Destined for the Alpha by Winifred Lacroix

Peter who was staring at something off in the distance. "What is it?"
    "Shhh" he admonished her but did not look at her.
    It was a small campfire, barely anything but embers and she could see Ivan's unmistakable outline, too big not to notice, he was breathing heavily, the pain in her arm was slowly lessening and she felt heat behind her, Peter grabbed her hips and pulled her back against him. "Are you ready to prove yourself, my alpha?"
    "Me?"
    "Yes, I want you to walk to Ivan, and don't even utter a sound"
    He stepped back from her and the loss of heat made her chest constrict "Peter, I'm scared."
    "Go." His voice was a whisper and he nudged her forward
    She walked slowly through the forest, the silver wolf trotting excitedly next to her; she felt twigs break beneath her thin shoes. What had happened to Ivan? Was he still in danger? Her heart sped up imagining all the terrible things that could be happening and while thoughts of bloodshed of her beta rushed through her head she inched closer to the campfire. She was going to protect Ivan, that's what Peter expected of her, that was her duty to her beta.
    It was not until she saw the dome tent and two men standing with guns quietly aimed at the werewolf, blood was running down his arm, obviously where she had felt it before but he hadn't noticed. There were two men and she felt her feet become heavy, her heart rate picking up, her entire body telling her to flee, but Ivan was hurt.
    She stepped out of the woods and into the small clearing where the campsite was. "Who's there?" it was a female voice; she was older, in her forties, huddled next to a blonde on the other side of the tent. Catherine stopped when two portly men, slightly balding whirled around and she was staring down the barrels of two inky black shotguns.
    "Who are you!" demanded one man with a gun, the barrel bouncing as he spoke.
    She opened her mouth but was reminded of Peter's instructions, so she promptly closed it again, staring up at the men with pleading eyes.
    "Kevin! For gods sakes she's a child!" the mousy brown haired woman shouted getting up and pushing the barrel of one of the rifle's down and leaning in close to Catherine who took the opportunity to look behind her to see if Ivan was okay, but instead he was gone.
    Thank goodness he was safe.
    With both of the guns lowered to the ground, the blonde woman who had a messy pixie cut and lines around her mouth leaned in close to Catherine, they all did and she stepped back
    "You'll frighten her if you keep gettin' so close" the other man with the gun said
    "Are you lost? Are you hurt?" the blonde asked and grabbed her shoulder, causing her to wince, Peter's bite mark was sensitive to touch. The blonde pulled her cloak to the side, exposing the deep red bite marks "Jesus, she's been bitten, can you speak? We need to get her to a hospital!"
    "Bitten?" The brown haired woman asked "by a snake?"
    "No by some kind of bear or something! I don't know, hurry and get some shoes on"
    The growl she heard was so low it reverberated through her body. She looked away from the two women fawning over her to see a silvery gold wolf entering from behind the group, the moonlight catching parts of his fur and making him glow.
    "What the-" Kevin turned around to face a wolf that was as tall as he was, over five feet of feral animal slinking towards the group.
    She noticed, when Kevin's eyes opened wide in fear, that his eyes were a dull blue color. "Is that a wolf? Is that a wolf?!" shrieked the blonde who was backing away from Catherine. Yet the small girl in red knew, instinctively that it was Peter and watched him in awe. He was majestic, he was beautiful and he was hers.
    She felt a tight grip on her upper arm where the pain still was from earlier and was yanked away from the wolf, causing her to cry out in pain. It was Kevin; everyone was running off into the woods. "Run!"
    His eyes looked panicked and suddenly Catherine felt very unsure on what to do, where was Ivan?