Hidden

Adolpha managed to regain her new balance, albeit unsteady. She staggered as she moved forward and swung her head around as if she were a drunk from an early afternoon bender. She tried to focus on the sounds and smells that felt a little muffled filtered through this human nose and ears, annoyance hindering her progress. They needed their mate yet her human half didn’t seem to grasp that yet.

“Alaya.”

Adolpha ignored whoever called out to her human half, they were of no consequence. She stumbled forward again as she tried to go quicker, frustration growing at these obstacles in her way. She needed her mate. Mate. Mate. The need was so raw, so primal it blocked everything else out.

A hand grasped at her shoulder and she turned around, growling at the intruder that dared touch her without consent. Her eyes met with pools of green and her heart stuttered a little, although Adolpha was unsure why. This man was familiar but wasn’t her mate, so she shrugged out of his hold with ease and pushed onward. Her legs seemed a little less feeble now as she walked, getting used to controlling these human limbs completely. She had never had full control before and Adolpha didn’t particularly like it.

𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘢, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺.

Alaya lay quiet in her mind, anger clearly still fuelling her stubbornness. Adolpha growled out loud again and focused on where her feet had to go next. As she pushed herself to go faster once more she stumbled, feet colliding with the uneven ground. Before her body could crash into the floor her elbows were caught by the familiar man from earlier who obviously wouldn’t leave her be.

“Get off,” she growled, causing him to fright from her sheer ferocity. Her irises burnt into his, luminescent as if a moon on fire. He dropped his hold on her, causing her to stumble and hit the floor like she should of before, albeit slightly less forceful.

“Alaya?” he questioned, backing up a little as she bared her human teeth at him. Adolpha felt confused as she tried to right herself. Nothing felt right. She hated this human skin, this paper-thin mess of arms and legs. She needed freedom. Needed her own body, her true form.

Adolpha felt the ripple of her power through Alaya’s entirety as she realised she could have the freedom she craved, especially being at the forefront. The need to be with their mate still plagued her but that would be over soon.

𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘦.

𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘧.

Their body morphed beautifully as if no time had passed since their last change. Limbs fluttered fluidly, fingers to claws, nose to muzzle. As their paws fell softly onto the hard mud, as if nature itself echoed through the air, they took off at a dead run. Adolpha was completely in control. No struggle trying to get a body to comply, no human emotions confusing her mind. She had one task.

𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘦.

Adolpha picked up his scent with ease, sounds and smells filtering through the air as she ran. It had been weeks since she had felt the wind stroke her fur and the feeling was pure pleasure. The mud beneath her paws, the sound of the forest echoing behind the noises of the compound, like a permanent base note to everything else, pure unbridled pleasure. The wilderness on the horizon, just out of sight, pulled at her entire being, like the branches were claws dragging her back to where she belonged. The animal side was stronger than the human whispers in this form, but the need to find her mate anchored her and kept her running towards him, away from the forest that called her home.

Adolph’s scent grew stronger, mixed with the scent of others that were approaching fast. Adolpha slowed as her mind searched, trying to decipher where it was coming from. She had thought it had laid in front of her but now the whispers on the breeze called to her from behind. She spun on herself, nose to the floor to try and get a better trail.

“Alaya?”

Their mate’s voice called out to them and Adolpha’s ears perked up. Her eyes instantly found his, mirrors of moonlight as if reflecting off each other. But he wasn’t quite her mate, he was still locked in his human cage. He should be free like she was. Her thoughts were still disjointed, this was her first change since Alaya and she had truly connected. She was no longer pure wolf, not even when fully in control, flashes of her human connection making everything confusing.

Adolpha shook her head trying to concentrate.

𝘈𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢! 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦?

Their mate’s voice crashed into their mind, anger at the forefront. Adolpha shied away a little as she felt his presence, not understanding what she had done wrong. She needed to be close to him. Had awoken from her slumber to his absence and Alaya hadn’t understood the urgency. She had taken control for him so why did she feel his anger?

Panic ravaged her fractured mind and she pushed him out, searching their shared conscious for Alaya so they could undo the mess she had created. But all that echoed back to her was silence, Alaya hidden from Adolpha for a change. This just confused and angered Adolpha more, she pulled at her human half, trying desperately to reconnect.

𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘢? 𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘢? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦.

There was no reply, just never-ending silence.

Adolpha felt as her mate tried to reconnect but she shielded her mind from his attempts, scared he would still be angry at her.

“Alaya. Alaya please turn back,” Noah urged and Adolpha grew annoyed at his inability to use her true name, especially when he knew it was herself at the forefront. She was not a secret to be hidden. She was just as much a part of this mind and especially this body. She growled at her mate, two sides pulling at her. One half wanting to be with him, touching him, breathing in his scent. The other at his throat for ignoring her presence as if she was nothing. Her true mate not pushing forward for control so he could talk to her himself.

Alaya watched as his human face twisted from worry to anger within moments and with her next breath, she felt his presence in her mind, stronger than ever before.

𝘈𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢!!! 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦?!

Adolpha pushed away from her mate, his presence and emotions confusing her. Without Alaya’s form merging the two halves of their mind, the animal side was starting to fill all of her. Their two worlds needed them both together to filter through everything.

𝘈𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢!!! 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘢?!

Panic pulsed through Adolpha as her animal side, confused and scared with fight or flight flooding her senses, pushed at her to run. It didn’t matter that her mate was in front of her, he was angry and she didn’t know why? She had found them, that’s all she had needed to do. But there was still a silence in her mind despite this, her true other half hidden away and she didn’t understand how to find her again.

So she gave in to the need to run.

Run until the silence stopped.

Run until she found herself again.

