Page 24 of Alpha Gray

“Uhh… I’ll take offense,” he responds, and I simply nod, lowering into a crouch.

Olly’s got a lot of power behind his movements given his size, but he’s a clumsy fighter. The first time he comes at me, I easily avoid his blows, anticipating his movements to take him down quickly. He pops right back up, though, and we square off again. He makes the same mistakes the second time, cocking back a little too early so that I know exactly when and how he’s going to strike.

All the while, my wolf is getting more and more riled up. Fighting typically does that, but this time it’s different. I keep thinking of the sound Fallon made when she screamed, of how her eyes looked when they were swimming with pain. Rationally, I know that it was an accident, but my wolf places the blame squarely on Olly’s shoulders.

I start getting a little more aggressive in my defensive maneuvers. Olly’s basically taking a beating, but the guy doesn’t give up. He comes at me again, and this time, I duck, rolling him over my back. I flip and leap on top of him, grabbing one of his arms and wrenching it behind his back. When his shoulder makes a sickening popping sound, I know I’ve gone too far.

Olly cries out and I immediately release his shoulder.

Fuck. He rolls over, sitting up, and I can already see that it’s dislocated. I take a step back, agitated, while my wolf preens, proud of his handiwork.

Brock jogs over as several of the recruits stop sparring and look in our direction.

“What the hell, man?” Olly sputters, grabbing at his shoulder with his other hand. A few stray tears spill from his eyes onto his cheeks.

I’m immediately flooded with regret. This poor kid didn’t have a chance. I’m much more skilled and I should’ve just dropped him, not yanked on his fucking arm until it popped.

Brock crouches beside Olly, examining his shoulder. He looks up at me and I can tell from his glance that he’s pissed.

“Dislocated,” Brock says matter-of-factly. He helps Olly to his feet and takes the wrist of his injured arm with both hands. “Take a deep breath, kid.”

Before Olly can register what Brock’s about to do, he yanks his arm forward, forcing his shoulder back into socket. Olly cries out in pain and more tears slip down his cheeks, forming little lines in the dirt on his face.

The human side of me feels guilty, but my wolf is so damn satisfied.

“Good as new,” Brock chirps, clapping Olly on his opposite shoulder. “Why don’t you sit out for a little bit, let that heal up.”

Olly just nods, glancing nervously in my direction. “Yes, sir.”

As he retreats, Brock stalks toward me. “What the fuck, Gray?” he hisses between clenched teeth.

I stab a hand through my hair, scowling. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” I mutter.

“No?” Brock challenges, narrowing his eyes. I feel my wolf push to the surface again and Brock just shakes his head. “Get your wolf under control, man.” He turns on a heel and stomps away.

Brock’s right- I’ve gotta get my head on straight. I’ve always been level-headed and have never struggled with keeping my wolf in check. I don’t know why I’m feeling so out of control lately, but I’ve gotta run off some of this aggression. I start for the gate, passing by the sets of recruits still sparring.

“Gray, where are you going?” Theo calls out as I breeze past him.

I reach behind my back to grab my t-shirt and pull it off overhead, tossing it onto the ground as I continue stomping toward the gate. “For a run,” I growl. As soon as I hit the gate, I kick off my shoes, shove my shorts down, and shift, taking off into the forest on four paws.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Fallon

News travels fast at the squad complex, and it doesn’t take long for me to hear about Olly’s injury. I have to admit, I’m a little satisfied to hear that he got hurt today, too, after I had to go through the mind-numbing pain of getting my wrist set so it would heal properly. When I heard that it was Gray who dislocated Olly’s shoulder, it only left me with more questions- the main one being whether he did it on purpose. If he did, what would that mean? It couldn’t have been on purpose…right?

“So how’s the wrist?” Davis asks, scooching over and patting the spot beside him on his bunk.

We’re all getting ready for bed after a long day of training, which I missed half of due to my injury. Boyd’s bunk is across from mine and Davis’, and Connor has the bottom. We got to know Connor a little better at the bar on Saturday and it turns out he’s a really nice guy. He’s from Reid’s pack in Stillwater. Connor’s sitting on the edge of his bunk, facing us, and leans forward a little to watch as I sink down next to Davis and extend my wrist forward, twisting it around.

“All better!” I chirp, demonstrating my range of movement. Shifter healing is pretty great- if I didn’t have the painful memories of the break, I wouldn’t even know I’d been injured.

“Man, you’re a champ,” Connor says with a chuckle. “I fell and broke my wrist a couple years ago. Cried like a baby.”

I shrug. “It wasn’t so bad.”Lie. “I’m more pissed that I had to miss a half day of training.”Truth.

“I bet Olly will think twice before trying that move on you again,” Vienna says as she strolls toward our bunks from the locker room, Hannah in tow. They’re both carrying little toiletry bags, probably returning from brushing their teeth before bed. “Now that he knows you’re Alpha Gray’s favorite,” Vienna adds, waggling her eyebrows.

---