Chapter 12

I took a long shower and didn't get out until the water started turning cold. I went and changed my clothes and tried to focus on paperwork that needed to be done. I couldn't really give it my full attention though as my mind kept going back to the girl.

I was wondering how Johnson was handling it and if she was okay. I thought about how this could possibly set us back a bit, but I knew she would see that Johnson was no threat to her.

After another hour the sound of feet pounding up the stairs was heard and soon my office door was swung open. Fin was on the other side and I could sense his nervousness for whatever reason. I was his Alpha, but also like his cousin and usually I let him get away with small stuff.

"Alpha" he said and I leaned in my seat and placed my elbows on the desk when hearing his shaky voice.

"What's got you spooked?" I asked trying to lighten whatever mood he was in.

"I think I just saw some fire and my dad chasing.."

I stood up immediately before he even finished and started racing from my office and down the stairs until I was back outside. I ran down the dirt path until the clinic came into view and I looked around in a circle for a minute because Johnson and the girl were not where I had left them.

I could however smell her ashy scent and started following it. It zigzagged randomly and I could tell by the way it was everywhere that she must've finally shifted like I told her to. I kept following it and when it lead to the open field I looked to the ground to see multiple burnt circle shaped marks in random places.

I started to get a little panicky and continued following the scent until I was in the woods. I started feeling angry that Johnson would let her wonder back out here and risk her running away, but soon I followed the scent all the way to the Kyser farm and into the corn field.

I could hear some commotion and men talking loudly and snickering. I heard her small yapping on and off and I started walking faster through the corn stalks worried that something was wrong. When I made it into the clearing I could see Alpha Kyser and a few of his men standing around laughing and talking while looking towards the chicken coops.

I cleared my throat to make myself known and Kyser looked over at me with a surprised look and then smiled.

"Alpha August, I guess you kept your word on finding my cow killer. Anyway you can keep her from eating my chickens?"

I walked towards him and followed the men's gaze to the chicken coop. Suddenly a flood of chickens ran out sending feathers flying and right behind them was the wolf puppy. She was chasing them frantically and whenever she'd get close she'd snap her tiny teeth at it.

I looked around for Johnson and found him standing a bit further away from everyone while he watched. I was fixing to walk to him, but suddenly something heavy was dropped on my feet and I looked down to see that the puppy had been successful and the chicken laid dead with its head snapped to one side. She sat on her butt and scratched behind her ear a minute and looked back up to me and wagged her small white tail.

I chuckled and picked the dead chicken up in front of her.

"Alpha Kyser isn't going to let you come back over here if you keep this up" I said swinging the chicken around.

I turned back to Kyser and began apologizing for the dead thing.

"Ah, it's alright Alpha I've actually enjoyed watching her chase them around and she obviously doesn't know any better".

I looked back down to her and she cocked her head to one side when looking at me.

"Yes she does and she's going to stop hunting and start marching back home right now" I held a serious look when saying this and she looked down at the ground and began walking towards the corn field with her tail between her legs. 

Johnson nodded to me and started walking back to keep an eye on her and when they were both out of sight I let out a breath and looked back down at the dead chicken in my hand.

"Don't be so hard on her she's just a babe. Although I still find it hard to believe that she was the cause of all that mess".

I knew he was talking about the cows and their large carcasses flashed in my mind after a minute. I had thought it was an easy kill for a wolf, but now thinking about that small puppy sneaking up on a cow that weighed ten times her size in the middle of the night seemed more impressive then I first thought.

"Yes, well she will apologize for that whenever we can get her to start talking".

Alpha Kyser chuckled and waved me off and I said my goodbyes and started walking back through the corn stalks carrying the dead chicken in one hand.

When I came back to the clearing of the open field that outlined our pack houses I found Johnson chasing the small puppy around trying to catch her, but she dodged him easily and would slip past his legs anytime he reached to grab her.

I walked up to him and he let out a tired breath and looked at me as the small puppy was zooming around in circles as if she had plenty of energy. Every once in a while a flash of green flames would pop up and then disappear, leaving behind a burnt grass mark.

