before shifting.
I went straight for the wolf's back. With my crawls extended, I dug into its back, hearing him cry as I did.
"Tarna!" I heard my mate groan, "Get out of here!"
I ignored his wish, digging my claws in deeper. The rapid shaking of the wolf grew causing a force greater than my own to push me. I tried digging in deeper, but he threw me and like before, I was flying till something solid hit me causing my body to go numb.
The wolf moved off my mate and started to stalk towards me. I attempted to move but the tree stopped me and my numbing spine. His growls grew showing me his long white fangs.
My ears started to ring when a roar erupted behind the wolf, shaking the trees and sending a flock of birds in the sky.
The wolf skidded, revealing a dull white coated wolf. He was huge. Bigger than the other wolf. His eyes glowed gold and his fur continued to shake like he wasn't in full control of his own skin.
Immediately, the other wolf started to back away, now threatened by the almost cream wolf. Other wolves would have backed off once the threat was clear, but the large wolf didn't. He continued to stalk the second wolf, backing him into a corner.
When I realized what he was going to do, my human panicked. It caused me to jump to my feet and charge at him. I was surprised that I could even knock him over. But the wolf was so shaky, that with enough speed I did.
The second wolf saw his opportunity and left, leaving me with the uncontrollable wolf.
The wolf stood, now seeing me as his threat. I kept my head down, trying to tell him that I wasn't but he wasn't listening. He wanted to kill me no matter if I wanted to hurt him or not. He hunted me causing me to walk backwards to limit his target.
I whimpered to get through to him but I knew he was no longer my mate. He was the wolf that had taken over his mind and body.
Before I could stop him, his teeth dug into my shoulder muscle. I could feel my skin break and feel the hot liquid that warmed my body trickle down my leg. As his grip tightened, he had left his weakness opened. I saw the only way out and took it. I clawed at his body, until he unlatched his teeth from me and backed away.
I fell to the ground, my legs unable to hold my body up. I shifted in my exhaustion feeling the numbing pain of my shoulder creep through my body like a virus. Behind me, I could hear Malcolm's human groans and I suddenly remembered that I had hurt him as well.
I quickly rolled over, leaning on my arms as my hair fell over my body. Malcolm, kneeled, clutching his chest where three perfect claw marks leaked blood. I winced at my own pain, applying pressure to my bloody shoulder. For moments, we couldn't speak. The only words we made were groans of pain and our heavy breathing as we tried to catch our breath.
"You okay?" Malcolm finally asked, his voice full of air.
I nodded and huffed a yes, not being able to use my words.
I wanted to ask if he was okay too, but it was clear that he wasn't. I had cut him deep, turning his hand red.
Grunting in pain, I stood and stumbled over to him. I went to take his arm, but he jumped away from me.
"Don't," he growled, "I'll just hurt you."
I rolled my eyes at him, not having the strength to play that game. I was cold, wet and bleeding and so was he.
"I hurt you too, so we're even. Now come on," I said, not waiting for a yes.
I took his arm and found the strength to pull him to his feet before picking up our clothes. We leaned on each other trying to make our way back to the cave.