by M. Ekman
When they both woke up the next morning having passed out in Ruth’s bed Violet jumped up and covered her nose. “I’m sorry girl, but you stink. Did you shower at all after training yesterday?”
Ruth hadn’t, but she didn’t admit to Violet that the only reason she’d forgotten was because of her talk with Tyler. “Ha, ha. I will be ready in just a sec. Calm down, Miss Princess.”
“I need to get home and get changed anyways. I’m going to leave you some clothes on your bed and meet you in the mess hall for breakfast.”
“Hmm,” Ruth mumbled in assent as she wearily made her way to her bathroom. Looking in the mirror, Ruth looked like a disaster with hair going every which way and circles under her eyes. She turned on the shower waiting for the water to get hot before remembering, “Hey Vi,” she mindlinked.
“Yes?” the bubbly girl replied.
“I have training today so don’t go overboard, okay? No dresses.”
Violet grumbled back, “Spoilsport.”
By the time Ruth had finished cleaning herself up, she was happy to find that Violet had left a nice pair of jeans and a white shirt covered in cute yellow daisies on her bed. It was more done up than Ruth usually was for training, but not unmanageable. Especially since today would be mostly doing rounds in the territory in her wolf form.
Ruth worked her hair into a Dutch braid Violet had shown her how to do and applied a little bit of makeup. More likely than not, Tyler wouldn’t be at breakfast, but Ruth and Violet had both agreed that she should be prepared to meet him no matter what.
Quicker than Ruth thought was possible for the appearance perfectionist, Violet was at her door urging Ruth to “get a move on”. Ruth rolled her eyes as she turned the knob and her over eager friend pounced on her, practically dragging Ruth to the mess hall.
After a quick glance around the large room without either woman finding a hint of Tyler, they went and filled plates from steaming buffet platters. With a sigh, Ruth followed Violet to the alpha’s table, she wished he’d stop trying to hide from her. It helped that Tyler’s wolf was fighting for her.
‘Now it was going to be two against one,’ she thought as a devious smile passed over her face.
Ruth’s train of thought became derailed when Jason plopped down in the seat across from hers with a heaping plate of food. Before the first bite could reach his lips, Violet began to pester him with questions.
“What’s going on with Alpha? Why is he still hiding?”
“Honestly, Violet, I don’t know. He has completely shut off his mindlink, even to me. He has locked his office and refuses to come out.”
She sighed exasperatedly, but thankfully ceased her tirade. “Men,” Violet muttered as she folded her arms haughtily.
Jason shrugged and began shoveling food into his mouth, whereas Ruth couldn’t even look at her meal anymore. Suddenly, a warm hand enveloped hers and gave an affectionate squeeze.
Violet mindlinked, “Have faith. The plan will work,” before winking and releasing the hand she held.
Ruth chuckled, how was it that the she-wolf always knew exactly what she needed to hear? She shook off her thoughts and booked it to the training field, barely making it on time.
Cassie didn’t comment on Ruth’s wardrobe choice, or even ask how things went with Tyler. However, that was typical of the she-wolf. She really wasn’t one to pry, for which Ruth was extremely grateful. None of the enforcers she trained with treated her any differently, though the males seemed more reluctant to spar with her than before.
At the end of training, Cassie passed out the new scouting schedules for the trainees. Usually, each trainee rotated through the various experienced enforcers and went on scouting rounds with them around the territory.
Ruth noticed her name on the list, but she wasn’t partnered with an enforcer. “Cassie, there is something wrong with your list. I don’t have a partner.”
A small grin dusted Cassie’s face, “Well, that must be because you’ve been with them all.”
“Yeah,” Ruth said, “but I don’t see why that matters.”
“Hmm, let’s see,” Cassie began ticking items off on her fingers, “you’ve done a scouting rotation with each enforcer; you’ve completed all the training requirements; you’ve started to teach trainees of your own…”
Ruth had no idea where Cassie was going with this, but she noticed that all the trainees around her were getting the same bazaar smile on their faces. What was Ruth not getting?
