Run From The Alpha

Chapter 3

"I take it back. I don't want to meet anyone else," Peter sighed as we continued to walk down the trail.

It was a beautiful day outside, and everything was so green. The sunlight shining off of dewy leaves brought a happy feeling inside of me, but one that I tried to ignore. No amount of nature was going to make me consider coming back to the pack. Although, maybe a nice trip to the mountains with Peter someday; just not North Carolina mountains.

"I told you," I laughed.

Peter and I had left for a walk this morning on a few of the trails I remembered from my life here. There were only a few families on the trails, which seemed odd to me. On days like this, the grounds were usually crawling with wolves and their children. Even with the lessened frequency of people, we managed to run into a few older couples walking around. The children payed us little mind, especially the ones who hadn't had their first shift yet. 

"Boyfriend?" One older woman named Ina inquired. I remembered she had a daughter I used to hang out with. "Don't you mean mate, dear?"

"No, ma'am, just boyfriend," I replied with a smile. I'm sure Peter was the most uncomfortable he had ever been. He was quiet, no snarky remarks. Hopefully, he didn't remember that the three wolves present could practically smell his anxiety. Luckily, it wasn't the smell of fear. 

"Well, it is nice to meet you, Mr. Knight," Ina's mate, Leo, replied. "What do you do? I've heard that living in the city is not quite so cheap."

"I'm actually in graduate school currently," Peter answered, "for biomedical engineering." 

"Oh," Ina muttered.

I could feel the conversation going worse the longer we talked. These wolves did not understand me leaving the pack, and they did not understand that Peter and I shared the living expenses of New York. Instead of allowing them to pass more judgement onto Peter and myself, I thanked them for speaking with us and pulled Peter along the trail. 

"The people before them were nicer," Peter complained. 

"The people before Ina and Leo were my distant relatives. Plus some wolves know how to be decent." I was not going to tell Peter that, as we passed by my distant relatives, the woman whispered in my ear asking me if I was safe. I simply continued past her, ignoring the hushed words.

"We can go into town," I offered.

"Town is a 45 minute drive away," Peter pointed out. He suddenly seemed to straighten his stance. "I don't want to leave. I don't want everyone to win." 

I admired Peter's bravery for wanting to come here. He could have stayed in New York, surrounded by people instead of wolves. He also could just stay at my parent's house instead of walking through the territory with me. He was dealing with the hateful glances with grace. I, however, was getting more irritated the more people we passed.

"You know we have all this space." Peter gestured all around us. We were still on the trail, but this part had a small clearing. A 15 foot circle of grass, rocks, and tree roots were under our feet. "I could see your wolf." 

Peter had only seen me in wolf form a few times. The opportunities to shift where we lived were far and few. There had been a few months where we took a trip into the mountains or fields, where we were sure no other people would be, for me to shift. 

I knew the infrequency of my shifts weren't good for me. Afterwards, I was always a little sore and Peter spent the day bringing me hot tea and a lot of carbs. My wolf side often grew antsy in New York, when I was almost sprinting through the streets but had to contain myself even in human form. A shift and a good run did sound nice, but I knew I couldn't have that with Peter here. He wouldn't be able to keep up.