Chapter 46 Chapter 46
ADRIANA'S POV
I regret not going for any training all my life, for not fighting my father too hard on it. I had mostly just nodded and went along with whatever he said, because I felt like I didn't have a choice. He made me feel like I didn't have a choice when it came to anything. I had one duty and that was to follow his every command.
The sound of my feet rivals the sounds of Xander's paws hitting the hard concrete floor of the pack training ground. I realized it was after that I almost ran into a training ring. Safe to say, I have been on high alert since then. It is what is keeping from being caught, or the reason he hasn't caught me yet. For the most part, he has to be having fun with this and I couldn't deny there is a part of me that is relishing this.
Not running with him per se, after his threat. I am actually scared of what he meant by that comment. Just being stuck in a wheelchair for a day was bad, I didn't want to be there for long. A part of me thought he meant to do something to make me immobile, while the more naïve part said he means something else and I am just thinking negatively.
"Do better, little wolf." He growled in my head again. I jump, not expecting it.
I lose him through a maze of trees. I've been running and jumping like I'm playing some type of game, the reward being my life and safety. This might seem like just a fun chase game for Xander but I'm honestly terrified. I can never tell with his moods and how they go from one to a hundred in a split second. I've learnt from my father whose temper is also similar to always expect the worst and just try and save myself, always.
I take a hard left turn, my feet feeling like an ice block was cemented to it. I'm way past the point of feeling even pain and I've just been running on autopilot and pure instinct. It is the only thing that can explain me not falling over and passing out over half an hour ago. If I've been running for long.
I pass more trees, the image nothing more than a blur to me. My speed has gotten better too and it is much appreciated especially at this moment. I see a huge tree with branches not far ahead and that makes me push myself harder, with the plan of climbing up on it. I've never climbed a tree in my life, it isn't very shocking when you see the way I grew up. it couldn't be that hard. I used to watch people do it all the time from my window and it looked easy enough. I will just have to propel my leg forward and then climb up. When I get close enough that I can be able to jump-purely hoping I could pull that off with my renewed body upgrade- I risk a glance at my back.
I pause for a second, noting the lack of crunching or footfalls that means Xander is not close. That gives me at least enough time to climb up. He may smell me but I don't think he would waste his time climbing up a tree to get me. And if I'm lucky enough, my scent may be carried by the wind and when he gets here it would be too faint for him to make out where I went. I'm still thinking of how to start climbing up the tree when out of nowhere I feel a hard body hit mine. The air rushes out of my lungs before my body flies off in the other direction and my back hits a tree. I choke on the sound that slips past my lips, and I arch my back in pain. My head feels woozy, my vision glowing blurry from the force of the push,
I hear a growl from somewhere near me, I try to blink back the haziness to even see what pushed me but my eyes refuse to cooperate, they start getting droopy, the lids too heavy for me to lift them. Another growl followed the first, this one much louder and frightening. Even in my hazy mind, I know that the person that pushed me wasn't Xander.
Black dots dance in my vision and as much as I try hard to stay away, nothing works. I give up and rest my back against the bark of the tree, feeling my body lose its weight as I lose consciousness.
ALPHA XANDER'S POV
I watch in horror as the large gray wolf attacks Adriana. I am a little far behind and no matter how hard I push myself forward, I didn't get to her in time. My heart almost leaps out of my chest when her body slips from beside the tree and she loses balance, her eyes closed and her heartbeat slowing.
Another growl rips from my chest, I attack the wolf without pausing to think. Hitting him with my front claws. I rarely fully shift, lycans mostly half-shifting but after losing control in that room, I let myself shift fully. He falls back with a loud thud, he bares his neck in submission the moment he sees he has no way of escaping.
I sniff around him, trying to register his smell but he could as well not be here. That explains why I didn't notice him earlier. I mind link Donovan, who I'm sure hasn't slept and tell him to meet me in the woods near the pack's training ground. The guards are far off and I know I can't get anyone here as fast as I want, I need to get to Adriana and make sure she is alright. Her fall must have been bad, though the only thing keeping me half rooted to my spot is the wolf that I don't want to get away from me. He definitely wouldn't stay to chat after I let go of him. Adariana's heart beat is steady, slow but present and it is what stops me from losing my cool.
The wolf wiggles underneath my weight, wanting to get off. Feeling annoyed, I send a hard blow to his jaw, not enough to kill him. His fighting stops as his head rolls to the side, completely knocked out. I needed him out because I couldn't leave Adriana the way she is, with that damn nightie when someone else was coming.
"Where the hell are you?" Donovan's grumpy voice calls out from somewhere close. I reply to him through the mind link and tell him to use his common sense and trace our scents. I'm not in the mood to play his usual mind games. I smell him when he is about five hundred meters away. That pushes me to get off the now unconscious wolf, whoever it is and move Adriana's side. I shift back, picking her up in my arms in a way that covers her nakedness and start heading back to the house.
Donovan would know what to do with the man that is now our prisoner. He will realize he fucked up, by one, entering my pack and attacking my mate. Not many people know she is my mate so it might not be targeted but that isn't going to save him. I don't think anything would. He should just hope nothing happens to her otherwise, his death is going to be a lot slower and more torturous.