Hybrid

Righting Wrongs

Maria

When I was finished with the woman, I quickly stripped off my clothes and shifted to bolt into the woods as quickly as possible without being detected. I was terrified shifting after what happened, but it would've taken me a lot longer to find what I was searching for in my human form.

In my shift, I could feel Dylan's terror rippling off him even though he was nowhere nearby. I knew that I needed to fix this somehow to go back and make it up to him. He didn't deserve me abandoning him, but he also didn't deserve the torture of me forcing myself in his presence.

I was a few miles into the woods when I caught the scent of wolves. I followed it back to where a few tents were set up. I shifted back into my human form to speak to the wolves.

"You lost little lady?" A wolf came from behind me and asked.

"Where is your alpha?" I asked.

"We don't have one. Rogues and all," The wolf explained.

"Then gather your wolves. I have something to say," I said.

The wolf rolled his eyes but did as he was told. A small number of wolves came out from tents, and I watched as they looked me over with curious eyes. I hadn't met many rogues in my time as alpha, but I knew they weren't the biggest fan of leadership.

"Your attacks on the locals need to stop."

"They're trespassing on our territory. They had it coming," A wolf said dejectedly.

"They're humans, they think all territory belongs to them, and you're alerting hunters to your presence. It's causing problems for surrounding packs," I informed them.

"What do we care about surrounding packs?" A wolf asked.

"Who the hell are you to tell us what to do?" Another asked.

"I am alpha Maria."

"Fuck," A wolf said, "Listen, we aren't trying to cause problems, it's just that those kids saw us and we needed to get rid of them. We aren't going out of our way to hurt humans."

"It can't happen again," I said, looking between the wolves to make sure they all knew I meant it.

"We will do our best."

That was good enough for me because I could always come back and ruin their lives. After it was settled, I had a different task at hand to deal with. I found my way back to my motel room and put on the old clothes, stomping to the front of the giant corporation that the woman detested.

"Where is the person in charge of the entire store?" I asked, probably sounding like an asshole.

"They're upstairs, I can call them for you," They offered, smiling an award-winning customer service smile.

"No need. I'll find them," I said.

I probably wasn't allowed upstairs, but that cashier worked in retail, so they had people like me come through all the time. I was lucky enough to avoid customer service jobs, and the customers were lucky I did.

I found the steps, and then found an office that seemed more distinguished than some others and made my way inside. The man sitting at the desk looked confused at my entrance, probably not getting much human interaction.

"You'll move this store out of the area," I demanded.

"Sorry ma'am but we can't do that," The man sighed as if he'd heard this complaint hundreds of times.

"You'll move one town over and you'll stay out of this town. Understand?" I asked, not leaving much room to argue.

"We aren't moving out of this area. If you have a problem with us, you can shop somewhere else." The man tried to wave me off.