Wolf Prints

The Alpha's Hideout

My french leaves much to be desired, so if the small amount of french i use from here on out doesn't make perfect sense, i'm sorry.

Chapter 14 - The Alpha's Hideout

Of the many strange things I've seen in my seventeen years of life, the absolute most pitiful of all has to be a werewolf skipping class to play Covert Ops in a stinky janitor's closet.

Unfortunately for me, I was that pitiful werewolf in this situation.

And, okay, I wasn't playing any sort of game.

I was hiding, plain and simple.

Seriously, how low would I go before I was finally satisfied? It seemed my thirst for degradation would never be sated.

My sigh was overly loud in the enclosed space. It reeked of bleach and various cleaning supplies, mold and dirty water. Not that it was bothering me much. I was becoming a professional at breathing through my mouth.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, trying to make myself smaller, and used the bristled end of a nearby broom to push away an offending mound of dirty rags.

How low would I go, indeed.

In hindsight the janitor's closet was an absolutely brilliant hideout. With all the smells wafting around in the enclosed space I could barely smell myself, let alone if anyone was searching for me from outside.

They'd never find me. Unless I started making noise.

Nope. Surprisingly, it was a human who was first to enter through the door, rattling the broken lock a few times before prying it open.

Though technically I was doing nothing wrong, I found myself jumping up like a kid being caught red handed stealing from the cookie jar.

Well, okay, I was pretty sure it wasn't against school policy to hide in a janitor's closet, but I'd imagine it was at least frowned upon.

Gracelessly, my foot caught on something – a bucket, I thought – and as I scrabbled to meet the unknown person I fell back into the same heap of dirty rags I had so detested earlier. The stench was cloying. It was bad enough from afar, but lying face down in it was just...

Yuck!

I scrunched my nose and made a soft choking noise that was just short of a full out gag.

An amused masculine laugh caused me to open my eyes and search it out. He stood in the doorframe, blue eyes twinkling in amusement and his mop of curly blonde hair haloed around his head. At the glare I gave him he tried to wipe the smile off his face, but the slight quivering of his lips gave him away. Not that I blamed him. Twice this boy had caught me in an uncompromising position. Once when I'd thrown a boy twice my size over my shoulder, and then again when I was searching for a very invisible Drake. It would be strange if he didn't think me a ditz.

"I'm not always this uncoordinated." I told him, still lying in the bed of sodden towels. "I swear I'm not."

"Oh, I'm sure." He nodded his head in agreement, eyes wide, but I didn't need to be a werewolf to know he was lying through his teeth. It was obvious.

With an angry flourish I thrust my hand toward him, wordlessly asking for a help off the ground. His cheeks tinged an adorable shade of pink, but he obliged, slipping his large hand into my much smaller one and pulling me carefully to my feet.

Once again vertical, I smiled my gratitude. "You know, if you're going to insist on finding me in these unusual situations, I think it's only fair I learn your name."