Alpha Rising: The Wolf Runs
Chapter 3

JUNIPER

I gathered everything Krisna told me to and handed it to Collin. We all remain silent. All of us already feel the draw to her and the need to submit. Kale is fuming because he knows what this means, and he will deny it to the bitter end.

We felt this way when Renwick became Alpha, but with Krisna, it is much stronger. She is our mate and if my thinking is correct; she is also an Alpha. I don’t think she knows what is happening yet, or she is trying to block out any feelings.

After a while, Kale comes over to me sitting around the now crackling fire. “Where is she? She should be back by now.” I hear the disdain and worry in his voice. So many emotions are happening with him right now.

Strangely enough, I am okay with her being my mate and another Alpha. Krisna was always something special to us. She brought us together, until we did what we did, which is why I think this is going to be complicated.

“She said she was bringing back food.”

“That was hours ago.”

“Do you want to go look for her?” I watch Kale’s face and he balks before shielding his emotions.

“No, maybe the bitch died.”

“You don’t mean that.” My nerves start to work themselves up,and I look over to where Collin is sitting calmly. “Collin, how long have you known Krisna?”

“Don’t f*****g talk to me.” He snarls at me, making my wolf cow down. “You don’t get to know shit about her.”

“F**k you, Collin. Don’t talk to Juniper like that.” Kale is not backing down and goes to stand ready for a fight.

“You think she didn’t tell me about the worthless pathetic boys who hurt her and left her for dead? The ‘supposed best friends.’” I watch Collin’s chest rise and fall with every word.

“You have no idea what the f**k happened.”

“Kale stop.” Before he says something that he regrets, I interrupt. “Please, just sit.”

“What is going on?” Her voice breaks through the tension and Collin is the one who moves over to her and grabs part of the buck. Once she comes close to the fire, I see the b***d and my eyes immediately replace the open wound on her side.

“You’re hurt.” I stand and move to her. I watch her eyes widen as I reach out to her. The need to make sure she is okay is strong.

“What the f**k happened to you?” Kale says, moving to her other side. I can tell for a moment she is shocked by our closeness, but that slowly disappears.

“Get the f**k away from me. Do not touch me.” She drags the buck closer to the fire while Kale and I watch, and she turns back to us. “You two handle this.” Turning to Collin she looks at him with warmth and a smile, and jealousy so strong hits me it takes everything in me to not open my mouth.

“F**k you.”

I watch as her spine straightens from Kale’s outburst. The moment she turns I see the golden flecks in her eyes that lets me know she connected with her wolf more tonight. “You will do it now, Kale.”

Kale slams his mouth shut before storming over to the buck and pulling out his knife and cutting through the buck to start the cleaning process.

“Let me help you.” Collin reaches out to Krisna, taking her to the other side of the fire. In jealousy, I watch as he unties part of her outfit, giving him and us a gorgeous view of her perfect breasts. Collin skims his hand down her side, poking and prodding her as he watches her reaction.

“I am going to get some water and we will have to use the heat from the fire to patch you up.” Before he leaves, I move to their side.

“I have a makeshift needle and some thread that I can use to sew her up.” That was one of the things I brought. I knew one of us may be injured, so I wanted my needles to sew us up. I just didn’t know we would be here with Krisna.

“I don’t want your help.” She turns away from me, giving me her back and for some reason, I feel like a kicked dog.

“Very well.” Collin walks away after pressing something into her side and moments later he comes back and again I watch him clean her wounds. When it is clean, he hears his knife in the fire and very slowly presses it to her skin.

I hear the intake of Krisna breathing. It hurts her, but she won’t cry out. I can see the strength in her. What I don’t like is the way Collin is looking at her. The want in his eyes is clear even across the fire. I don’t know how or why Krisna doesn’t know we are hers. Maybe she is denying that she can feel anything, or maybe she just doesn’t want to admit it.

I knew the moment we started following her and I’m pretty sure Kale and Collin know as well. What I want to know is why he hasn’t told her.

“I’m sorry Krisna.” I hear him whisper to her.

“What the f**k are you doing to her?” Kale storms over now, unable to watch her get hurt. I smile a little, knowing he is hating every minute of this. We deserve this after what we did to her, and it was because of the secret that we overheard from the Alpha at that time.

“Kale, go away.”

“I’m helping her.” Collin grabs Krisna’s hand and I watch Kale snarl at him. He is battling his feelings and now I know I need to help him before we piss her off more.

