Running from Vampires

Chapter Two

"Mine."

The word had just barely left the Alpha's mouth when he burst into his wolf form and snarled at my brother. Reacting on instinct, my brother fell forward and was a wolf before I could blink. Ripped pieces of clothing rained down around the room as the two wolves growled at each other. Camdyn's midnight black wolf tried to circle my brother's brown wolf, but Caleb refused to move from his position before me.

There was a flurry of motion and I scrambled back, watching in horror as the two wolves clawed and snapped at each other. A whimper of pain came from the brown wolf and I gasped as I saw the blood flowing from his left foreleg. Anger filled me and I felt my canines lengthen as I shifted into a crouch, growling at the black wolf. My fingers prickled, a clear sign that my claws were about to come out.

In a second, I was laying flat on my back, the brown wolf standing over me. His muddy brown eyes glared down at me, scolding me for stepping between two battling wolves. I tried to hold his gaze, show him that he can't order me around, but he was the more dominant wolf and I had to turn my head away, revealing my bared throat as a sign of submission. I hated doing that. I hated having to submit to his more dominant nature. It was a blow to my ego that I didn't need rescuing, or help.

The black wolf flung itself at us and my claws broke out of my hands. I stared at the wolf, baring my fangs and growling. It ignored me and both wolves went rolling with the momentum of the crash. As soon as the black wolf, Camdyn, was on his feet, he ran back to me, standing protectively over me. He sniffed my neck and whined softly before gently licking at my skin. I froze and looked over at Caleb.

My brother phased back to his human form and stood up, pulling the sheet off the bed. He knew something I didn't. Never before has my brother been shy about his body. I felt the wolf above me relax and seconds later, he was human again. He stood and pulled me up with him, settling me to stand beside him. It happened when his arm settled around my waist.

 The wolf in me raised her head and sniffed, then jumped to her feet, and howled longingly. I felt an overwhelming urge to press my body against the Alpha's and... I shook my head to clear it. On the next full moon I'll finally pahse, but until then, my wolf is going to be anxious and restless. She liked the feeling of the Alpha's possessive grip, but I was confused. It felt good, more than it should, and it scared me that I felt this way for a stranger.

"Legna?"

My head snapped up to find my brother watching me. "What's wrong with me?"

"I don't-"

"Stop lying, Caleb! I know that you know something! Why won't you tell me?" I shook off Camdyn's arm, ignoring my wolf's whines, and moved so that I was standing before Caleb. "Tell me, brother, why are you keeping secrets from me? We're in this together, or we're supposed to be, but I'm feeling very left out."

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to keep you safe. I thought that if you didn't know, you'd be safer. What I refused to see was that by you not understanding your lineage, you'd be careless and arrogant and risk getting caught. I should have told you, I know that, so I'm going to inform you now. But I don't want you to interrupt until I'm done, okay?"

"Okay."

He sighed and looked over to the Alpha at my back. "I guess you're not leaving because of her and because you're the Alpha and you need to know what happens on your territory and the danger we bring."

"Correct. Let's hear this."

"First, I'll start with my dad and our mom's story. You know that Mom was the Luna of the Moonlight Pack, but she was in an arranged marriage to my father so that the alliance between the packs would stay strong. She was the daughter of the Yellow Cliff Pack's Alpha.  A few years after the marriage, they had me. Father was adamant about my learning to fight and taught me his tricks and skills whenever he was free. When I turned five, a bunch of vampires attacked us and a war began. After a few weeks of fighting, Mom got word that Father had died.