My Hockey Alpha

Nina

A woman’s voice screamed for help from the forest. Enzo and I pulled away from each other, just as we were about to kiss for the second time that night. We looked at each other for a moment, the realization of the situation hitting us, before taking off toward the woods.

Could we not have one good night without people being injured or killed by werewolves?

“Stay here,” Enzo said just before we reached the woods. He stopped in his tracks and grabbed me by both shoulders, pushing me away from the entrance of the woods where students and locals often walked on the seemingly-safe nature trails.

I wrenched myself free and shook my head vigorously. Stay here? There was no way in hell I was letting Enzo go into the woods by himself. I would never forgive myself if something happened to him out there and I wasn’t there to help him. “No way!” I shouted, curling my hands up into fists. “I’m not letting you go alone.”

“Nina, it’s not safe–”

“I realize that, Enzo!” I said, stamping my foot angrily. “I’m going with you regardless!”

Enzo stared at me for a moment, a mixture of surprise and worry written across his face, before he sighed and nodded, straightening once more.” Alright,” he said, turning toward the trail that led into the forest and holding out his hand as the screams continued. “But stay close. Don’t let go of my hand.”

I took his hand and ran with him into the forest toward the source of the screams. It was frightening to run with such wild abandon in the forest, but I let Enzo lead the way; something in me told me to trust him to guide us as we ran, so I did.

“Help!” the woman screamed again, this time much closer. We took a sharp right turn, leaping over tree roots and rocks in the way, and soon found ourselves in a small clearing.

hand and stepped forward while I stood paralyzed by the

was dragging a woman by her ankle as she clawed desperately at the ground, sobbing and screaming uncontrollably with all of

on its own. The rogue looked up at him, the woman’s leg still in its mouth, then dropped her upon seeing Enzo and I

there was also something oddly

ran up to the woman and grabbed her hand, quickly helping her up and pulling her away

anything else could happen,however, the rogue met my eyes, staring at me for a moment — as if it recognized me then turned on its

it going?” I asked, my voice shaking as I held the

word, Enzo turned and stormed toward me, grabbing the woman from my arms and scooping her up,

said sternly over the woman’s sobs. “Get

“But I–”

his voice low and serious. “Please Just this

wails grew louder, and in the blink of an eye, Enzo and the woman were just… gone. The forest was silent once more, as if nothing had ever happened — but I was too stubborn and determined to

of turning back to run home like Enzo told me to, I began to go in the direction that the rogue took. I carefully crept through the forest, trying to stay as quiet as possible as I followed the rogue’s trail; it had crashed so haphazardly through the woods that I could make out a clear path just from all of the trampled bushes and broken

following the rogue’s trail for nearly twenty minutes

haunches in the middle of a clearing, staring up at the moon with its head tilted back. As I approached through the bushes, it heard me

snarling and sat back down. Its eyes stayed focused on me, but for some reason, I no longer felt frightened. Somehow, I knew that this rogue wasn’t going to hurt

the bushes and slowly approached it, my hand outstretched and my breathing ragged. With each. step closer, I expected the rogue to suddenly jump up and attack me, but it never