“Kale, come here.” I call him back to me and I watch while he looks between Krisna and I, before making the decision to come to me.

I watch him stomp over to me and he sits down. “What.”

I lean in and whisper to him. “Kale, now is not the time to keep pissing her off. I know you feel it and for whatever reason she either doesn’t yet or is denying it. We need to get into her good graces.”

“I will not suck up to her.”

Frustration starts to linger, and I take a deep breath. “She is our mate and if what my wolf is telling me is true, she is also our Alpha.”

“Renwick is our Alpha.”

“And you know damn well a female Alpha will trump him.”

Kale falls silent for a moment, his eyes watching the flames. “Do you think Thorin and Renwick knew before we left?”

That is something I was wondering about myself and I believe they did know. When Ren pushed past her, he paused for a moment.

“I think so, but like you, they will deny it to the bitter end.”

“She’s asleep. I am going to work on the fur from the buck to start making a sleeping fur.” Collin grabs the fur and I watch him. He is already providing for his female Alpha.

Omega’s and Alpha’s are a lot alike. They are both highly cherished and looked after by their mates and their pack. Omega’s though are considered being weaker and more submissive, while female Alpha’s are stronger and more dominant. We haven’t seen a female Alpha in decades. Long before I even existed, heck, long before most of us existed but from the elders we heard she was a beacon of hope and fought for our people before her life was taken.

Standing, I move to Collin. He is a good-looking man; tribal tattoos line his arms and part of his chest, and the wolf tattoo on his pecs is beautiful. I stand there and watch him for a moment. Collin is precise and I watch as he scraps the remaining skin off the buck and how each time, he puts his knife over the fire to make the job easier.

“Can I help you?” I wait until his eyes meet mine and he takes me in.

“With?” I can hear the sarcasm dripping in his voice.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I will try again to help. I feel this need to please Krisna and help provide for her. I feel like this when I am around Ren, but with Krisna, it is stronger.

“Yeah, you can get away from me and back the f**k off.” I can feel Collin is stronger and even though I want to say something to him, I back down.

“You know what? I am getting tired of your shit, Collin.” Kale again is in his face and Collin slowly stands. I think they are both evenly matched.

“Back the f**k off.” Collin gets close to him, and I watch the stare off.

Deciding to intervene before we woke Krisna, I step in between them. “Listen, let’s not deny that she is our mate and our Alpha. We can all feel it and now we have the urge to be around her and provide for her. Let us help Collin. You know we can’t control our wolves.”

He smirks right in our face. “She won’t mate you and you will be rejected.”

I frown. I know that it is a high possibility that she will deny us and rightfully so, but I heard that losing a mate is the worst thing that could ever happen to a wolf.

“Krisna will accept us. It’s if we will accept her, that’s the question.” Again, Kale manages to insert a foot in mouth. “Our Alpha is probably pissed and won’t let her come back to the pack lands.”

Laughing, this time Collin turns away. “I don’t give a shit whether she is accepted by you assholes. Krisna has my brother and I and we will make sure we are there to give her everything she needs”. Before Kale can say another thing, I grab him and pull him to the other side of the fire as I watch on with jealousy as Collin curls behind Krisna and warms her.

Renwick

All day I have been thinking about her. The moment I saw her my world shrunk, and she was all I could think about and see. Her smell hit me immediately, and it took everything in me not to drag her to one of those huts and mark her.

This land here is beautiful. It is the vision I see for my own pack lands. I just need to break away from the old ways and replace a place where I can settle my pack. The guys and I were already going to go, but now Krisna has thrown a wrench into it.

I look around as I make my way to Thorin. We have been given one of the guest huts. All of them are spread out and roomy. They are all made of hay and sticks and some even have rocks and clay. The main hut I keep walking by is the one that smells like her. Like them.

Krisna’s hut is roomy, and the outside is made of straw and sticks. They have a stone path leading to their door and the hut has a peaked roof. Now the best thing this Alpha did was settle his pack lands right in the middle of dry earth and green earth. Krisna has a nice little garden in the front of her hut. Most of the huts are in the greener parts, with some being on dry land.

I couldn’t imagine taking Krisna to her old pack lands. The prior Alpha destroyed it and made the people there live fearfully, and that included my father, who was forced to step down. Not that he didn’t deserve it for what he did and how he ruled.

That is why when I became Alpha, I decided to try and replace a new land. One where wolves can come and be safe from the tyranny that is my pack lands, and this land would even be a refuge for those that escaped from the Redlands.

