Reviving Bloom (2 page)

As I step out of the house and off of the porch
a
summer breeze swe
eps
my hair to the side. It fe
els
like a warm caress and I raise my face to the sun so I c
an
fully feel the heat of the rays on my cheeks and the soft breeze on my skin. I let out a long soft sigh when I turn away from the light to head to the truck
.

Chapter 2 – Pike

~ Strawberries & Cedar ~

Feeling the ground under my paws and the hot summer breeze
in my coat as I r
u
n
i
s the only thing I ha
ve
to
clear my head. I didn’t think I’d
run th
is
far from home but I ha
ve
a lot
to clear out with killing my
Dad
and all. Don’t get me wrong
,
I’m not
the bad guy
.
I was
just
following pack law, but it d
oes
n’t
change the fact that it
’
s
tearing me a part inside.
Dad
was
always a strong man. The strongest in
our pack, he over took the old
alpha when he was 25 and
had been leading us ever since, but he started to change when my mom died a year ago.

In our
society
she’s
what we would call his mate
.
A
wolf shifter
will do anything to love,
care for
, and protect
their mate
.
I know what you’re thinking but no
,
it’s not
what the humans have in their marriages, even when they refer to themselves as soul mates
. In a
true
mating there is no risk of divorce, abuse, or even cheating. There
’
s no such thing as a volatile mating. We physically can’t harm our mates. Our wolf side is so protective he’d shred us apart from the inside if we even thought about causing them h
arm.
From the moment
we
find our mate our life shifts and our mate becomes the center of our whole being. 
T
hat’s why when we lose our mate
we don’
t usually last long after
.
I
t’s
as if
half of our heart is ripped from us and we no longer wish to live. That’s what a mate is, the
other half of a
shifter’s
heart
, the part that anchors us to our humanity.
M
om was
the
good part
for
Dad
, and w
hen she died all that was left was the hate and anger.

He started shirking his responsibilities. He wouldn’t guide the new pups through their first change. He wasn’t attending the pack meetings and started
to revel in watching the wolves fight. As alpha he should’ve been stopping this
mindless violence
but he was drawn to the carnage. It all came to a head when he took the life of a pack elder who questioned him about his odd behavior. That’s when the remaining pack elders came to me for help.
I knew it was coming even though I tried to deny it.
Pack law simply states that any pack member who becomes a lost wolf (a wolf who lets his dark side take control) will have to be “handled” by the pack Alpha, so they don’t call attention to
our kind
. But in this case our Alpha was the lost wolf
, and
as his son
it was my responsibility. I carr
y
his alpha blood in my veins therefore I was the only one strong enough to take him down.

My mother died
a year ago
and now they wanted me to kill my father. I believe
d
it’s what he
would’ve wanted; at least that’s what I told myself
.
M
y father was nothing like this monster who was parading around in his body
soiling his legacy.
He would want to be at peace on the other side with his mate.

So six days ago I confronted
him
. It was a quick death. I took him down in less than five minutes
while most of the pack watched.
He didn’t fight like an alpha
is expected to
. I think I even saw him smile when he drew his last breath. It was another sign he was ready to go. M
y sister
, Emily,
and I buried him beside our
Mom
in the local grave yard. He
’
s finally at peace after a year of hell.

By taking
Dad
out I became the new pack alpha, a job I was not ready
to
assume.
I ha
d
nev
er wanted to be a leader and
it was being forced upon me.
S
o
I did the only thing I could think to do and ran.
I know it makes me sound like a coward and you should know I’ve never been one, but leading the pack of wolves who just demanded I kill part of my family wasn’t something I could do yet.
My wolf agreed with the decision to run, which should’ve been the first sign something big was about to happen. He’s never backed down from a challenge, and leading the pack is undoubtedly a challenge.
So
I said bye to
Emily
and left word for my second
-
in
-
command, Tucker, to lead while I
was
gone. I’
ve
been running, in wolf form, ever since.

I
’
ve
been across
the Ohio line
for
several hours. Th
is i
s the farthest I’
ve
ever
run
in my wolf form,
and
it’
s
start
ing
to feel a long way from my home in Tennessee. I ha
ven
’t been in my human skin since the day we put
Dad
in the ground. I’
ve
been living off the rabbits my wolf hunted and bathing in the rivers and creeks
I c
o
me
across. A couple nights I
’ve
curled up under low hanging tree branches
and tried to
sleep, not that it ever c
o
me
s
. There
’s
been
too much running through my mind. My plan
i
s to run until I
’m
too exhausted to think anymore then I’
ll
let myself collapse and sleep for days.
The exhaustion
hasn’t come.
M
y damn wolf strength
is keeping
it at bay
. I should’ve known it would mess up my plan.

Looking around the unfamiliar woods ma
k
e
s
m
y wolf
long for
our
home and
pack. A wolf is always strongest
when they’re with their pack, and now that I
was
the
alpha
I seemed to
draw more strength from them than ever. Even
500 miles from home I c
an
still feel the ties that b
in
d me to them and them to me.
As much as it pain
ed
me to admit it,
I miss
ed
them and I miss
ed
my sister. I hate
worrying her; she’d
been through enough losing both of our parents.
She doesn’t need to deal with a brother who’s not man enough to face his responsibilities.

Curl
ed
up in a soft patch of grass under a large oak tree, I
consider
heading home. I
can try to
rest here a few hours then I’
ll
turn around and
go back to my responsibilities
. I
’m
needed there and if I
’m
being honest I need them too. I
was
just la
ying
my muzzle across my paws and clos
ing
my eyes whe
n a shift of breeze br
ings
a new
scent to my nose. It hit
s
me like a freight train and ma
k
e
s
my ears prick up. It
’
s such a simple mixture of smells, strawberries and cedar, but there
’
s something else laced with it. The something else I kn
o
w only I c
an
smell and I kn
o
w I ha
ve
to find where it originate
s
.

Screw rest!

I hop up and sprint full force through the trees again following the scent. I kn
o
w with my wolf senses I c
an
still be miles from my destination, but I d
o
n
’t care. I’
ll
run to the g
ates of hell and back if I c
an
find who
’s
creating that
heavenly s
cent
.

Chapter 3 – Bloom

~ A torture device used to open my freshly healing wounds ~

Pulling the truck into the par
king spot I survey
the lot to see if we
’
re
packed.
It
’
s the n
ormal lunch rush from what I
c
an
tell.
Taking a deep breath I silently remind myself I c
an
handle this. Billy’s
Pizza Pub
(
his parents owned it before him and named the place after their only child
)
i
s one of the few re
staurants in the small town near my
h
ome
, but that d
oes
n’t matter even if the town was large it would still do well. The pizza
i
s the best. Billy
’
s sauce recipe
was
passed down to him from his great-great
-
grandmother or some
one
like that. So they
had plenty of time to get it to perfection. He
took over
the
restaurant
when he was
20
and became a smash hit in this little town. Not that he was new to Jackson
.
H
e’
s
lived
h
ere his entire life. In fact
,
he and my
Dad
had
b
een best friends since kindergarten. That’s why he gave me
a
job and I kn
o
w that’s why he ha
s
n’t fired me
. But
today’s
a new day and anything c
an
happen, even that.

I
work up the courage to walk in the door
and I instantly hear
Billy’s voice coming from the kitchen. He cat
ches
sight of me as soon as he walk
s
into the dining area and stop
s
in his tracks. By the way he
’
s looking at me
,
I c
a
n’t tell if he
’
s going to yell or sco
o
p me up into a hug. He cho
o
se
s
the hug.