Alpha by Sophie Fleur Page B

had the other wolf on
the ground with his teeth buried in the wolf’s neck. Wolf James shook his head.
His throat vibrated with angry growls. He tore into the smaller wolf’s sides
with his claws, causing it to whimper in pain.
     
    The other wolf lay back, exposing his belly. Fred knew that
meant the smaller wolf had given up. Wolf James didn’t seem to agree. He kept
growling and shaking the smaller wolf’s neck.
     
    “James? Hey,” Fred said.
     
    James looked up. His eyes were arctic blue even in human form.
When he shifted, he was taller than six feet and had short black hair. His face
was too rugged to be pretty, but almost. Fred missed that face.
     
    “Come on now. He was a bad wolf, but he’s been punished.” Fred
couldn’t believe he was asking for clemency for a creature who’d been
attempting to kill him. He asked more for James’s sake than the unknown wolf’s.
James had always said he didn’t like hurting people. Maybe that had changed,
but Fred didn’t think so.
     
    Wolf James howled but let go of the other wolf. The smaller wolf
tucked his tail in between his legs and walked away, disappearing into the
thick wood.
     
    After the other wolf was gone, James licked at the wound on
Fred’s arm.
     
    “That is not hygienic,” Fred said. The licking did help the pain
somewhat and Fred was able to move his arm without screaming.
     
    Wolf James gave him a look before finishing. He cleaned the
blood, leaving torn flesh behind. Fred sighed and tore up one of the few shirts
he had in his duffel, making a tourniquet around the top of his arm. His father
would not be pleased at having to sew him up the first day he was home. He used
the rest of the shirt for a makeshift bandage.
     
    Fred absently patted Wolf James on the head, earning him a wolf
grin. He blushed. He was used to touching James in wolf form. James had the
softest fur on the tips of his ears. Fred remembered falling asleep while
stroking those ears with the buzzing warmth of James beside him.
     
    “Just a habit,” he said.
     
    Wolf James licked him on the chin before getting up and
signaling that they needed to leave. Fred followed him, wishing again that he’d
stopped at that property line. Maybe he really was Little Red Riding Hood.
     

 
Chapter 2
     
    Fred followed Wolf James further inward to the where the main
houses were. They passed a few small houses on the outskirts of the territory where
some wolves had greenhouses and some had planted small gardens. The pack was
fairly self-sufficient. They had their own doctor, grew their own food, and
hunted for their own meat.
     
    Here and there, houses seemed to sprout from the woods. Small
cabins and larger homes were just far enough apart to give privacy to the
wolves that lived there. Fred knew they had running water and electricity
hooked up several years ago, but some wolves still refused to use either.
They’d rather freeze in the cold river and cook food in wooden stoves. He
hadn’t minded living like that when he was very young, but the older he got,
the more he had appreciated hot showers.
     
    “Guess it hasn’t gotten any better out here,” Fred said. “There
are still jerks who attack anything that moves in these woods.”
     
    Wolf James shook his large head. Fred knew the wolf wanted to
talk to him but couldn’t. Not for a while. Only the wolves communicated
telepathically. James would have to shift to talk to Fred. He probably thought
it was safer to stay in wolf form in case something else attacked Fred. Maybe
an alien or a witch or one of those sparkly vampires.
     
    “I wouldn’t mind a sparkly vampire,” Fred mumbled to his feet.
“I bet he’d share his glitter blush.”
     
    Wolf James kept walking, watching around them for any hint of
movement. He took Fred to his house. Or The House, if you were pack. Fred
thought of it as the Alpha’s castle. It was two stories tall and made of brick.
It used to be made of wood before a rival pack had set fire to