Pledge to Me

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"It couldn't have just disappeared," I snapped, running my fingers through my hair for the millionth time as I paced back and forth. The Alphas watched me cautiously. They didn't seem to understand how big of an issue this was.

"Maybe some animals carried it off?" Anders thought allowed.

I whirled on him. "Really? A fifty-pound pack?"

He shrugged.

"Maybe we need to just look again," he suggested.

We had looked several times already. It was gone. Another sweep wasn't going to suddenly yield different results.

I sighed, lacing my fingers together over my forehead while staring up at the sky through the trees.

"It's gone," I finally said, defeated.

"We can just make some more tools, it will be primitive, but it's not hard as long as it gets the job done. And I don't mind sharing my supplies–" Anders started, but I cut him off.

"You don't get it. My pack had my suppressants in it."

Both Alphas stared at me wide-eyed.

"Yeah," I snapped. They were finally starting to understand what a shit show this was.

Anders sighed. "We still have ours, so you don't have to worry about us losing control."

I shook my head. Endure a heat alone? It would be torture.

"How long until your next heat?"

I blinked in surprise, looking at Leo. This was probably the first time he'd ever spoken to me directly.

"A week probably," I told them.

The tension grew until the sounds of nature became too deafening to deal with.

"Let's just find a water source, before we lose more daylight," I murmured, heading off in the direction we came.

I heard the faint steps following behind me and quiet murmurs of conversation, but I didn't bother trying to figure out what they were saying. I wasn't interested, too worried about the weeks ahead.

Going through a heat was never easy. The lack of control alone was something that always put a bad taste in my mouth. But if I was ever in a situation where I didn't have access to suppressants, I at least had a partner to help me through it. The clinics made sure of that. But here? What was I going to do? Ask Anders or Leo? I couldn't do that.

Fuck. This is bullshit.

The walk back seemed to take even longer. Maybe it was, considering we had to search for a water source. Thankfully, we found one only a twenty-minute walk from the cabin. Lugging the water back and forth would be a pain in the ass, but for once, I was happy the Alphas were taking care of it.

While they made their rounds, filling up the tank out back, I worked on shoveling out some dirt and collecting the clay underneath. It was nightfall when they finished and I had collected quite a bit of clay. Though I was completely covered in dirt. After munching on some of the dried food rations that Leo had shared with me, I peeled off my clothes and headed for the shower.

It was cold. Like colder than I had anticipated, but nothing I couldn't handle. The ice baths after a particularly grueling day of training were worse than this. And if I was honest, it was a cool balm against my body aches.