Run With Me

Chapter Eight

It took everything in Kirk's body not to grab her and drag her into his arms. He had left John to finish helping with the details of the gathering, since his beta was going to be sent back to Clearwater once the plans were solidified. But the talk with Darren after Terri had left only resulted in him becoming so frustrated, he couldn't stomach being around the rest of that pack.

After coming back inside with Kayla, he had been practically ambushed by the single females. One of them, Anna, had been rather insistent that he eat. Kayla had been so upset that after fixing Collin something, she had gone to bed, leaving everyone else to serve and clean up the meal. He had heard her snap at her mate that she was not going to be cooking for anyone else until Terri came back. Kirk had been more than a little surprised when Collin had given him a hug with a little folded note containing a phone number and the words, 'Don't screw this up' written on it. As the tucked the note into his pocket, rewarding the small child with a smile, he had found himself face to face with a pissed off alpha.

"Is there a reason you are okay with her driving away? Most males jump all over their mates the second they scent them?" Darren had luckily been speaking low enough that no one in the kitchen cleaning heard him. Kirk slid a neutral expression over his face and walked into Darren's office. Once the door was closed, Kirk watched as the other man paced across the room.

"Because I'm not suicidal," Kirk shrugged, "I just watched as my mate call out the behavior of her pack and openly said that she was never going to mate. Ever. Nothing I could say or do was going to change her mind." The other shifter growled and continued to prowl, his wolf obviously riding him. "And I doubt you would want me to do what many other shifters would do in this situation." He didn't need to say the rest. There were many shifters out there that would pressure the female into mating, almost desperately. Once their mate was scented, a male became volatile and territorial, often becoming unreasonable in his need to stay close to her. Kirk felt it, his wolf howling and snarling to go after her. But the pain he felt on her behalf when she rejected her pack calmed that need enough that he was willing to wait. He waited to kiss her. He would wait to find her.

"No," Darren grudgingly agreed, "And she would be even more adamant that she would never mate if you did that." The older alpha sighed and dropped into his chair. "Stubbornness is a family trait, but she makes me seem reasonable." Kirk snorted and leaned against the wall. It was really starting to sink in what was happening. He needed to get out of there.

"I take it that I will have support in this or am I going to have a fight with you to worry about too?" His plan would change depending on what the answer was.

"My first priority is my pack," Darren sat forward, "I have had little authority over Terri for so long, that my leadership has been challenged on more than one occasion. Her being mated would settle that." Kirk saw where he was coming from, though he was beginning to believe that this was the result of more than just the issues with Terri. "She is my sister and I don't want her to leave the pack. But she's right, they don't accept her. Haven't since the accident," his eyes flashed to amber as he looked at Kirk, "because the trip was for her, many outright blamed her for the accident. The belief that it was her leg is only half the story." Kirk was growling as the words were spoken.

"So her moving to another pack is so that she can have a fresh start away from such poison?" Kirk's wolf wasn't the only one seeing red. He would be handing everything off to John and leaving for the city tonight. He wasn't staying here. Staying in a house that smelled of his mate without her being present, it was too much. He growled when Darren nodded. "If you were anyone other than her brother, I would take you outside and beat you," Kirk didn't even flinch when Darren stood, growling, "She deserves so much more than you half-assed attempts to pawn her off on someone else." Not even waiting for a reply, he was striding out of the office and making for his car.

Now, he stood in front of Terri, watching as her eyes went wide and her breath caught in her throat. Conscious of the 'no' he received last time he tried to kiss her, he just smiled at her and stood inches away from her. His wolf was howling at the need to touch her, to drag her into his arms and devour her mouth. Patience, he muttered within his mind. He had barely slept, having checked into a hotel after midnight, he had paced until dawn before heading to the address Kayla had given him. It had taken a fair bit of restraint on his part to not sprint towards her when he picked up her scent at the apartment and followed her here. Now, he stood, waiting for a response.

"I don't understand," the words were soft, breathy, when Terri finally spoke. Kirk watched as her brown furrowed slightly in her confusion. Looking down at her, he gave her a wide smile.

"What's there to understand?" Giving into the urge to tease her, he turned and gestured for them to continue walking along the path, needing a distraction from his desire to touch her, "You forgot me." Moving to match her brisk walk, Kirk watched her process those words.

"No," Terri finally spoke, "I really don't understand. I didn't forget you. Why would you assume that?" she looked up at him with a glare, "I was up most of the night stressing out over what I could have possibly forgotten!" Kirk just grinned back at her.

"Glad to know I wasn't the only one losing sleep," he dropped his tone an octave, "though there are more fun ways to lose sleep." He watched her eyes go wide before she turned and took off at a run back towards her condo. His wolf howled, giving into the chase, watching her gait as she avoided finishing their conversation.

***

After reaching the condo complex, Terri had turned and very curtly told Kirk to stop following her. That was part of his plan, showing her he respected her boundaries. While he had been driving to the city, he had come up with a plan of getting under her skin while not pressuring her. Too much. His wolf didn't particularly like that plan, but there weren't any other options that wouldn't result in her slamming the door in his face forever. He had gotten lucky this morning that she had been out on a run when he showed up, but he didn't think his luck would hold every morning.

Walking back to his hotel, he sent Kayla a text asking if he could get in touch with Michael. He was getting out of the shower when he got a response.

'You showed up like a stalker!' Smiling, he typed a reply.

'No, I ran into her while I was enjoying a run in the park near my hotel.' It just happened to be the nearest hotel to her condo, but she didn't know that he had deliberately planned that.

'Well, she just went on a tangent about pushy alpha males.' Kirk just smiled.

'I was not pushy. Not at all.' So long as Terri didn't tell him to leave him alone completely, he would eventually show her that he wasn't pushing nearly as much as he wanted to. She was skittish and half feral. And too smart for her own damn good. She intimidated him. Pushy alpha? He felt like an untried youth flirting with someone out of his league with her.

'She is complaining about how she can't sleep, can't think, and is frustrated because you got into her mind and now she can't focus. Congrats.' Kayla had been clear that she didn't want to play middle man with this courtship, but the inside intelligence to what was going on in Terri's mind was just reinforcing that he was on the right track.

'Just wait, when she gets back to class after reading break, she'll really have something to complain about.' Phase two of his plan was going to be a lot more fun than just showing up at the park to see her.

'Omg, what are you planning?!' Kirk just sent back a smiley emoji and pulled out his laptop to get to work. It was reading break, but most universities had someone checking email. It was time to put the next part of his plan into action.