Claiming My Wolf
Chapter 27

~~Ava’s PoV~~

Sadie’s suggestion takes me completely by surprise. It’s the middle of the night and she wants to go outside? But when she explains it’s to help my wolf, I feel Spark start to stir hopefully inside me. She wants to go out too.

I’m still getting used to the feeling of having a completely different being inside me, not to mention one that’s completely pissed off at me. Spark had barely told me her name when she suddenly howled and told me that Laurel was our mate.

Shocked isn’t a strong enough word to describe how I felt. As I told the Alpha afterwards, I’ve never been attracted to other girls. And even if I was, it definitely wouldn’t be Laurel. After all the time she’s spent kissing my brother? Gross.

So when he told us it was all a mistake, I was very, very relieved, but I didn’t know how to explain it to the heartbroken wolf inside me who was 100% sure that she was right and I was wrong.

I throw some clothes back on and then the three of us sneak down the stairs quietly so we don’t wake my parents. Sadie puts her hand on the doorknob to open it when Aaron suddenly whispers, “Wait!”

Sadie and I both freeze. “What?” I hiss back at him.

“There’s a guard outside,” he reminds us. “Watching over the house because of Sadie.”

Oh, right. Our parents told us that, though they couldn’t really say why. Just that it was Alpha’s orders, which meant we had to agree.

“I’ll go distract him,” I offer. “Then you two can sneak out the back.”

Aaron nods and he and Sadie go to the back of the house while I open the front door and march out like it’s a totally normal thing to be doing.

“Ava?” The guard is a guy named Rory who’s just a few years older than me. I remember him from when he was still in school with us. “What are you doing out here?”

“I just got my wolf,” I tell him, sticking as close to the truth as possible. “And she wants to go for a walk.”

“Oh, right. Happy birthday, by the way,” he says, though it’s technically not my birthday anymore.

“Thanks.” I glance towards the back of the house where Sadie and Aaron are sneaking across the lawn. Rory starts to turn to follow my look, so I quickly speak again to make him look at me. “So, they make you just stand out here all night, huh?”

Rory isn’t amused. “Nobody makes me do anything. It’s my job and I’m happy to do it if it’s what the pack needs.”

“What are you even looking for?” I ask, genuinely curious. “What does Sadie need to be protected from?”

“That’s restricted information,” he answers, but I can see the little tug at his lips as he says it. He doesn’t know either.

That should be enough time for Aaron and Sadie to have got away. “Okay, well, I’m just going to go for a short run now. I’ll be back soon.”

“Stay safe, Ava,” he advises. “If there’s any kind of alert, come right home.”

Oh, yeah. Now that I’ve got my wolf I’ll be able to hear the pack-wide mind-link alerts now. I forgot about that. I promise Rory I’ll do just that and then I head off down the street where I find Sadie and Aaron waiting for me around the corner.

“Let’s hope you don’t actually need protecting,” I grin at Sadie. “Because it was way too easy to get past that guard.”

As I get closer, I realize she’s got a bicycle with her. I think it’s mine.

She sees me looking at it and smiles. “I won’t be able to run fast enough to keep up with you two, right? But this way I can try.”

There’s a trail just at the edge of town, not far from our house, so we head over there now, the light of the moon showing us the way. My wolf feels happier under the moonlight, she’s not whimpering quite so much.

When we get to the edge of the trees, Aaron and I both strip down for the shift while Sadie looks away. I’m used to seeing naked people because of all the shifting that happens. It’s weird sometimes when it’s your own parents or something, but you get used to it after a while. Sadie will get used to it too, I’m sure.

Once we shift, Sadie hops on the bike and leads the way, using the bike’s headlight and setting the pace through the forest. I already feel a lot better as Spark starts to run and I wonder if Aaron feels better too.

I’m still upset, his voice says in my head. But yeah, it’s a bit better.

Whoa. I must have mind-linked my thought to him without even meaning to. This is going to take some getting used to.

We run for at least twenty minutes, up to the lake and then start to come back. I talk to Spark as we go, telling her about the pack and all the guys who might be our actual mate, trying to get her to let go of the idea of Laurel, but it’s no use. She won’t budge. At least she’s not crying about it anymore though. The run takes too much energy.

We’re about ten minutes from home when the alert comes.

Breach at the border. Everyone take your defensive positions.

s**t. Aaron and I look at each other, not sure what to do now. We’ve got defensive positions at home and at school, but out here in the woods, the instruction is just to conceal yourself as much as possible and cover your scent.

We need to get Sadie’s attention. She’s still pedaling on her bike, not aware of anything. I let out a howl to get her to stop, and Aaron quickly glares at me.

What was that for? You just gave away our position!

Oh, f*ck, he’s right, I didn’t think about that. I just needed Sadie to stop.

At least she did. She hops off the bike and comes back to us where we stopped. “Is everything okay? Did you hurt yourself?”

I can’t answer her like I am, obviously, so I shift back. “I’m okay but we just got an alert. We’re going to need to hide.”

“Hide?” Sadie said, her eyes widening as she looks around the moonlit forest. “Do you mean there are other wolves out here? Not friendly ones?”

I don’t want to scare her, but I can’t lie either. “Maybe. But come on, you’ve got two wolves to protect you now. It’s going to be fine.”

I don’t mention that Aaron and I have never had any kind of training in our wolf forms, of course. This is all brand new to us.

We leave the bike by the path and move further into the trees until we find a good hiding place. I find some strong-smelling plants, like my mother taught me, and place them all around our position, hoping that will overpower our own scents.

Then I shift back to my wolf and Aaron and I sit on either side of Sadie, keeping our eyes and ears open. There’s nothing we can do now but wait.