Chapter 13

Alice's POV

I walked outside into the cold morning air, trying to find my idiotic alpha mate. Didn't he ever learn that a sleepy she wolf is a pissed off she wolf? I guess he's going to learn the hard way.

My senses were slightly unfocused because I just awoke. Additionally, I was not particularly ecstatic about seeing what Alpha William wanted, which meant that I didn't try too hard. Lazily, I wandered around the main pack house. At first, I expected him to be in the kitchen, as most male wolves eat like cows. My assumption was proven incorrect when I entered the empty kitchen.

I snagged an apple and continued my search. I used my increased hearing to listen for any movement within the house. The only sounds were those of the normal early-risers. They often stayed in their rooms, but some of the young, and childish, adults wandered to the game room.

I decided that Alpha William couldn't be in my pack house, so I started the trek to their guest house. As soon as I approached the front door, I saw a note taped to the door. Surprisingly, it hadn't been blown off by the wind or ripped off by another member of the pack.

I am not here, so no need to waste your time looking here.

Oh gosh. He could've at least told me where he was in the note. I walked all the way here for nothing! Huffing, I turned on my heels and trudged into the forest.

I'll admit, a walk in the forest, even at 6 AM, was relaxing. The sounds of birds calmed me down, as well as the scents of the different trees that grew around me.

I must've been too caught up in the nature because I looked forward just in time to slam into a tree trunk. I groaned in pain. Why must this tree hate me?

I heard laughter behind me. My body automatically whirled around in a defensive stance. The one and only asshole Alpha William was leaning on another tree, his left hand holding his stomach.

I growled at him and waiting for him to finish. His laughter continued for a few more minutes before it died down.

"Alpha William, haven't you ever heard that a she-wolf without enough beauty rest is an impatient and tempermental she-wolf?"

He flinched at his title and he finally realized that I wasn't happy.

"Sorry. I just wanted to see you before any of the pack woke up."

"And waking me up at 5:45 by telling Ellie to come and jump on me is the way to wake me up? Do you think that I'm going to let his go?" I snapped.

Alpha William apparently found me hilarious so he burst out laughing, which earned him another glare. He noticed my death glare and tried to cover it up with a cough. Key word: tried. My glare intensified, matching that of a she-wolf that is PMSing and no one has given her chocolate. To tell you the truth, that kind of glare is one of the worst someone can receive, especially coming from one of the most powerful wolves in the world.

This glare didn't seem to frighten him. Instead, he collapsed onto the forest floor and started crying. I would've been slightly worried had I not heard his loud laughter echoing through the silent forest.

I waited impatiently for him to stop cracking up, and when he finally did, I demanded the reason I get up so early.William motioned for me to follow him, still chuckling at my pissed off mood. Due to the fact that I couldn't physically harm a hair on his head, I settled for burning holes through his skull. It apparently did nothing to silence him as he chucked again.

I carefully treaded behind him. I must've been too annoyed to bother getting shoes. Although it didn't cause me too much pain, the forest floor contained sticks and rocks that dug into my bare feet. Alpha William led me to a clearing where a beautiful waterfall ran down into a clear, clean pond. The grass and wildflowers provided a comfortable sitting area. Surprisingly, we had walked far. This clearing was actually not on my territory. I glanced at him.

"Where are we?"

"We are in neutral territory. I found this when I was out running. Don't ask me why I ran off your territory. I don't know myself."

I nodded. The world seemed so relaxed at this moment. I didn't want to ruin the silence with pointless questions.

"It's peaceful here, but I still need a reason for you to have dragged me out here this early." I demanded answers.

He walked towards the waterfall and motion for me to do the same. I reluctantly crossed the path and was even more amazed. The cliff we were currently on was higher than the one we were just on. Closer to the edge was a picnic blanket and basket. Alpha William took my hand and led me gently to the setup. I was too busy admiring the scenery so I didn't even bother removing my hand from his. He nudged me towards the blanket, seeing how I wasn't moving anytime soon. I was astonished that he did this for me.

Alpha William took a seat on the typical red-and-white quilt. He soon realized that I was still admiring the whole clearing, so he took my hand once again and pulled me down next to him. He wasted no time in handing me a slice of lasagna that sat on a light blue glass plate and a silver fork.

"Okay, I forgive you for waking me up early this morning." I said as I took a bite of the wondrous food that had been handed to me.

William chuckled and took a plate himself. The silence was not an awkward silence, but a comfortable silence. I loved food and lasagna was my favorite.

I lowered my half-finished food and eyed Alpha William with curiosity.

"I never told you what my favorite food was, so who did you talk to?"

He smiled sheepishly and mumbled out the names of my Betas. I gasped.

