The Alpha's Claim

18

"See me after practice, Naomi," Daniel called. I nodded. My adrenaline was pumping. For the first time, I had beaten Gregg. Sure, he had immediately beaten me three times after that, but I had won. I felt like I was flying. I would know.

Twenty minutes later, I walked up to Daniel. "Yes, sir?" I asked.

"You will be joining me tonight for watch duty," he said. "Plan to sleep right after dinner. I've find it to be easiest."

I blinked a few times. "Of course," I said quickly. This is what I wanted.

"Overnight shift is usually extremely boring, so be aware. 10 p.m. If you are late, you will never be asked again," he said. I nodded.

He left and I immediately raced over to the clinic. "Berry!" I called once I got in. She looked up and trotted over. Amy looked up and regarded me carefully. "Do you have the list?" I asked. She nodded and smiled.

"This is all over the counter stuff, so you should be able to get it easily. I didn't put the pregnancy test on it... Well, I think we should prioritize the important stuff."

"Berry, the pregnancy test is important. I'll make sure they're in the purchase."

"Who will be bringing it over?" she asked.

I smiled sadly. "No one we know, unfortunately." Her smile dampened.

"Well, either way, this will be great for the clinic. Thank you. And thank Damien."

"Of course," I said. I grabbed her list and read it over a few times. Then, I headed over to our room and began to draw up my plans. I grabbed Berry's backpack. Was I really going to do this? I glanced down at the stack of cash in my hand. The pack had emergency leave bags, full of supplies that would come in handy in case they needed to escape to a human town. The money in my hand was just one of the packs. Hopefully it would be enough.

After dinner, I was going to fly out to the nearest town and pick up what I could. After my incident with the Eyeless, Daniel forbade me from flying outside of pack lands. But Berry needed to pregnancy test. And the pack needed medical supplies. Who knows? Maybe they might like me a little bit.

And now I knew Daniel would be sleeping after dinner. Perfect.

Dinner came and went quickly. I waited an hour, chatting with Berry. At 6, I told her that I was going to go for a flight.

I left and immediately went over to one of the aloe plants where I had stashed the backpack. I grabbed it and slid it on my front. Wings and backpacks did not work well together. I made my way to the edge of the base and took off. My landed starts were still rough, but I could make it.

I gained altitude and began flying over to the dunes. The sentries could see me, but once I was over the dune, they had no idea where I was. If I flew long enough, I might be able to escape unnoticed for a couple hours.

I flew over the dunes and dipped low. Flying had almost become automatic. I continued low until I knew I would have been out of sight of the sentries. I climbed higher and higher. The sun was beginning to dip lower into the sky, casting the entire world into brilliant colors. As beautiful as it was, I missed my mountains.

I continued to fly until I caught lights and activity below. I couldn't just fly straight into a town. Anyone outside would see a flying girl and that would be problematic. I circled high, trying to figure out if this small town had a pharmacy. There were only five buildings. I squinted and then almost squealed as my eyes dialed in. Suddenly, everything was magnified. I opened them wide, and they zoomed out. Eagle vision? That was new.