In battles, no one talks about the soldiers you lost or the battle scars you carry, and everyone talks about the wars you did not win, no matter how many you have won.The thought lingered in Jayden's head as he drove with Alisa next to him in the passenger's seat. He had met her and done more for her than he had ever done for anyone in his life, but she hated him for one slip. One thing he had done to protect both of them.He looked at Alisa's hand and saw that she carried a different phone in it. It was not the one he had gotten for her."What happened to your phone?" He questioned, curiosity getting the better of him."I sold it." She answered bluntly without looking at him.Jayden's heart broke. He did not need any more answers. She had done it to try to forget him and to act as though he had never been in her life at all. He turned back and concentrated on his driving, but his heart felt heavy, as though a piece of lead hung inside of it."Why can't you just tell me your secrets
Alisa's basic instinct was to turn and run, but she was in the water, and this majestic wolf was looking at her.Nothing had changed about it. It was still the same one that she saw the day she was in the pond. The same one that had watched her and filled her with fear before turning around and going into those bushes.The wolf let out a gust of air through its nostrils, and put its paw into the water as if to let Alisa know it was harmless. She blinked and let her curiosity overshadow every other feeling: her anger at Jayden, her want to abort the child she was carrying, her sadness and heartbreak. She put all of that aside and touched the paw. It was large in her hand, but the underside felt soft and the rest of it was furry. She looked at the wolf once again and it blinked."Can you talk to me?" Alisa asked after a while, the time the pause lasted spent her thinking of what question to ask.The wolf shook its head rapidly, and its ears flapped against the sides of its head, makin
They both moved to a rock that sat on the edge of the pond and sat on it, dunking their feet in the water in silence.Alisa was thinking of which question to ask first. Before that morning, she would have regarded anyone telling her that there were men who could turn into wolves either as crazy or obsessed with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight.But one sat next to her here, even though she had once mentally compared him to Edward. He was a werewolf and had morphed right in front of her.Maybe she could begin from there."Where do you originate from? Where do you come from?" Alisa asked, breaking through the silence."Well... You deserve to know everything since you carry a wolf cub inside you right now." Jayden said with a smile. "How much do you know about Ancient Rome.""Caesar and nothing else."Jayden laughed. He would not have given a care about Ancient Rome if it was not tied to his origins."No. That was way before Caesar. Caesar was only one of the people who made Rome a world power
The silence came once again as they sat quietly, each one wishing to say more than they already had to the other.The chirping birds were flying home, the deer had gone, and the nighttime in the woods came alive. The chirping now came from the crickets, a fox came for a drink, and the darkness covered everything.Alisa leaned closer to Jayden without touching him. He made her feel safe."Are there any similarities between you and real wolves?""Yes. We can smell and hear things from a mile away even when we are in a human form. We also have our packs in the order I explained to you, and we love to hunt.""You really can?""Yes. I hear people whisper and it is amusing. Unfortunately, I can smell the dirty ones too."Her giggle pierced through the night."What can you hear right now?'"They both paused while Jayden listened, his wolf hearing picking up every sound it could."A soft wind is blowing through the trees because I can hear them rustle, and elsewhere I can hear an animal I don
Jayden cast his mind back to the horrid night when it all started. The night that changed all the pack had come to know. The night when the loud howl changed their lives.Yes. The loud howl."Do you remember hearing an extremely loud howl? A howl that sounded like it was made by a large wolf? On the night you left my house?"Alisa was confused at first. And then she remembered it.That unusually loud howl."Yes. I remember it. It was so loud that I was distracted for a moment. Was that the Alpha's howl?""Yes, it was," Jayden answered quietly."Wow. Your stepfather must have a very loud howl then.""That was not my stepfather. My stepfather was the Alpha, but he only leads the pack now.""Who is the Alpha?""That is the problem, Alisa," Jayden said, and she could feel him looking into her eyes. "Elliott is the Alpha."It only served to confuse Alisa. Based on what Jayden had just told her, she thought the Alpha had to be the strongest member of the pack with a big feat attached to his
Her hands pulled him closer to her as she drowned in the ecstasy of their kiss.His own hands locked her close to him, feeling an emptiness he had carried around become filled up, and he regretted ever leaving. It had done nothing but hurt them both, and keep them far from each other.And now, their child had brought them back together."I will never leave you again, Alisa, not even under the pain of death. I'd rather die than be away from you." Jayden confessed once they had broken their kiss.She said nothing in reply for a while and only rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat, thinking about how funny it was that she should still love this werewolf and not think of him as strange."You were hiding a lot from me, Jayden." "The things I just told you are the pack's most guarded secrets, and I wouldn't tell them to anyone for the world. From the moment we morph for the very first time, we are taught to keep these secrets, as they are the very basis for our existenc
Jayden drove into his main house, and Alisa couldn't help not noticing how dead it felt. It seemed to be devoid of all life and everything in it."Everything seems so quiet." She whispered."I sent them all away," Jayden answered, a bit of his previous coldness showing on his face. "They were becoming a nuisance."Alisa knew before that they closed for work at 7:30 PM every night, and she now knew why— to let him be alone at night maybe, so they wouldn't see him morphing. So why was he sending them away now and saying they were a nuisance?"You're probably wondering why I did that. I guess you already know why." He said, distracting her."No. I can't think of anything.""I was beginning to morph too frequently and was coming in danger of being discovered by any of them. I had to start being alone.""Which emotion was triggering you?""Sadness. I wasn't happy without you. I became violent and wild like an animal. I started morphing for no reason at all. I had to send them away to stop
He cuddled her with her back to him and murmured some words she couldn't decipher as he kissed her hair, but she still had one more question to ask him."Why did you never get as ferocious as this before now? You've thrown away your car door, ruined the bedsheets, and made me scratch you. You never did all of that before." She asked in a low voice."Does it affect you in any way?"Alisa turned over in his arms to lock eyes with him and was relieved to find a smile on his face. She was trying to not displease him."No. I just don't think you did all of that before.""I can't bring myself to hurt you physically, Alisa. With you, I am like a wolf and her cub. You see the way they carry their cubs so safely in the jaws that have been used to kill before. It's the same thing. I just can't bring myself to hurt you."Alisa looked into his eyes and felt safe. That despite who he truly was, he could not bring himself to hurt her. She felt like her life had become a fairytale-like Beauty and th