Alpha Rising: The Wolf Runs
Chapter 16

RENWICK

She is insufferable. The way she moves and the way she talks pisses me off. I don’t know why, and I just want to rush into Redland City to rescue Kale and leave. Leave her and be as far away from her as I can get.

Juniper marked her. I knew it the moment she stepped out of the hut. Her mind was calm, and her body stopped calling to us for the time being. We shifted for most of the way here and then changed back, allowing me to catch a full glimpse of her body.

Once we hit the rock where Krisna said he spoke to her before entering the village, we made sure we were in human form.

“You’re glaring again.” Thorin whispers.

I turn my head and look at him. We are sitting around a small fire that Collin and Juniper made. Krisna is currently laying against Collin and even with my wolf hearing, I can’t hear a word that they are saying.

It pisses me off that I crave her, that my wolf craves her. He doesn’t want to dominate her, he respects her as his Alpha, but I won’t admit that to her. I don’t want to get sucked into her life.

“I just want to get this shit over with already and look at Juniper.” I motion over to him looking pathetic and in love as he basically is being a third wheel to Collin and Krisna.

“Ren, I know but you have to stop brooding.” Thorin whispers to me.

“Are you seeing Juniper? We are going to have enough of a hard time with Kale and now Juniper.” I feel exasperated. This was not what we had planned for years. I was not prepared for how having a mate would feel like.

Well, I always wanted one and knew that intense feelings came with it. I thought that we would replace one when we moved and we could begin fresh, not have the past follow us. As night starts to set in the sky, we move a little closer to the fire.

I feel free under the stars, freer than I have in a long time. All this time Thorin and I had to wait for Juniper and Kale to go through the wolf run so that we could leave. No such luck now.

I look through the fire to see Krisna and Juniper curled around each other, with Collin behind Krisna. I wasn’t expecting them to be so close or the deep gut feeling that I want to be with in that pile. I want to be near her and smell the fragrance of her hair, smell how much her hair smells like fire now.

Her eyes are closed, and she looks so comfortable there. I turn my face and see Thorin laying on the other side, his eyes also trained on the trio. He wants her, I can see the longing in his eyes and the need that I feel as well. We aren’t supposed to be away from our mate, this is supposed to be the phase of mating and loving and instead we are beating down our wolves.

We are resisting the urge to claim and mark. Krisna is even more powerful than I am and again that is something hard to admit, but I am sure her instincts to claim us are nearly driving her crazy. I smile at that; she is struggling like us but like us she is stubborn and would never try and approach us.

Thorin surprises me and gets up and walks over to me. Sitting down in front of me he looks down. “Damn it, I need the contact and if I need it, I know you do too, so I am going to lay here, and we are going to be closer than normal because unfortunately we need the contact to sleep, and sleep is going to help us as we continue to approach the city.”

I smile at him. This is why Thorin is my Beta. He doesn’t sugar coat and he is not afraid to say what is on his mind.

“Again, you’re right.” He lays down on his back and his arm touches mine. Even with that contact is enough to make me sleepy and feel more comforted. My eyes meet Krisna’s from across the fire and I scowl at her. Her scowl is just as fierce. This mate bond and permanent bond to her is going to kill us.

If I could reject her now and move on I would, but fate would have it that we are tied until we save Kale and her mate Ruse.

“Stop glaring at her.” Thorin whispers and I look at him and see his eyes closed.

“How?”

“I know you Ren. I know you want to stomp over there just to argue with her and rip Juniper away, but you can’t. This is going to be life for a bit and whether you like it or not Juniper is going to be getting closer to her.”

“We can’t stay.” I sigh. There is something that my father told me. The prophecy, while not exactly one, is supposed to bring a war. The Red witch is someone no one should be messing with. My father said that the next female Alpha will carry the strength of the previous Alpha and the children she would bare would be the strongest shifters known to man.

A part of me is still regretful for everything that we did to her and how we handled that day. Over the years my anger at myself and the hate and shame I felt wouldn’t let me forgive myself and somehow, I managed to replace the blame with Krisna and her family.

If her mother would have just taken the bond, if she had borne any children then they may still have been alive. All those events led us to this point in time. What this witch wants with her is something that I hope to figure out before we end up in a trap.

The worst part and one I won’t say to Thorin is I wonder if I could make a trade. I would gladly give them Krisna for Kale and then we can leave. The guys would cut that out immediately and I would be left with very pissed off males but the longer we are around her the more our wolves are going to push back.

The need to be near her is already overpowering but needing to mate will get stronger. Closing my eyes for the night, I am hoping for something better. I keep my arm pressed to Thorin needing the contact without full out cuddling with him. Now that our mate has been found the wolf in us is going to crave pack behavior and sleeping piles which is something we haven’t done since we were younger.

Thorin

The small noise wakes me up. I open my eyes and have to choke back laughter as I replace Ren on my chest. He would die if he woke up and saw himself like this. I knew our wolves were craving the connection and it is hard pushing it to the side, but in our sleep, it is easier to do.

I look around to see what woke me and see Krisna getting up. She is careful to move out between Collin and Juniper. Collin stirs and she reassures him that she is ok, and he lays his head back down to sleep.

I, however, used to know when Krisna had a lot on her mind, and this reminds me of that time. I slowly get up and make my way to her. She doesn’t move or look at me. Sitting down I hear the sigh from her lips. I smile, she didn’t want me to sit with her and while I don’t blame her, I can’t help but replace her cute.

