Page 48 of Leave Me
He was deferring to me as Alpha.
Freezing in place, I wasn’t sure what to make of his show of submission. Seeming to feel my hesitation, he gestured with his head toward the waterfall. I could practically hear him telling me to check on Riley, and I was fully on board if he was okay.
Letting out a howl of victory, Ricky answered from his route to escort our enemies off the King land. A few moments later, I heard Rel joinin from down the mountain at the pack house. He would understand. Ricky and I survived and neutralized the threat, but he needed to stay and keep watch over the family.
Stepping into the water, I shifted back to swim better and didn’t bother looking down. I didn’t need to see if my human form matched what it had been before the fight. My wolf recognized who I was, and he agreed.
I was Alpha of the King pack, a man worthy of claiming the most perfect man as my own.
Riley was my mate, and I needed to make sure he knew I was never leaving him again.
Chapter thirty-two
Riley
Watching the fight through the curtain of water, my heart stuck in my throat, I hadn’t thought about what would happen if Fowler lost. Failure wasn’t an option. He would prevail and come back to me.
When Fowler tricked the bears into injuring each other, I pumped my fist and held back a cheer. The bears undoubtedly knew where I was, but I didn’t need to draw attention to myself or distract Fowler.
Something inside of me ripped apart when my man was pinned down, the bear’s bloody face and teeth ready to strike. My bones snapped and popped as if someone had a voodoo doll of me and was systematically breaking every one.
Falling to the wet stone at my feet, I blinked past the pain to find paws. They were an off-white color, with black claws gripping the slanted stone surface.
What. The actual. Fuck?
Pushing up to sitting, I felt my legs bend under me in a way they never had before. As a human, I’d look like a frog, but it felt instinctual. Turning my body, I felt a weight tugging at the spot I’d expect my tailbone to be, and I suddenly understood why it was called that.
Wrapped around my leg was a bushy tail. In the filtered light, I could see it was the same color as my paws on the underside, a tawny color in the middle, with dark grey and black hairs along the top.
I was a wolf!
A bear roared in pain, and I peered through the water again to find the fight had gone on. My hearing and eyesight were even stronger, though I couldn’t hear as well over the waterfall, but I could see every detail when Ricky and Fowler’s wolves subdued one bear, only for the other to knock a larger wolf down.
Remembering that Clark Finley was joining Ricky in the pursuit of the two bears, I knew it had to be him. He yelped in pain and curled into himself on the shore beside the pond, and I wanted to help.
Before I could try swimming in a body I didn’t fully understand, the voice inside of me said to wait. It told me I needed to listen to Fowler, to my Alpha, and stay hidden.
A voice in my head, which I’d heard all my life, made more sense when I realized it was my inner wolf.
Pacing the rock, I was glad to see the wolves get the upper hand, but I didn’t let myself relax until Ricky was following the defeated bears away, and I saw Mr. Finley get up to rub against Fowler.
A tiny spark of jealousy appeared and fizzled out when Fowler lifted his head to howl. Mr. Finley was the acting Alpha, so he should have been the one to acknowledge they’d won. His gesture to Fowler, rubbing his neck, and then Fowler making the call to the pack? It all told me what I’d always known.
Fowler was born to be the King Pack Alpha.
Before I had time to process the momentous shift from one Alpha to another, Fowler was swimming toward me, shifting halfway across the water. I couldn’t see him below the shoulders, so I had to hope my hypothesis about his shift was correct.
If Fowler needed to endure surgeries all over again, I’d be there for him in whatever way he needed.
Scrabbling up the rocks behind the far side of the falls, Fowler stepped onto the rock beside me and froze.
Letting out a sound that would have been a whimper in human form, but was more a whine as a wolf, I sat back to let him take me in. Was I so different that he wouldn’t recognize me? Did my mate know it was me?
Mate?I questioned mywolf.
Mate.
Mine.
