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 3rd 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.
Those last couple of weeks were hell in that village. Everyone, and I mean everyone, glared at me. Graduation was the worst. They threatened to take away my diploma just because I didn’t “respect the hunt.” “Terrell the Terrible, the name rings so high!” Just like Ivan the Terrible, or the Hitler of their town, they taunted me. My father hired an outside human lawyer when they threatened my diploma. The attorney made some wheels and deals, and on the 17th of June, I walked with my class, got my diploma, tossed my tassle to the side and flipped everyone off as I walked off that stage. There was nothing they could do to me now. I knew the plan. Graduate. Get in the car. And get. The. Hell. Out. Of. Town. My father had made up his mind that he was coming with me to Stanford. He said he could use the change of scenery. But I knew better. He needed to get out of town before they banned him from the pack.
Seven years later… Terrell sat back in his apartment. Alone, he quietly pondered his next steps. Last week he walked the stage with top honors in law. He had passed his bars. He was officially an attorney. His father was so proud, standing there in the beating sun and taking pictures of his son as that graceful gown seemed to float around him. Only this time, there were no middle fingers involved. There was no telling a small town to piss off. It was him. Terrell Gladson and his day of glory. But now, as he sat in his empty apartment, he started to feel the emptiness seeping in. The same emptiness he felt that night of the accident when he rejected Anastasia. A deep, hollowness that penetrated his thoughts, and sometimes, his very soul. The thought of, you will always be alone. Terrell was the epitome of puberty done right. The old glasses were gone, Lasix taking their place and clearing any horrid eyesigh
His phone jolted him awake. Passed out again, over stacks of declarations, court orders, and pizza. How long had he been out? He rubbed his eyes and reached for his watch. 2:37 AM. Damn! Who the hell could be calling him at this hour? He picked up his phone. Dad. Shit. Double shit. “Dad? Dad what’s wrong?” “Nothing. I missed your call. What’s up son?” His voice was cheery, like he had been on vacation for six months. “What? Oh, uh, I was going to see if you wanted to meet up for scotch and dinner. Guess I missed you.” There was an awkward silence on the phone. “Dad?” “I’m here. You do know I’m in London this week, remember? The convention? I’ve been planning it for months.” Right. The hot shot lawyer convention across the big blue. One of those things he hated the most. “Yeah, mu
The terrified young sprout of a courier rambled on, occasionally going down a rabbit hole here and there in his explanations. Terrell would raise his hand to caution Kyle not to steer too far, as though the outside story had no relevance to the current affairs.After a long and grueling discussion, Terrell sat back in his chair, eyeing the young man carefully.“You may sit.” Turning to Jason, “Get him some coffee, or water. What would you like, Kyle?”“C-c-c-coffee, Alpha sir, please.”Terrell nodded towards Jason. The man turned on a toe and went to grab coffee for the very timid creature.“Okay, the female children of the town are being tortured to death. But why only the females? Why not Gavin's son?”Kyle shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. His eyes were lowered, afraid to make eye contact with the overpowering alpha.Terrell sat in silence for a moment and continued his quest
The two men led Kyle into a private room decorated in the finest Queen Anne antique furniture. Across the floor spread hand spun Chinese carpets, along with plush pillows tossed and fluffed across two long couches. On the far end of the room was a large open window, lined in heavy velvet curtains, with sheers delicately placed in between them. A fireplace took up a good portion of the center left wall with a mantle almost as long as Kyle was tall. A deep blue velvet antique chaise lounge sat next to the window, and behind it on the wall, a floor to ceiling shelving of leather bound books.The room was lit with a chandelier, low and dim, and used to serve the house with candle light against hanging crystals. The chandelier had long since been replaced with electrical current, but still gave the shimmering off glow from its dangles and bobbles. On the right side of the room, a bar cart with bourbon, sherry, champagne and ice sat, waiting for them.“Do you drink, Ky
“Okay, what do you know?” Kyle sneered at Terrell.Terrell stared at him for a moment, an eyebrow cocked. “I do believe the Alpha title is mine, not yours. And I am to ask the questions if you even fathom of thinking my help is within your puny fucking reach.” Terrell's teeth glared and glistened. “Now, sit down, shit stain. If you're playing errand boy to Gavin, then you need to tell me what the hell is really going on. What am I taking my people into?”Kyle fired back, “Can you not read? Not your pack. You. Just YOU!! Gavin wants just YOU.”Terrell stepped back. Kyle was right; nowhere in the scroll had Gavin asked for his pack's help. Just Terrell's.“Okay, scruff, have it your way. What does FORMER football star Gavin want with me?” He emphasized the word formal, deliberately shooting the words straight at Kyle.Jason watched between the two, knowing his alpha could kill him in one str
A few hours later, Terrell and Jason stood at the airport waiting for the jet to be ready.“Private jet?” Jason asked, looking about suspiciously.“I do have to come 'alone' as Kyle so easily put it. If I show up stylin' in this private gig, then they will know I am alone.”“I don't like it Alpha. It just smells wrong. Let me go for you.”“Jason, I appreciate your loyalty, I really do. But apparently this is not the case in Georgia. You know I will keep base with you. You're just a jingle away.”Jason sneered. He was not fond of the idea of his Alpha just up and heading several miles away from his home territory. His attention was caught off guard by movement in the corner of his eye.Several pack members heaved a gurney through the deserted air strip. Kyle lay on the gurney, strapped down, unconscious an
“Alpha! Alpha Terrell! Wake up!”Terrell startled awake, sweating glistening on his brow. He grabbed at his chest, looking for the blood that had been there. His head spinning, Terrell sat up on the floor of the cabin.“We've landed in Georgia, sir.”Terrell looked around him cautiously. A nightmare. It had only been a nightmare. Her face, the alarms, the overwhelming feeling of...Terrell rushed to the bathroom, lurching over the toilet. He emptied the contents from his stomach in piercing loud pushes. He was dizzy from the nightmare, from the feeling of the plane bolting from left to right. His head pounded in his ears from vomiting, and his eyes blurred as he tried to focus and calm the nausea that continued to threaten him.“Sir, are you alright?”Terrell hung on the toilet, resting his head on the backside of it. “Fine, just give me a minute.”Motion sickness? Really? On a flight th