The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 70: Chapter 70
You are reading The Alpha's Gamble, Chapter 70: Chapter 70. Read more chapters of The Alpha's Gamble.
MADELINE
Regardless of what Nasha said, I still went out and headed into the woods. I was sure that once she smelled the fresh air and the aroma from the trees and the deer that roamed further in, she’d be begging for a run.
A widespread smile was etched on my face, and I was walking on cloud nine down to the forest line.
“Hey, Maddie,” I waved to the warriors passing me by and ignored their wary looks. People weren’t used to seeing me smile, or happy, or exuding positive energy. This was a day for the books. I couldn’t help it, I was over the moon, I finally had my wolf!
“What’s that smell?” Nasha snarled, and her contempt filled every crevice of my mind.
“I don’t smell anything. Should we shift and go for a run? I’m sure you wanna stretch your legs.”
“No, I’m good.”
What was going on with her? It was every wolf’s first instinct once they woke up—to go for a run, to talk to their human, to mend the bond forged before either of us were born.
Why was mine so strange? I had waited my whole life for her to wake up, and now she acts like she doesn’t even want to be here.
“Well, I want to go for a run,” I said and summoned her to the front, disabling the controls and waiting for the shift.
The first time was supposedly excruciating—a painful moment consisting of your bones breaking and reattaching, your spine stretching and bending to form the strong back of a predator. And finally, after the screaming and the acidic sweats, you rise from the pool of tears into a fur-covered beast. With claws that can rip through flesh like it were jelly, teeth that rip apart the muscle of an animal, and a strength that couldn’t be matched.
I waited. Standing in the forest, I shook off my shoes and curled my toes around the leaves and dirt. My heels were firmly planted on the soil and I drew a few deep breaths, filling my lungs with the fresh air and readied myself for the mind-numbing pain I was about to be exposed to.
I waited.
Anytime now.
“Hey, Nasha?”
“Yes?”
“Why aren’t we shifting?”
She went radio silent, not even a puff of air or a snarl. Of all the wolves I could’ve gotten, I got the only one that didn’t want to be friends with her human. That didn’t want to shift. That didn’t even want to speak to me…
Nobody told me about this part. They never prepared you for a life with a wolf that didn’t want you.
“Nasha?”
“What?”
“Are you serious? I said we’re shifting, so shift.” I ordered.
If she wanted to be a bitch then fine, but I was still in charge.
“Fine.”
And then, just like that, without a warning, we shifted.
You know that pain I described earlier? The one I had prepared for mentally my entire life? The one that I wasn’t exactly warned about but educated on, the one I knew was coming—it was that, times ten. It was worse than anything I’d heard about. Worse than anything I could ever imagine this moment to be like.
It wasn’t human, nor was it animalistic; it was fiery, enveloping my every nerve, licking my skin like acidic rain, and pouring dread down my throat with each stabbing shot of terror. Some recalled a euphoric pleasure in the swirls of the pain, gripping onto it until the shift was done to keep them sane through the pain.
For me, it was a black abyss of searing desperation to undo what had been done, and my screams rose to the tree crowns where flocks of birds fluttered their wings and escaped in loud shrieking panic from their branches.
If this were how I died, then I begged for the reaper to come for me soon because no part of me can survive this pain.
“Wait, stop stop stop!” but Nasha didn’t listen. I tried to block her, to force her back and end the shift, but it continued like revenge until I felt the claws pressing from my nail-beds, expanding my flesh and breaking my skin to release.
Her claws dug into the ground, latching on for dear life, and suddenly I was taking a back seat, looking at the world through her eyes and feeling everything that she felt in that moment. A shiver unlike any other spiraled through my chest and down my back when her emotions rushed through me.
She was finally free—you’d think she’d be happy, thrilled to go for a run and feel the wind in her fur. But all I felt was unhinged rage and turbulent displeasure.
“What the hell is going on here?”
I hadn’t noticed anyone joining this hellish party of pain and gore, but Nasha raised her head from its bowed position, snarling viciously as she faced them.
Noah and Logan stood a few meters away from us, warily watching Nasha stand big and strong.
“Maddie?” Noah asked.
We nodded, Nasha’s head went up subtly to let him know it was us, but still, their faces remained like question marks.
