The rain hadn’t stopped. It wasn’t pouring it was small rain, the rain that gets you wet. I was soaked, freezing and couldn’t wait to go home for a hot shower.
“Should I be worried that we haven’t heard from Alanna?”. I asked Rocco.
“Nah”. He grinned. “She plays by her own rules out here. I’m sure she’ll be fine”.
“Shouldn’t we at least check? I mean it’s almost 4 and she hasn’t checked in once”. I’m not saying something had happened to her, but I find it weird that we hadn’t seen her all night.
“You up for shifting?”. He asked. “We’ll cover more ground and it’ll be faster”.
I nodded.
“Or we could just walk?”. He offered.
“No”. I frowned. “I’ll shift it might just take a little longer for me to do so”.
“A little tip. Think of your wolf and she’ll appear. You got this”. And he shifted before taking off into the woods.
And it was that easy? Think of my wolf and she’ll appear?
So, I did. I closed my eyes took a deep breath and focused solely on connecting with my wolf. I didn’t need to be angry to shift. I could do this by reaching out to her.
Or at least I hoped I could. It shouldn’t be this hard and it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was born wolf so, therefore…. I opened my eyes, a sigh falling from my lips.
I was still on two legs.
Maybe something was wrong with me?
“Rocco”. I called out. I knew he was still here. Weirdly I could feel his presence. The trees ruffled behind me before he appeared. “You go ahead. I’ll walk to our meeting place and wait there”.
But he didn’t leave instead he shifted back quickly pulling on the shorts that he had tied to his ankle. Good job it was dark, and I couldn’t see much.
“Jake will have my balls if I leave you out here on your own. We’ll walk to Alanna and if she’s not there then you can have her balls”. He smirked.
“Does she always do this?”. I asked.
“Sometimes. Alanna does what Alanna wants and then suffers the consequences later”.
“And by consequences you mean Jake, right?”.
“Right”. He spoke. “She hates night patrols”
“It’s not that bad”. I smiled. “I don’t see why she hates it so much”.
“It can be a long night if nothing ever happens. Alanna always wants the action and that’s why she left you with me and took off”.
“So, where do you think she’ll be just now?”. I asked.
“Around here somewhere, I hope. We’ll head back to our spot and get something to eat and dry off. She may be there”.
“Okay”. I nodded.
Jake had packed my bag I only hoped he filled it with goodies.
Thankfully, Alanna was already there waiting for us by the time we got back.
“Find anything exciting?”. She asked.
I shook my head. “Where have you been all night?”. I took a seat on a broken log and grabbed my bag.
“Patrolling like I’m supposed to. What did you bring for food?”.
“And you couldn’t have checked in?”.
“Relax”. She rolled her eyes. “We’re all good here”.
“You could have checked in Alanna”. Rocco added.
“Fine I’m sorry”. She sighed. “Now what are we eating because I’m starving”.
Rolling my eyes I dug around in my backpack. He packed me a sandwich, a banana, some granola pieces and a small bag of chips.
“You can have half my sandwich?”. I asked.
“Boring. Rocco what have you got?”.
I swear sometimes I’d love to punch her in the mouth. She could be rude at times.
“Chicken”. He muttered.
She scrunched her nose up before jumping to her feet. “I’ll be back I’m going to grab something to eat”.
I said nothing and continued to eat my sandwich. I had a feeling we weren’t going to see Alanna for the remainder of the shift. I could be wrong, but I didn’t think she was coming back.