I have a vision in my mind of a peaceful place where we are all able to live among each other and not in fear. I want to be free from the prophecy. I want to be free from the complete dominance that is now my pack lands.

“How many times are you going to circle my hut before you knock and ask to come in?” Startled, I realize that again I am in front of Krisna’s hut.

I scowl at the Gamma male but he only smirks at me. “I do not want to come into this pathetic hut.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that. I know exactly what is happening with you and your other mated family.”

“Listen here Gamma.” I get close to him and for a moment I see his eyes flicker down, but they soon replace their way back upright to my nose.

“Ruse is my name.” He puffs his chest out and if this was any other male, I would give him credit for standing his ground with an Alpha, but it’s not and he currently has her smell all over him like he f*****g rolled around in it.

“I don’t give a shit what your name is, because I don’t care.” I go to storm off to try and replace Thorin, but I manage to hear what he says, anyway.

“You will when she comes back and I’m the one who is being marked, a*****e.” The laughter pisses me off more and I turn around only to see him slam the door to his hut, effectively getting the last word. Now. I know I could go crazy and destroy his hut and drag him out here to teach him a lesson, but then that would make me look like my father. Crazy.

Instead, I clench my fists, taking deep breaths, trying to replace the calm to walk away. I feel my wolf already beating at me. He wants Krisna and her wolf and I keep shouting no. I will deny the bond and I will replace my solace with another wolf.

One who will make me happy, one who I won’t have to feel ashamed around every day. One who I won’t have to tell the truth to.

“Alpha Ren.” I nod, not really paying much attention to anyone anymore. I yell through the link for Thorin to meet me close to the edge of the greener side of this land and to make sure he comes alone.

Once there, I sit in silence on the ground, enjoying the noise of close running water and the little insects and birds making noises. Thorin finally sits down next to me and, for a moment, we just sit in silence.

I hear him moving around before he finally lets out a sigh. “What are your plans now that Krisna is our mate?”

“I plan to reject her and move on.” Looking at Thorin, I watch his expression carefully. “What are your plans?”

“The same.” He hesitates, and I see the uncertainty swimming in his eyes. “She is an Alpha Ren. We may be able to reject her, but it will damn near kill us.”

I understand what my Beta is saying, and as much as I hate to do it, I need to remind him of why we need to. “Do you want to tell her about that day and why we did what we did?”

I watch him swallow thickly before lowering his eyes. “No, but maybe she would understand. We were just kids, Ren.”

“Doesn’t matter, Thorin.” We both know. We could have warned her. We could have helped her instead we gave into the fear and the stupidity and hurt her right after she lost her whole family. A part of me still has a bad feeling about her. I have lived with that so long that it is hard not to hold hatred for her and her family still.

“Guess you’re right, but if we felt the connection, then we know Juniper and Kale do by now and we have no idea what their wolves are going to be, the draw to her will be too strong.”

Again, I hate that he is right. We don’t know what their wolves will be. The reason I know Krisna will be an Alpha and like most of the Alpha’s we felt the power and even the lower wolves did when she stepped up to the fire line and her wolf appeared to her. She will be a strong Alpha or we wouldn’t be able to sense her.

“We will deal with it when they return.” The wolf trials could go on for a long period of time and without knowing what their wolves are, we have no way of knowing.

“What do you think of her, mate?” I watch as Thorin gets comfortable, stretching out his long legs and leaning back on his arms. Closing his eyes, he tilts his face to the sun. This is his favorite time of day. He likes the heat and the way it warms him.

“I think he is a Gamma who doesn’t know when to shut the f**k up.”

“You talked to him?” Surprise hits him and his green eyes meet mine.

“No, I told him to back down.”

“Why?”

“Because he told me that I needed to just ask to come into his hut like I am such a lowly wolf in need of something from my mates to make it through the day.”

“Are you feeling the effects? Because honestly I am.”

The start of the lie is like ash on my tongue, but I say it anyway, knowing I need to be the example when the time comes. Rejecting a mate and not marking a mate could drive you and your wolf mad, but that is what needs to be done.

“No, my wolf and I don’t want her.” I feel him study me and I keep my face impassive and try not to let anything slip.

“Well, I hope I can be as strong as you are being right now.” He falls back into silence, and this feels like dirt going down my throat as I try not to run right to the hut and beg for something of Krisna’s. The sooner Juniper and Kale return, the sooner I will be leaving.