“Something’s not right,” Logan said under his breath.
Regardless of what Nasha said, I still went out and headed into the woods. I was sure that once she smelled the fresh air and the aroma from the trees and the deer that roamed further in, she’d be begging for a run.
A widespread smile was etched on my face, and I was walking on cloud nine down to the forest line.
“Hey, Maddie,” I waved to the warriors passing me by and ignored their wary looks. People weren’t used to seeing me smile, or happy, or exuding positive energy. This was a day for the books. I couldn’t help it, I was over the moon, I finally had my wolf!
“What’s that smell?” Nasha snarled, and her contempt filled every crevice of my mind.
“I don’t smell anything. Should we shift and go for a run? I’m sure you wanna stretch your legs.”
“No, I’m good.”
What was going on with her? It was every wolf’s first instinct once they woke up—to go for a run, to talk to their human, to mend the bond forged before either of us were born.
Why was mine so strange? I had waited my whole life for her to wake up, and now she acts like she doesn’t even want to be here.
“Well, I want to go for a run,” I said and summoned her to the front, disabling the controls and waiting for the shift.
The first time was supposedly excruciating—a painful moment consisting of your bones breaking and reattaching, your spine stretching and bending to form the strong back of a predator. And finally, after the screaming and the acidic sweats, you rise from the pool of tears into a fur-covered beast. With claws that can rip through flesh like it were jelly, teeth that rip apart the muscle of an animal, and a strength that couldn’t be matched.
I waited. Standing in the forest, I shook off my shoes and curled my toes around the leaves and dirt. My heels were firmly planted on the soil and I drew a few deep breaths, filling my lungs with the fresh air and readied myself for the mind-numbing pain I was about to be exposed to.
I waited.
Anytime now.
“Hey, Nasha?”
“Yes?”
“Why aren’t we shifting?”
She went radio silent, not even a puff of air or a snarl. Of all the wolves I could’ve gotten, I got the only one that didn’t want to be friends with her human. That didn’t want to shift. That didn’t even want to speak to me…
Nobody told me about this part. They never prepared you for a life with a wolf that didn’t want you.
“Nasha?”
“What?”
“Are you serious? I said we’re shifting, so shift.” I ordered.
If she wanted to be a bitch then fine, but I was still in charge.
“Fine.”
And then, just like that, without a warning, we shifted.
You know that pain I described earlier? The one I had prepared for mentally my entire life? The one that I wasn’t exactly warned about but educated on, the one I knew was coming—it was that, times ten. It was worse than anything I’d heard about. Worse than anything I could ever imagine this moment to be like.
It wasn’t human, nor was it animalistic; it was fiery, enveloping my every nerve, licking my skin like acidic rain, and pouring dread down my throat with each stabbing shot of terror. Some recalled a euphoric pleasure in the swirls of the pain, gripping onto it until the shift was done to keep them sane through the pain.
For me, it was a black abyss of searing desperation to undo what had been done, and my screams rose to the tree crowns where flocks of birds fluttered their wings and escaped in loud shrieking panic from their branches.
If this were how I died, then I begged for the reaper to come for me soon because no part of me can survive this pain.
“Wait, stop stop stop!” but Nasha didn’t listen. I tried to block her, to force her back and end the shift, but it continued like revenge until I felt the claws pressing from my nail-beds, expanding my flesh and breaking my skin to release.
Her claws dug into the ground, latching on for dear life, and suddenly I was taking a back seat, looking at the world through her eyes and feeling everything that she felt in that moment. A shiver unlike any other spiraled through my chest and down my back when her emotions rushed through me.
She was finally free—you’d think she’d be happy, thrilled to go for a run and feel the wind in her fur. But all I felt was unhinged rage and turbulent displeasure.
“What the hell is going on here?”
I hadn’t noticed anyone joining this hellish party of pain and gore, but Nasha raised her head from its bowed position, snarling viciously as she faced them.
Noah and Logan stood a few meters away from us, warily watching Nasha stand big and strong.
“Maddie?” Noah asked.
We nodded, Nasha’s head went up subtly to let him know it was us, but still, their faces remained like question marks.
“Something’s not right,” Logan said under his breath.
End of The Alpha's Gamble Chapter 70. Continue reading Chapter 71 or return to The Alpha's Gamble book page.