"So have you been able to get her to tell you anything else besides mutt?" He asked as he kept his eyes on her.

"She told me that Scout was a dog catcher, which is something we already know" I said trying to not sound disappointed.

He shrugged his shoulders and turned around to keep his eyes on the pup as she ran past us again chasing a flying grasshopper.

"At least she knows who you're talking about. Give it some more time she will come around".

I nodded my head and then whistled loudly to get her attention. She turned back from the grasshopper and trotted to me and cocked her head to one side.

"Time to go back to the hospital" I said to her and she let out a small whine.

"Actually, Jenny said she was strong enough to be discharged, so there really is no reason for her to have to stay there".

The girl cocked her small head to the other side at Johnson's words and then looked back up to me.

"So where is she supposed to stay ?" I asked looking away from her and to him.

He looked at me with a small smirk and shrugged his shoulders. I groaned and turned back to look down at the small wolf.

"You better be house trained" I said to her and stormed off past Johnson and towards the pack houses.

I didn't get too far away before the small puppy had zoomed past me and began running towards the houses to explore. Anytime she thought she was too far away she'd turn her head back to make sure I was still there and would go back to sniffing the sides of cabins and mailboxes.

Whenever we were close to the main pack house I could see that multiple people were hanging around outside and on the front porch. The puppy slowed down her pace and slowly started to back away from the cabin until she was behind me.

I crouched down to her level and I could hear her heartbeat speeding up from being nervous about other people. I pointed to my chest again to try and explain that nobody would hurt her.

"Alpha" I said sternly to her.

She cocked her head to one side and clearly didn't understand why I had repeated my title to her. I started walking back towards the people around the main pack house, but when I looked back the small puppy had stayed put and wasn't following me.

"There's bacon inside" I said to her in a sing song way.

Her tag wagged once at the mention of food and soon she started to slowly follow me. Whenever we were close she had moved right between my legs and I had to be careful not to step on her as we made our way to the front porch.

"Alpha August!"

I looked up to see my aunt Helen and smiled wildly at her. She wasn't apart of my pack unfortunately, but I knew she would come early before the blue moon festival. She didn't have many wrinkles, but that was just because of the wolf that made us age slow. She was actually in her fifties now, but you couldn't tell besides the few grey streaks that went through her black hair.

Unfortunately my aunt has never found her mate and I think she gave up looking for him a long time ago, but she always comes here to see me when the blue moon comes. She said she knew I'd find mine one day and that she wanted to be there when it happened.

"Hey! I wasn't expecting you so soon".

She smiled and stood up to great me, but stopped in her tracks when a small yap was heard from under me. She looked down to see the small wolf pup that had now been baring her tiny teeth.

"August, I didn't know you had a pet" she said in an adoring tone.

"She's not a pet. This is Emerald she's a rogue" I explained and stepped back to show that she was indeed a wolf and not a small dog.

I watched my aunts brown eyes widened when seeing her fully and she made a few small steps towards her. The puppy whimpered and crouched herself as low to the ground as she could.

"Oh you sweet little thing, I won't hurt you".

My aunt Helen wasn't the smallest lady, but she managed to crouch down to meet the small pup and held her hand out like you would for a dog to smell it. Just as I suspected, the small puppy took her time and eventually sniffed the woman's hand. I knew she'd be able to smell that she was related to me and to my surprise the small pups tail started to wag and she licked my aunt's palm.

"Oh my goodness I just want to eat you up!"

Obviously the wrong choice of words because the small pup shrank back down and slowly backed away from my aunt until she was up against my bare feet.

I bent down and scooped the small puppy up into my arms. She did not like it and began growling and snapping her tiny jaws at my face. I grabbed the nap of her neck and held her out to face me. Her green and brown eyes stared back into my milky one and she bared her teeth again snarling.

"Stop it or I'll take you back to Johnson" I warned.

I didn't really want to use Johnson as a threat, but it was enough to make her stop snarling. I held her in one arm again and carried her inside past all the watching pack members.