Page 18 of Alpha's Baby Girl
“Thank you,” I said. “I just—” Before I could stop myself, the confession slipped out. “I kissed Fenrys.”
Sasha’s screech only made me laugh and ease my worries. “So that’s why you’re hesitant! You finally got that kiss.”
“Finally,” I sighed. “And it… It was good, Sash.”
“Thalia…” She warned.
“I know, I know. But I’m serious, I’m not backing out. I’m simply telling myself that I’m committed to the role of betraying him and going above and beyond.”
“But the truth?”
“The truth is that I want him, still, and I hate that. I hatehimbut I want him. I don’t think I’m allowed both, right?”
Sasha was silent for a minute. As she contemplated, I scanned the area, looking for any shadows of other she-wolves lurking. After the stunt Shiba and her little shadow pulled on me, I knew I shouldn’t be talking so freely. I distracted myself by planning a route up the mountainside.
The woods around Silverlake Valley were vast, but we’d been directed to a much larger part of the small area we’d navigated during our first trial. The trees were closer together here, paths less worn, and the only sound to hear for miles was the bubbling of a stream or the rustle of leaves. I had missed nature, I realized.
“It depends on what you can handle,” Sasha finally said. “This time you’ll be in power but if you let yourself fall for him, will you be able to handle going through with the plan? Will you be able to do it?” Her questions left me with contemplation. “Don’t let him undo all your hard work on yourself with one kiss, Thalia.”
I wanted to protest that she didn’t get it. He was mymate. And he’d turned away from our bond but we could get it back if he accepted, and I still wanted, too.
While, as a human, I had been happy sitting in college classrooms with my best friend at the time, and then, after graduating, talking, drinking, hanging out with Sasha, I knew my inner wolf missed the instinct and earthy comfort of the woods. I’d never been a hiker, but my wolf loved to run far and feel that freedom. I would give her that. Not yet, but soon.
I wondered what sort of Luna Fenrys wanted. Did he want someone fully immersed in nature as both a human and a wolf? A woman who hiked on the weekends, roughed it up with some camping, sat by fires, and roasted marshmallows. I liked my human comforts, and, from what I knew, he did too. But had his interests in a woman changed?
“I’ll be careful,” I promised Sasha. “I’ll have to go, though. Thanks for checking in.”
“Anytime, babe. And if you need anything you know where I am.”
“Do I?” I joked. “Which guy are you dating now?”
“I still have my eye on the bartender at the Inferno Lounge.” Her laughter made everything feel a little easier to handle. “I love you, Lia. Take care of that heart of yours. It’s big and soft, and while I love it endlessly, it’s already handled a lot.”
We hung up and as I walked, still in my human form, I couldn’t stop looking around me, searching for a hulking alpha hiding in the trees, waiting to surprise me. I looked at my tracker, wondering if Fenrys was checking mine specifically. Why did I want him to? Why was I hoping that every crackle of leaves beneath the foot of a distant animal, or every whisper in the wind, was him approaching me?
Because I couldn’t deny that I wanted to see him. I wanted him to search this entire damn forest to find me before it went dark. Because if I didn’t win, then having him by my side through the night as wolves or humans was the next best thing.
But Sasha’s warnings remained in my mind, grounding me, even as I wanted to rebel against every rational order from Kato. I wanted to give in to that foolish girl who had wanted Fenrys for so long. Yet my friend was right: I had put in too much work to not go through with knocking Fenrys off his pedestal.
So far during this trial, I had refused to shift. My wolf yearned for Fenrys, sensing her mate that much more acutely. Even in my human form, I was struggling to keep control of my feelings after kissing him. Fenrys was irresistible; I was discovering all over again. His energy was magnetic, and I wanted it around me. The last four days of resting had been annoying, if I had to admit it, waiting for him to come back, hoping each morning would be the one where we’d dine with him or be pushed into another trial.
And here I was, trekking up the path alongside a waterfall to gain high ground to survey the land, any potential threats, and hope that Fenrys found me. I wanted so badly to be the she-wolf he chose to spend more time with.
And then I stopped myself, as my thoughts of him had me wandering too close to the waterfall’s edge, distracted and not keeping an eye on a proper path. It ended in a sharp cliff face, the water thrashing its way down to the streams below. It was multi-tiered, and I’d already followed it for at least an hour. Above me, the sun moved steadily across the sky.
I needed to find shelter before it got too dark. My wolf’s eyesight would be better; in that form, I’d have quicker and better navigation. Wrangling my thoughts away from Fenrys, I remapped my path to head away from the waterfall and shifted.
As my wolf took over, a cawing bird shooting out from a nearby brush made me startle. I snarled as my back paw slipped on the wet rocks by the water. A yelp tore its way from my mouth as I fell. The wristband of my tracker tore on a sharp outcrop of rocks as I tumbled down the smooth slope of rocks, scrabbling for purchase until I landed in a crumpled heap, half submerged in the small stream. Up ahead, the waterfall thundered over the edge, but here, I was relatively safe, if injured.
A gash on my leg stung, and when I tried to right myself, I whined in pain.
My back leg buckled, and I collapsed again.
I didn’t need to get anywhere, I just needed to keep myself alive over the next twelve hours.
But with my tracker coming off, who would know I was here?
Defeated, I let out a long howl into the evening sunset.
