Tracey had insisted that pack duties happened on the weekend, whatever that meant and I could explore some more of the Crimson land. I didn’t know if I felt comfortable doing that just yet, but it was something to keep my mind occupied.
* * *
By six am the entire pack house was buzzing with movement and whispers. I could hear people talking as they woke up or as they slipped in and out of the house. I was still eating the concoction Tracey’s grandmother had given me, but little by little it wasn’t working as well. I still didn’t need my contacts which was a relief, but eventually my parents would notice that. They made sure I took care of my eyes, my eyesight had been the worst since I was little. They were anal about me eating the right foods to help it improve too. What was I going to tell them? The carrots must have healed my eyes?
I yawned as a door slammed below and the force of it vibrated the floors. I knew it was Rafe. No one else seemed to have a temper like him except for Axel, Tracey’s dad.
A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. “Yes?”
Tracey pushed the door open and leaned against the doorframe. She was still wearing her pajamas and her pant legs were tucked into some floral rubber boots. She was a style icon for sure.
“Saturdays don’t mean sleeping in around here, sorry about that.” I shrugged. Even though I was still groggy, my wolf or whatever it was didn’t allow me to sleep in anymore. The itching in my chest always woke me up early. I rubbed in between my breasts to try to get the sensation to pass.
“What’s the plan for today?” I asked as I pushed the blankets away from my legs.
“I would love to give you the tour of the property and tell you all about your alter ego hiding inside of you.” Tracey grinned and I couldn’t help but want to know more. This was the rest of my life, right? I couldn’t just ignore the wolf side of me and eventually I was going to have to shift. I just didn’t want to do it now.
She placed a bag at the foot of my bed and I smiled. I had forgotten I had packed a bag the night before. I had told my dad I was spending the night, being prepared to do so was on the agenda but I had also planned on sleeping in my car.
Chapter 23
Rafe Crimson
Axel kept his pace with me as we went around the perimeter again. The rogue wolves were getting close again. Their scent covered the property line. They were trying to mess with my head and it was working. Axel sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“This must be stopped,” Axel shook his head and gave me a worried glance.
“What do you think I should do about it?” I had never seen my father deal with rogue wolves growing up. Every single wolf in the pack was loyal to him even if they didn’t like the decisions he sometimes made.
After I challenged my father when the sickness had become too much for him and won, some of the wolves didn’t like it. They took their entire families and left. I had reached out to neighboring packs to see about their safe arrival but they never showed up. They never seemed to go anywhere. Their scents had been all but forgotten, until a few weeks ago when one of the rogue wolves had shown up at the party I was at. The party Jade was also attending. Neck tattoo guy. He had claimed I wasn’t the true Alpha and challenged me, upstairs in front of humans.
It hadn’t ended well for him or the rest of his friends that had attacked me afterward. But I was protecting myself and the damage had been burned away. Only a small bit of sprayed blood had been found and thankfully, I had been able to write it off as teenagers with blood play kink If we had any vampires in our territory, it probably would have made the story a bit smoother but most of them had left this place years ago, before I became Alpha.
Axel chuckled. “You don’t ever want my advice but now you do? You should have taken it when I told you to stay away from Jade the first time.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t going to talk about Jade, I didn’t need counsel on her. I did what I had to to keep her alive and that was all that mattered. My wolf was happy and sated now that she was going to live. “That isn’t what I wanted to discuss.”
“You will need to talk to me about it eventually.”
I sighed. “I need to know what I should do about the rogues. I don’t think they are going to stop their perusal of this land.”
“Unless they come onto our territory and challenge you or harm one of our own, there is nothing we can do about it. Pack Law is very strict on these kinds of things.” Axel ran his hand down the length of a tree and took a deep breath.
“Sometimes I don’t understand Pack Law.”
Axel’s eyes watched something in the tops of the trees before he patted my back. It reminded me of something my father had done when I was little. “Rogues go crazy and going after them off of pack lands could hurt humans, could expose us. The Pack Law will come for them.”
The Pack Law, also known as the High Wolves. They made sure the packs stayed in line and abided by the laws that were put into place thousands of years ago. They were the police of the wolves. They enforced the laws that we sometimes couldn’t or wouldn’t. I hadn’t heard about them actually enforcing laws for awhile. It had probably been a hundred years or more. I scratched the back of my neck and was about to reply when I smelled her.
Honeysuckle and cinnamon wrapped around me. My wolf stood to attention as my fur swam across my skin. Axel narrowed his eyes at me. He could smell her too but his wolf wasn’t reacting the same way. I shook the feeling off and built a wall around my wolf inside of my mind. It would make him crazy later but would keep me sane now. I didn’t need my wolf getting in the way.
Chapter 24
Jade Rivers
Tracey led me deep into the woods behind her parent’s cottage. She waved her hands around as she spoke. “You have noticed that you can do more, right? Like things your human body couldn’t do?”
I shrugged. “I mean I guess. That potion stuff seems to not be working anymore and each day I discover something new about myself.”
