Chase Me , Alpha

Chapter 14

It'd taken an entire week, but I'd finally convinced Clayton that he was an Alpha, and he had a pack, and he needed to run it. His argument was that I was his Luna anyways, so protecting me was protecting the pack. But dropping subtle sexual hints and following me around like a puppy wasn't protecting, it was overbearing.

Still, being in the big house alone, with him farther away in town, makes my chest ache to be with him. That ever present thing in the back of my head, my wolf, longed to touch him.

It was annoying.

I wasn't technically alone, though. Wolves patrolled the boarder of the house, more than I had ever seen. They were lithe and deadly in the shadows, at least a dozen of them out there.

I'd spent the day rummaging through Clayton's thing, and I discovered his taste for music. In his office, along the west wall, was an entire bookcase full of CD's. Not that I knew anyone who listened to CD's anymore. An IPod was in a docking station beside it and I played them sot recent song, listening to the beetles moan on about a yellow submarine. His taste in music made me smile, and I turned it up so I could hear it throughout the house.

Claytons also didn't have any framed portraits. It could be that he'd just moved into the house recently, but it was completely and utterly impersonalized, which had me biting my lip. Would he be upset if I asked to buy curtains, or bring my own photos from home here? It didn't feel like home when I walked through the halls, checking the bedrooms. I ended up in the kitchen where I hummed to myself, making mac and cheese from the cupboard that was too full.

I couldn't help but want Clayton home, that maybe I shouldn't have bothered him so much to go and do his job. So what if it was selfish. I rolled my eyes at myself and that constant nagging in the back of my head to go find him. God, if I didn't know any better it's like I liked the guy.

A sound from the front of the house had me pausing my humming and I stopped, turning my ear to face the front door. Clayton was home? I turned the stove off, feeling a giddy rising in my belly. I'd make up some excuse to touch him, only because I know it would calm this feeling in my chest. God, I didn't even know why I felt like I still needed to make up excuses to touch him. He'd touched me plenty enough. And he was my mate for crying out loud.

When I turned the corner of the kitchen to the hallway facing the front door, however, I didn't see Clayton. The door was closed also. "Clayton?" I called out, and then cringed. The girl always died right after she called out for her missing boyfriend's name.

I raced back into the kitchen, grabbing a steak knife, before heading down the hall. No way was a burglar jumping out at me because I was stupid enough to walk around screaming Clayton's name. I pulled my phone off of its charger on the hall table and swallowed. Was it because of my new found danger from being a white wolf that caused me to be so paranoid?

I made my way down the hall, turning in wide circles. With the knife held out far in front, I checked every room and every window, heart soaring into my ears, hardly hearing anything over my own breathing. Finally, when I'd made sure every shadow was checked in the entire house, I made my way to the kitchen once more.

Clayton called me as I was turning the stove back on to finish my half cooked noodle. "Hey." I said, my voice an octave too cheery. God, I sounded love sick.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concern lacing his voice. "You felt scared. Is everything alright?"

I rolled my eyes. Him being protective was overwhelming even from across town. Although, if he had been here I would have made him walk across the house with a knife while I hid under blankets like it would protect me from a burglar. "I thought I heard something but I was being paranoid."

Clayton huffed, saying something about how he'd check in with the patrol around the house just in case. I hummed along to the beetles song playing from Clayton's office by the front door. "I miss you." I sad, out the of the blue, and felt my face flush a moment later.

"I know, I can feel it." Clayton said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. Then, softer, he said, "I'll be home soon."

I cleared my throat and brought the pasta to the sink to drain, holding the phone to my ear by my shoulder. "I don't like missing you."

"Well thanks, I guess."

"I think that was a compliment." I said, laughing. "How's pack business going?"

I didn't really want to know about pack business, I just wanted to talk to him, and I'm sure he knew that too. But he told me about pack business regardless, about the rouges breaking into the territory, about how there was sightings of another pack on the boarder and their Alpha was apparently a tool. It made me laugh.

And when I realized that the beetles songs had ended, quite some time ago, my laughter cut short abruptly. "Alice? What's wrong?"

I turned slowly. "The music stopped." I told Clayton as quietly as I could.

"What? What music?" his voice was almost frantic, feeling my panic.

How long had the music been off? It was on a repeat playlist, so it should have only ended when I stopped it. "Someone's in the house, Clayton." I muttered. Blindly, I reached for the steak knife I had set on the counter.

"What?" he roared. I could hear something breaking in the background, but I lowered the phone from my ear to hear the rest of the house. There were no other sounds, and it was deathly quiet. I took a step forwards. "Stay right where you are!" Clayton shouted from the phone. "I'm calling the patrol, stay right where you are!"

I could hear it then, a sound from inside of his office. "They're in your office." I muttered. When I came to the closed front door, I paused once again. "There's blood on the ground." And there was, smearing right through his open office door.

"Stop moving!" Clayton exclaimed. "Go hide someplace, the patrol will be in there in seconds. God damn it Alice, I'm not messing with you!"

From inside, I heard whimper. A wolf. "It's a wolf." I said, and for some odd reason I lowered the knife. I knew the whimper. I'd heard it used to get an extra serving of dessert at dinner, or to pick the movie we watched one night. "I think they're hurt."

"Alice!" I shut the phone off, putting it in my back pocket. Clayton was going to kill me for sure, but his screaming wasn't helping at all.

Another whimper, this time lengthened.

My strides grew fast as I reached the door, throwing it further open, and stared at the massive black wolf curled at the front of the bookshelf with the docking station and IPod strewn and broken on the floor. His paws were outstretched, heaving on his side. Long cuts riddled his body, his snout bloody. The deep color marred the carpet around him and I rushed in, falling to his side as the front door broke down at the patrol barreled in.

I fought them back with a loud growl of my own I didn't even know I was capable of, and didn't even focus on. They had stopped, shocked, and I turned back to the wolf. I placed my hands on his fur, matted with his own blood, and he whimpered. I leaned down close, looking into the brown eyes, nearly crying.

"Thomas?"