Violet
My heart raced. "I don't understand—"
"Don't lie." His eyes hardened, boring into mine as if searching and demanding for answers I could not even provide. "Does this power of yours react towards me? I can feel it."
I remained stiff, unable to think past the roaring of my pulse in my ears. The force thrashed against my insides like a caged animal, and my body didn't entirely feel like my own.
His hand pressed more firmly against my neck, his fingers gently spread across my throat. His eyes shifted to my neck, a frown beginning to form on his face. "I would take that as a yes. You don't even seem able to form a coherent thought."
As if on cue, the force trembled and surged through my body in another cold wave. I jerked away from him, releasing myself from his hold. I grabbed the blanket and pulled it to completely cover me, even if it was barely going to give me any protection from him. I squeezed my eyes shut as I huddled underneath the fur, my heart threatening to jump out of my chest as the power raged.
I felt uncomfortable. In a way I don't think I had felt while in the woods. And I did not like it.
"I don't know. I really don't know!" The words slipped out of my lips, frustration and desperation fighting a silent war with me. "Forgive my insolence, but please, I would like some distance. I don't understand why my body is reacting like this. Please…"
I heard nothing but silence.
A type of silence that felt alive, watching and waiting.
Without even looking I could tell he was staring at me through the fur. The intensity suddenly made the blanket seem heavier than it actually was, and it pressed down on me rather than giving me comfort
Then he spoke, "You are not leaving this camp."
'What?!'
His voice had changed. It sounded harder now, and I could sense something like frustration or confusion in his command.
"That is not a request."
I heard his footsteps and then the flap of the tent. He was at the entrance.
"Get some rest," he said, his tone now softer. "Shadowpine is beyond my borders, and completely outside my territory. Regardless of whatever that has happened there, I won't be sending you back to your home pack. You will stay here until you're strong enough to travel. Then we will talk about what happens next."
All I heard next was the tent flap shifting with his exit. I remained like that, under the fur for several long minutes. My racing heart was beginning to slowly subside, along with the force within me.
I slowly opened my eyes before I then realized that my hands were actually shaking. I cradled them to my chest.
It had never been so out of control before. What was happening to me?
I shifted the blanket, and thankfully, no one was in the tent as I suspected. I sat up, and my mind started to race.
I wasn't leaving. I should be happy that I wouldn't be killed at least, but something else bothered me, and his curiosity in regards to my power made the attention from him worse.
I remembered his words.
'"Shadowpine is beyond my borders"'
He had also said the pack was outside his territory.
Every pack had their own territory. There were numerous packs and territories in each region, with each territory surrounded by neutral unclaimed zones to minimize conflict. And every territory and pack in each region was under the rule of a Supreme Alpha.
They were the ones who ruled multiple territories.
My blood went cold as the implication sank in.
'No wonder he seemed different…'
I had heard stories about Supreme Alphas growing up. Most wolves hardly ever met them, despite even visiting the capital of the region. I had even barely met many Alphas, much less a supreme one. These Alphas were so powerful they commanded entire regions, including other Alphas. And I had heard their inner wolves usually had a separate consciousness within them.
I had left Shadowpine and unknowingly wandered into a neutral zone that literally bordered on another region. His region.
No wonder he had noticed me. And the way he had quickly identified how long I was out in the woods, along with how I reacted towards him.
I rubbed my neck and shivered despite the warmth provided by the fire.
When he had touched me. When he had even looked at me, a tiny part of me didn't want him to let go.
'It can't be…'
It wasn't possible.