Trinity

I had been sitting there on the fallen tree, trying to hide away from the party, when that dangerously intoxicating scent had gotten stronger. I had wanted to get away from it. I had wanted to stay as far away from whoever it was as I possibly could. And yet, here I was with him coming right at me.

The best thing I could hope for would be him skirting around the area I was at. Being too focused on whatever he was searching for and leaving me alone. I hoped he would just not notice me.

"He probably doesn't notice my scent like I notice his." I whispered to myself.

Just as the scent was getting too strong for me to ignore, I saw his shadow in the distance. He was not going to skirt around me, he was coming right at me. I tucked myself into the tree, trying to hide as best as I could.

He was walking awkwardly. Almost like he was blind. He was moving slower than I would normally have expected someone to, even with walking among the trees. That was when I noticed he had his head tilted up and he seemed to be following his nose.

I still couldn't see his face from this distance. What I could see was that he was tall, very tall. He was probably around six and a half feet tall. He was well built, more muscular than either of my cousins, or Cedar and Paul, which were the only comparisons I had that weren't much older than me.

I could tell he was going to run right into me. I couldn't do anything about it. I was too nervous to say anything to stop him. I could always pretend to have been asleep on the tree later. My best bet now was to just sit there and not move a muscle.

He took one final step and his foot collided with the tree. He fell forward landing right on top of me. My face slammed into his shoulder as he pushed me backward.

I screamed as I fell toward the forest floor with him pressed against me. The feel of him against me made my body jolt with surprise and something else I didn't quite understand yet.

At my scream he let out a low growl. I couldn't tell if he was mad or not. I stiffened at the sound, afraid of what he would do when he saw me.

I felt his weight lift off me. As he stood, he grabbed my elbow, a little forcefully, and pulled me up with him.

I pushed my hair out of my eyes, but it was still covering most of my face. As soon as I could see I looked into his face. What I saw made my heart fill with fear. The man standing before me was the Alpha. This can't be happening. I thought to myself.

"Oh my Goddess." I gasped in shock. But before the man could see who I was there was a mercifully angelic voice calling out to me, or it seemed that way to me.

"Trin are you out there?" It was Juniper, she was looking for me. I had been gone for quite a long time after all. I silently thanked her as I spun on my heels and ran toward her. I heard him growl behind me. He truly was angry that it was me he had run into. Of course he would be, he was the alpha, and I was a nobody. Oh Goddess, what is he going to do when he finds me. What's going to happen to me? I was so scared.

"Trinity, what's wrong?" Juniper asked me.

"I've got to get out of here. Now." I told her, breathlessly.

"What happened?" She asked me. She had not seen the man in the forest with me, so she had not known what had happened.

"I don't want to talk about it, I just want to get out of here." I was on the verge of tears when I answered her.

"Trin are you ok?" Cedar asked as we came running up to them.

"Astro what happened?" Paul asked me. I just shook my head.

"I need to get out of here." They could see the fear in my eyes and hear the tears that threatened to spill into my voice.

"Let's go." Paul said, grabbing Juniper's hand.

"Yeah, come on." Cedar grabbed my arm and followed after them.

We made our way to the car as quick as we could. I slid into the front seat next to Cedar, Paul, and Juniper in the back. Cedar backed out of the spot he had parked in and hurried down the drive. He went a little faster than he should have, but honestly, I wanted him to go faster.

By the time we reached my house none of us had said a word. We made the entire drive in silence. I could not bring myself to tell them what happened. And if the alpha were to blame me for what happened in the forest, I may never see them again. But still, I could not tell them what happened.

"Will you be alright?" Juniper asked me. I shrugged my shoulders in response.

"I'm not going to press you for details, not yet, but when you're ready, we will all be here to listen. You hear that Astro." Paul told me. I nodded.

"I'm worried about you Trin, but I want you to know that we are all here for you." Cedar added. I smiled at all of them.

"Thank you, guys. And I am sorry for ruining your night."

