Enforce Me

Chapter 5: Mine

Tatum

I woke up as I did any other day; surrounded in furs, itching to stretch my legs and wanting to leave the confines of my room. I hated the walls that confined me.

My wolf wanted his run and I needed to get out of this place. It smelt of bear and other forest creatures that had taken up this place as home before we moved in.

Walking through the corridors of our den I tried to listen for movement which was unlikely at this hour seeing as I usually woke up a good few hours before dawn to run the borders but this morning I heard the distinct footsteps of a male plodding around.

''Dustin.''

''Fuck you, Tate!'' I growled at the nickname as he growled back at being caught raiding the last few pieces of meat from yesterday morning's hunt.

See, Dustin and I used to be as close as two friends could be. You could say we were inseparable, but that was before he became an asshole and started hanging out with the fuckhead middle ranks, so he fell to one as well. Shame, if he had have followed in his father's footsteps and not got caught up in himself, he would have stayed by my side and been my beta next spring.

'What're you doing?''

''Eating?'' He sassed.

''Fuck off Dustin you can't eat anymore. There was enough food last night to kill a sleuth of bears.''

''I snuck out. Never got around to eating.''

''You're going to get yourself killed and knowing my unfortunate luck, I'll get stuck with the job.'' Sneering at the thought of having to deal with his pigheaded self, I stalked out of the food hall and emerged from the cave.

It was always one of my pleasures to emerge from the cave before anyone else. The crisp autumn air pulled itself from further than the pack lands, swooped through the forest, danced on the rivers and flooded the cliffs dragging with it some autumn leaves that had started to fall in numbers from the creeping winter.

My wolf pulled to the surface and took over as familiar tingles prickled my skin and the sound of bones breaking filled my ears, the burn and tear of every muscle and bone causing me to have to shake out my fur after the change. The pain never changed since the first time, I just got more used to it the same way you get used to getting hit during training. It all becomes bearable and normal.

The second my wolf and I were content with our shake off, we didn't waste time with stretching and just took off down the face of the cliff jumping rocks, climbing boulders and sliding down slopes until we reached the forest floor and began morning patrol.

After an hour of patrolling and coming up with nothing more than a few rabbits hopping around,  my wolf was content with our morning routine and we laid down on the ground for all of two seconds before I felt someone pushing the mind link.

'Tatum we have a meeting with the Alphas tonight in the Forest Pack's lands.'

'Yes, Alpha.'

'The hunting party is moving out in five minutes so get your hide here before then. The middle ranks can't catch a rabbit let alone a deer on their own and Alic and I are busy this morning so you'll have to lead them again.'

'Yes, Alpha.' I felt the link close and my wolf huffed.

We had been taking the hunting party for the last few weeks. I had a feeling it was to do with my father wanting me to get used to leading the pack around more now than ever. My father was to hit his fifties in a few short years so he thought it was the time I challenged him soon.