"Those traitors!" I shrieked. He chuckled at my dramatics, but continued to eat.

~~~

The entire platter of lasagna was finished. So what if I ate most of it? It's food! Using the napkin that was available inside the cliché picnic basket, I wiped off the sauce that was on my chin and hands.

"If this is your idea of a "First date", don't get your hopes up. You still have a lot of begging and pleading to do.

He laughed. "No. This is my apology gift for being cruel to you for so long."

I laughed along. It was nice to just get out and have company, even if it was my annoyingly hot asshole of a mate. "Good. Because you're going to have a lot of sucking up to do before you can take me on a date. And this I haven't fully forgiven you yet. A few more food trips and you might make it there though."

William laughed at my hint. Yes, I didn't include the 'Alpha' title. I don't want to ruin this moment, so I'll just pretend he's a friend that I don't always get along with.

"What if I don't tell you it's a date?" he tried to find loop-holes in my ruling.

"Nope. If you do that, it'll equal more sucking up." I giggled childishly. It was hard to stay angry at my mate, ex or not, when he was being this kind.

He sighed once more before smiling. William returned to the basket, shifting the empty plates that he had put back inside. He brought out a piece of red velvet cake of each of us, again, both resting on clear glass plates. I gasped.

"I didn't know that Star and Andrew knew my favorite type of cake..."

"Okay, so I might've also talked to some of the children of the pack."

Of course. The children constantly asked to make cakes. Usually, they went around asking for favorite flavors of cake. I had told them that mine was red velvet, and I wasn't lying.

"Maybe like, three or four more food trips and you'll be forgiven."

He laughed at my sudden happiness. Maybe he was alright now.

William carefully handed me the slice. He quickly drew back his hand after he placed the plate down. I laughed quietly. He must've seen my eyes. The older pack members always told me that my eyes have this weird glint in them whenever I see cake. It apparently looked like I was going to bite any living thing that came near my cake. Without hesitation, I dug into the cake. He laughed loudly as he watched me eat the cake like it was the only thing I had eating in a week.

~~~

Once we had both finished and he had stopped laughing at me, he brought out a few more gifts. The first one was a bouquet of flowers. It was a mixture of all kinds of flowers. I automatically recognized all of them. The bouquet contains irises as well as beautiful hybrid delphiniums. A few carnations were present in the bunch.

"I never told anyone my favorite flowers..." I frowned.

He smirked. "There were pictures of these flowers all over your room." I blushed. Yea, I forgot to take those down. I remember trying to clean up that cell. It worked out okay, but it didn't make that much of a difference. One of the only things I could do was fill the walls with pictures. Some were from my childhood, when I was happy and such, but most were pictures of flowers that I found on my scarce runs.

He next brought out a few dog toys.

"Is this a joke?" I exclaimed. I was slightly offended because I was a wolf. Trust me; I've heard enough jokes about dog toys to last my life. But if he was doing this to offend me, he was also offending himself because he was also a wolf. My head was now a jumbled mess, caused by the so-called-gift that I had just received.

William laughed really hard at this. Soon, he started rolling on the ground, unable to stop. After a few minutes, he composed himself and calmed down, but the sparkle in his eyes told me he could still burst out laughing at any second.

"No. They are for you next gift."

He whistled and a blur of gray and white sprinted out of the shrubs.

"Am I really seeing this?"

My hand reached out, as if to make sure that I was not seeing a hologram of an adorable baby husky.

"Alice, I don't think he would appreciate you calling him a projection."

Again, I was speechless. I had always wanted a husky when I was younger. Sure, I could've bought one when I became alpha, but I completely forgot about it.

I hopped up and embraced the puppy in my arms. I guess I was squeezing too hard because the adorable animal started to squirm. Not wasting a second, I released him and opted for rubbing his soft tummy and tapping his damp nose.

"It's so cute!" I cooed.

'Thanks'

I stiffened. William noticed this movement and looked around the area. When he was certain that there was nothing threatening in the immediate area, he turned back towards me.

"What?" he questioned. His head was titled to the side like the puppy that was currently trapped in a hug. But I could've sworn the dog had a glint in his eyes that said "I know something you don't and that something is hilarious."

"D-did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I-I think the d-dog talked." I stuttered out.

'I didn't talk out loud, dummy. Another or your gifts is talking to animals and nature.'

I felt really stupid at that moment. "Oh"

"What?" William seemed on the edge. He apparently was also very confused.

"Nothing. I just learned another of my powers."

He relaxed slightly, but still looked wary of the surrounding area. To be honest though, that was a good idea to do. A rouge could just pop out of nowhere if we weren't cautious.

"So what did you think of today so far?"

I pondered over this for a moment.

"You have just cut off a quarter of your sucking-up that you had to do. But you still owe me those food trips."

He punched the air while yelling "Score!" I laughed at his childish antics.

"Take me home now." I stated. "I want to go back home to sleep, Mr. I'll-wake-you-up-at-5:00-in-the-morning."

"It was more like 5:45." He corrected. I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Well, I want to go home." I whined. He sighed, stood up with me, and we started the walk back with my adorable new pet chasing butterflies that fluttered around the gardenias that grew around the edges of the clearing.