Page 46 of Alpha Gray

Her reaction makes me chuckle. “Barely.”

“Why’s it over?” She looks at me, wide-eyed, and I feel the now-familiar stab in the pit of my stomach that manifests whenever I think of Gray and how things ended.

“Because of the Hannah thing, I guess. Guess he realized I’m nothing but trouble.” The words sound more bitter than I intended.

“And here I thought that was part of your appeal,” Vienna smirks.

I grin. “Yeah, every guy wants a girl who can’t control her temper.”

We’re getting closer to the clearing now, and Casey and Brock have been quiet ahead of us on the walk. I hope they aren’t eavesdropping. Then again, things are over with Gray, so it doesn’t really matter anymore. Nothing does, except making the squad.

Vienna peers over at me again. “You okay?” she asks, and I’m knocked a little bit off-kilter by the question. The past couple days, I’ve been dealing with this all on my own, internalizing everything. I haven’t even told Brooke.

I just shrug. “I don’t know. I didn’t expect to care, but…” My voice breaks a little bit, and I just shake my head.

Brock darts a glance in my direction over his shoulder, and now I know he’s been eavesdropping.Fucking great. The last thing I need is him telling Gray that I went ahead and caught feelings for him.

Honestly, I don’t know if I’m more sad or pissed off at this point. The more I think about it, the madder I get, because Gray has basically been toying with me from the moment I stepped off the bus at the squad complex. He ended things the other night, but he’s still been staring me down every day at practice like he wants something more. He clearly doesn’t know me- I’m not just going to sit around and wait until the guy figures out what he wants. I know my worth, and if he wants to play games, he doesn’t fucking deserve me.

Before Vienna can ask me anything else, we reach the break in the path where we always stop to shift. I’m relieved to go off on my own for a while, wandering the forest in wolf form and keeping an eye on the perimeter. I’m not going to spend all night thinking about Gray again- he has taken up way too much real estate in my mind these past couple weeks. Instead, I think about the tournament tomorrow and start to develop a strategy in my mind for my matchup against Brennan.

I’m so focused on thinking of various defensive and offensive maneuvers that I’m irritated each time I’m interrupted as Brock checks in over the mind-link. The hours slip by and I continue obsessing over tomorrow’s matchup. At one point I pretend that a fallen log is Brennan’s wolf and try out a couple moves on it- since I’m on patrol in wolf form, I can at least put my time to good use.

I’m so distracted that I don’t even see him coming.

By the time the foul smell hits my nose, it’s too late. I look up to see a big silver wolf leaping at me, onto me. When my body hits the dirt, it knocks the wind out of me, but I manage to twist quickly out from underneath my attacker. I try to focus in on the mind-link to alert the others, but I can’t get a word out before I feel a searing pain on top of my left shoulder. I yelp as the other wolf clamps his jaws down, pulling back, trying to tear flesh from bone.

He’s big, but I’m not going down that easy. I wrench my body sideways, as hard as I can, rolling. The momentum takes his feet out from under him and he hits the dirt, releasing his grip on my shoulder. I leap away and the reprieve gives me a chance to snap into the mind-link.

‘He’s back!’ I call, right as he prepares to leap at me again. My speed has always been my greatest advantage, and I’m able to jump out of the way right before he can tackle me again. I hear a sharp howl in the distance- Brock must be alerting the pack- and the other wolf abruptly stops, perking up at the sound.

Just like that, he’s gone- he turns around and tears across the clearing, heading back for the trees on the other side where he disappeared the other night. Right as he disappears into the thick brush, I see Brock and Casey’s wolves dart out into the clearing to follow. I just watch, holding my breath, praying that they catch him this time.

I start to feel a little lightheaded as my adrenaline tapers off, the sharp burn of the pain in my shoulder increasing. I feel like I can smell the other wolf all over me, his putrid scent making me queasy. I just have to sit and rest for a little while…

I hear Brock’s voice- he’s standing over me in his human form. He tells me to shift, putting alpha command behind his voice, and I feel my wolf recede as my body tingles and shifts back. My brain is foggy- I’m sure it’s from blood loss, but I force myself to focus, stay present.

I bring my hand up to my shoulder- it’s wet and sticky and my slight touch brings another harsh wave of pain. I cry out, craning my neck to try to look down at the top of my shoulder. All I see is red.

“Can you stand?” Casey asks, crouching down beside me. She places a palm on my back, looking into my eyes. I focus on her, start to feel less delirious. My body is on fire, working overtime to heal itself.

“Yeah,” I say through gritted teeth. Casey stands on one side of me and Brock comes to the other, both of them helping me to my feet. I’m a little unsteady, but I can feel myself getting stronger, my faculties returning. The forest starts to come back into focus. Vienna’s standing a few feet away from me, tears staining her cheeks.

“Did he get away?” I ask hoarsely. I wobble a little bit, stepping backwards, and my foot lands in something sticky and warm. Casey steadies me with an arm as I look down to see what I’ve stepped in- realizing that it’s my own blood. There’s alotof it. That other wolf must’ve gotten a bigger bite of me than I thought he had.

“He won’t get far, don’t worry,” Brock growls. “We’ve got four trackers on him.” He steps in front of me, looking into my eyes. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” I answer, almost compulsory.

Brock looks to my wounded shoulder, then back to me. Even though he keeps his expression steady, I can see a glint of concern behind his eyes.

I move my hand to my shoulder again, touching it gently with my fingertips. It’s smoother- less like hamburger meat- so my skin must be knitting itself back together. “It’s already healing,” I say, wincing a little.

“Let’s get you back to the complex,” Casey says, slipping an arm around my waist. I don’t think I need the help walking, but I allow her to lead me back to the path. The four of us make our way there, finding our clothes. Casey offers to help me dress, but I insist I can do it on my own.

I keep glancing at my shoulder to make sure it’s healing. I use my yoga pants to wipe some of the blood away and find that it just looks like road rash at this point, which is a relief. Despite the blood loss, my body’s healing itself fast. Even so, Brock and Casey insist on walking Vienna and I back to the squad complex after we’re dressed.

Vienna looks like a goddamn wreck. She’s like a zombie as she walks beside me, and I ask her if she’s okay. She tearfully explains that she was the one that found me passed out in the dirt and thought I was dead. She called Casey and Brock back to help, which is apparently when I came to.

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