CHAPTER 36: ALANA IN DANGER
CHAPTER 36: ALANA IN DANGER
Axel's POV
I felt the distance between Alana and me stretch far longer than I ever wanted.
I’d whipped my head around more times than I could count, looking for her. She left the crowd with Emily and they’d been gone forever and still hadn’t come back.
Where was Alana and what was she up to?
The only reason I agreed to play this stupid game was so that Alana could watch me.
It felt good having her watch me beat these morons to pup. I could defeat them with my eyes closed. Perks of being Alpha.
But as soon as Alana slipped through the crowd, my focus started to dwindle.
We barely won the match before I jogged into the woods following her mesmerizing scent. I wanted her back.
Everything felt off as soon as the crowd faded in the distance. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as her scent started to fade and the faint metallic smell of blood wafted through the air.
It wasn’t Alana’s. I knew how her blood smelt from the one time I found injuries on her but that didn’t stop me from panicking and breaking out into a distraught run.
“Alana!”
I had never moved with such speed before. Alana headed in this direction. Her scent was coming from here, and now all I could smell was blood?
The thought to mind link Coral to come through and help me track Alana was overwhelming. She was the best tracker in the pack and now wasn't the time to be strongheaded. She would take too long to arrive so I drove forward.
My panic and unbridled rage knew no bounds and the twigs and branches in my way paid the price for it.
I was running too slow. Four lunged forward in a split second and fired in the direction of the blood.
After turning and running for a few seconds, I heard an unfamiliar whine from a wolf and I increased my pace before it came into view.
The sight blinded me and I channeled the rage to my paws and let out a vicious snarl before lunging at the midnight black wolf who had Alana tackled under her.
The wolf looked young. Younger than Alana but it wasn’t one of ours. Wherever it came from, it was never going to return.
It hit me mid-air when the young wolf snapped her large brown eyes to me.
I shifted immediately and tackled the small wolf to the ground. In my human form, I was still bigger than Emily. Her wolf was beautiful. The same dark shade of mine and Dad’s. Only Mom had a bit of brown streaks on her wolf.
“Emily!” My heartbeat steadied knowing that Alana was safe.
She whined and nudged my hard naked body playfully with her snout. Alana pealed out a laugh from behind us.
I turned to her and crouched to her position where she had rabbit blood smeared all over her shirt and her face. It all made sense.
“You’re okay.” I helped her up and wrapped her in my embrace where she stiffened.
“And you’re very naked.” She choked out. Looking everywhere else but at me. Nervous.
“I’m not complaining,” I cocked an eyebrow at her.
My comment drew a snort from Emily’s wolf behind us.
Alana’s face pinked more before she ducked her head in embarrassment.
Emily’s wolf tipped her chin to the line in between the trees as though asking for permission to go on a run and I skirted around Alana to get to her. I played with her dark fur and patted her.
“I’m so proud of you, Emily. She’s beautiful. And freaking huge for a sixteen-year-old. Go on, explore the woods. But make sure you don’t go too far or tire yourself out. I’ll be waiting for you at home.”
She pressed her forehead to mine before zooming deep into the forest.
“How did you find us?” Alana’s angelic voice had me stalking in quick strides to take her hands and kiss her all over.
I sniffed her hair and her neck, breathing in all of her scent.
“You were gone too long. I was worried something happened, so I followed your scent after the game. I also wanted to tell you we won.”
“I can take care of myself, Axel.”
Even if that wasn’t entirely true, sadly, I understood and respected what she meant by it.
“Alright, fine. I missed you. And I wanted you closer to me. You were so far away.”
She muffled back a peal of laughter and dipped her head, eyes meeting my erection before she shot her head back up, frozen.
“You should put something on. Leaves perhaps.” She pointed everywhere hysterically.
“Don’t be nervous, Alana, you’re supposed to have seen enough of me. Goddess, I don’t even want to be clothed when I’m around you. And I certainly won’t be tonight. Not after what you’ve pulled with Emily. You helped her. How?”
At first glance, I would not have thought that that was the case with the scenario I ran into. But it wasn’t so surprising because Alana was my Luna and my other half for a reason.
“I didn’t do anything. I just followed her here because she looked stressed at the game. We talked for a bit and she started shifting.”
“That must not have been easy for you.” It couldn't have been.
Most times, werewolves only allowed their family members to be around them when they turned. Some preferred solitude. I wouldn’t have thought Emily would have wanted to share that with Alana.
It made me warm. Satisfied.
“I was scared when it started, I'll give you that. But she begged me to stay. And I thought about how I would have wanted my shift to go. I wouldn’t have wanted to be alone. And if I had someone with me, I thought of the things they would have done or said to make the process easier for me.” She shrugged. “I just did the same thing.”
“Spoken like a true Luna.” I kissed her temple, warmth running through me and hardening my erection more. “I’m forever grateful, Alana. You have my thanks, and the pack’s.”
“Seriously, you should get some clothes. Someone can walk in on us.”
I laughed and took a step back. Giving her full view of what she was doing to me.
“Tyler is on his way with a change of clothes for me.”
“Great.”
I caught her eyes lingering on my cock for a dazzled second before she pulled her head sideways, not meeting my eyes.
The urge to lift her onto my hardwood, hold her against a tree, and fuck her dry almost overpowered me. I pushed the idea down for another day. Tyler was close.
“I did want to talk to you about something, Alana,” I brought her slim and delicate hands to my lips.
She nodded.
I was going to put it out there for her to know that I was serious about us moving forward. It’s not like I could hold it for much longer, anyway.
“You should already know this, but the more we’re together, the harder it is to stay mated without marking each other.” I paused to find any reaction in her eyes but she just stared point blank.
Save for a tight nod, she gave nothing else off.
“You can take all the time in the world to think about what you want and when it would be comfortable for you to take that step with me, but you should know that I’m all in. No matter how much you snore or drool at night, I’d still like to mark you and make you mine forever.” NôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.
I ran my thumb over the back of her palm nervously for strength before I continued.
“Even before you proved to me that you’re more than capable of being Luna, I wanted to be yours. And now, I will do anything to make that happen.”
I left the floor open for her to share her thoughts.
If we were to mark, we would be one. We would share our thoughts, our minds, feelings and all. I wanted nothing more than I wanted that.
But her stillness told me that maybe that wasn’t what she wanted. The thought of it sent a sharp saw blade running through my gut repeatedly.