The Alpha Who Saved Me

CHAPTER 2

(Present)

“Quinn, wait up!” Cici calls out, “You know I have short legs!”

“Stop making excuses,” I giggle as I turn my head only to see my best friend struggling to keep up with me, “You can run faster than that, Cici!”

I get to the little lake first and start to strip my clothes off. As shifter wolves, we are used to nakedness, so it doesn’t bother me going skinny dipping with my best friend. I dive in just as Cici stops at the edge, panting. When I break the surface, I look to the spot that I had last seen my friend, but it’s empty. I glance around and start to become frantic when there is no sign of her. I call out her name, only to get silence as a response. I start to swim back to shore when something takes hold of my ankle and yanks me under the surface. Once whatever has hold of me releases my ankle, I swim back up, sputtering and coughing up dirty lake water.

Cici is behind me laughing as she treads the water, “You forget that I’m a better swimmer than you, Quinn! Paybacks are a **!” My friend grins wickedly.

I send a splash at her, “I could have drowned, **!”

“Oh, suck it up buttercup! Isn’t that what you always say to me?” Cici muses.

“Okay, okay, you got me there, but it’s my birthday, so you’re supposed to be nice to me. It’s not every day that a she-wolf turns eighteen!”

“Well, if we want to get technical, a she-wolf does turn eighteen every day, maybe not the same she-wolf, but…”

“Oh, my Goddess, Cici, you know what I mean!’ I laugh.

“So,” my friend grins, “are you excited to find your mate?”

I think about it for a moment. I’m really not sure if I’m ready to settle down with a guy or if I want to live a little bit before finding my mate. You see, shifter wolves are able to find their mates once they turn eighteen. The Goddess Selene has given each wolf a soulmate, their other half in which they can spend the rest of their lives with. Mates don’t cheat on you, they love you unconditionally, and it’s always love at first sight. My only issue with mates is, how do we really know if we really love that person? Of course, not all wolves find their Goddess given mate, and so they choose a mate. Those are the ones that you know you really love, but they are also the ones that could hurt you by cheating on you.

“I honestly don’t know, Cici.” I lean back and let myself float on the water.

“Well, I know that I’m super excited to be able to find my mate in just a couple of months,” Cici copies me, and begins to float beside me,” m dying to get out from under my parents.” She realizes a little too late about what she just said, “I am so sorry, Quinn!”

I smile a little sadly, “No, it’s fine. I know you weren’t saying it to upset me.”

“It was still insensitive of me to say that about my parents.” She moves to tread water once again as she watches me.

“It’s been three years, Cici. It’s not as bad as it once was,” I turn and start swimming for the shore, “Come on, we better head back before Alpha has my head for being late to my birthday dinner.”

Once we are back on land, I turn to my friend and grin, “How about I let Tala out and you let Rani out, that way you have a better chance of beating me back?”

Cici’s face lights up. “You’re on!”

I call my wolf, Tala, to the fore front and my bones begin to snap and pop. Unlike the first time we shift, it takes only seconds to let our wolf out. The first time, though, it can take up to an hour and hurts like a ***. We first transform into our wolves at seventeen years of age to help us get used to our new forms and new senses, before we are able to find our mates. You see, our mates have a distinct scent that only we can smell, indicating that they are our other half.

nipping at each other for a few moments. Finally, I jump up and prance over to my clothes, picking them up into my mouth to carry back home. Cici

you ready, Rani?’ Tala

almost as fast as mine, unlike her human side, so she always loves to race me in her wolf

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ក៏

ក៏ht

CHAPTER 2

mark..’ Tala

set… Rani follows

in unison and take of at a

as if we are running for our lives, jumping over fallen trees and side-stepping anything that gets in our

get back when running in our wolf forms compared to our human forms, so as we near the pack grounds in less than ten minutes, we both slow down

stands a few inches shorter than me and has all the right curves. Me, on the other hand, i’m a bit taller, standing at five-foot-seven, with my auburn hair and baby blue eyes, I’m not stick thin, but I could use a few more pounds around my assets. I’m lean and toned, with a barely-there-**and an okay rack. I’ve never been one to be self-conscious, except for when I’m standing side-by-side and naked with Cici. Of course, she feels the same

NNNNNNNNNN

packhouse only to walk smack dab into Lila, Alpha Declan’s

in the doorway.” I look at what she’s got in her hands, “holding a handful of condoms?” I question,

I had to bring more over. You can never be too careful you

she steps in my way,

know that Declan isn’t your mate, stay the ***away

her in confusion, “What are you

me, I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other, it’s disgusting.” She

on between Declan and I, he’s like a brother to me, I owe him everything. If you ever get up in my ***again, there’s going to be more than words being said.” I shoulder bump her

is coming down the stairs as I’m going up, “Hey Beta-Bay have you seen

him by the nickname I gave him, “Yeah, he’s in his office. You came just in time, because he’s in one of his moods and you’re the only one

Lila pay him a visit?” I grin. Sometimes after she’s visited him,

grins, “Don’t let him hear you call her

people nicknames!” | wink at the Beta and then

to see Declan, but something like OCD hits me every time, and I have to straighten myself up. Raising my fist, I rap five times and then two, letting him know it’s me, and then I walk in. He’s hunched over his desk writing something down in a

before standing up and coming around the desk. “Happy birthday, sweetie.” He pulls me in for a tight hug, lifting

doubt I will. I’ve been all around town

went around sniffing for

around town trying to see if i’d smell him. I really don’t have any

head back and laughs, “Leave it to Cici. That girl is going to give her

said the same

with his fore finger, “That’s because great minds think

19:06