The Alpha's Saviour

Chapter 11

COOPER POV

           This has been the longest 2 weeks of my life. It has been absolute torture really, but today I have a spring in my step because I can finally go and meet my beautiful Hayley. My nights have been filled with dreams of her and during the day, my thoughts return to her over and over, wondering where she is and what she is doing. I am getting no work done and my short temper is driving everyone around me crazy. Ethan has ‘bumped into’ her a few times over the last couple of weeks and some of the older males from the pack have been keeping an eye on her house in the evenings. While knowing she is okay has kept me just about sane, it has not been even close to enough to satisfy my wolf and I am exhausted from fighting his urge to just go to her and claim her. My mother’s insistence that she saw ‘a spark’ between Hayley and Marcus when she accosted her in her office has done little to make things any easier. Even though he is a grumpy bastard at the best of time, based on my sister’s reaction to him, I know he is an attractive male. If the bear touches her, I won’t be able to control myself even though he’d likely beat me in fight if he really wanted to. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

           I pick up the local paper from last week that I have kept by my side, staring at it every day. Under the front-page coverage of the accident and my near drowning, there is a picture of her right beside mine, and I must admit I like seeing the two of us side by side. I think we look good together although I will accept that I might be slightly biased. The photo has been pulled from the website of Greg Thomas’s accountancy firm where she works, which tells me she must have refused to pose for one for the paper’s photographer because I know they would have asked. From what Ethan has told me, she refuses to accept even the slightest bit of praise or thanks for what she day that day and was not one bit happy to see the details making the paper. She’s not loving the attention at all, and I feel bad that it might be making her uncomfortable. The article describes how she bravely rescued me from the river following the accident where I saved the boy, who thankfully came away with nothing more than a sprained ankle and a bump to his head. The local reporter had obviously managed to corner her before it went to print, and her only comment was to say that anyone would have done the same thing. Modest as well as beautiful. I sent her a thank you card a few days after the accident but other than that I had stayed way, afraid the temptation would be too great. I had hoped she might respond after I included my number, but I heard nothing. Ethan offered to do a full background check on her for me but that felt like a complete invasion of her privacy, and I want to get to know her myself, to learn about all the little things that make her, her. He did tell me that the house isn’t registered in her name, but in a company name instead, and that she has a similar arrangement in her work, she is technically self-employed rather than being on the firm payroll, which seems a bit odd. It does however confirm that the house is hers rather than rented. The knowledge that she has moved to Pine Ridge intending to stay, laying down roots by purchasing a home and working locally, has also helped me stay relatively calm. At least I know she wasn’t planning on going anywhere in the short-term. Draining my coffee and pulling on my boots, I force myself to remain calm and collected, and to not rush out the door. This whole mate thing still has me reeling, my emotions are still all over the place but if I have any chance of winning over my mate, I’ll need to make sure I don’t come across too aggressive and scare her off. She hasn’t mentioned anything to Ethan or Leila so far that would suggest she is suspicious of how I managed to rescue the boy or survive the accident, and I need to make sure it stays that way until I have the chance to explain things properly to her. I will have to tell her at some point about what I am and who she is to me, but I will want to earn her trust first so that she doesn’t run for the hills as soon as she finds out. My gut twists at the thought of her fearing me and bolting. It just cannot happen.

I turn my truck into her driveway, and I take in the house properly for the first time through human eyes. It really is in a spectacular location, and I can see the potential in the house, with the woods behind it, the large lawn out front leading down to the edge of the lake, with the small private jetty to the side providing an amazing view from the full-length front porch. Even with the amount of work to be done, it couldn’t have been that cheap to buy. I know her current job as an accountant in a small-town firm would not be well paid enough to buy a house this size without needing a mortgage. The whole set up makes me certain that there is a story there, but I am sure she will tell me in her own time. Maybe some kind of trust fund of something like that but I still can’t work out what could be the reason for such a needlessly complicated set up. As I approach the end of the driveway, I spot her already out in the garden, and in an instant, all thoughts of boring finances go flying out of my head and there is only her. Here is my mate, at long last, I think as I pull slowly to a stop. I feel a strange sort of peace settles over me as my wait is finally over. She is facing away from me, in shorts again, weeding the flower beds along the lawn at the front of her house. I groan as the sight of her bending over sends filthy thoughts racing through my mind. As she hears the truck tyres crunching over the gravel, she turns to see who it is, raising a gloved hand to shield her eyes from the sun. She blows a lock of caramel hair out her eyes, and it might just be the cutest thing I have ever seen.