Hideout

T H R E E

How many of you have noticed that I made a change to the title? I will explain further at the end of the chapter! 

C H A P T E R 

T H R E E 

A D E L A I D E 

I hadn't shifted in probably over a month, and it was making me moody as hell as well as anxious. So I took a long hike until I could hardly smell any traces of human, stripped out of my clothes and started running.

My wolf body was stiff, and I had to relearn how to work with only one eye. It made no sense that in wolf form my bad eye was completely fuzzy, but when I was human it worked better. It should be the opposite, but when did things so far in my life ever work out as they should?

I slowed down as the trees thinned into a tiny open space, about fifteen feet in all directions. The wild grass was long and scratchy, in some places it had dried out to dirt and yellow bones of what was once healthy, vibrant strands of vegetation. I relaxed and shook out my tense bones, stretching out leisurely and groaning in pleasure. Just as a twig snapped behind me. My body leapt forward, and I stumbled into something on my left side - a tree.

A massive wolf stood there, head and tail held high - showing dominance with his ears towards me. He was a beautiful wolf - a gorgeous red-brown color with bright amber eyes. His coat was thick and appeared impenetrable, a feature keen to a royal, pure bloodline. This guy had muscle too and was almost double my size.

Don't ask me how I knew, but I just did. This was Brett's alpha. But what I didn't know was why he was here, on unclaimed land, after me. He growled deeply and I took a step back nervously, but wasn't about to submit so easily, even though my instincts told me that was the safe and smart thing to do.

Standing before him, I suddenly felt embarrassed by the shape of my wolf - the ugly discoloration in my gray fur, the thin spots of said fur - one eye green and the other a faded blue. Not to mention how tiny I was. But that didn't mean I was going to let a random yahoo overpower me when he isn't on his own land.

I growled right back, flinching when he barked viciously at me. A warning to back down.

How he found me was a good question though. I didn't tell Brett I was doing this, I didn't leave any tracks. I wasn't even close to their border - not close enough at least for anyone to catch my scent.

Submit, he commanded in my head.

I got into a pathetic attack stance, my front low to the ground as I snarled at him. This isn't your land.

It will be soon. Submit.

I moved to jump at him and attack, only to get crushed beneath his massive body. Crap. You'd think a wolf as big as him wouldn't be fast. But he was. Faster than the quickest wolf I had ever met, which was saying something. Definitely from a pure bloodline. I whined, clawing feebly at the ground to escape his weight.

I will let you up when you agree to dinner.

Are you kidding? That's what this was about? The stupid dinner. I growled again, and was finally able to break from beneath him. I bolted, my feet pounding across the forest floor. The alpha's powerful strides were loud, his breath huffing out with each movement of his long legs. He easily caught onto my blind side, sensing my weakness there, and plowed into me, the two of us rolling until his forelimbs pinned me down, snapping at my ears and biting my neck - hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to make me break skin.