"You're more important than some party." Cedar promised me.

"Yeah, what's a party when it comes to taking care of your friends?" Paul smiled at me.

"Call me when you're ready, ok Trin." Juniper implored, smiling. I was nearly crying from their kindness when I got out of the car. I was scared out of my mind, but I was so glad to have such great friends.

"Trinity, what's wrong?" Aunt Eve asked me as soon as I was inside, her green eyes opened wide in shock.

"Did something happen?" Uncle Wesley added, his dark brown eyes mirroring the shock in Eve's eyes. Wesley with his dark brown hair like my own, and Eve's hair that was a much lighter and softer brown, like chestnut, the sight of them was warm and comforting, they were home to me. I felt safer near them.

"Did someone do something to you?" Aunt Eve asked.

"No, nothing like that." I assured them. "But the party just wasn't for me." I told them.

"You look scared and on the verge of tears." Aunt Eve noted.

"That looks like more than the party not being for you. If someone was intentionally cruel to you, then that is unacceptable. We can lodge a complaint with the Alpha directly."

"NO!" I shouted. "No, there is no need to involve the alpha. Everything is fine. Don't worry. I just don't like going to these types of things." I grimaced at them.

"Are you sure?" Uncle Wesley asked me.

"I'm sure." I could feel their love for me, they cared for me so much.

"Hey." We heard a voice call from the door as we were talking. Carter seemed to have come home.

"Hey Carter, why are you home so early?"

"The party is over." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "The alpha got really upset about something and ordered everyone to go home. It was the strangest thing."

"Wow, I wonder what it was." Aunt Eve asked him.

"No clue." Carter muttered before looking at me. "What happened to you at the party?" He asked. I jumped at his question. Carter, unlike Eve and Wesley, had always been able to tell when I was lying to him. But I still didn't want him to know what was going on.

"Everyone that Juniper introduced me to was rude and mean. They all snubbed me and made fun of me for even going to the party. It just got to be more than I can handle."

"Those assholes." He growled. "What makes them think that they're any better than you are?"

"They're wolves and I'm not." I told him simply. It was the truth after all.

"That doesn't matter, you're still part of the pack." He was so frustrated. I loved him for that, he would always defend me.

"Thank you, Carter."

"For what."

"Nothing." I said as I threw my arms around him, hugging him tight. He was my rock in the pack and always seemed to calm me down. Looking up at him with his dark hair that was so like my own, like our whole family's, and his green eyes that were closer to my shade of blue, I was reminded again how much like a brother he was to me.

"You're being weird." He noted. He sounded annoyed, but he hugged me back none-the-less.

"I know." I laughed at him. "I'm tired though, I'm gonna get ready for bed." I tried to smile at them cheerily, but I wasn't sure if it came out that way.

I trudged up the stairs to my room. The solace I felt at being in a space that was all mine was almost enough to make me feel better. Almost. But there was still no telling what the alpha would do to me. It might be nothing. Then again, I could be banished from the pack.

Banishment wasn't so bad, except that meant never seeing my family again, or the few friends I had managed to make. And if that were to happen, then Grandfather truly would cut me off completely. I would be on my own with no way to support myself. It was a scary thought, but I would manage somehow. Lots of other people do it every day.

I stripped off the dress Grandfather had given me. It had begun to make me feel disgusting somehow. Like the dress itself played a role in everything. I knew that was not true, I was just looking to pass the blame somewhere.

Once I was out of the dress, I took a long hot shower in my bathroom. One of the upsides to Uncle Wesley's house was that all of us had our own private bathroom, and there was more than one hot water heater so we never really had to worry about someone else needing hot water at the same time. I was able to stand under the steaming water until I felt the stress from the evening start to leave my body.

After showering and feeling somewhat calmer, I dried off and dressed for bed in a pair of comfy baby blue fleece pajama bottoms and matching long-sleeved tee-shirt. But after crawling into bed, the memories of the alpha's growls returned. It seemed nothing was going to make this night any better. I really am doomed.