Urban Wolf | ✓

6 | AN ALPHA'S PRESENCE

     Adyen's full brows scrunched together as a confused look played on his face. "Then why are you bringing me here?" he asked, chuckling a bit.

     "The person that owns the place is a friend," I said, frowning at my own words. "Georgiou's sorta like an uncle." That felt better. He was more or less my guardian here in Toronto since I had a strained relationship with Honon.

     "Alright," was Ayden's simple reply as we reached the joint. I opened the door, feeling the blood in my body rush through me as I stepped into the warm restaurant. My eyes darted from end to end, noting the wolves that were present. There was no human in the eatery, so they were going to misbehave if Adyen walked in.

     Act like a human is here, alright. I tried to get across to their wolves, just making sure that anyone Georgiou had missed when messaging folks got the memo now. I stepped aside, letting Adyen walk in. There was silence for a bit, and I'm sure Adyen felt conscious of how everyone was staring at him.

"Let's go grab a table," I said, hoping to distract Adyen from the stares. It worked, and he followed me to a secluded booth, sitting across from me before cocking his head to observe the place. There wasn't much to see. It was a typical restaurant set up with a couple of booths and lone tables scattered at the Center. The floors were tiled a deep red, matching the red cushioning of the booth seats.

"Len!"

I recognized that voice. It was Georgiou's. And sure enough, when I turned towards the direction of the kitchen there he was walking towards our table with a grin on his face. His focus shifted to Adyen when he got to our table.

You're going to make things weird. I wanted to yell, feeling my face burn when Georgiou made to sit beside Adyen.

     "Hey, I'm Georgiou," he said, reaching out a hand to a now confused Adyen. He had a confused look no his face, but he did reach out to shake Georgiou's hand.

     "Adyen," Adyen muttered, taking his hand away. "Len talked about you a bit," he added, making Georgiou's blue eyes light up.

     "Can we have the poutine and the small bbq pizza?" I asked, trying my best to get Georgiou out of the booth before he said something embarrassing. I understood he was excited, but it had taken some effort to try and clear my own behavior, I didn't want to explain why he was acting weird as well.

     "Sure," Georgiou said, writing what I had ordered down on the notepad he had brought with him.

     "Is the poutine good at least?" Adyen asked me, leaning forward when Georgiou got up and left with outlet order.

     I laughed, nodding my head. "Everything but the pizza's good," I confirmed, watching as Adyen shook his head. Yeah, Georgiou and his staff were bad at making pizzas, but most of his other stuff was decent—dare I even say, great.

     Adyen and I talked for a bit, and I noticed how his mouth would part like he was about to say something then an expression would flash through his eyes before he closed his mouth again. I wondered what was on his mind, and I was close to asking him when the sound of people yelling over the background noise of speeding tires stole our attention.

     The noise in the Pizza joint died down at the sound of motorcycles revving their engines. Adyen looked over at the restaurant's entrance, and I looked too, spotting the group of teen werewolves flooding through the door in dark close and biker gloves. The wolf who seemed to be their leader stood tall in front of them. He was holding on to his helmet, and there was a frown on his face as his eyes darted from one end of the eatery to the other. I wondered what on earth he was looking for.

     "I told you to stop coming here," Georgiou said, appearing from the back room with an apron on. I could feel that he was trying to be firm, but there was a shake in his voice that signaled that he was nervous—maybe even scared. 

     "I'll only be a minute," the dark-skinned teenager said in a dismissive tone. He had a bored look on his face, and his full lips drawn in a tight expressionless line. He soon looked away from Georgiou to scan the room with his eyes again. A ripple of waves ran through my skin when his eyes fixated on me and rose a brow. My gaze shifted to the wooden table I was sitting at. I was sure we were about the same age—nineteen. He was twenty at most, but the fact that I was a mid-ranking wolf by birth, and the fact that he was a high-ranking one made me instinctively wary of him and submissive.

     This is strange. I thought to myself as jaw tightened. 

     Actual alpha born wolves here downtown. Pseudo Packs imitated packs. They functioned like them, but ranks were improvised and people who led groups naturally took that role instead of following the ranks they were born into. For instance, Georgiou was a mid-ranking wolf, but he was the Alpha of the pack he kept together and managed with his wife. Why Georgiou was so pissed with them made so much sense now. Aside from them trying to steal bikes, he was probably just as wary of the Alpha teen as me and wanted his pack gone so he didn't have to worry about them.

     The young alpha had a powerful gaze—one that demanded you paid attention to him. He looked Afro-Canadian like Adyen, but instead of having short curls like Adyen, he had a buzz cut done in a fade style. I could still feel his eyes on me. I clenched my fists when a shiver ran through my spine recalling the look in his deep brown eyes.

     I felt his gaze shift, so I looked up to find that he was now staring at Adyen. I began to panic, wanting him to back off but I being held by instinct to let him have his way.

     He stared at Adyen for about a minute before turning to his pack and muttering, "Let's go." The group of teenagers standing behind him started to file out of the Pizza place. He left last, giving everyone in the restaurant one last look before closing the door behind them. We all listened as the sound of starting motorcycles filled the air. The noise thinned out into the distance as motorcycle after motorcycle zoomed past the restaurant windows. Inside the joint stayed quiet for a bit. Everyone seemed a bit paralyzed by the Alpha's presence. There was a tension in the air that took a while to fade, but it eventually did and people started to talking again. 

     When I was removed from my daze I looked over at Adyen to check if he was okay. Since he was recessive I wasn't sure how much that whole scene affected him.

     "Adyen?" I called, watching as he blinked at turned to me. "Are you alright?" I asked, and he nodded, moving his gaze to his fidgeting fingers. My lips twisted into a frown.

     He clearly wasn't.