Page 9 of Cats and Dogs

That's when the kid tried to run. Arthur chuckled. So did some of the enforcers, and most of the spectators.

"Mom, Dad!" He called, running left now he'd spotted the help he so desperately needed.

Hunter knew the parents. Burt had attended the same class as him, right here in the pack territory. Mina was a few years younger.

Burt looked away, while Mina silently cried. Neither moved a muscle to get to their kid.

An enforcer grabbed him by the collar and the boy bit him, before trying to run again. He was so busy looking behind him, to the Alpha, that he wasn't paying attention to where he was running. He hit a solid form. A solid form that definitely would have preferred to be standing just about anywhere else in the world right now. Hunter.

The kid's brown eyes went up and up, until they found his. He didn't beg. Didn't say please.

"Hunter." This was his Alpha's voice. "Bring the child." A clear command.

He didn't move.

"I said bring the child."

This time, the words were accompanied with the full force of his dominance and the authority of his rank. Hunter should already be halfway to him by now.

But he wasn't. How come he wasn't?

You know why.

His wolf didn't speak, but they communicated just fine. Hunter felt and heard the animal's every intention.

Yes, he knew why, all of a sudden. Just like he knew why Arthur had had no problem sending him away to college, why he'd seemed pissed when he'd come back.

He wasn't moving because he didn't want to. And he was stronger than his father. More dominant. His compliance had been entirely voluntary until now.

The moment he realized that, something in him exploded, blasting through whatever restriction he'd imposed on himself in the past.

Being part of a pack meant being linked to every single member in the community through their animals. Feeling them, being subliminally conscious of belonging to something bigger. Even away from Texas, on another continent, he'd still felt the others.

Now, he didn't. There was just him in his head.

And he was Alpha.

Alpha of nothing, but Alpha, nonetheless.

He lifted his chin and stared right at Arthur Force.

"No."

His “no” might as well have been a “fuck off.” Grabbing the kid by the back of his collar, he turned his back on the pack and started to walk away. Everyone was too stunned to act for maybe ten seconds, but then Arthur was sending his enforcers after them.

Ten seconds was long enough. He got to his car; throwing the kid in the back, he rushed to the driver’s seat and took off at full speed, not questioning his decision. There was no choice. There was no turning back.

Somewhere at the back of his mind, he realized what it meant: he’d left the pack. He couldn’t keep his promise to Gwen any more.

But did he need to now, still?

It didn’t matter. He drove like a maniac, speeding up when he found the territory’s fences closed, and drove right through the gate.

At the first opportunity, Hunter stopped to withdraw as much cash as he could in one da, and dropped his phone, his credit cards, everything except his keys.

“Fuck.”

He looked at his car. A little head was popping out of the back seat, watching him. He sighed, and got back in, turning to the submissive.

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