Of Runt (Redone)

Chapter Fifteen

I glance up from my journal as Alpha Archer joins me outside. The sky is still dark out, stars lingering since it's only three am it makes sense. When I came down I was the only one awake. "Are you okay?"

I show him my pen before finishing my last couple of sentences and shutting the leather journal. "Just a dream." He sits beside me on the swing but gives me enough personal space as well.

His built body relaxes back as his head tilts backwards and his eyes close. The moonlight hits his skin bright enough to show how red his face is. Maybe I'm not the only one plagued with nightmares. "You tend to have a lot of those."

I shrug while playing with the pen between my fingers. My wolf is at ease but eager to share. "It's always been a thing when it gets close to my birthday. I used to joke with Wen that it was my mind telling me I shouldn't have been born," I pause before adding a half hearted laugh, "maybe it's true. If David is telling the truth Irwin McCallanger isn't my father and my siblings will only be my half siblings. I never looked like any of them, acted like any of them."

"If David is telling the truth, that is," Alpha Archer adds, leaning back father into the swing into a stretch. He brings his arms back down after a short yawn. "He already suspects who your real father might be and with the allegation of you being cursed to be a runt... Well that won't be good, it wouldn't be good for anyone."

I let my head lay back with a sigh. Cursed to be a runt? If I wasn't of runt by birth then what was I supposed to be? Of Warrior? That thought alone almost makes me laugh. In a perfect world if I wasn't of runt I would be a head tracker, Zeta. "Reagan?" Alpha Archer calls out. "You zoned out. What were you thinking?"

"About pointless what if's," my reply was quiet but I know he heard. He always hears. It must be an alpha thing.

"What if you were not of runt?" I just nod my head as answer. "What did you come up with?"

"It's stupid."

"I wanna know." His tone is light, comforting but still deep.

I let out a soft sigh before stealing a glance at him. "If I weren't a runt I believe I would be in the running to become one of the youngest Zetas in pack history."

"Is that so?" The question isn't mocking, it's pure curiosity. Maybe a bit of surprise due to the slight self brag. I give him a small smile.

"You've said it yourself Alpha, I have prodigious abilities in tracking. Without the things that come along with being a runt, being the daughter or well step daughter to one of the most well known warriors in the pack would've brought nothing but opportunities for me. Wen could have still been here, hell I may have ended up with someone completely different. Someone from another pack, a warrior, a beta-"

"An alpha?"

By now I had pulled a knee to my chest. "I don't think an alpha." How strange would it be to date an alpha?

"Wen would've been alpha to another pack eventually so why not another?"

"It doesn't matter anyway. I'm still a runt," I whisper, closing my eyes. I feel almost idiotic to forget that. Wen, half brother to Archer, was heir to another's pack. I did date a future alpha, I was almost his mate. "Nothing can change that."

I tense when his hand touches my back but I slowly relax under his warm touch. "Come with me," he says before helping me stand. He leads me off to the woods before telling me to shift. For the next while we run an entire lap around the perimeter of the pack switching from playfully racing to mindlessly walking.

We stop on a hill not far from his house and watch as the night turns to day. His large brown wolf nudges me softly before he lays down with his head on his paws. I guess he's finally getting tired which sucks because my wolf has a lot of pent up energy. I lay down beside him, my tail still excitedly wagging.