The She-Wolf Alpha (Book 1 She-Wolf Series)
Chapter 18

We walked slowly, neither of us saying a word as we made our way down the drive and past Emerick’s car. The chill of the night had crept in and darkness surrounded us. My werewolf vision allowed me to see much more clearly at night so instead of making me nervous, the sounds of the woods brought me peace. I took a deep breath and watched as my breath fogged out of my mouth.

Emerick had been much more quiet than usual, and part of me worried that he was upset with me. Before I could broach the subject, I heard Ayisha whine in the back of my mind. I knew exactly what we needed.

“Let’s run,” I told Emerick.

“As wolves?” He asked, failing to hide his excitement.

I nodded and he immediately started to take off his shoes and shirt. I gaped at his chiseled chest and torso before quickly turning around, embarrassed. Emerick chuckled behind me.

My back still facing him, I reached for the hem of my shirt and slowly pulled it over my head. The thought crossed my mind that I would have nothing to change into when we got to Emerick’s house, but I pushed it aside as I continued to undress.

I needed this. I needed to let Ayisha run free and to feel the connection with her.

As I finished undressing, I let Ayisha take control and landed on all fours. When I turned, I found Emerick’s silver wolf, Zef, waiting for me. Ayisha was happy to see him and nuzzled into his neck then rubbed down his side. Zef turned and licked the side of my face before nipping playfully at my chin. I let out a playful growl before taking off into the woods.

Emerick

My feet pounded the ground as I chased after Ayisha. She was seriously fast, but so was Zef. I nipped her heels as she made a sudden turn to the right and my feet slid out from under me. I skidded and barely avoided hitting a tree. I stood up and shook to clean off the leaves and dirt. Not far away, I heard Ayisha let out what I swore was a chuckling bark.

Game on, I thought and Zef howled.

While Ayisha was strong and fast, she didn’t have the practice Zef and I did in stalking prey. I caught her scent and started my track. I could tell I was getting close when I made it to the creek, but I had trouble pinpointing her direction. I followed the trail down to the water. As I put my nose to the ground to sniff, I heard a twig snap and turned just in time to see Ayisha flying at me over a boulder to my right.

She drove a shoulder into my side knocking me over and then stood over me, growling. Zef immediately submitted, rolling onto his back and letting out a soft whine. Ayisha stopped growling and licked my face. Then she sat back on her haunches and waited for me to get up and shake off, again.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that Ayisha had bested me. She and Sam had exceeded expectations since joining the pack. As I looked at her, instead of being embarrassed or annoyed, all I felt was immense pride for my alpha and for the woman that I loved.

Wait, did I love her? I barely knew her. And yet…

It was becoming more and more clear to me that I didn’t want to spend another day without her. Everything about Sam drew me in and had me in awe. She was smart and strong, kind when she could be and fierce when she had to be. I imagined any man who got to know her would want her as much as I did, and that thought terrified me.

What if she didn’t feel the same way about me?

I was drawn from my thoughts as Ayisha nipped my ear and body checked me. Inwardly, I chuckled. Zef nipped back playfully at her nose before signaling her to follow. The two of us trotted side by side, our shoulders brushing, as we picked our through the woods to my home. Although I hadn’t planned on ending up here tonight, I was excited to share a piece of my life away from the pack house with her.

We crossed the small creek that marked the edge of my property and continued through the trees until they gave way to the spot I had cleared for my yard. It looked like the deer had been in my garden again. Which was annoying but I liked their early morning visits while I had my coffee on the deck, so I hadn’t had the heart to do much about them.

When we reached the door, Ayisha gave me an uncertain look. I grabbed one of the blankets off of the outdoor sofa in my teeth and placed it at her feet while I grabbed a second one and trotted around the corner.

Once I was out of Ayisha’s sight, I shifted back and wrapped the blanket around my waist. I waited a moment and then walked back to where I had left Ayisha to replace Sam shifted back and wrapped in the blanket. She looked adorable all bundled up. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes shone brightly.

“That was amazing,” she said, “I have never felt more alive. More free.”

“It’s pretty cool, right?” I smiled at her.

She nodded emphatically and then shivered, “Can we get inside? I’m freezing.”

I laughed and punched the code in the keypad on the backdoor. It was difficult to carry keys as a wolf, so I had installed smart locks a couple years ago. The spell on the pack house grounds was convenient, but shifting anywhere else left you stranded without your clothes or belongings. If a person shifted to a wolf on the grounds but shifted back off grounds, their clothes would reappear at the packhouse wherever they had originally shifted. The lost and found always seemed to be overflowing.

I had dropped a pin and sent it to Jonathan, asking him to send the security detail monitoring our position to pick up our things before shifting. I was sure she hadn’t thought about the fact that she didn’t have her phone yet, but I didn’t want her to worry that Luke was unable to get ahold of her.

As we entered through the back door, I watched Sam closely, trying to get a read on her thoughts about my home. I was rarely self-conscious about my “bachelor pad” as my sisters referred to it, but I did care about what Sam thought. She walked over to my mantle where I had a couple family photos displayed.

She pointed to one of my parents, my sisters, and myself and asked, “Is this your family?”

I nodded, “Those are my parents and those are my older sisters Grace and Tori.”

“Hmm, I didn’t realize you were the baby of the family,” she said, “Who is that cute little babe?”

She was pointing to a picture of me holding Grace’s daughter.

“That’s my niece, Olivia. She’s three now but I think she was about six months then.”

“She was a really cute baby,” Sam gushed.

“Yeah, she still is. She takes after her uncle that way,” I joked, puffing out my chest exaggeratedly.

Sam gave me a mischievous look before saying, “Oh, does her dad have a brother?”

I chuckled, “Thanks for that.”

She nudged my ribs with her shoulder playfully, then leaned in to my side. I looped an arm around her, realizing we were both still naked.

“Let me grab you some clothes. Are you okay in one of my shirts and sweats?” I asked.

“That would be great,” she said, still snuggled into my side and looking up at me.

I gave her a quick peck on the lips and then reluctantly stepped away from her to go and grab us some clothes. I dressed quickly and then found the smallest shirt and pant combo I could knowing they would still swallow her. When I got back to the living room, Sam was curled up on the couch wrapped in her blanket.

“Hopefully these will work for a bit,” I told her, “I have people picking up our things from where we shifted and I’m sure they will be dropping by soon. The bathroom is just down the hall if you want to change there.”

Sam looked thoughtful for a minute. I couldn’t quite read her expression, but it looked like she was preparing for something. It seemed she gathered her conviction because she started to get up from the couch. I reached out to hand her the clothes I had grabbed.

Instead, my jaw dropped as I watched her let the blanket fall away.