Alpha Alden ✔️

Chapter Three

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Word Count: 1989

~Kezi

Melia walks close by my side, as we make out way down the quaintest Harmony Pack street.

It's unnerving how nothing is out of place. The pavement is immaculate, stained by nothing but the mellow sunlight. Shop windows we pass are all wiped crystal clear, and everything standing on display is not tainted by a fleck of dust, nor pushed a touch out of place. A part of me wants to smear a fingerprint on the glass to do something to disrupt the irritating perfection.

"So, what's your story?" I ask. I'm curious about Melia. She seems very forward and abrasive. Yet at the same time, it's as though she shares no information on herself.

"Me? Oh," she says, dark eyebrows furrowing. A slight wrinkle in the middle of her forward is the only flaw on her face for that fleeting moment. "I was born and raised in the Wisdom Pack. My mother found he real mate here in the Harmony Pack. Took me with her."

"Was the move hard?" I ask.

She glances at me, and I notice the faint smile on her face. "Not at all."

Every move that I have made over these past couple years has been extremely difficult. I'm not sure if I struggle with change or not, but leaving behind friends I make in each house is not easy. Neither is moving into a home, settling in and then being torn away from it. As much as this Pack unnerves me, I want to stay here. More than anything.

All of a sudden, my eyes catch a piece of paper taped to the window. It's the first I've seen in any of these store fronts. But what catches my eye, is my own gaze staring right back at me. The photo is of me. A wanted photo.

My heart lurches right into my throat.

There's no reward there, simply a request to alert authorities if I was seen. The photo is old, but it is distinctively me. Anyone brushing past us could glance at it. Someone may already have, and Alpha Alden is after me already. Quickly, I snatch the paper off before Melia can notice.

"What you got there?" she asks, curiously leaning over. I shoulder my backpack off, shoving into the first pocket.

"Nothing. Paper from school," I say breezily. I'm used to lying to save myself. Now that I've seen this, I'll have to show Avia. And then off we will go to another Pack, to start a new life. I can already feel that permanent sinking feeling. "Hey, ah, can we hang out later?"

"What's going on? Are you okay?" Melia. When I turn to look for any sense of concern, I see nothing but tilted lips and taunting eyes.

"I need to go," I tell her, tossing my backpack over my shoulder as I move away. I eye an alleyway to my left. I can surely find my way back is I disappear down one of those, then emerge once no one is around to witness me. "I'm really sorry. I'll catch up with you tomorrow."

Without waiting for her to wave goodbye, I turn, slipping around the corner.

I stand there, waiting for a moment. How could this happen? I know Alden is pursuing me, but I never knew it was this prevalent? I'm just one of Time's many travelers. Can't he just leave me alone for a week, at least? I lean against the rough alleyway wall. The only place around her shrouded in shadows.

Footsteps at the foot of the alleyway catch my attention. Melia is walking down to join me. I cringe. Oh great, how am I meant to get her to leave me alone?