Extinguishing Wildfire
Chapter 2: Wolf Run

Jordan

Jasmine and I fell asleep on my bed watching Gladiator, it was my dad’s favorite movie, so we watched it for him. I let her sleep as I snuck out for a run before my morning training class. Neo had been feeling restless since Aaliyah showed up. Everything about her drove us crazy, and every time she was brought up around Alpha Kedrick, he spoke praises about her, which made it harder for me to hate her. I wanted to hate her, but my heart, my dick, and my wolf definitely did not hate her.

I finished up my run and headed to my training class. This was the group that was newly shifted in the last year or two but that wasn’t planning on being warriors.

As soon as I walked into the gym, I smelled her. The mint was everywhere. I should have known she’d be part of this class.

Emma and Ethan, the warriors who were helping lead the class, got started on the warm-up. I immediately sensed she was standing to my right, and I avoided that area as much as possible.

We would be starting with the basics today, like throwing a punch and blocking. Harvest Moon didn’t start training their pups until a year or two ago, so most of this group was new to fighting. We started with punching. “We’ll walk around and check their form. How about I take the right, you take the middle, and you the left?” The three of us split up with me purposely giving myself the side where Aaliyah was.

She was near the back with one of her friends. I went over to a few people before heading to help her friend. I could see her out of the corner of my eye trying to ignore me but not succeeding as I noticed that she kept looking over at me.

Once I was finished with the others, I went over to her and stood behind her. Neo growled in my head as we watched our mate, liking what he saw. She was slender but with curves in all the right places and had the most amazing legs. She also had good form with her punching, so there wasn’t much for me to fix.

I walked up behind her and tapped her hip to get her attention. For a brief moment, I felt the sparks of the mate bond and wanted nothing more than to run my hands up and down her entire body as I pulled her against me.

I stood behind her and felt her tense up beside me, then I whispered in her ear, “Your form is good, but try adjusting your stance to give you better balance.”

I purposely got too close to her as I spoke, making sure my lips brushed against her ear. It might have backfired as it was damned near torture for me to have her so close. She ended up getting startled and backing up further into me, pushing her back flush against my front. Neo howled inside my head, and I felt my cock start to harden, which was not at all what I’d planned with this. I tried to step back before she felt me, but I heard her soft gasp before I could move.

I had to get away from her, this had to be the dumbest thing I’d ever done. I usually wasn’t a creep getting too close to girls, but I didn’t know how else to get her attention than playing on the mate bond.

I turned around to calm myself and give my dick time to reign itself in as these stupid shorts wouldn’t hide anything.

I felt her hand on my back before I heard her voice. “Jordan? Are you okay?”

“I knew she had noticed, but I was hoping she wouldn’t say anything. I don’t know what is more embarrassing, to get a boner during training class or to be asked about it by the girl who caused it.

“Yeah, just get back to work.” I know my tone was harsher than usual, but I wasn’t in the mood for her of all people to try to comfort me in any way.

My frustration helped me calm down, and I walked away, heading back up to the front. We started the class on blocking, but this time I suggested we switch sides so I wouldn’t have to work with Aaliyah again.

The rest of the class went smoothly, but I didn’t know how long I could handle seeing her every day like this. I took a long drink of water and bent down to tie my shoe.

“Hey, can we talk?” I didn’t even need to look up to know it was her.

“I’m not sure there’s anything to talk about. You made things pretty clear the last time we spoke. Unless you want to do things formally now?”

“No, that’s not…” I stood up, and she backed up.

“We’ll be working together a lot, I just thought it might be good to establish some boundaries.”

“Don’t worry, what happened today won’t be happening again.” I took another drink of water before I turned to leave.

“No, that’s not what I meant…” she seemed oddly nervous, but I wasn’t sure why, which made me curious to know what she actually wanted.

“Fine, I’m meeting my sister for lunch, so you can talk while we walk back to the packhouse.”

I walked out of the gym with Aaliyah on my heels but eventually slowed down to let her catch up.

“I know we didn’t get started on the right foot, but we’ll be working a lot together, so I think we should do our best to put all of this past us.”

“All of this? You mean you not wanting to be my mate?” I stopped walking and looked at her while folding my hands over my chest.

“Yes…I…I still stand by what I said, but I know I went about things harshly. I just don’t want to be a Luna, I want to be a doctor.”

“Yeah, all I’m hearing is that, even though I’m not even an Alpha anymore, you still don’t want me. Is that right?”

“But you are still an Alpha, my brothers are helping you get your pack back.”

“And if that doesn’t happen? Will you want me then?” I stared her down, waiting for an answer.

“I…” She swallowed hard and shook her head.

