Chapter 11 - Returning Home

Six months after that fateful night brought them back into the present where emotions were still heightened, and control was a foreign concept …

It had been a difficult six months for Alexa, a tumultuous storm of confusion, fear, anger and feelings she was too afraid to face. But these last six months had scared themselves into the depths of her memories, both the good and the bad.

And that was something she was learning to live with. But if she was completely honest with herself, as long as her constant shadow was around, she was sure she could face anything.

She shot a quick glance behind her back, and sure enough, there he was, no more than a few feet from her. Close, but far enough to give her the space she needed, calming her and her erratic thoughts.

Then she stumbled over a root…

He felt her embarrassment as she clumsily rectified her footing, the abrasion on her bare feet healing almost instantaneously as she continued to walk. He had to stifle a chuckle, but his amusement tickled into her mind just as her embarrassment had flooded his. She shot him an annoyed glance, but this time didn't allow her gaze to linger for too long.

His gaze softened as he watched her clumsily make her way through his home, hers now too, he supposed. The year and a half he had known her had been enough for him to fall hopelessly and endlessly in love with her.

Though, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember when she had stolen his heart, but it was irrevocably hers all the same. Now he just had to steal hers…

A feat easier said than done, but damn it all to hell if he wasn’t going to at least try.

He could see the minute tremors of the muscles in her legs with each step she took, aftershocks from the change, he thought, something that was a common occurrence when she was in her human form after a run.

It told him she still hadn’t accepted the wolf, and until she did her body would reject the change, causing her indescribable pain and leaving her in a weakened state. It was why he never allowed her to change without him, too afraid of her vulnerability afterward to leave her unprotected.

‘I can hear what you’re thinking all the way over here,’

Her voice shook him out of his thoughts, but the lump required him to clear his throat before he could speak.

‘No idea what you are talking about.’

She scoffed, ‘Uhuh, and I’m frosty the snowman,’ she turned to face him. ‘Look, I don’t know what’s got you so worked up,’ she held up a hand to stop him when he opened his mouth, ‘Don’t bother denying it, I can feel it, and you know it, but constantly worrying about me is going to give you gray hair,’

She sarcastically waved her hands around her head, then popped her hip to the side and placed a hand on it as she gazed up at him sarcastically with a cheeky smirk.

‘Then you’ll really look like your age, and I’d have to call the Black Pines Historic Society, cause I’d have found the oldest living fossil on the face of the earth, but i don’t really feel like doing that, and as you can see I’m fine, so stop worrying Grandpa,’

‘First of all, I’m not that old,’

‘Ninety-seven,’ she faux coughed into her hand.

‘Ninety-six, actually, but that’s beside the point, it’s my job to worry about you,’

‘I’m not a child, and I’m definitely not a damsel in distress. I don’t need some big strong man hovering over me. You said it yourself I’m stronger than I was,’

‘I know, but you don’t have complete control yet. Until you do, I’m going to worry about your safety,’

She gave a sigh, ‘Aiden, you can’t be with me every second of the day. One of these days you’re going to have to trust that I can take care of myself,’

Before he could refute her, she simply turned back around and continued her slow journey through Black Pines Forest. Her long curls of auburn hair fell in beautiful smooth ringlets, only slightly messy from the rough morning, but voluminous and no less beautiful in its chaotic state.

Her shoulders were slightly broader, the telltale sign that she’d picked up muscle. Her slender arms clung onto the rough tree trunks as she dodged roots, her hands slender, unblemished, and her nails short.

Her backside looked firm, and oh so mouthwatering in those denim shorts she was wearing, it almost made him weak in the knees just from staring at it. Alexa sent another sharp glare over her freckled shoulder, her blue eyes hard and the color of the ocean, as it was just as deep and mysterious as the ocean.

As if she had forgotten about the last time she allowed her gaze to linger on his face, she once again stumbled over the root of yet another tree, her legs nearly giving out as she caught herself with her hands against the rough bark of a nearby tree, of what kind she couldn’t say, but is was large and thick and dug into her had with its deep grooves almost skillfully carved into its trunk.

He wasn’t quick enough to stifle his laughter this time, and it rumbled in his chest as it escaped him. Deep and echoing, filling her with not just embarrassment but another emotion she desperately tried to squash down as her pale cheeks filled with heat. 

‘Shut up!’ she snapped at him as she corrected herself and her balance.

He said nothing, merely coughed into his hand as he swallowed the rest of his laughter and continued to follow her at her pace.

He continued to take her in. She was thin, but not as thin as he had been when he first rescued her all those months ago. Her build was almost delicate, but after six months of endless training, in both forms, she’d gained some definition and tone to her muscles.

It had done wonders for her confidence too. She was now able to hold her head up high, her shoulders back, and she could now walk with more grace than she’d ever had as a human. Although, at that very moment, she had lost that wondrous gracefulness to the quaking of her limbs, still weak from her morning training.

He couldn’t wait to see what she’d be capable of when she finally accepted the wolf. He could still remember the pride he’d felt when she had defeated his father, the utter joy that had radiated from him when the wolves around her accepted her as their new Alpha.

Aiden still recalled the shivers that had run down his spine when she had looked back at him with a look that screamed at him to look at her, see her power, see her strength, she really had been something to behold that night, and every night since.