Grey's Tribute

Shifting

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Meela POV

Stalking behind the Northerner, glaring at his back. Swiftly, he turns around, stepping into my space...dominant.

"Enough! I will not have you behaving like a spoiled brat."

His eyes are a light silver as he looks down at me, challenging me to do something. That quickly puts me in my place. My shoulders slump, head bows and I show my neck in submission...defeated.

He sighs to himself. "Listen, I don't want to be that way towards you, but I will be. I'm your Alpha now, and you have to listen to me." He waits for my reply.

"Yes," I mumble, not looking him in the eyes.

Once the thick wooden door opens, I'm greeted by several members of his pack, waiting expectantly for their Alpha's return.

The Northerner is much taller than he first seemed. He has an overwhelming, commanding presence. His ranked members of the pack greet him with respect and reverence, turning their necks to him, in a show of submission. He is pure power, pure authority and my wolf rumbles that our mate is spectacular.

Standing close to him, somewhat intimidated by all the people present. His hand comes to rest on the base of my back, causing my blood to warm and a light flush to rise to my cheeks.

The female pack members greet me in the Old Way, cheek to cheek, rubbing their smell on me, taking mine in.

As an unmarked female, I don't touch the males but bow my head slightly. I know that if I touch them, their scent would be on me. That alone might trigger the Northerner to mark me. He wouldn't be able to stand the scent of any unmated male on me; his wolf would be outraged. He'd be forced to show his claim on me and, ready or not, he would mate me...forcefully.

Thinking I  must look like a mess to these people, with my swollen red eyes, hair a greasy mess. I didn't have time to shower this morning. Everyone is in black except me. It's customary to dress in black for three days if someone from your pack dies, out of respect. I was in a rush, not paying attention, and just forgot about it. My jeans and t-shirt stand out in the sea of black.

The feeling of his fingers at the base of my neck causes a hiss of pain to squeeze out of my mouth, and I try to pull away from his touch. It doesn't go unnoticed, and he quickly gathers my hair to the side, examining the back of my neck, which is a mess of dark purple and black bruises that extend all the way down to my mid back and wrap around both shoulder and underneath my armpits. I've always bruised rather easily and deeply, but he doesn't need to know this. Let him think he hurt me. Hopefully, he won't try something like that again.

I'm sorry, I was too rough on you." His lips kiss my skin, and the air escapes my lungs in a quiet moan.

Trying to cover the noise up with the clearing of my throat. I have to stand here with his fingers wrapped in my hair massaging the back of my head. The feeling is so comforting, so relaxing, I close my eyes, feeling boneless again, stumbling forward. He catches me before my legs give out.

"I'm sorry." That's all I can think to say while I look around trying to see who noticed. All their eyes are thankfully diverted somewhere else, giving us some privacy.

My body's traitorous response to him makes me so furious I find my anger coming to the surface again, hot and burning. He notices too, raising an eyebrow at me. He tilts his head to the side as I try to regain some self-control.