*WINNER of Best Cliche Breaker for Undiscovered Werewolves*
"Underneath her skin was a wolf; all bite and snarl and nothing else."
The day Saoirse de Rais made her Alpha submit is the day she decided to run.
Traveling from city to city--state to sta...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Wildlings used to be scary stories that you told your pups late at night—'be good or the wildling blood'll get you ya.'" William Church settled down next to Bo.
After the Stop & Stock, Bo found that the only other place to go was the creek a half mile away from the park... he had a thousand memories of the creek. He hid here every time William was in one of his lecturing moods. As a kid, he wasn't ready to become the Alpha, but his dad sure as hell wasn't going to let that attitude get in the way. He was going to teach him a thing or two about leading a pack no matter what.
Even if there was that small possibility, that he might not be one.
He was hoping his father had left; he didn't want to face the guilt that he let his family bloodline down—the Church clan would never get a chance at leading the pack again, and it was his fault. Nevertheless, he was surprised to find his father by his side, staring out into the same relaxing creek.
Bo kept fidgeting with the flattened rock in his hand—there wasn't nearly enough space for him to skip but he sure as hell wanted to throw it as far and as aggressively as he possibly could.
Was this what father's did? Did they pick the single moment where you didn't want to learn a life lesson, and then decide to give it to you anyway? Bo used to be afraid of mothers... he might as well fear the fathers, too.
"You never told me that story."
"Your grandmother did," William answered. "I would have told you the same thing, until Judd Cleary showed up on my doorstep with the affliction."
"It's a curse," Bo corrected him, tossing the rock ahead of him to grab another one. "Judd Cleary was a good man; he always had an extra room for me at the table."
"I know, he was good to you." Carefully he patted Bo's shoulder, before pulling forward to kneel beside the water's edge. "You like Saoirse de Rais."
"She's good, too," Bo snapped.
He would rather let Enzo Addario punch out his two front teeth, wrecking his perfect smile, than have that conversation with his father. He already had to talk to Marco whilst in his underwear today—although if his father wound up going down that route he might as well drop his trousers.
Just to make things a little worse.
But William was right; he liked Saoirse. Something about her felt right to Bo. Something about her seemed to click, and he now he could not get her out of his head. It was both frustrating and comforting at the same time.
No way in hell I am saying that aloud, he told himself.
"She's the Alpha now," William continued, looking up at his son wearily. "I don't know what'll happen next for her or this pack, but I just need you to tell me what you have planned."
"What do you mean by planned?"
William stood up. Staring face to face with his father, he couldn't help but notice just how similar they'd become. With their sandy brown hair (though William's began to turn salt and peppery over the years) and squared jaw, if they were standing far apart you wouldn't be able to distinguish the two. Now—there was something different in William's eyes.
