Alpha Rising: The Wolf Runs
Chapter 12

Everything between us has gone back to normal. Kale is barely talking to me but I can feel his emotions, though I pretend that I don’t. I try to give him some privacy, but the bond doesn’t allow for much.

Collin has been amazing as usual. We hunt together and we curl up at night together. My pride won’t allow me to ask Kale to move closer, even if I know he feels it on his end. My mind does continue to wander back to Alore.

Alore…He was intriguing and handsome. The way he talked and his final request not to come to the city was something that continues to stick in my mind. He made it a warning without actually saying it was, but I know there is something more there since the way I felt around him.

I couldn’t place the feeling right away, but now that I am with Collin and Kale, it makes me feel like he is more to me, and that is something I wouldn’t expect from a human and shifter. I know he wasn’t a shifter, but maybe he is not just a human either.

As the sun rises this morning, I feel like stretching. I move to stand and Collin wakes up.

“Are you okay, Krisna?”

“Yes, I just want to stretch some. Maybe go for a run.” I feel restless and the need to run is pulling at me, but I want to make sure that I stretch so I don’t hurt myself.

“Well, then I am down. Let’s stretch and then go for a run.” Collin stands, and it makes my heart flutter looking at him. When he removes his shirt, I watch his muscles bunch as he tosses it on the ground next to the small fire we made last night.

I take a moment to peek down at Kale, who looks like he is sleeping. I move off more to the side and I begin stretching and so does Collin. My body feels like it is waking up with the sun. In the distance I hear wolves shifting and their first howl as a wolf.

“What do you think it was that made them shift?” I ask Collin.

“Who knows, but their wolf was the one that decided that it could not go on any further.” We lean into a pose that stretches the core and my legs. The urge to run is so strong now that I stop and look at Collin.

“It’s time I need to run.” I run, following my wolf when I hear Collin and oddly enough Kale behind me. This is exhilarating. I feel like I can feel more, and sense more than I did before. The gravel under me throws up dust as I run.

When I come to a very high rock, I start to climb. It takes a long time to get to the very top. Once I do, I take a deep breath. The view is incredible, and I have never been up this high before. Looking from where we came, my heart picks up speed we have are so high up that even the rocks that look larger when down below look smaller from how high up we are.

Kale is breathing heavily behind me, and Collin and I turn to look at him. He is sweating profusely, so much that the sweat is dripping down his forehead.

“Kale, what is wrong?” I see the fear leaking into his eyes. He is moving closer to the center of the rock where it is flatter and farther away from the edges. He is looking around, scared, when all I want to do is run farther and the need to jump hits me like a rock.

“I can’t, Krisna. I am scared of heights.” It makes little sense since he climbed up here. “I know what you’re thinking, and my wolf gave me the courage to get up here, but the fear of having to go back down is paralyzing me.”

Before I even have a chance to form a plan of getting him back down, I see his body contort. He is shifting into his wolf. I watch the bones break as he shifts. When he finally is in wolf form, he stands, and he is stunning. A midnight-colored wolf with blue eyes shakes himself off and circles me. I see him rub against my wolf before he sits down in front of me.

Thinking of a plan, I look at Collin. “We need to get him down. He won’t dive off of here and he won’t shift back until he is back across the line.”

Collin moves to one side of the cliff and looks down. “There are ledges as it comes down on this side of the rock. We would have to force him down until he can get to what looks like a run around point and finish running down.” I move over to the ledge and look down to see what he is talking about.

The rock opposite what we climbed on has larger ledges that can be jumped down to and there looks to be a small entrance opening which hopefully leads the rest of the way down. I move over to Kale’s wolf and crouch at eye level with him.

I watch as my wolf moves to sit next to me and I pray that he listens to me. “Kale, I need you to allow Collin and I to help you.” The wolf whines but butts his nose against my hand, and I take that as acceptance.

Standing back up, I turn to Collin. “We go down one at a time until we reach the opening. We can take turns climbing down and passing, helping Kale down.”

He nods and moves over to the rock. “Let me help you down first. I think he will trust you more than me right now.”

I walk over to Collin and he helps me down. When I am close enough to the ledge, he basically shoves Kale off the ledge. I have to hide a smirk because I know Kale is hating this. He wouldn’t like needing help, but luckily some of his pride is saved being in wolf form.

We continue this all the way down to the opening, and Kale turns to look at me before he runs off. He is a Delta wolf. He made it this far and this long, so I know he is strong. Being on the landing for a little, I watch as Kale makes his way around the rock. Once he is out of sight, I sit on the ledge.

“I didn’t think he would be a Delta wolf.” I turn to smile at Collin, now more aware than I was before that our journey is coming to an end. I don’t know how to feel about it. Out here I had my problems, but going back home and facing everyone is not something I am ready to do.

“I thought for sure he would be a Beta myself.” Collin leans in and k****s me on my temple. “We got this love. I promise. Even if my wolf takes me away from you. I will be there when you return.” I hear the truth ring in his words and it sets me at ease, at least for a moment.

As my wolf whines, I stand up and follow her. The urge to jump hits me hard. Looking over the ledge and leaning forward, I see a body of water. I don’t know if it is deep, but I know to trust. I move to the middle again and when my wolf runs forward and leaps, I follow close behind.