Cassie chuckled, “Girl, you are officially done with training. There is nothing left for you to do but join the ranks and be an official enforcer.” With that, the training grounds exploded with a chorus of congratulations.
“What?” Ruth squeaked.
Cassie slung her arm around her shoulders, “This is supposed to be an honor you know.”
“It is. But I just never thought—”
“Stop worrying. This is where you are supposed to be. Now go get some rest since your shift starts at dusk,” she said as she shoved Ruth towards the pack house.
Ruth laughed only taking a few steps before stopping, “Yeah, fat chance of resting now. You know this pack loves any excuse for a party.”
Everyone in their group hooted at this, and all raced inside to be the first to see what the kitchen staff had made for the occasion. The she-wolf chortled but didn’t follow, as she had the first guard shift along with her trainee partner.
Cassie waved her off with a “good luck” before she headed out to check the territory perimeter.
With everyone gone, Ruth thought she’d get a moment to herself before entering the pack house. However, it wasn’t meant to be as the door was thrust open by an excited Violet.
With a huge grin, the smaller girl threw her arms around Ruth, “You have no idea how hard it was not to tell you about this last night. This is a huge deal, so Alpha will have to make an appearance. And, I might’ve gone overboard.”
Stopping dead in her tracks she turned to Violet with a wide-eyed innocent expression on her face, “You, go overboard?”
The she-wolf blinked in surprise before realizing Ruth was joking and bursting into a fit of giggles. Ruth rolled her eyes as she linked arms with her friend, “Come on, crazy girl. Let’s see how fanatical you actually got.”
In the pack house mess hall Ruth was greeted with brightly colored streamers hanging everywhere. Taped to the wall were glittery posters that said things like “don’t be uncouth, congratulate Ruth” and “don’t mess with enforcer Ruth, or she’ll give you a broken-tooth”.
“Wow,” Ruth said with a raised eyebrow, “you weren’t kidding about the overboard thing. Were the posters exactly necessary?”
Violet put her fists on her hips in mock anger, “Of course they were. How else would people know we were celebrating you?”
Raising her eyebrow Ruth deadpanned, “You and I both know this pack is so small someone so much as coughs and everyone will find out about it within the hour.”
Violet dropped her act with a pleading look, “Yeah, okay I’ll give you that. But what’s a party without decorations? Please can we keep them up?”
“Fine,” Ruth sighed good-naturedly, “If nothing else, at least there is enough nourishment for our little gathering.”
She gestured over to the four large tables bursting with so much food that trays were practically piled on top of each other. It didn’t matter that everyone had just had breakfast, no one ever turned down Maggie and Violet’s cooking. Not only that, but it seemed that the whole pack was there, not just the enforcers and trainees.
Violet hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said Ruth becoming an enforcer was a big deal, but Ruth still doubted Tyler would show. Soon Ruth’s attention was taken by one of the enforcers she had done rotations with.
Without knowing how it happened, Ruth found herself sitting at a table full of people with a half-eaten plate in front of her. Somehow, someway, she had become more comfortable with the ragtag bunch of goofb
alls that made up the Blood Mountain Pack than she’d ever been with anyone before. The shyness and meek behavior she’d always been sure to exhibit in her old pack had melted away, and she wasn’t afraid to be herself.
A shiver ran down her spine as a familiar scent washed over her. Tyler has shown up though he didn’t move past the doorway, or even look in Ruth’s direction.
“Welcome everyone and thank you for coming to celebrate yet another wolf joining our enforcer ranks,” with that Tyler gestured to Jason before practically running from the room.
Jason approached Ruth and gave her the official paperwork with a soft expression. “Once you sign this, it will be official.”
She gave a halfhearted smile, “What is with you wolves and your love of office work?”
Those who overheard chuckled, and everyone cheered as she printed her name in swirling script. Jason melted into the crowd as Ruth became surrounded by well wishers.
Eventually Ruth was able to make her way out of the dining hall, but was stopped before she got to her room by Summer, the young pup she’d mock fought with for her pack status what seemed like eons ago.
Summer was holding a bouquet of wildflowers. “For you,” she said shyly.
