Ever After (currently rewriting)

Part 7

Cade POV

Cade was feeling volatile. His normal routine was disrupted last night. Instead of watching Elizabeth at work, and then following her home, he spent the night locked up in his house. He caught a glimpse of her earlier in the evening while she stood looking at her horses, and that was it for yesterday. It wasn't enough. His wolf was causing chaos in his head, snarling at him to find her.

He couldn't take much more. He needed to see her now. Cade stomped out his back door, across the small lawn, and into the trees. He shifted into his wolf.

Sunlight glints off of his black fur. With a hard shake, he runs into the forest. If he cuts through this section of woods, he will come out on the back road that leads to Elizabeth's house. From there, its an easy jog to his destination. He can sit in the trees by her field, and catch a glimpse of her. 

He pushes his pace faster as anger adds fuel to the fire. If that stupid alpha hadn't been in town last night, he could have stayed around to see her. The local pack may be small, but it's members are fierce. He has no doubt what will happen if they ever manage to corner him. Luckily, he's smart, and fast. In his six months in this hick town, they haven't gotten close enough to catch him. His wolf growls in pleasure at the thought of the pack, chasing their own tails, unable to find a single rogue in their territory. 

Alphas.  They're all the same. Think that they are better than everyone else.  Think that their word is law. Think that they own a place and get to decide who stays and who goes. His anger is building, the past bleeding into the present in his mind. Blue Ridges alpha starting to look a lot like the Desert pack alpha. The rage becomes a physical entity as his paws eat up the miles to his destination. 

The alpha of the Desert pack ejected him from pack life, sentencing him to life as a rogue. His yellow eyes flash with menace as he thinks about that day. "Cade Winter, you are no longer a member of this pack. You have one hour to gather your belongings and leave pack land. If you are still in Desert pack territory in one hour, you will be treated as a rogue," Tanner, Desert pack alpha pronounced. All over some stupid girl. So what if he roughed her up a little. She was just a girl. 

Useless girl, his wolf agrees. Not like Elizabeth. His pace slows a bit as he thinks about her. She's beautiful, intelligent, and all alone. Just like him. It must be fate. Finally, that cruel b!tch of a Moon Goddess has done something right. She brought him Elizabeth.

He's jogging down the road, slightly appeased by his train of thought and almost to her fields, when a scent blows to him on the breeze. His wolf growls and he stops, confused. The Blue Ridge pack has been here, on her property. In all the months he's been coming to sit and watch Elizabeth, he's never caught a hint of them here. Why would they be here?

Moving forward cautiously, he tests the air as he goes. It wouldn't do to get caught. The air carries a fresh scent to him, and he realizes that the Blue Ridge beta is still nearby. More furious snarling beats at the inside of his skull.

It's a trap.

He turns and takes off for the woods. He thinks he hears the beta behind him, but doesn't turn around to look. No time. He will lose him in the state forest. Thousands of untamed acres make the perfect hiding place for a wolf.

He runs full out, twisting this way and that, splashing through water, and using every evasive technique in his book of tricks. At some point, he recognises that the beta is no longer hot on his heels.

Cade storms across his back yard and enters his house. It took him some time, but he lost the beta. Beyond furious,  he sweeps his arm across his table, dumping all of the objects onto the floor. The local pack has gotten in his way again.

All he wants is to go find Elizabeth. He needs to see her. His anger making him bold, he decides that the pack won't stop him from his goal. He had been able to smell that she wasn't at her house, maybe she's in town. 

Dressed again, he climbs into his car and drives quickly toward town. He will have to be careful, but he'd bet the pack is probably still in the forest, trying to decipher the twisted trail he left for them. He likely has time before they admit defeat. It's worth the risk.

By the time he pulls into a space on a side street and starts walking, he's calmed down just enough. He starts discreetly sniffing the air, hoping to catch a clue to Elizabeth's whereabouts. He's walking down the sidewalk in front of the strip mall when he catches her scent. He doesn't just smell her, the Blue Ridge alpha is nearby too. 

He cautiously works his way toward her scent. Making sure to keep his own smell blowing away from the alpha, he realizes that their two scents are coming from the same place. His control slipping, he's growling low in the back of his throat, the people on the sidewalk giving him alarmed glances. He has to get it together. Don't cause a scene, he commands his wolf. His other half has always been difficult to control.

And then he spots her. She's walking toward her car with him, the alpha. She hands her phone over, he types something on it, and gives it back to her. They are way too close, almost brushing against each other. The barely restrained rage bubbles back to the surface. 

He watches through a red haze as she lets him kiss her. If anyone gets to kiss her betraying lips, it should be him, not some smug alpha.

The pair say something to each other that he can't make out, the blood rushing through his head drowns out all other sounds. His eyes have flashed completely yellow, his joints protesting as his rabid wolf trys to surface. With sheer force of will, Cade manages to hold the shift back.

He's too exposed to the worthless humans swarming the area. He is forced to watch that treacherous tramp drive away happily.

She's going to pay.

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