Alpha Instincts

Chapter 28

I ran for as long as I could, ignoring my burning legs, afraid that if I stopped I'd think about the boy I'd left behind. Instead of heading straight back home, I ran a loop around Shadow Falls, the pain of long-distance running distracting me from my inner turmoil.

The circuit led me towards the Shadow Falls forest, and I slowed down to a walk. I gladly stripped free of my clothes, discarding them on the ground and shifting into my wolf. Within a second, I could feel the familiar burning of my muscles and tingling across my skin as the process occurred. My breathing became labored, my heart beating erratically. My palms fisted just as a searing of heat spread through my upper body, and all muscles tensed in anticipation.

Finally, I embraced the change, and my muscles surrendered to the transformation and twisted amongst themselves, my fists unclenching. When I opened my eyes, I was standing on all four of my paws, the colour scheme of the forest dimmed in comparison to my human sight.

For what seemed forever, I wandered the forest aimlessly with my clothes in my jaw, wanting to be somewhere else, wanting to be someone else. I thought about what Quentin said to me when I'd asked him if he knew of Red all those weeks ago – he'd replied saying he didn't, lying to my face.

In fact, all of the time we'd spent together had been a complete lie. He must've known all about my mother's disappearance and kept it a secret from me, acting surprised when I told him everything that'd happened. Even when I transformed into a wolf to save his life, he'd acted surprised.

A low growl left my chest, and I howled with regret.

But then one, really important memory crossed my mind. Quentin mentioned that his father was the owner of Hades, which meant...

I'd been in Red's grasp the entire time. He'd been stringing me along. It also made sense that I couldn't find him that night I went searching for him at Hades and ended up knocking down the doors to the suites, because owning a nightclub certainly meant you knew all of the entrances and exits.

It was crazy to find out all of this stuff, to discover the past few months had been a lie. But even as I felt besieged by my new knowledge, I knew deep down it was shadowed by something else, something worse – my heart was breaking.

Eventually, my feet refused to carry me further. I turned the next corner and was disappointed to discover I'd subconsciously brought myself home.

Monroe was waiting for me when I got inside. Luckily, I made it back just in time. If I drove home, there would've been plenty time to spare. But because I'd gotten side-tracked and didn't head directly towards home, I'd almost missed my curfew. I said hello to Monroe in his study, before heading upstairs to get changed into my gym gear. I stormed up the stairs, almost knocking over Nyla in the process. I had to steady her before she fell down the whole flight.

"Wow," she said, surprised. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

I shrugged, trying to look casual but feeling the tension in my back. "I just need to get changed quickly. I'm supposed to have a training session now."

"Again?" she asked, incredulous.

I nodded. "Becoming Alpha isn't easy. I'm supposed to be training daily. Twice a day."

Nyla gave a low whistle. "Good luck with that, then. Just give me a call if you need a sparring partner."

I nodded, jogging up the rest of the steps and taking them three at a time. I felt my phone buzz within my jacket pocket and felt a surge of anger. If Quentin was calling to apologise, he was too late.