Alpha, Not

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

A/N: Warning, there is offensive language in this chapter.

Pete

Today was one of those crazy days where anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. One of our clients had decided that the advertising campaign he had selected didn't meet his goals and had decided to change all the parameters three-quarters of the way into the project. Everything we had done so far had to be abandoned and we had to start over from scratch. Hours of conference calls, followed by more hours of meetings to discuss how best to move forward. All that was followed by our mail server crashing. It was a day from hell if there ever was one. When I finally got out of the office, I needed to just clear my mind, so I put some light jogging clothes, my running shoes, and set out for a run around the park.

Besides training with the warriors of the pack, running was my go-to method to calm down and relax after a stressful day. Running is one of those things you can do where you can disengage your mind and just let it wander. You can think about anything, or nothing at all. The thud of my feet, as each one struck the pavement beneath me was like a pulse: Ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump. A simple, natural rhythm that was about nothing but the present, the current moment. My breathing evened out, a breath in, then out, followed by another, then another. I was in the zone, my body, my mind in total sync with one another. I was finally relaxing, the stress flowing from my consciousness like it had never been there, this is why I run.

I don't know how long I'd been running when I entered the section of the path where it cut through a section of woods. I was about halfway through when I noticed several guys who seemed to be having an argument. My first thought was to keep running and ignore them; it wasn't any of my business. The closer I got, the clearer it became that three of the men were harassing the small guy. I wasn't really in the mood to get involved, but they were directly in my path and unless I chose to turn around and find another route, I was going to run right past them, so I decided to step in after all. As I approached, it became clear that I know the smaller guy; it was Avery, my boyfriend of nearly six months. This put a whole new spin on the matter, causing me to smile in anticipation of being his knight in shining armor; the thought made me happy.

"Hey, what's going on?" I called, interrupting one of the three who were harassing Avery. I looked directly at him and saw his shoulders relax, relief at the interruption apparent on his face. My sudden appearance was enough to distract his tormentors. Avery's obvious relief at my presence told me that he had been scared, and it infuriated me. The pissed-off look on my face must have been awful, because one of the guys actually took a step back away from me.

"It's none of your business", one of them snaped back at me. His foolish bravado gave the one who had stepped back earlier, the courage to move back over to his friends.

I ignored them, stepping between two of them to Avery's side. "Are you okay, Avery?" I asked him, pulling him to my chest.

I could tell that the fact I knew Avery took them by surprise; the look on their faces would have been amusing under different circumstances. As it was, they were going to find out the hard way that they'd chosen the wrong person to mess with. I took the opportunity to size them up as I spoke to Avery. All three of them were in good shape, but I knew they were no match for me. I may not have a wolf, but I was an Alpha, and I'd trained my whole life to fight, against wolves. These three didn't stand a chance against me; even all together.

"Looks like you made my boyfriend cry," I glared at the bullies. "I don't like that.  I think it's time I make the three of you cry instead." This was going to be fun, a perfect ending to a shitty day. Did I mention earlier that one of my favorite ways to relieve stress was training with the warriors? Fighting was a stress reliever, especially when lives weren't on the line.