“Look,” I stopped her,” I really don’t care what your answer is, what I do know is that you’re my mate. My wolf wants you, and even with how crappily you’ve treated me, I still want you. If you want this mate thing with me, then I’m all in. All I’ve heard from your brothers is how great you are, and how you’re going to do amazing things. I have yet to see any of that because right now, you’re just the girl who broke my heart and refused to give me a chance.”

“Why didn’t you tell my brothers it was me?”

I scoffed at her question, “Because I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of them. It’s easy to see how much they love you, and I didn’t want them to think less of you.”

“I’m not sure I deserved that kindness.”

“You didn’t, but I gave it to you anyway.”

She looked back up at me speechless.

“Life’s too short for me to focus on the anger, and my dad was convinced you’d eventually come around and give me a chance.”

“You told your dad about me?”

“Yeah, that day you and I met was the last time I saw my dad. He had more faith in you than I do.”

“I’m sorry, but I…I don’t want to give up on my dreams, on what I’ve always wanted for my life. I knew there was a high chance of being mated to an Alpha as I’m Alpha born, but I prayed Moon Goddess would give me someone else.”

She was giving me a headache, I was so pissed at her right now, but I also wanted to kiss her so badly. Neo wasn’t helping any by flashing images of us together. He wanted way more than just a kiss.

“Well, Moon Goddess gave us each other, so it would be best if we actually tried to make this work between us.”

“But I don’t want to be a Luna,” she whispered the last part as her eyes started to well up with tears. Her eyes shifted to gold for a brief moment, and I could tell that she was struggling with her wolf.

‘Her wolf wants us, she’ll help us get her on our side.’

Neo was convinced her wolf would help, but I thought she’d be more receptive to us if she realized she didn’t need to give up everything to be with me. Even when I told her she could have both, she didn’t seem to believe me, and I didn’t know why.

“Your wolf’s name is Hope, right?” She just nodded. “Come for a run with me.”

“What? No...right now?” She protested, but when I grabbed her hand and led her to the forest line, she didn’t stop me.

Aaliyah

He pulled me to the forest, and I watched dumbfounded as he pulled off his shirt and shoes. Before he could pull off his shorts, I turned around.

“You know, you are my mate. It’s okay for you to look as it’s all yours anyway.”

I blushed at his words, but the little I had seen before he changed was enough to make my panties wet.

“You say you don’t want me, but I know you haven’t been with anyone since you met me.”

“Neither have you.” Mates could feel when their other half was intimate with someone else, and I never felt any pain, so I knew he hadn’t done anything, and he was right about me, too. There was a guy I had kind of been flirting with at Whispering Pines, but I cut it off after meeting Jordan.

“There must be some part of you that wants me if you’re willing to stay away from other guys.”

Before I could respond I felt soft fur on my hand. I turned around to see the most beautiful black wolf. I had seen him once from far away, but I wasn’t prepared for him up close. He was the most breathtaking wolf I had ever seen.

“Hi, Neo, it’s nice to meet you.” He licked at my face, and I laughed as it tickled. He then nuzzled at my shirt, urging me to shift.

“Okay but turn around.” He whimpered but obliged.

I quickly shifted into my brown wolf, and no sooner had I shifted than Hope pounced on Neo.

‘Don’t you dare mate with him, Hope.’ She whined a little, and I could feel her desire for him. I couldn’t blame her, but I hadn’t 100 percent made up my mind about him yet, and I still wanted the chance to reject him if needed.

Our two wolves started running and kept stopping to nuzzle and lick each other along the way. Hope hadn’t been this happy since before I rejected Jordan at the bonfire. The heat of the day was already well underway, so our wolves eventually ran back to where we’d left our clothes. Jordan shifted back right in front of me, and I was not prepared to see just how fine of a specimen he was. I’d felt him during training, but even that did not prepare me for all of him. While I was busy drooling over Jordan, Hope took over and had me shift back.

‘Hope!’

‘What? He deserves a little sneak peek, too.’

I hated being caught off guard, and Hope knew that. I wasn’t ashamed of my body though, and enough people had seen me naked with our pack runs. I just wasn’t prepared for the look in his eyes.

Jordan looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world, and it was overwhelming. He took slow steps my way as if scared that I would run away if he came at me too quickly. He stopped right in front of me and cupped my face with his hand. “You’re beautiful.” Oh, Goddess, no one had ever looked at me that way before, and I was pretty sure I was already addicted to the way he looked at me. Before I even registered his movements, he had bent down and crashed his lips into mine. He tasted just like the cherries he smelled of, and his lips were just as soft as I imagined they would be. He pulled me closer to him, and I was lost in the feeling of his hard chest and soft lips.

Oh fuck! I'm kissing Jordan! I have to stop.

I quickly pulled back and pushed him away. “I can’t do this…I have to go.” I threw on my shirt and shorts, not even bothering with the underwear and shoes. I then grabbed everything else and ran off to my room.