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.

for Cici’s wolf, Rani, to transform in to her sandy-colored wolf. I pounce on my friend as soon as she’s done changing, and we roll around in the grass, 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 follows

you ready,

better believe it!’ Rani replies excitedly. Cici’s wolf is almost as fast as mine, unlike her human side, so she

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ក៏

ក៏ht

CHAPTER 2

mark..’

set… Rani follows

say in unison and take

lives, jumping over fallen trees and side-stepping anything that gets in our way.

see any and all obstacles that may be in our way. It doesn’t take us long to 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 and then stop when we get to the huge

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 way I do about herself. We have always compared ourselves to one another, it’s what helps us push ourselves to be better. We each have our own attributes that the other wishes they had, but we are never

NNNNNNNNNN

packhouse only to walk smack dab into Lila, Alpha Declan’s flavor of the month, “Watch where

look at what she’s got in her hands,

shoves them into her pocket, “Yeah, well, Declan ran out, so I had to bring more over. You can

in my way, so I sigh, and stare at

eighteen and you know that Declan

in confusion, “What are

the way the two of you look at each other, it’s disgusting.” She sneers, “He is mine, so you better

glare down at her, “There is nothing going 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 as I walk away, only to stop when I get to the doorway.

the stairs as I’m going up, “Hey Beta-Bay

every time I call 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 that can get him out of

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

“Don’t let him hear you call her

I like giving people nicknames!” | wink at the Beta and then take the stairs

but something like OCD hits me every time, and I have

before standing up and coming around the desk. “Happy birthday, sweetie.”

roll my eyes, “No, I haven’t, and I doubt I will. I’ve been all

went around sniffing for your

me around town trying to see if i’d smell him. I

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

the same exact

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

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