Ruth squatted down so she could be at the young girls eye level, “Why thank you, Sweetie Pie. Did you pick these just for me?”
Summer’s eyes widened as if afraid, before she blurted out, “No tell.”
Holding back her laughter at the girl’s obvious worry over keeping her secret Ruth responded, “Don’t worry Honey, you did a good job. Tell whoever they’re from that I love them.”
Just like that, the small girl’s fear melted away and she bounded away smiling. Ruth shook her head and rose to go and find a vase or cup to put the flowers in. As she set the flowers on her bedside table she couldn’t help smiling at seeing them there. Was it too much to hope that it was Tyler that sent them, despite everything?
Ruth broke out of her thoughts as she glanced at her watch and saw that she needed to hurry up. All her dilly-dallying was going to make her late for her first solo-scouting mission. Not a good way to start off her first day.
CHAPTER 24
Tyler was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, but no matter how hard he tried, sleep still eluded him. He had thought that holing up in his office would help, but it only made matters worse. Every time he looked at his desk, he saw Ruth, and his mind would start pouring through his memories of her in that space. Especially when she had sat before him wide-eyed in shock when he’d proposed that she switch packs.
However, if Tyler left, he could come face to face with the real thing and that would be infinitely worse. He knew that if Ruth confronted him again he wouldn’t be able to say no. It had been so hard to fight his feelings the first 100 times and he knew he didn’t have the strength to do it even once more. Seeing her at her enforcer party had been pure torcher and he’d escaped before he could do something truly stupid like getting on his knees and begging for her forgiveness.
Tyler just kept reminding himself that he was doing this for her own good...wasn’t he? Somehow, though, that thought just made Tyler feel more like a coward. Out of nowhere, his thoughts were interrupted as a bone-chilling scream filled his mind. Ruth had somehow broken through the block on Tyler’s mindlink.
He tore out of his office and onto the front porch shifting as soon as his nose touched the cool night air. Nothing seemed amiss, but Ruth still screamed in his mind. Sticking his nose in the air, Tyler was barely able to catch her scent, which was leading him somewhere to the southwest.
Running as fast as his tired muscles could take him, Tyler followed Ruth’s minty smell. Within minutes, though to Tyler it seemed to stretch on for hours, he saw a large trail of blood. Most of it wasn’t Ruth’s but that didn’t prevent Tyler from losing control.
As he smashed into a copse of trees he saw a lone and crazed, dirt brown furred wolf. The wolf had long gashes along his side, unfortunately those were already starting to heal. In his mouth was Ruth’s leg twisted at an awful angle.
Seeming to sense that Tyler was there, Ruth ceased the ongoing screaming in his mind and instead yowled softly. It seemed she had put up quite a fight, but once he’d gotten her leg she was in too much pain continue her attacks. Oddly enough, the rogue hardly spared Tyler a glance as he continued to drag Ruth’s nearly dead weight to the border.
Tyler shook with the need to attack, but knew that he couldn’t without possibly causing more pain to Ruth. Channeling his anger, Tyler’s wolf gathered his alpha power around him. He began to growl long and low, calling for the rogue to submit. At first his growl seemed to have no effect but after a few moments the rogue began to shake his head as if to clear it. The movement caused Ruth to moan in pain, and Tyler grew tenser.
He got up in the rogue’s face and growled even louder, hackles raised. The wolf dropped Ruth’s leg as he began to violently shake off Tyler’s Command to submit. Prepared for this, Tyler latched his powerful jaw onto the rogue’s snout and twisted until the trespasser fell to the ground. Still holding the other wolf’s face in his jaw Tyler swiped at the wolf’s exposed belly with razor sharp claws.
Another moan escaped Ruth and Tyler seized the opportunity to end the fight. Tyler quickly shifted to his human form, unlatched his jaw from the rogue’s face, and sucker punched the wolf’s already ripped up face as hard as he could. The intruder instantly fell unconscious at the force of the brutal hit.
Tyler’s growls must have alerted the other pack enforcers on duty because soon five of them came running up. With his uncontrollable anger still in full force he could only spit out, “Tie up. Throw in cell.”
