The Hidden Alpha (Stryders #4) - HOLD

Chapter 43: Runaway

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Sorry for the long delays in updating, but I hope I can be consistent as the year comes to an end and I have more time. Thanks for being so patient with me. Hopefully there are some people still reading this...

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Sneaking back into the Academy was easy with Lainey. 

My cell phone signal was bad here because the Academy was literally in the middle of nowhere. For a single moment, I thought about what would happen if something went wrong. Nothing could go wrong, I reminded myself, stealing a glance at Callum through my sunglasses.

Disguising ourselves to make sure no one recognized me, in particular, was hard. It meant I had to ditch my heels, wear some comfortable sneakers, sweatpants and a sweatshirt. All gray and boring - a color I would never wear otherwise. I tied my hair up, and wore a beanie that had a little poof ball on top, and had on large sunglasses. Callum just had an all black outfit, wearing his hoodie over him so he wouldn't be looked at if someone did notice him.

Callum's been quiet - more quiet than he usually is. But his presence is a reassurance for me.

Something in the back of my mind always bugged me about him being here, though. I tugged on his hand that we were holding together.

Holding hands wasn't supposed to be such a big deal, but I decided I wanted to experience it at least once. Seeing my parents do it all the team, always so natural, they were always touching each other. Nerves made me rethink it and back out of it, but as soon as I brushed our hands together, Callum enclosed his big hand on mine, intertwining our fingers.

He glanced down at me in questioning, to see if I was okay. "Don't you have to go back to your pack? There's a lot of things that you have to deal with...without my own problems." 

"Freya, all of your problems are mine." Callum blinked at me as if it was the most obvious thing. "We're doing this together, and afterwards, I will go back. I trust Julian to take care of it. The Barrier..." Callum used his other hand to touch his heart for a second, and I was frozen.

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking over at him. He nodded, trying to smile to lighten the mood, but I was worried again. He hadn't had one of his fainting spells...that I know of. I would have to be extra watchful over him because Callum always overexerted himself. "Promise me that if you're feeling anything or have to go back-"

Callum brought our hands together, placing it on his heart. The heat in his amber eyes made my toes curl and warmth spread all around my body. "My place is always with you."

"Stop trying to distract me," I said. Callum let out a small chuckle, kissing my knuckles. "I'm trying to scold you here..."

"Guys!" Lainey whispered, looking at the both of us with a bemused expression on her face. She was headed to the bottom floor of the dormitory that I was in. "Stay outside of here until the coast is clear, okay?"

We both stayed put as Lainey was speaking to the receptionist - that was another student at the academy doing homework. Lainey was trying to get them to walk away for a moment, so we could sneak in my old dorm room.

As soon as the student left, Callum and I went ahead inside the building, and up the fourth floor to where my room was. Lainey stayed put on the ground floor, to be on the lookout.