ALPHA(29)

I had been writing for about an hour, when I jumped back at the wolf that suddenly appeared on my right side. I quickly relaxed and smiled when I recognised the piercing green eyes that were watching me. His tongue lolled out in a goofy way and I laughed as he walked up to me and licked my cheek, before bouncing off with a yip.

“Eww gross!” I laughed and wiped my cheek, pretending to be disgusted when in fact I thought it was pretty damn adorable.

It should have taken me longer to process the fact that I was living with actual, real-life shifters, and if you’d told me a few months ago that I would sitting in the forest and mucking around with wolves, I would have probably called someone up to come and take you to the padded rooms. As much as I’d love to say this was all just a crazy dream, there was no denying that those eyes belonged to Jackson, and it made more sense to believe it than not to. I just decided to go along with it, because I was a lot happier now than I had been before, so surely that meant that as crazy as it was, it could only be a good thing.

Sitting down on the floor, Jackson looked even bigger. The power he commanded was given readily with no physical act required, and I understood why he was the alpha. Strength radiated from him like heat from a fire. There was no denying his dominant aura, and I was captivated as I watched him surveying his surroundings, as if waiting for something to happen. I stood up so I didn’t feel so small, and observed as he stood up straighter when three more wolves came out of the trees. I should have been terrified, but I knew these were from our pack. Funny how I thought of it as our pack instead of their pack. I relaxed, just enjoying the visual spectacle that the huge wolves presented. Every single one of them was beautiful, and they were watching me as if waiting for me to run away screaming. I didn’t want to run away, in fact what I really wanted to do was go over to them and show them I was okay with them. I wanted to see for myself if their fur was as soft as it looked, but as a newbie who had no idea of the etiquette and protocol behind these things, I had no idea if that would be okay or not. Jackson must have read the questions on my face, because he ducked his head slightly and the three wolves moved slowly towards me, as if trying not to spook me. They would never spook me though, this was the coolest thing that had ever happened to me and I felt like a child at Christmas with excitement bubbling up inside me. I never realised before how important eyes were when differentiating between people, but just by looking in to these wolves bright eyes, I knew exactly who was stood in front of me. Noah’s eyes were easy to pick out, and his wolf was a light brown chocolate colour. Ethan and Blake’s wolves were harder to tell apart, until one of the wolves poked their tongue out and started rolling around on the floor - the childishness of the whole scenario just screamed at me that it was Blake, and I laughed at his behaviour. I laughed even harder when I saw Jackson rolling his eyes, and felt a nudge behind me as he used his head to push me closer to the other guys. I presumed this meant it would be okay if I touched them, and reaching out with a shaking hand, I touched Noah on the head - figuring if he was anything like human Noah then he would be the calmest of the bunch - and was pleasantly surprised by how soft the fur was. It felt like silk and the warmth that radiated through me from his body heat made me so comfortable I could have probably fallen asleep right then. I giggled when Blake suddenly used his head to push my hand off of Noah, and on to his own head. Just like normal dogs, they were each vying for my attention and I kept that thought to myself in case being compared to dogs was offensive for them.

It wasn’t until about an hour later that I realised I had spent my afternoon sitting in the garden with four wolves, who had just sat there and kept me company. After about ten minutes of petting them and giving them equal attention, I had sat down and they had copied me, lounging on the ground and soaking up the sunlight. It was hands down the most bizarre situation I had ever been in, but I had never felt so content. Seriously, if you ever feel stressed just sit with a bunch of wolves and you’ll feel loads better. Just shifters though, I really wouldn’t recommend it with your average wolf. I had filled the silence with my endless chattering, and was surprised to find that after an hour they were still sat there just listening to me go on. I guess it just felt nice to get some things off my chest, and I was embarrassed to remember how much I had slagged off Craig, men in general and relationships. I guess that because they couldn’t answer back, I had forgotten that they could hear and understand every word I said. I really hoped that Jackson wouldn’t think badly of me after that, and would realise that my real frustration was with my cheating ex-husband. Talking about him just reminded me that I needed to get the divorce finalised - and fast. I didn’t think I would ever be able to fully move on otherwise. Realising I had been speaking way too much, and Blake had actually fallen asleep right next to me, I settled back and just carried on writing, enjoying the silence only punctuated by the sounds of the wolves breathing and the tapping of my keys. The wolves who stayed in a circle around me; keeping me safe.