18. Worried

Torin’s pov

“I can’t make it today,” I called, hating to cancel. She was probably already at the park.

“That’s okay,” she replied, but she sounded disappointed.

We had been texting for days; Raelyn sometimes took a while to respond, but that was good because it made me focus on work in between.

Hearing her voice was something else, though. Talking to her on the phone was special, but she often couldn’t pick up when I called.

I didn’t want to seem too desperate, so I kept the calls to a minimum. Not the text messages, though. I couldn’t stop myself from checking in from time to time, and it seemed somehow texting made it easier for Dimples to talk to me.

We talked about nothing and everything, from our favorite colors to what it’s like losing a parent. In her case it was her grandmother, who she lost at a similar age as I lost my father.

We barely talked about Dylan, because I hated discussing him, and she must have noticed. If I didn’t mention him or her being married, I could pretend she wasn’t.

It was much easier to give her compliments through text as well. When we ran together, she’d always downplay anything I’d compliment her on.

Yet despite all this, I would still much rather see her right now.

“There was an emergency; I need to get back soon, but I hated the thought of you not knowing where I was.”

“Thank you for letting me know; I won’t keep you then.”

“You can keep me forever, dimples.” I replied.

She giggled, “hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yes, I wouldn’t miss it.”

I hung up the phone, someone from the packhouse brought it to me, and I shifted back into my wolf. My wolf is huge, black, and intimidating as hell.

We shared a mind, and I could feel he was just as angry as I was to be missing our date today, but we had to protect our pack.

Rogues had been attacking the border nonstop, and it was time to teach them a lesson. We already lost a few of our border patrol, and it was up to me to show those rogues this is our land and they’re not welcome.

And the best way to do that is to kill the biggest of them and leave their shredded corpses behind for the rest to find.

Other predators would scavenge the remains. We don’t eat other wolves; we only kill them when necessary.

And it’s really necessary right now.

I jumped and ran through the forest, following my nose. It wasn’t hard to track these rogues; they reek of death and garbage.

When a werewolf gives in to his animalistic nature, he becomes a monster. A werewolf needs a pack; it needs people around it. A werewolf without a pack is a lone wolf, and a lone wolf becomes a rogue once he gives up all morals and gives in to his animalistic nature.

Once a lone wolf starts killing other wolves and feasting on their flesh, he becomes something else. A feral wolf who kills for sport.

There is no humanity left— no honor, no soul.

They’re slowly dying inside, and they smell like it.

Imagine the scent that comes out of a clogged shower drain, but ten times worse, combined with that of an animal that has been dead and rotting for a while, and you get close to the scent of a rogue.

It’s enough to make you want to throw up. The closer I came, the more nauseated I felt, yet I concentrated on the thought of my mate.

The sooner I fixed this, the sooner I could speak to her again.

There were a dozen rogues nearby, and they soon spotted me and began to growl as they crept closer.

I growled loudly back, showing them I wasn’t intimidated. It was important that I made the first move. I jumped, grabbing the first wolf and tearing through his neck.

He tasted disgusting, but at least he was dead instantly.

The rest began jumping on me together, trying to bite and scratch me wherever they could.

Back when I first became alpha, I would have panicked, but I had practiced this before with my soldier. I knew how to fight off several wolves at once and began to pick them off one at a time.

I let my wolf take over, let instinct reign until there were no rogues left. All that was left were dead body parts, blood, and fur.

They had injured me a few times, but in time I would heal. The shallow cuts would heal today; the rest would take a bit longer.

Thankfully werewolves are able to heal much faster than humans thanks to our wolf counterpart, but it doesn’t mean we’re invincible.

We can be harmed by silver; it burns our skin, and our body is unable to heal from an attack from a silver bullet or knife in the way it normally does.

And when an injury is severe enough, we can die just like any other being. Cut off our head, take out our heart, and we die.

I ran to the pack hospital, where they started treating my injuries. There would be new rogues coming, but for the next few days we’d have no issues around our borders.

“Alpha, you need to be more careful.” Louisa said this while she examined my wounds.

She is one of the council's candidates for my chosen mate, but she can't compare to Raelyn.

Sadly, my pack still cannot know I have found my mate, so the continued harassment about me finding my mate has continued as usual.

“I’ll consider it next time,” I replied, giving her a strained smile.

“At least scars are sexy,” she said in a flirty manner.

My wolf did not approve, and neither did I, so she received no response. Instead, I mind-linked Colton to fetch me my phone. I didn’t want Raelyn to worry.

Louisa continued, “you’re so busy all the time; when do you think you’ll have time for that date?”

“I don’t think there is an opening in my schedule for quite some time,” I replied. “Besides, I have not stopped looking for my mate just yet.”

“Well, I’ll wait for as long as it takes,” she replied with a wink. I could not hide the disgust on my face quickly enough. I might have flirted back in the past, but the thought of saying anything nice back made me more nauseous than the scent of those rogues I just killed.

It took over an hour to bandage every cut and scrape, and in that time Colton had brought me my phone, which I eagerly accepted.

While Louisa finished up the last of the cuts, I eagerly texted Raelyn.

“I’m back. Did you miss me?” I texted my mate.

“Yes,” Dimples reply came quickly. “Is everything okay now?”

I thought about my response. I didn’t want to lie too much, so I chose a lie that came as close to the truth as possible. “There were some troublemakers from another town," I said. "It became violent, but I’m okay.”

“Were you injured?”

“Only slightly, but I got rid of them, so it’s fine.” It was vague enough, I suppose.

I saw she was typing a reply, but no text came. Suddenly, her name appeared on my screen. She was video calling me.

“I need the room,” I told Louisa, who seemed too noisy to stay behind.

I picked up the call and stared into the beautiful but worried face of my mate.

“You’re in the hospital?” She asked, seeing the décor behind me.

“Yeah… I might have underplayed how injured I was, but I promise I’m a quick healer.” I tried to reassure her.

“Show me.”

I smirked, “you just want to see me naked, don’t you, Dimples?”

“Torin,” she sternly said, “show me.”

I began moving the camera across my body; most wounds had been bandaged already, so there was not much to see.

When I returned the camera to front view, I saw Raelyn’s little pout, and it looked like she was on the verge of tears. “That looks really bad, Tor.”

Tor… She had never called me that before.

I looked at what was behind her, “I’m fine, Dimples. Really. Seeing and talking to you helps a lot, though.” She seemed to be outside, probably on her balcony.

“Okay, but please be more careful.”

“I will, Dimples. Now, give me that smile I love. I need it.”

She smiled at me, although she still seemed sad.

“You were worried, weren’t you?”

She nodded, “you’re my best friend. I will miss talking to you.” She paused, “I mean, if something were to happen, I would miss you. I don't want you to get hurt.”

“Nothing will happen to me, I promise, Rae.” I replied, looking at her expression, trying to decipher what was going on in that pretty head of hers.

“Okay, well, then I’ll see you tomorrow? Unless you’re too injured to walk?”

I chuckled, “I’ll be fine, but if you’re offering to play my nurse, I’m more than happy to accept.”

She giggled as she rolled her eyes, “We’ll just walk a bit slower, then. Just don’t get into any more fights.”

“I can’t make any promises, but I will see you tomorrow, Dimples.”

“See you tomorrow, Torin.”