Runaway Werewolf

Kendra stood beside the window of the cafe, watching rain pelt the glass. Her hands were cupped around a mug of coffee. It was her fourth that day. The best way she’d found so far to stave off the gnawing hunger in her stomach. She knew she had no choice but to hunt soon but the thought of shifting into her wolf form again made her shudder. She’d left the forest and her pack for a very good reason. The last thing she wanted to do was go back...

The bell over the cafe door tinkled, breaking Kendra from her thoughts. As the door opened, a gust of wind and rain blew in, accompanied by a tall figure wrapped in a dark raincoat.

Every nerve in Kendra’s body jangled. She didn’t even need to look up to know who it was. She could already smell him. Already feel him. Sense him. Fear spiked inside her.

He approached the counter slowly, raindrops cascading from his trench coat with every step.

“Americana, please,” he said in a low, deep voice. “Black.”

Kendra moved to the coffee machine without thinking. Without even uttering a word. She was so afraid, it was as if she was on auto-pilot, her body moving like a puppet under control of its master.

She poured a mug of steaming black coffee, then turned to carry it the table where he was waiting. Each step felt like an enormous effort, like she were a death-row inmate on their final walk to execution.

He watched her from the table by the window, piercing her every move with a silent, seething glower.

When she reached him, she plonked the coffee down clumsily, her hands shaking enough to spill it a little over the rim. He watched it roll all the way to the table top.

“Sit,” he commanded.

Kendra’s instincts warred inside of her. The terrified human part of her was desperate to flee. But the wolf was telling her to sit. To obey. In the presence of her former Alpha, the wolf won out...

She slumped into the seat opposite him, defeated, fatigued from the internal battle of her two distinct halves. Despite her exhaustion, the human part of her still managed to show her displeasure.

“What do you want?” she hissed between her teeth.

A smirk flitted across Alpha Dane’s lips. “You know exactly what I want,” he said in a low, threatening voice. “I want you to come back to the pack.”

“No thanks.”

“Let me put it another way, Kendra. I demand you come back to the pack.”

Kendra swallowed the lump in her throat. Her voice quavered, but she held strong. “No.”

Alpha Dane fixed his gaze on her, the amber of his wolf eyes glinting subtly behind the brown of his human ones. “You can’t do this. You know your mother wouldn’t want this for you.”

Kendra’s heart seized. Of course he would bring her mother into it. Use her death to guilt-trip her. Use her grief as a way to manipulate her.

“She would want me to happy,” Kendra said, her voice sounding more weaker and more fragile.

“She’d disapprove of you living among humans,” Alpha Dane returned. “Working in some diner. A slave to the human laws of wealth.”

Kendra narrowed her eyes. “That’s rich coming from you.”

Dane wasn’t just the Alpha of a werewolf pack, in his human form he was a very wealthy, influential man. He benefited from the so-called “laws” of the human world more than anyone she’d ever known.

“I’m serious,” Dane said, thumping his fist on the table and making her flinch. “You do not belong here, Kendra. You belong with us. With the pack. I know you’re angry with how things went down-”

“-angry is an understatement,” Kendra interjected.

“-but rules are rules.” He exhaled slowly. “You’re being stubborn. And unfair.”

“Unfair?” Kendra hissed, fighting to keep her temper in check. “I’ll give you unfair. Unfair is telling a sixteen-year-old child she has to bond with one of your Betas against her will! That’s unfair. Unfair, sick, and twisted.”

Dane tutted and shook his head. “I feared your mother’s waywardness would rub off on you. Clearly she did not teach you the rules of the wolf world properly enough.”

“Hence me being human now,” Kendra replied.

They fell silent. They’d reached a deadlock with neither budging.

Alpha Dane peered at her for a moment, his expression inscrutable. Kendra could never tell which version of Dane she would be speaking too. He had a Jekyll and Hyde personality. Charming while it suited him, turning violent if you dared cross him. She felt on edge as she watched him sip from the coffee mug cradled between his elegant, pale hands.

“Listen,” he said. “I’m saying this because I care about you. I know how hard it is in the human world. I know you don’t have anyone. But you don’t want to be human, Kendra.” He ran a hand over his shaven head. “And I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Kendra scoffed. “I’m not your responsibility.”

“You’re a member of my pack.”

“Not anymore.”

“Come back with me,” Alpha Dane said, quietly but firmly. “And you’ll be happy.”