“What’s on your mind?” I touch her arm, and the spark that hits me is intense even being that small.

Her eyes fly to where my hands were, having felt the little spark. “Everything, an nothing.” Her eyes turn back to Redland city and everything she said makes sense. She has a lot on her shoulders and hasn’t even got to enjoy being the first female Alpha in forever.

We sit in silence for a little while and I enjoy just being near her. My wolf wants more contact and while I have been able to stamp it down, right now I can’t. I take a chance and reach out to her. My hand takes her and while she doesn’t pull away, I see the face she makes.

“Why?” She whispers.

I don’t even have to ask her what she means. I know what she is talking about. “Because I need this, even for only a moment.”

“It’s all about you then?” Her words were a little harsher.

“I know you need this too; can we just have this?” I plead, it feels like the storm inside me is calming for the first time since Krisna stepped up to the fire line to run and I knew she was our mate.

“You’re only going to make this harder for you and me.” She says this but doesn’t pull away.

“I can’t help it.” I really can’t, if I sat here and never touched her, I would have shifted and would have tried to mark her. My wolf has been trying to be close to her ever since we left.

I watch her bring her knees up and place her chin on them. She is gazing down at the lights coming from the city in the distance. “I really hope they are both okay.”

“They won’t hurt them, not yet at least. They want you and hurting them won’t accomplish anything.” I don’t say that they could be starving them and making them live in deplorable conditions. I just don’t want her to worry so much to where she makes a rash decision.

“You don’t know that. They want me and the longer I take to show my face the more they will try to convince me I need to show my face.”

Krisna is not wrong but we need to be smart about this. I look up to the moon and ask the moon goddess for blessings. I don’t like going into anything blind, but we don’t have a choice. We have to save them.

Laying on my back, but still holding her hand I pulled her with me. “Look at the stars and the moon with me. Your wolf will appreciate some time under it. We are connected to the moon and the moon goddess so having your wolf now the moon is their calm and their wild. They flourish under the moon.”

We have such a pull to the moon that when in need of calming, the moon offers for a part of us to be calmed. I look down and see how rigid Krisna is, and I want to sigh. She is not comfortable with me like I wish she would be, but her wolf craves me like I crave her.

I know she hates me, and I know this will come to an end, but a part of me weeps. This is not how a mate bond should be. It should be strong and passionate, not with the ending of the bond hanging around. I do, however, take the liberty to lean down and sniff her hair.

Closing my eyes and trying to memorize the scent. It smells like wild jasmine flowers that were lightly singed by the fire. She smells exotic and wild, with a touch of vanilla. My hand strokes her arm and I feel her body slowly start to sink against me.

With the fire crackling behind us and Krisna against my body, my mind is settled for a moment, and I feel whole. My eyes start to droop, and I close them with her in my arms.

The sun beating down on my face wakes me up. A movement against me and my eyes open and look down to see Krisna now curled up against me with her head on my shoulder and a leg thrown over mine. It feels like I replenished through the night.

I look behind me and see that Ren is also awake and scowling at me. I know he will ream my a*s later about cuddling with Krisna but feeling her in my arms all night will be worth it. My wolf and hers craved this. They don’t understand the human part of us that is trying to deny what was made in the moon, we are mates, connected by the heart.

I stand once Krisna stands up. We both give each other an awkward smile before we turn to the curious glances of the rest of the guys.

“We need to start moving for the day. We also need to gather some type of knowledge of the Redland City.” Ren says. Collin and Juniper don’t seem fazed, in fact Juniper seems to be smiling more since he saw us.

I nod, acknowledging him and agreeing with his plans. Renwick will be pissy but if we get any closer to saving Kale his mood will change. I wonder if Renwick is wanting to leave as soon as we get Kale because his wolf is mourning for the touch of his mate?

I want to bring it up and replace out how he feels but I know Ren will not take nicely about talking about feelings. “How close are we getting tonight?” Juniper asks.

“As close maybe even in the city. We just need to keep our eyes and ears open.” Ren says looking down at the city. “Krisna should not get to close, if they get her then they have no more use to keep her other mates alive.” I don’t think he even realized that he said other mates.

“I am not going to wait around while you four go on without me.” I hear the determination in her voice and know that she would charge right in there before letting us leave her behind.

Stepping in before they go at each other, I speak up. “I think you being with us is a good idea.” She is an Alpha and an Alpha female. She smiles at me before turning to stretch. My mouth goes dry as her shirt raises a little the sun hits her skin.

I watch her and take in every movement. I want to soak in every last of her skin. When flashes of her naked and on top of me flash through my head, I have to take a deep breath to let my body cool before I have to explain an awkward hard on.

“Well let’s go. Its day light so we need to be very careful.” Krisna says turning away from the edge. Some part of me feels like this is not going to end the way we think.

“Maybe we should wait.” It is a last-minute effort but I have this feeling creeping up on me. I don’t know where this feeling is coming from, but I have learned from the past that ignoring my feelings is never good.

“No, we need to go now.” Renwick says, moving to where Krisna is waiting. “We need to get them and leave and if we have the chance take out the red witch.” Ren looks at me hard. He has been wanting to take out the witch since he was little.

“Okay.” Being a Beta means that a direct order from an Alpha means that I can’t say no. I can try and talk the Alpha out of it but these two are stubborn and won’t be. I fall behind them and start the walk towards Redland city.