The Alpha's Daydream ✔️

Chapter 20

Early update! 🤗
I was on my way to the city for dinner with friends, but a wild storm knocked out the railway signals, so I've been stuck on a train going nowhere for nearly an hour ☹️☹️

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

5403 words

The night air is my friend, that much I will never doubt.

It never betrays me. It never turns a cold shoulder to me for it is always cool, except in the dead heat of summer. So then, the breeze from the mountains is invited to greet us for a midnight rendezvous.

But tonight the air is more than cold—almost icy as winter approaches. Yet my body and wolf keep me warm. The fact I am metabolising faster for my body to heal the bruises, I can handle the cold that much better. I make my way down shadowed paths, winding through the trees and never once shudder from the tendrils of night that brush across my bare arms and legs.
This is my friend.

The shadows are secretive, but I feel as if I can see right through them. I see the rough tree trunks hiding camouflaged spiders, the cunning owls peering down at me from their perches; I smell the furry possums as they skitter away to hide from me. Even the bats that hiss and click don't scare me. There is nothing malicious in this forest, in the natural order of the earthen biome.

I sit down on a large boulder overlooking a gully, the diamond specks of starlight giving me silent company, and finally feel calm. At peace. Home.

Until the throaty snarl reaches my ears. It is dripping with power, and the dominance instantly has me leaping off the rock and shifting into my wolf. I shake out my fur, pound my paws to the ground, and face the wolf that interrupted so peaceful a night.

Through the trees I see his midnight black coat, his steps as quiet as death as he stalks closer.
This is the hideous beast I should be afraid of. The one with shadows swirling and exuding from every movement, every muscle. Even his breaths comes out in black clouds of mist, daring me to stand my ground.

His crystal blue eyes are bright in the pale light, shining even bluer than I remember. My mate takes a measured step forward, his entire posture alert and subtle, careful and calculated like the predator that he is.

My heart pounds. The Alpha male before me is so much larger and intimidating than I first thought. My wolf sings with appreciation while my heart shakes under the dominance my mate projects. I don't want to submit, but when Malachi growls again, opening his jaws to reveal sharp white teeth, I shudder and turn instantly.

My feed skid forward, carrying me down the gully and up the other side before I even realise what I am doing.

Twigs snap behind me. His pants grow louder. Soon his hot breath is stirring the fur on my tail. His growls are meant to mean something to me, yet I continue to run. Continue to put one foot in front of the other, away from him, trying to put as much distance between this terrible and confusing Alpha and myself.

My dusty brown wolf surges forward, pouncing up a rock strewn hill, the trees thinning, the slope becoming steeper. My paws entangle in the roots but dig into the dirt, never once losing traction.

I am nearly to the top—

But with a ferocious growl I am stopped short, my body slamming into a massive wall of soft fur and rigid muscle. Malachi stands in front of me, and I slip backwards. I hiss at him for cutting me off, and when he nudges me back I snap my teeth, daring to claim a small amount of equality with the Alpha male. I don't know if it is wise or foolish, but I continue to glower at him.