— Kaden —

She had been silent for a while now. All our plates were empty.

I called the end of the evening, and everyone got up.

Sam began piling plates and kicked Stellan, who got the gist of it, and the guys took everything back to the kitchen.

Elaeya was a little wobbly on her feet.

“Are you okay?” I asked, low enough so that with the dishes clanking in the kitchen, it would cover my voice, and the guys would not hear it.

“I’m not sure alcohol agrees with me,” she said.

“Are you gonna be sick?” I got closer, worried.

She shook her head, the gesture exaggerated, her hair floated around in its weightless quality. She hiccuped and grabbed the table for support.

“I just feel weird,” she said.

“I think this is the intended purpose of alcohol.”

“Mmmmmmmmh,” she said, stretching the sound a little too much and bent her head back to look at me. Well, she actually let her head fall back as far as it could, then tried to resettle the position a little.

“Maybe you should go to bed,” I suggested.

“I can’t sleep now,” she said, then looked around. “Where is everyone.”

“Going to bed.”

“Oh.”

“We can go and sit comfortably in the living room if you prefer.”

She nodded the gesture exaggerated still, as a child would.

“Is everything okay here?” asked Sam as he peeked around the corner. I couldn’t hear the others in the kitchen anymore. They had moved to their bedrooms.

“Yes,” said Elaeya as she twirled around and moved to the living room.

“I don’t think she drank that much,” muttered Sam to me low enough that she wouldn’t hear him.

“I know, maybe it’s a hybrid thing,” I said as low.

He nodded. “What type of hybrid?”

I shrugged.

We moved to the living room. Elaeya was getting slowly up the stairs.

Maybe bed was better after all.

Sam left for his bedroom and I went to help her up.

“I can walk,” she told me before I could do anything.

So I stayed behind her just in case she fell back. Besides she was holding her balance by pressing her hands on the walls on either side of her, so I couldn’t move pass her.

It took her a while to get to the upper floor, but I didn’t push.

“You’re okay with the rest?” I asked her as she got to her room.

She tilted her head a little confused at me, as she was getting in, but she seemed fine enough.

It’s only after I spent a full hour on my back in my bedroom that I finally realized what she had meant the other night.

I was tired, but I couldn’t sleep at all.

I went to the backyard to shift and took a run.

I hadn’t run like that in a while. It felt nice. I didn’t feel less tired though. I pushed myself, thinking exhaustion would help.

I got back in nearly an hour later. I was covered in sweat so I went for a quick shower then back to bed.

I did fall asleep after a fashion. But it didn’t last as long as I’d wanted. By three AM my night was over, sadly. So I decided I hadn’t trained in a while and went all out. By five Sam, Stellan and Anders joined me. But half an hour later my phone rang.

I went back in and took the call.

“Hello,” I said.

“Who is this?” asked a woman I never heard before.

“Kaden, Elaeya is not far, I’ll go get her,” I told who I assumed was her mother.

“You’re him?” she asked.

“I assumed I am.” I got up the stairs to knock on her door.

The door opened before my hand connected with the wood. She didn’t look as refreshed as she had looked the previous morning. I gave her the phone and she nodded her thanks.

Then I went to wash off the sweat and get clean clothes. I’m sure I was not looking as fresh as yesterday morning either. Actually, I’m sure I looked a lot worse than her. Well, technically, I think on my best day I look worse than her on her worse day.

It’s not that I’m bad looking. Most women would probably prefer me without the scars though. A little smaller would probably make me a little less intimidating too. But she, she could probably make supermodel body-conscious.

Actually, I don’t think I’ve seen a she-wolf look this good. Ever. Same with humans.

There are a few supernaturals who are gifted with incredible beauty though, so that could be it.

The thing with this is that, as a rule, anything too unnaturally pretty or ugly, by and large, means predators. Unnatural ugliness is generally a good way to scare people. A lot of things thrive of fear. Either they feed on it, or grow stronger with it, or just enjoy terrifying their preys. Typically, there is a ratio, the uglier it gets, the scarier it is. Like if the inner ugliness or monster-hood is reflected in its appearance. And there is a similar correlation with beauty. While ugliness repulses, beauty attracts. It’s a great way to lure in prey, which is why it’s often a tool of predation. Some of the most poisonous things in the world are attractive. There is a fruit called the little apple of death, and it smells like candy. Plenty of tempting things are poisonous.

Which, of course, got me thinking about the one in the room next to mine.

I was still unclear about how the mate bond backfired so epically on me. I don’t think she did anything bad to me willingly. She got really upset at learning about it to beginning with, and her feelings looked sincere. But that doesn’t mean that she didn’t do anything subconsciously, or without even knowing it.

It’s not because the fruit doesn’t know it’s poisonous that it means it isn’t.

Yet, I still didn’t even know what the hell she is.

And all I wanted was to bring her back with me. I wasn’t sure if it was the bond talking, or just my dick, but I really wanted this.

But when I asked myself ‘why’, I couldn’t have one clear answer.

It’s like someone scrambled with my freaking brain.

I felt like I was getting blueballs at ten times the normal rate. All I could think of, when she was around, was to make sure whatever I would do would include her skin against mine. When she sat on my lap the other day, part of my brain thought it would be fine if I became her official chair from then on. Which does not sound like anything a sane person would ever think.

The closer she was, the harder it was to connect with my reason.

All I could do at the moment was to go along for the ride and wait to see where this will lead to. It was not like she seemed to know what she would do either. And I don’t think her mother is particularly keen on seeing her daughter go.

The second my mind brushed on the concept of us falling apart, I felt my guts twist hard enough that for a second there I thought I would puke.

What the hell?

As the day went, she decided she was okay with taking a walk, as she had no idea how pack operated, so I gave her a rough tour. Not in the sense that it was short, but more in the sense than I didn’t know that much about Monaweard. But I could answer plenty of general questions about packs. Actually, we didn’t talk that much about ourselves, and it felt mostly like a crash course into werewolf society.

She seemed to absorb knowledge pretty well though.

When we got back to the cottage for lunch, Brandon had monopolised the dining table with files and his laptop, and he looked pretty busy, so we ate at the kitchen counter. Microwaves being the only kitchen appliance I know how to use—that and a coffee machine—I was fine with more leftovers that had been brought to us.

I don’t remember ever having that much time on my hands since I hit puberty.

We managed to spend the rest of the day without any uneasy moment, and actually, the more we talked the better it got.

I guess trying too hard to focus on what is not part of our reality—like hobbies—made it weirder. So there was a lot of talk about work, the things we do every day, our families. The little things. I didn’t try too hard to get information about her bloodline as I didn’t want to get this back into uncomfortable territory.

She got a call from her parent at sunset, but soon after that, I was barely able to keep my eyes open.

Last night I thought it would have been wrong of me to get in her room as she was pretty drunk, but when she got to her room and opened her door wider for me to get in, I let out an immense internal sigh of relief I didn’t know I’d been withholding.

This time I went for comfort and changed into sweats and a shirt first.

When I got into her room she was already in bed, so I closed behind me and joined her.

Yet again I fell asleep in an instant, right next to her, for what could possibly be the last time.