Lone Wolf (EDITING)

Bet

Seren needed to buy this time for herself. As she ran, circling and making figure eights to confuse the alpha, she tried to think of what she should do. There was a chance that after Initiation, she would have a brief amount of time to slip away during the celebration and race home to McGreggor. They would only have time to throw the essentials in the truck before they drove off, but from there where would they go? Who would watch over McGreggor's shop and where would the people in their tiny town get their groceries, especially the elderly folk who couldn't venture far away? Would McGreggor even want to leave?

Seren realized that she would miss Gillie terribly as well. She had already lost her father. In the short amount of time they had known each other, she had grown on Seren coniderably. Could she leave her behind for her own selfish fears? And what about Liam? 

And you will carry my children. His deep voice rang in her mind and she shivered. Being alpha meant that his senses and emotions, including his libido, were heightened to the point of overdrive. He was dangerously possessive of Seren and, just as she had feared, had plans to dominate and keep her under his thumb, exactly like her last alpha had. She was sure that as soon as she became a part of his pack, he would use his power over her to force her to lie down and give herself to him to be used like a brood mare. 

Seren circled a tree widely three times before leaping hugely away onto a rock and from there, propelling herself as far as she could onwards. She landed softly at the base of an oak tree, it's branches hanging low with their own weight, and paused. A long and deep howl echoed through the forest, sending shivers up Seren's back. It was Liam letting her know that he was on the way. Her heart beat in excitement and she let her body shift to her human form, jumping upwards with all her might to grasp the busy end of a branch, scrambling to pull herself up and shimmy toward the trunk. She hopped to another branch and then climbed above that, shifting back into a wolf. 

It was awkward in that form to walk across the rounded wood to a place where she could lie down, wait and watch for the big bad wolf to come huffing and puffing in serach of her. Her coloration would be her aid this time for if he glanced up, her light fur would match the bright patches of sky in the gaps of the canopy above.

She nearly dozed off and fell from the tree more than once as she waited for Liam to follow her trail. He would be wondering why she had gone in circles and looped back on herself. She hoped he would come to the conclusion she was trying to confuse and get rid of him, but he would have to keep his nose on the ground to pick up side trails. That was what she was counting on.

She saw him off in the distance, moving silently between the trees, more like a shadow made from the shifting leaves above, mirroring her steps perfectly. She willed her breaths to come evenly and her heart to beat as softly as possible. He wound around and around in circles, then searched outside of the range for where the fresh scent would pick up. Seren watched him sniff the roots and trunks where she had rubbed her coat and saw how he, in frustration, growled and scanned the forest floor with his eyes.  

He was within speaking distance of her verbally now, so his wolf would also be. Serennnn, he taunted. Come out come out, wherever you are. I am close. I can smell you in the air. I will give you a chance to reveal yourself. He waited for a few minutes as she trembled above him like a leaf, however fittingly. He wanted her to tease him back, to huff at him as she usually did, but that would tell him that he was very close. No? Well, then you must have tricked me, my dear. Don't worry, I will find you soon enough. He growled and stalked back to where he had last had her scent.

Two hours later, the alpha had descended into madness, pacing shallow trenches along her trails, even coming so close as to sniff and wind around the tree she was in repeatedly. She had thought it funny at first, but was now worried that he might have actually lost his mind and would try to do what he had nearly done the day before.