“Happy?” Kendra challenged. ”You really think servicing your beta will make me happy?”

“He’s a good man,” he said, his gaze unflinching.

“Bullshit.”

“He will be Alpha one day, after me.”

Kendra laughed. “Oh, look who’s pulling the ‘Luna’ card.”

Alpha Dane clenched his jaw. Kendra knew she was pushing his buttons, but she couldn’t help herself. Her mother wasn’t even cold in her grave when he’d announced she was to bond with his Beta, Theodore. He’d made it seem like he was doing her a favor. The whole thing had made her feel sick to her stomach.

Soon after, she’d run. And she hadn’t looked back.

“I haven’t come here to start a war,” Alpha Dane told. “You’re sixteen. You’re a child.”

“Exactly!” Kendra said. “And a child shouldn’t have to be anywhere near Theodore.”

“You’re a child as a human. As a wolf, you’re more than ready to contribute to the pack. Or did you expect to continue to mooch off of us forever and give nothing in return?”

Kendra’s eyebrows rose. “Let me make this very clear. I’m done with obeying you. I’m done with the pack.”

Alpha Dane glared. “No, you’re not. Not until I say you are.”

“Then you might be waiting a long time,” Kendra said.

She went to stand, but Alpha Dane’s eyes blazed with sudden fury. Quick as a flash, he was up and across the table, grabbing a fist full of her t-shirt and heaving her to her feet.

Kendra yelped, her wolf senses going into overdrive, setting off a thousand different alarm bells in her mind.

“I’ve had enough of your insolence,” he breathed into her face, his breath hot.

Kendra tried to free herself, but Alpha Dane’s grasp was too tight.

He slid, stealthily off the table, dragging her with him, and started to tug her toward the door. The wolf inside him was starting to appear - she could see the fur thickening on his hand as he tugged her.

She tried to dig her heels in but it was no use, Dane was far stronger than her, both as a wolf and human. Shifting would be pointless - her wolf instincts would simply tell her to submit.

She was screwed.

Then she heard it...The sound of a car pulling into the parking lot. She nearly wept with relief.

Alpha Dane must have heard it too, because in one fluid movement, he let go of her shirt, practically throwing her away from him. She slammed back into the wall.

“I’ll be back,” he growled, then he turned for the doorway and was gone.

Kendra was alone again.

She pressed a hand to her heart. It was racing so fast it felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest. She knew Dane would be pissed about her leaving the pack, but she never thought he’d try and drag her back against her will.

“You okay?” a voice suddenly said.

Kendra gasped and looked up. A college-age guy was standing in the doorway blinking at her with concern. He must be the driver of the car that had startled Dane.

Kendra nodded, quickly arranging her clothes and hair as best she could.

“Disgruntled customer,” she lied. “Nothing to worry about. What can I get you?”

The guy took a step inside, glancing over his shoulder. When he looked back, his eyes were narrowed. “Are you sure you’re okay? If that guy was hassling, I could help-”

“-No,” Kendra interjected. “Everything’s fine.” She attempted a smile. “What’s your order?”

He regarded her for a moment longer, clearly not believing her. Then finally, he said, “Two lattes to go.”

“Coming right up.”

Kendra turned to the coffee machine, letting the fake smile fade immediately from her face. As soon as she was out of sight, she saw the tremor in her hands. She was shaking like a leaf.

Dane would be back. She was sure of it. He wasn’t going to let her leave the pack without a fight. She didn’t know why it mattered so much to him that she remain with the pack, but from his aggressive outburst earlier, it clearly did.

Which meant she had no option but to leave this town.

And fast.

“You know,” she said, turning back to the guy and presenting him with two lattes, “there is something you could help me with, maybe...”

“Go on,” he said with a nod.

“Could you give me a ride to the bus stop? I need to-”

“-get away from that creepy guy who was going to attack you before I walked in?” he finished for her, eyebrows raised. “Yeah. I guessed as much. Come on. Let’s go.”

Kendra didn’t waste another second. She snatched a twenty dollar note out of the till and grabbed the store keys, then hurried around the counter.

“Don’t forget your coffee,” the guy said, nodding to the second latte still sitting on the counter.

“You got it for me?” Kendra asked, surprised.

“You looked like you needed it. I was right, wasn’t I?”

“Yeah...” Kendra replied.

“Come on then, let’s go.”

She grabbed the drink and followed him out into the rain.