The leap is scary and my heart races fast. I try and stay calm and get in a dive pose. Taking a look up I see Collin leap as well and my heart soars for a moment before I hit the water. I go deep and thank goodness I do. Another splash tells me he made it in as well.

Coming out of the water I smile at him. He is still with me like he said he would. “I love you, Collin.”

“I love you too Krisna.” He helps pull me out of the water and together we follow our wolves.

Kale

They manhandled me down the rock like I was a helpless baby and not a full-grown male in a full-grown wolf body. That is all I could think about and the numbing embarrassment that kept my tail between my legs the entire time.

The relief I felt when they lowered me to the opening, and I could run, was like a weight had lifted off my back. I had never experienced such fear in my life before that day and I knew right then I was shifting.

I started to run back to the village, but something made me pause at the bottom. I wanted to see how they got down. When Krisna lept off the rock and moved to a dive it was breathtaking. Collin followed her and ended in the water only a second behind her. I waited to see both their heads come out of the water and I took off.

My wolf knows where to go and I never thought that this feeling would be so incredible. The oneness that I have with my wolf and the freedom and the power it brings being in this form. The dirt under my feet and the way my body moves is something I looked forward to my entire life.

I see other wolves running towards the village as well, and together we run back. The moment I step over the starting line, I feel the ability to be able to shift. I don’t yet. I smell for my pack and the smell leads me right to Ren.

He crouches down in front of my face, his eyes meeting mine. I watch his eyes shift and he speaks inside my head.

“Welcome back, brother.”

“Thank you.”

“You can shift.”

I know I don’t need Renwick to tell me to shift, that is only Omegas that need their Alpha to shift. Before I start to shift, I see Juniper and Thorin move into view, and I see Ruse also there. He has a pair of clothing in his hand and for whatever reason that I don’t know, he reminds me of Krisna.

I walk over to him and rub myself against his legs. There is some embarrassment there, but my wolf wants his comfort. Forcing my wolf to control himself, even though the feeling of his hand running through my fur feels amazing.

I move back to Ren and start to shift. Everything hurts but in the process it starts to feel less painful and easier, and once I am in human form again, Ruse hands me the clothing and I take them, putting on the pants first. Renwick stops me before I put the shirt on.

“Is that the mating mark?”

I look down at my chest and notice the golden paw print seems to be shining brighter now. I feel my cheeks heating and I look down. “I didn’t think that she could mark anyone before she got her wolf.”

“She is powerful, and there is something else going on here.,” Ruse says. “I am worried that whatever is happening, and I get the feeling something is going to happen.”

“I do, too.” Juniper says. I lean in and hug Juniper, cutting him off. I missed him and I didn’t even realize how much.

“I’m so glad you are okay,” I say to him.

“I’m glad you’re okay as well.” He releases me and I move away and look to Ruse. This is the man who has loved Krisna since the moment he saw her. He is her everything and when I look at him a bit of jealousy comes through.

He is where her heart was first. He is everything to her and the rage slowly fills me. Thorin sees me lunge for him first, and he grabs me. “Whoa Kale what the hell?”

Ruse, who is stunned, looks at me, and for a moment I see his eyes that he is thinking about something. Being held by Thorin while I glare at Ruse is not something I like, and this feeling is not something that I am used to.

“He smells her and her scent on me and because I am not yet marked, the wolf part of him is going to be aggressive from here on out. If you think you were leaving, his wolf won’t allow you to until she comes back. If even then.”

“That is not true,” Ren growls, and he starts leading me away from Ruse, but I yank myself away from him.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I snarl, and for a moment, I try to fight the urge that is my wolf. I should go with Ren, but the wolf’s possessiveness won’t allow me to move too far away from Ruse and the smell of her on him.

“She is mine.,” I growl at him, only to snap my mouth closed. What the f**k is happening?

She is ours. Why does he smell like her? Lead me to her home.

Now my wolf is snarling in my head. I look at Ruse again. “Please take me to your home. I need something of hers.” Ruse nods and turns to walk the other way. I follow him. I can hear the sigh in Ren before he mumbles under his breath.

“We don’t have time for this.”

Snarling, I turn to stare at him, the unhinged feeling wanting to burst out. Before I do anything, Ruse cuts in. “Renwick, he is having a hard time and he will until he sees her. If you want to leave, he will have to reject her to her face, possibly breaking the bond. For now, he needs to be in her scent. The wolf needs it.”

“Fine, but the moment she is back, we are leaving.,” Ren snaps and at the moment, I don’t even care that he is irritated with me. I smell her, I smell Krisna and I know she is not here, but the need to be near anything of hers is so strong.

Once the hut comes into view, I push past Ruse and right into the hut. The smell of her is so strong and I move right to the bed and climb in it. The urge to snarl hits but I keep reminding my wolf that this is her home, I am in her bed and I try to avoid the fact that it also smells like Ruse.

He calms as I breathe her in and the need to kill is slowly moving away. I keep repeating that Ruse is her mate, he just isn’t marked.

“Why do I have this reaction when I didn’t with Collin?” I look up and see all four of them standing in the hut with me.

“I think it is because you hadn’t shifted yet, and when you got here you saw that even though I marked Krisna, I am not marked in return, which set off your instincts whether you want them to or not.”

I don’t like it, and by the looks on their faces, Thorin and Renwick don’t either, but it looks like we don’t have a choice. When Krisna comes back I will make sure she is rejected so we can move on with our lives.

Why does the thought of that make me want to cry?