Page 15 of A Secret Baby By the Alpha

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I hated to see how my words had affected Christa over the coming days. She became quiet and withdrawn, and I worried that my dismissive attitude about our past had broken her spirit. There was a vulnerability in her that I hadn’t seen before, and it worried me. Especially since it was all my fault.

Still, the last thing I wanted was to allow her to see my own vulnerable feelings about the situation. It was best for both of us if I kept my distance, so that was exactly what I did. Luckily, my house shared a border with the forest. The pressures of being the alpha, on top of being a member of the Dark Alphas, often left me feeling pulled in too many directions. The forest was my haven, the one place I could go to be truly alone.

It was on one of my walks in the forest that I heard the unmistakable sound of shoes scraping against the bark of a tree. I looked up and to my left, and saw a young girl climbing from branch to branch a dozen feet above the forest floor.

“Whatcha doing up there?” I asked kindly, expecting to see the face of one of the young pack members. “Jenny!” I exclaimed as the girl turned her face toward me.

“Hey!” Jenny shouted down at me with a smile. “Did you see how high I climbed? Pretty good, right?”

“Uh, yeah,” I replied, doing my best to keep my uneasiness from coloring my words. “You did really good. What are you doing out here by yourself, though? Does your mom know you’re out here?”

When I saw the young girl grimace at the mention of her mother, I knew what she was going to say before the words came out.

“I snuck out,” she responded sheepishly. “Mom’s been so tense and strict. Ever since we got here, it’s like she’s turned into this overbearing monster. She’s no fun. Not like she used to be. She doesn’t let me doanything.”

Her legs were dangling from a branch as she sat with her back to the trunk of the tall tree. I wondered if she was afraid of me, and that was why she chose to remain aloft.

“Do you want to come down here and talk about it some more? I’m a pretty good listener,” I assured her.

“Not according to Mom,” Jenny said quickly. “And also… I can’t. I don’t know how to get down.”

“That’s okay, I can help you,” I said. I clambered up the tree until I was perched across from Jenny on another branch. “It looks a lot higher up from here, but I promise it isn’t too far. The trick is to look at where you want to put your hands and feet instead of the ground. Watch me and try to copy what I do.”

Facing the trunk, I found a foothold and lowered myself down, then moved my hand down to another branch. One afteranother, I continued until I reached the forest floor. Jenny nodded and made to follow, but hesitated.

“What if I fall?” she asked.

“I’m standing right under you,” I assured her. “If you fall, I’ll catch you. I promise, you won’t get hurt.”

She took a deep breath and began her descent, slow at first, then increasingly more confident. When she reached the bottom, she turned to look at me, beaming with pride.

“I did it!” she squealed.

“High-five, kiddo!”

She smacked my hand hard in excitement, and I sucked in a breath while shaking my hand.

“You’re strong!” I exclaimed, making her giggle.

“Mom says that, too,” Jenny said. “What’s the deal with you two anyway? Why does Mom not like you? You seem alright to me.”

“I’m glad you think so,” I said with a smile. “But your mom and I have… a history. We knew each other a long time ago, and I hurt her feelings. Have you ever done something like that?”

“I had a friend that kept wearing this old hoodie with holes in it, and I teased them,” Jenny admitted. “I told them it looked stupid. They were really sad. But I apologized, and we’re friends again. Was it like that? Did you apologize to Mom?”

She may only be nine years old, but I had to give it to Jenny: she was smart.

“You know what, I don’t think I ever did,” I said thoughtfully. “Do you think I should try that?”

“Definitely,” Jenny said.

“I’ll try to do that soon,” I promised her. “Now, do you want to tell me why you’re out here in the forest by yourself? It’s not the safest place for a kid to be alone.”

“I feel more like myself out here,” Jenny said with a shrug. “More in touch with being a shifter. It sucks that I can’t shift yet. So many other kids my age can, and I’m so jealous. I want to know what my wolf looks like, and what her name is.”

“Everyone shifts at different times,” I say.

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