Alpha Hendrix

Chapter 1

"Lauren."

I mumble out a reply, rolling over to my side and curling back into a ball. Two tiny hands begin pushing on my shoulders, Andy's attempts in waking me up a success as I squint my eyes open.

The cabin is now flooded in a subtle light, the darkness from the previous night hardly existent anymore. I slowly sit up, rubbing the back of my head as I briefly examine the dust-covered floor boards.

"Lauren, I'm hungry." Andy whines, his eye brows tugging together as a pout forms on his lips. I yawn.

"Okay bud, we should probably do something about that then," I mumble out tiredly. "How about helping your big sister up?"

A grin stretches across his face as he stands up and begins tugging on my hands to get me up. 

I keep his tiny hand in mine as I lead him back out the front door and begin walking through the forest, looking for any small animal that could potentially be breakfast.

My ears perk up at a rustling sound near by, the noise undetected by Andy who hadn't yet shifted. I gently place my arm across his chest, halting his movements as I inhale deeply to catch the scent of the nearby animal.

A rabbit.

I looked back towards Andy, who was looking around, trying to find what had caused us to stop. Once he looked back towards me, I nodded my head in the direction of the cabin, silently telling him to go back. He nodded and ran back quietly, I refocus my attention to the prey. Once I could no longer hear Andy, I stripped out of my clothes swiftly and shifted into my chocolatey wolf. 

My senses were sharper, clearer than they were in my human form. The smells of the forest were stronger, the sounds easier to detect. 

I silently stalked towards the direction of my prey with an easy grace, laying low until I could see the creature hopping about and sniffing the air innocently. Saliva pooled in my mouth as I lowered myself further, preparing to launch towards my prey. In one swift move, I jumped. Catching the poor creature off guard, my teeth sunk into it's chewy flesh as blood flooded my snout. After a few shakes of my head, the rabbit slowed it's frantic kicks to a stop.

I strutted back towards the direction of the cabin, the rabbit still in my grasp. I shifted and changed back into my clothes once I reached them, picking up the creature and taking it to the cabin.

While my wolf would have been happy to feast on the raw flesh, we knew that Andy would be less inclined to. Catching our own food back home wasn't uncommon, our wolves often thrived on the chase. However, pups that hadn't shifted yet were always given cooked food, as they couldn't keep down the raw meat without the developed animalistic side of themselves.

After gathering some dried twigs and branches from the forest floor, I created another fire, slow roasting the rabbit before sharing it with Andy.

Andy had practically inhaled his share, although I wasn't much better. The two of us have spent the majority of our last two days running from our pack, having very little rests and meal breaks between our departure of the pack and our arrival here.

Our pack had recently been involved in a war with another nearby pack. The Black Dawn pack's Alpha, had been feuding with ours for years now. Only days ago, they had attacked our pack in the black of night, slaughtering thousands as we slept. Our Alpha was forced to surrender, over half of his pack had been killed and he was left weakened, feeling the pain each slaughtered pack member experienced in their last dying moments. 

Our Alpha, Richard Daveys was blackmailed into agreeing to a settlement. Either he could surrender the pack's remaining children to the Black Dawn pack, or the remaining members of his pack would be forced into slavery or tortured.