ALPHA BECK

CHAPTER 6

            The hours following Millie's second meeting with Beck seemed to drag on and on. The second hand on the clock appeared to take twice as long to circuit the full minute when compared to how time felt before Beck. She couldn't get the man out of her head no matter how hard she tried. When she was with him, when she thought about him, her head didn't ache as bad and her fatigue waned. The thought of him was all consuming. It ate her alive, in the best of ways. In her mind's eye, she could picture his face: chiseled, thick dark brows, serious gray eyes. The face of a wolf. A shiver rocked down her spine at the memory of him falling into the form of a wolf. Millie had refused to fully process it yet, taking it in her stride was easy enough. She wouldn't think too hard about it until she sorted herself out.

Millie spent the early morning in bed, lying on her back and attempting to shake herself of the dreams she had that night. The wolves in her dreams had begun to wear Beck's face and coloring. Instead of running through the trees, he laid among them, falling out of fur and into skin. In her dreams, she held his human face and pulled his lips to hers.

Homework and papers from school sat piled on Millie's desk, but she had yet to think about completing any of it. She was consumed by what had been and what was happening. There were only two months left until graduation, she figured she could slip behind on a few assignments and manage to skate by. Until Tara found out, then she would have a few words to say.

Turning on her side, she buried her face into her pillow. Her head had been throbbing since she left Beck the day before. It was as if her proximity to him dulled her condition. But at the moment, she thought her skull might explode.

Finally, the clock on her bedside table turned over to seven and she allowed herself to get out of bed. She shuffled to the bathroom down the hall from her bedroom. Millie paused to smell the air inside her home, once again mystified by her abilities she had never realized. She could smell her mother's body wash still lingering from her shower and the peanut butter she had spread on her toast before leaving for work early that morning. It was shocking still, knowing she was different. She felt validated knowing she was different. Crazy, maybe, but different nonetheless. And it was incredibly relieving to have someone on her side, a mate, who was willing to help her. Millie's cheeks warmed at the thought of what he had said the day before.

Slipping into the bathroom, she turned on the light and peered at herself in the mirror. Her blunt cut dark hair laid in waves to her shoulders, mused from sleep. Her eyes were deep brown, intensified by the dark circles beneath her eyes from the perpetual lack of sleep. Her full lips pouted slightly, dry from the cold. She looked the same as she had for years, but she couldn't have felt more different. She suddenly felt hope and purpose. Things she couldn't remember when she had last felt.

Millie went through the motions, showering, brushing her teeth, and washing her face with a slight hurry. She was eager to see Beck. In the kitchen, she took her pills and downed a few cups of water. In the back of her head, she recalled him mentioning he had breakfast covered. But she never liked to be empty handed. She put on a pot of coffee and prepared a large thermos. The clock on the oven read ten to eight, she figured she had waited long enough. Grabbing the full thermos, she snagged her keys off the hook by the door, and ran through brisk morning to her Bronco.

The day was beautiful for late March, promising Spring and warmer days ahead. The clouds were high and harmless in the sky, the temperature hovered around fifty degrees, and the breeze was light. Before she opened the door to her truck, she stopped once more to smell the air. Millie shut her eyes, facing the trees that lined the other side of the street. Inhaling, a few deep breaths, she analyzed what she could smell. Pine, Spruce, musky wet soil, pungent motor oil, the neighbor's maple syrup, and the sweet sharp scent of a mowed lawn. A smile spread across her face despite herself. Turning around, she climbed into her Bronco and headed out.