Two of the enforcers jumped into action and shifted into their human forms to take the incapacitated rogue away. The other three stayed their wolf forms and stood around Ruth in a triangular guard formation.
Knowing they were safe from outside attack Tyler turned to Ruth who had begun to whimper. This caused Tyler to snap once again, shifting as his wolf took over. Crawling over to Ruth, he began to lick her face trying to comfort the ailing she-wolf.
Seconds later, the pack doctor came puffing onto the scene, having been sent by one of the enforcers who’d gone to throw Ruth’s attacker into the pack prison.
Taking in the injured wolf before him, the doctor mindlinked his alpha, “What happened?”
“Rogue attack.” Tyler replied simply.
“No, I mean obviously, but why are you acting—wait, is that Ruth?” the doctor asked.
Tyler briefly raised his head to glare at the doctor like he was an idiot before another wolfy whine from Ruth stole his focus.
“I see,” the doctor approached Alpha Tyler with his head bent and eyes downcast. Softly he addressed his alpha, “Your mate has a broken leg. I need to look at her to assess the damage.”
Tyler’s wolf was so firmly in the driver’s seat, he didn’t even pick up on the doctor’s title for Ruth. However, the broken leg comment nearly had him snapping at the omega, and couldn’t help the angry growl that rumbled out of his throat.
“You don’t have to leave her side, but if you don’t let me examine her, the wound could heal wrong. Alpha, if that happens, she might never walk right again.”
At this, Tyler stopped growling, which the doctor must have taken as a good sign since he continued, “Can you make Ruth shift, so I can get a better look?”
Another growl came from Alpha Tyler but this one wasn’t directed at the doctor. This growl was much quieter and sounded more like a soft call. It was very different than the one he’d used on Ruth when she’d first arrived to get her to shift. Before he had commanded Ruth to shift as an alpha, but this time he was asking her to shift in a way only a mate could.
Tyler tapped his wolf head to Ruth’s and suddenly Ruth was in her human form. Her shift was as seamless and fast as Tyler’s usually was, which was odd, but Tyler was too worried about her injuries to care. Her leg was dislocated but for s
ome reason it didn’t look as bad as it had in her wolf form, at least that’s what Tyler thought.
He gently rubbed his nose along Ruth’s forehead after her shift attempting to bring his she-wolf comfort. Tyler’s ministrations were eventually interrupted by the doctor’s calm voice once he had finished his examination of Ruth. “Alpha, I have to reset her leg, but it will cause a great deal of pain. I am sorry, but there is no way around it.”
Understanding what this meant, Tyler nodded; and, without having to be asked, moved so that his head rested on top of Ruth’s chest with the rest of his body pinning down her uninjured leg. If the bone had to be reset, there was a chance Ruth could move and ruin the doctor’s work.
Even though his wolf hated the idea of causing her more pain, he understood that it was necessary. Wolves healed relatively fast, which was a blessing, but also a curse if medical attention could not be found in time and a wound healed wrong.
Once Tyler was in place, the doctor swiftly took hold of Ruth’s injured leg and retched it painfully forward and up. An audible snap was heard and Ruth jerked out of her semi-consciousness screaming but, just as quickly, fainted from the pain.
“Now that the worst is over, we need to get her cleaned up so I can evaluate her lacerations,” the doctor told Alpha Tyler.
Without so much as a sound, Tyler shifted into his human form and gently picked Ruth up, cradling her to his chest. The enforcers that were standing guard had remained silent all through the process, but as their alpha moved, they followed. Keeping their triangle pattern to guard the couple and the doctor on all sides, the trio growled a warning to the rest of the pack. An alpha with an injured mate was not one to be messed with, so in order to protect the pack, everyone would need to stay far away until Ruth recovered.
Once inside the pack house, a new set of enforcers, on two legs, took over leading Tyler and his mate up to Alpha’s Quarters. They remained outside as Tyler led Ruth into his bedroom. His wolf needed her surrounded by his scent and away from any males, even though he knew his pack wasn’t a threat.
