Two

Two nights later would be the preparations for the hunt. To find out who in the pack would really take on the new alpha and beta, and who would be discarded like old filaments of photo reels. I told my father that I had no interest in the hunt. That the entire idea sickened me.

What I hadn’t told him was that Anastasia had rejected me.

I think he knew. But as respectful as the man was, he had no reason to pry into such matters of teenagers. I was eighteen now and if I couldn’t handle something on my own, then so be it. That was the way of the pack. You either made it, or you did not. There was no, hey let me help you with that.

I just really wished that June was over. In July, I would leave for Stanford, and never, never look back.

Major college essay? My father didn’t buy it. He knew I had finished that six months ago, revised it, and sent it off to my new potential professors. I had already received it back, red marked like some 3^rd grader had written it, revised it, and sent it off again.

Sick? Nope, I had to have my physical that day, and my pop was taking me to make sure I actually went. He knew my protests, but he wasn’t going to be the only male without his son in the hunt that year. I could only hope and pray that Doc Havard would notice something “out of whack” with me so I didn’t have to pretend to attend.

No go. Doc said I was fit as a fiddle and should be able to keep pace with the best of them.

Shit. No luck there.

Against my protests, the hunt came. It was time.

We were all taken out into the middle of the woods, far from the road. My wolf scoffed at this concept. We knew this area. We had trained here…wait, did I take down my…

“Hey Gavin! Come check this out!”

Nope, sure didn’t. Dear goddess. It was all over from there.

“Hey, Terrible Terrell! Are these yours? They smell like you?”

All I could do was stand there and say nothing. My ears flushed with fury. My face reddened with embarrassment.

“I call a recall. If he’s been playing with his dolls over here then he knows the area. That’s not fair to the rest of us,” said one of the younger wolves.

“Second!”

“Third!”

The roars of uncertainty rained around him. Gavin held up his hands for silence.

“Look, none of us really knows this area, and maybe he only knows his dolls. Doesn’t smell sexual, but hell, what do we know? Let’s give the area a try, and see what our prep school pup knows? We have all been on teams together…”

“Except terrible Terrell!”

Laughter. Again with the laughter.

Gavin held up his hands again. For a brief moment, it sounded serene to hear him offer me the chance to play with “big dogs.”

“Seriously. What say you Terrell? Shall we provide the chance for you to redeem yourself?”

I felt my head nodding, with my wolf struggling to prevent it. I stood there, nodding along like a fricking moron, agreeing to everything. I honestly didn’t know what else to do.

“Okay, there it is. Alright, all of you know what to do. I, your potential alpha-to-be, and Brett, my chosen potential beta, will take off in opposite directions. Either hunt us, or be hunted. You have 6 hours to take us both down, unless one of you lucky sons-a-bitches happens to catch me first.”

The shifting started. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by wolves, everywhere. Shrugging, I dropped into my wolf. Each wolf stopped to look, smell each other, and waited for Gavin and Brett to disappear into the woods.

As each of them took off, hunting in their typical pack style, I stood there, dumbfounded.

“How the hell did we get into this disaster?’ I could hear myself asking my wolf. I sat down on my back paws and waited. I smelt the air. Gavin was all over the place. Brett was pretty much darting from tree to tree, marking territory here and there to give the other wolves a run for their money.

I waited. I bided my time carefully. Once in a while, I would tilt my head up and smell the air. Gavin had stopped to rest, but only momentarily.

Finally, I stood up. I went over to my “dolls” as they had called them. I sat next to one of them, smelling Gavin getting closer. He was out of breath, and I could hear the wind burning his lungs.

This. This is why I had bided my time. One thing I had learned in anatomy and biology classes. Stamina only lasts as long as the user. And Gavin, he was weak.

I tucked back in the brush where I couldn’t be seen. Part of the hunt was to show patience. An alpha needed to be as patient as he had to lead so many in his pack. I was. I was patient, very patient.

I saw Gavin, coming through the underbrush. He was injured. He limped, babying his back right paw, whimpering. I waited until he stopped, nearly collapsing. I shifted back, putting on the spare clothes I had brought with me.

Gavin had shifted back, his right ankle bleeding profusely. With that injury, he would never play football again. He would never run track either. I thought about it. There was a trail no one knew about. I picked him up, cradled him to me, and carried him back to town.

When I came from the woods, the other wolves were laying in the street, exhausted. They had all shifted back. They saw me, holding Gavin to my chest, his blood pouring down my legs. I realized how bad this looked when I stepped into the street lamps.

Alpha-Bruce came running up, grabbing Gavin from me. “You bastard! Do you know what you have done?”

“I didn’t..” my words were cut off.

“Gavin!” Anastasia screamed and came running up to the three of us.

“You shit! You couldn’t take it could you? You had to ruin everything for me! I hate you! I reject you again!”

Her hands flew over her own mouth. I just realized she hadn’t told anyone. Not a soul in that town knew that we were intended mates. No one knew that Gavin was not her mate. Until now.

Doc Havard came running up to our small group. “Oh that looks bad. Come on, let’s get him to my clinic.”

I still stood there, not moving, nodding along like the dumbass I was. My father came up to me.

“Son? Terrell?”

I just turned to him, my eyes burning from the tears welling up in them. I could still feel Anastasia her pain with Gavin, and now her pain that everyone knew she wasn’t his mate. I could feel Gavin, his pain throbbing through that ankle as it hung there like a broken hoist joint.

My dad wrapped an arm around my shoulders and began walking me to the car. “I was thinking maybe we should both move to Stanford,” he said out of nowhere.