Arabella

~ 14 ~

Xander POV

"Come on! I gotta get home to do laundry!" Arabella giggles as she tries to pull herself from me. I smile at her but keep her in place. Leaning down I lay a kiss on the spot my mark will go.

"You can just do it here and stay the night again." I suggest. She hums against me but I know she's made up her mind.

"No. I'm not going to school tomorrow in the same clothes I wore Friday." She says. I lift my head and look down at her. She looks up and has that beautiful smile on her face.

"Fine. But you better leave fast before I tie you to the bed." I say almost joking. Her pulse jumps at that and I can't help the smirk that takes over. Oh if she thinks I won't pocket that info she's mistaken.

"Okay! You can call me later if you get lonely. I know I do when I'm in my house alone." She smiles. I finally told her that I own the house. She thought I lived with my mom which would make sense since I'm in high school. But I just told her since I'm older and with my job I was able to get my own house.

She rushes to the car which is good because I don't want her to leave and would probably actually tie her up. Oreo wines in my head at the distance. He's been so happy these past two days having her here.

With the amount of touching her I did there will be nothing she can do to get rid of my scent for at least four days. That itself makes me smile. Every wolf that comes across her will know she's mine.

When I close the door and head back to the kitchen I notice the time on the stove. It's only eleven in the morning. Reed should be doing the only training session today.

Sundays are made for the pack to rest and spend time with their family. That also goes for Reed and myself. We take turns running the voluntary training session. Since it's Sunday no one is required to show up. Usually we still get about fifty people there. It should have just started.

I decide that I'll go because I haven't been to a group training session run by him in a long time. Instead of driving there I decide to shift and let out my wolf form. I make my way out to the backyard and breathe in the fresh air.

Once I've shifted in the backyard with that familiar tingle in my bones I groan. It feels good to be on all fours. It only hurt to shift the first two or three times, now it doesn't have a specific feeling. It's been a long time since I've let Oreo out so I decide to give him control.

Okay buddy, get us to training in a good time and I'll let you out for some star gazing tonight. I tell him and immediately my tail starts to wag aggressively. He absolutely loves star gazing.

He takes off into the woods and takes the way we both know by heart to get to training. He jumps and dodges tree limbs and fallen branches while practically smiling.

Something's not right. He says as we come up in the training field. He stops just at the entrance of the large clearing and puts his head up. He breaths deeply and huffs. No Atticus?

That can't be right. He's supposed to be here. Oreo gives up control to me and I shift back into my human form. I walk into the field and start looking around. There are 46 people here. They are all stretching like we do before training. I look to the front but don't see Reed.

When I get to the front of the group Jeremy calls out another stretch and turns to me. He is our top warrior. He is in charge of the warriors of the pack. While Reed and I make the decisions it's his job to enforce them. When we aren't available he keeps the warriors in line.

"Beta." He says as he bows his head slightly. I hate when people bow to me and so does Reed but that started way before our time.

"Alpha?" I ask. He stiffens and I can see the worry in his eyes.