LONE WOLF (On Hold)

Chapter 14 - Or something.

Chapter 14 – Or something.

Beck's POV

"Hey, Beck, where's your head at?" Alex asks, nudging me with her elbow as she passes me behind the bar.

Oh, right, work. I'm supposed to be serving customers.

"Sorry, man, what can I get you?" I ask, walking over to a waiting customer and taking his order.

It's been four days since Alex and I heard the wolf howling at the rock. It was definitely a wolf, no question about it, but I've not heard anything more since. After making sure Alex got home okay, I went straight to the forest to see if I could track whoever it was down. I found a scent but it didn't lead to a wolf, it didn't lead to anything, and I eventually gave up for the night. I didn't recognise the scent, at least I don't think I did, so for all I know it was some local wolf picking up on a lone one being nearby. I'm not entirely convinced, though. If that was the case then surely I wouldn't be the one out there searching.

I hate not knowing what's going on. I've been out every night since and I feel like I'm just going in circles. There's been no sign of other wolf life since Wednesday so I've had no new leads. This is the only downside to not being in a pack; at least then I'd have someone to form a game plan with. Right now I have nada; no help, no clues to follow and absolutely no idea whether this is even something I need to be worrying about.

Maybe whoever it was has gone for good; maybe there's no problem at all.

"Are you okay?" Alex asks, coming to stand next to me behind the bar.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I ask back, forcing as nonchalant a shrug as I can muster.

"I don't know, you just seem... weird," she says.

"You always say I'm weird," I point out.

"Very true," she agrees with a small laugh.

A small beep distracts her, moving her attention to the phone she pulls out of her back pocket. Reading the text, she sighs.

"Are you okay?" I return the question.

"Huh?" she looks up from her phone. "Oh, yeah, I just," she shakes her head. "It's nothing. It's just going to be a long night."

"How come?" I ask.

"Just got an SOS text from my mum; she and dad are off out so they need me to watch the kids tonight. The twins always play up at night when my parents are out," she explains, rolling her eyes.

"Want some company?" I ask.

Now that Jenny and Stuart are back, we're getting let off work earlier on some nights. Tonight we're only needed until nine which means I have a bunch of free time to stress over what happened on Wednesday, which is going to get me nowhere.

"You're offering?" she asks, sounding surprised.

"Sure, why not?" I reply with a small shrug. "Got nothing better to do."

"Okay... thanks," she replies, the relief clear in her voice. "They might not play up as bad with you there."

"No problem," I reply.

For the next hour the pub is fairly quiet, with only a steady flow of customers breezing through.

"I'm bored," Alex says after a while, leaning her elbow on the bar and resting her chin on her hand.

"Thanks for sharing," I reply, eliciting an eye roll from her as I hand a pint of beer over to an awaiting customer.

"Tell me something," she says as the guy walks away.