WILDFIRE (mxmxm)

1| Running and Running Some More

"Sam! Allen! What's the matter with you two? Where are your heads? Do it again!"

This was bad. Coach threw his clipboard to the ground and after about a dozen failed hand offs, this one tripped the switch. Sam picked himself up from the track and stormed away, kicking the fallen baton in the process. Ignoring the calls from his coach, he snatched up his bag on his way out of the gate sparing one glance toward Allen who stood there hunched over and out of breath with  his eyes already trained on Sam.

And just like that Sam was running again. This time into the woods. Once he was deep enough into the woods he leapt from a short cliff and shifted in mid air revealing his massive wolf. Crashing back to his feet with an earth shaking growl, he propelled himself faster and farther away. He tore through a few rabbits, only going in for the kill and leaving the meal. This isn't the way it was supposed to be. Ever since the mating ceremony Sam has been quite literally running from his problems. That's all that he could manage to do. Nothing made sense and he felt like the moon goodness had single handedly ripped the turf out from under his feet and there was nothing he could do about it. His own body, hell, his own wolf was betraying him and all of it was making his head spin.

Needless to say the end of the mating ceremony was uneventful. Ava was the first to break the silence announcing that her mate was not present but they were close, the disappointment was nearly written clean across her forehead and she stepped down. Sam fought against everything in his body including his wolf as he stood up on that stage. His eyes were glued to a wall on the far side of the room and he didn't say a word. He stood there with his jaw clenched and his hands folded behind his back. Allen had burned holes into the side of Sam's face with his eyes, daring Sam to say a word but he didn't. Eventually Allen faced the crowd, cracked a dry joke about the ceremony being uneventful and before he could finish the short statement Sam was already out the door and they each ignored the agony it caused.

As distance between himself and his mate grew farther Sam felt a wave of pain trying to consume him. Instead, he redirected that energy and channeled it into rage, launching an attack on an unsuspecting deer. Sam sunk his teeth into its neck and violently thrashed his head around, sending the deer slamming to the dirt. Tearing at the flesh, he tried make sense of what was happening to him in such a short period of time. In times like this his first instincts were to spar with Allen until he could muster up the words to voice what's been eating at him and Allen would have all of the answers. But he couldn't...not this time. So he continued ripping the deer limb from limb, clawing at the poor thing's torso but to no avail.

A large weight landed on his back and Sam went tumbling to the ground. He almost attacked when he quickly recognized the she-wolf standing over him just inches from his face. Uncomfortable with the position, Sam's wolf completely took over and flung the brown she-wolf full force into a tree as she whimpered.

"Shit."

The remorse for what he had done settled in immediately, prompting him to shift back into his human form. He stood there naked, his hands in his hair and completely distraught. Ava was absolutely the last person he needed to see right now. The need to go tend to her and the utter refusal of his wolf to allow them to be stark naked in her presence, while he has been neglecting his true mate, rendered Sam completely immobile.

Ava slowly began to move, eventually shifting back into her glorious stark naked human form, "Sam..."

Both the pain and the sadness were evident in her voice. After guiltily taking in her presence, the battle between Sam's mind, body and wolf to force their very different agendas upon him became too much. All of it was too much to handle. So logically, he turned around and ran. He pushed his wolf to the front of his consciousness and allowed him to run circles around their pack's territory until their body threatened to collapse. Utterly exhausted, he made his was to the edge of the woods and walked across the field towards the pack house. Desensitized by years of nudity amongst his people, Sam shifted into his naked human form once more and ascended the stairs.

Once outside his bedroom door, Sam was already operating on cruise control. It wasn't until a ridiculously intoxicating scent and an all too familiar voice ambushed his senses that Sam became astoundingly aware of the circumstances.

"Sam..."

For the first time in his life he was conscious of his nudity. His tongue went dry and his skin hot. He started to cover himself before he regained his composure and stood there in full confidence, his body on display for his mate.

"Allen."

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Oh the angst. A little chapter... I'm excited.

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