Adolpha ran through the buildings that should have reminded her of her community but instead made her feel caged and out of place. She felt the pull of her pack but the pull to run, to be free, was stronger. She pushed harder, trying desperately to find what called to her. As she reached the edges of the compound, shining, tall wire fences trapped her inside, keeping her from the freedom she craved. Adolpha wanted to be free. Why couldn’t she be free? Danger infected the air, setting her on edge. She clawed at the edges of a place that tried to contain her but her attempts yielded nothing but more frustration.

“Alaya,” a familiar voice called out to her and a strong sense of pack stilled her attempts to escape and turned her around. Lenara stood in front of her with her hands raised, clearly reading the situation well. She lowered herself to the ground, hands still high but keeping her gaze. Not as a challenge but a plea. She spoke to something inside of the animal that stood before her.

“Adolpha,” she soothed, a smile on her face and a slight twinkle in her eyes. Adolpha tilted her head to the side at the sound of her name.

“It’s ok. I’m your friend, best friend in fact. Pack,” she continued. Adolpha couldn’t seem to grasp exactly what she was saying but the word pack resonated around her body and mind. Less of a word more of a fact.

𝘗𝘢𝘤𝘬.

Lenara crept forward, hand outstretched towards Adolpha’s muzzle. Adolpha froze in place, her body tensed in case danger lay hidden behind this touch. Both gazed into each other’s eyes as the gap between them closed. Lenara shut her eyes as she went forward, reaching out blind, hopeful that her palm would feel fur underneath and not teeth. Adolpha did the same, trusting Lenara instinctively enough to be vulnerable.

Movement rippled through the air, pulling the pair apart just before they touched. Lenara turned around, Adolpha jumping back, lip pulled back in a snarl revealing her sharp white teeth.

“Are you serious right now? Back off,” Lenara called out to the small gathering that had formed. Noah was there, Neve too but as they moved apart slightly, they revealed the worst person to be stumbling upon the scene that was unfolding.

Alpha.

Adolpha glared at the man who strode towards them, watching as Lenara scrambled to her feet. She hunched lower to the ground, shackles up as a growl resonated from her chest. She could feel this man’s presence like a blanket intent on suffocating her, could taste his wolf on the wind as he came closer.

“Matylutka,” the man soothed, his wolf ebbing away ever so slightly as he said the word. It calmed Adolpha although she couldn’t grasp why, enough to raise her body so she stood firmly on all four paws. She held his amber gaze as he approached, her pools of moonlight never wavering.

“Phase,” the man instructed and just like that his wolf was everywhere once more. Adolpha’s body rippled as he pushed at her to obey, to change back into her human form. But her mind was still fractured, still missing a vital part of herself. She couldn’t phase into something she wasn’t, her mind was almost completely wolf now, all animal at its core. Adolpha shook her head as she tried to clear it, whining a little as the pressure built. This Alpha was trying to bend her to his will but she would not allow it. She was stronger than he knew.

“I said phase Alaya. Now!” he commanded and Adolpha felt the chains that tried to constrict her body and mind. Her mind flickered a little, flashes of human emotion breaking through. Her claws morphed for a split second to fingernails but Adolpha pushed back and they changed straight back to their animal form. She saw his human face contort at her disobedience and his eyes glowed like suns. He was more wolf than man now, stood in front of her. He may well disguise himself in this human shell but Adolpha felt the raw animal that tried to have control over her. She roared at him, a sound so forceful it became more object than sound, throwing the Alpha backwards into the ground. His wolf had no right to try and force her to surrender to him, to twist her body to his will.

“Alaya,” Noah called out and Adolpha turned towards him as he stood behind Neve and Fen. The name called at something deep within her but her animal mind couldn’t grasp what exactly that thing was. Every single inch of her mind and body were confused, such confusion that infected reality, anxiety and fear twisting and turning within her. And in the split second before she turned away from them all before she gave in to the urge to flee everything, a hand dived out of nowhere and collided with her muzzle.

And then everything was still.

Lenara...

Lenara took her chance before the situation spiralled even further off the deep end. She had seen the complete and utter rawness in Alaya’s eyes, eyes that in reality weren’t even hers anymore. They belonged to her best friends wolf, completely. That’s when she knew the only way to get Alaya back in control was to pull her out from wherever she was hiding, somewhere only a reader would be able to reach. Lenara had never done this before, didn’t even know if it could be done, but she had to try.

Inside Alaya’s mind, there were raw, broken thoughts and emotions. Fear, confusion at the forefront twisting everything in the outside world. A true sense of loss suffocated out everything else. And Danger. Over and over that word pulsed through the pair of them as Lenara tried to find out where exactly her friend was trapped.

𝘈𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢?

A growl resonated around the walls of their shared conscience and Lenara felt at Adolpha pushed a little, trying to break their connection.

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱.

Lenara calmed her own thoughts and brought only two to the forefront.

𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱.

𝘗𝘢𝘤𝘬.

She pulled on all the love the pair had shared over the years, all the memories and flooded their connection. She needed to remind Adolpha that she wasn’t just wolf, remind her of who the other part of her was. What she would lose if they didn’t reconnect. She drew upon their shared life together so far, of everything that made Alaya, Alaya to her. The jokes they had laughed at, the trouble they had gotten into. The room they shared. Memories Adolpha would have been a part of despite not being at the forefront. These memories belonged to her too, she had just forgotten. Her wolf side was completely and utterly animal without Alaya’s human side and connection filtering the outside world and all the emotions with it.

A power blast like Lenara had felt the first time she had delved into Alaya’s mind rocketed through them both, severing their connection. Lenara gasped as her eyes widened, a sense of loss pulling at her heart. Her entire self filled with joy as no longer did a wolf stand before her but her best friend instead. Her pools of moonlit mercury ebbed as their gazes met before disappearing completely as Alaya’s eyes fluttered shut.