Watercolor Girl

11

Ciaran

“Good morning ,Alpha.”

“Good morning, Anjie.”

“Lev had a terrible night. Would it be possible to give him the next day or two off?”

“Is he ok?”

“I think he will be, but I wouldn’t say he’s ok right now.”

“Would you be able to come down to my office? I’d like to discuss something with you.”

“I have to wait for him to wake up, Alpha, but if that’s ok with you, I can do that.”

“Very well. Let me know when you’re heading down.”

Evangeline

Lev was still asleep when I woke up, but I stayed with him. I stayed with him curled against me. Occasionally combing my fingers through his black hair. I couldn’t exactly fathom how any of this worker biologically. How I could go from not knowing that he existed, to loving him more than anything else revolving around the sun. To feeling his pain and his emotions as if they were my own and wanting to protect him from every little tiny stupid thing that could cause him any harm. For now, my focus was on him. But I had no intention of letting her be. I chose to retreat before, but retreat was not in my nature. I was a born warrior, they just hadn’t realized it yet. But they would, and I would cease to exist protecting my other half. Ciaran knew, I think, that the perception of me was wrong. I’m not even sure Lev had realized it. He softened me some, but I could be a stone, and I fully intended to remind the pack of that.

Lev

I woke to her body against mine, waves of anger moved over me, and I held her closer.

“I’m so sorry”. I couldn’t say it enough. I couldn’t impress it hard enough. Her anger ceased nearly immediately, and her lips found my forehead and her fists flattened against me skin.

“I’m not angry at you.”

“But you’re angry at a situation that I created. And that makes it my fault.” Waves of calm came over me, and I snuggled into her tighter.

“Nothing about it was your fault.”

“I shouldn’t have let her in.”

“Wanting to have a friend who cares about you and is there for you when you need them is not making a poor decision or creating the events that transpired. She took advantage of the state you were in and the information you confided in her.”

I reached for her arm, looking at her tattoos. On the inside of her forearm she had another Latin phrase. ‘Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum”. If you wish for peace, prepare for war.

“When is the last time you saw Rea?” She looked into the distance, thinking.

“Maybe six months ago.”

“What is the last one you got?” She lifts up her arm, looking at it

“I honestly can’t remember. They heal so quickly in our skin it almost feels like I got all of them a long time ago.”

“Do you want to go see Rea today?” She looks down at me.

“I just want to be with you. That’s all I want.”

“I want one.” She smiles.

“They’re addicting. You can’t have just one. And it doesn’t behoove us to be out in the woods right now.”

“I have a truck. We can drive there. We can go spend all day in the human territory, away from here.”

“Is that what you want to do?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never been there really. Just the outskirts, like Rea.”

“I’ve been. They have meats like you wouldn’t believe”

“I have to go out and hunt. I bring Rea food. She thinks I have a dog”. She giggled.

“I have money. You don’t have to hunt.”

“I don’t know anything about money or how it works out there.”

“I do. And I would like to take you out today.”

“Are you sure you feel like it?” I sit up and pull her to me. She’s gentle and cautious with her hands.

“As long as you promise not to let go of me I’ll be fine. I promise.”

“Do you have a map?”

“You know what, I actually do. I don’t have a coffee pot but I have a map.” I move to get up her hand stays in mine and she follows me to one of the sad empty rooms. “When I was learning the territory Alpha gave me this. It expands out but marks our territory. Her eyes study it.

“Do you have something to write with?” I walk out to the kitchen, her hand still gripping mine and I open a drawer, rummaging though until I find a pen and hand it to her. She pulls me back to the map room, studying it before making a little blue mark. “That’s my cabin. And Rea should be right about here.” She marks another little blue dot. This one quite a ways outside the territory.

“I didn’t know you traveled so far.”

“I had nothing else to do. Patrols checked on me once every few months but aside from that, I was alone all the time, so Nox and I would just go out and explore, try to get ourselves lost and then find our way back.”

“Did Ciaran know you left the territory.”

“It wasn’t discussed. But I imagine he knew.” She looked thoughtful. “I have to shower.”

“Can I come with you?” I just wanted to be with her.

“If you feel comfortable with that.” I kissed her. She is my comfort.

She ran the shower, waiting for the water to heat up, her hand still holding mine.

“What happened yesterday?” She looked at me almost puzzled. “When you went out with Ronnie.”

“Oh. For some reason that seems like the least import thing that occurred yesterday.” She squeezed my hand gently. “I don’t really know, you’d have to ask Nox.

“But what happened to you?”

“It’s like ceasing to exist. You’re conscious and aware of yourself, but you can’t see or hear or smell or feel. I couldn’t even hear Nox. I didn’t mind much in the beginning, but as times goes you lose track of everything because you can perceive nothing and it gets excruciating and lonely. It’s just this deep seemingly never ending blackness. I kept trying to find Nox, I knew she was right there, but I couldn’t. I haven’t talked to Ciaran. He asked me to come down today, I told him I would later so I could brief him, or Nox can since in the end, I really wasn’t there at all.” Her eyes got distant, “you really don’t notice at first, and then all of a sudden, you’re alone.”

“I was worried.” My voice felt small and stupid and the statement itself fell short considering, I was up here searching for any type of distraction.

Evangeline

He slumped some and I squeezed his hand tighter. I stepped into the shower, and this confused look crossed his face.

“Ummm you still have your clothes on.”

“Yep.”

“But”. I pull him into the shower, and he looks even more confused. My clothes feel heavy, but for some strange reason I always liked the way it felt. I pulled him to me and I hugged him.

“I won’t ever ask you to do something you’re uncomfortable doing. Never. Not in any life where we find each other.”

Lev

I watched the water pour over her, her wet clothes clinging to her body. Her hair plastering to her face, it dawned on me she was giving me an opportunity to not take my clothes off, and she wasn’t offering to remove hers either, I pressed my face into her wet hair, and struggled against yet more tears. In all my life I had never cried like this. Not ever. But I couldn’t stop it, she didn’t try, she just let me have my moment, holding her. When it had passed, I pushed her incredibly heavy water saturated pants down. She kicked them to the corner and turned around, turning her face up to the water and pulling her hair back. I put my arms around her and pulled her to my body before peeling off her shirt and dropping it in the corner with her pants. She found my shampoo and examined the bottle.

“You use the good stuff”. I half smiled, I’d always been mildly vain about my hair. She squeezed some into her hand and reached up to me, I bowed a bit so she could reach, her touch sent waves of calm through me and I think I melted between her hands a little. When she felt she was done adequately lathering my hair she shifted so I had full access to the water to rinse it. Something felt better about it, all the scrubbing I had done to the point of pain yesterday didn’t make me feel as clean as this.

“I can get out. If you want.” I just looked at her. Pushing my shorts and boxers down. “Oh.” Her voice was very small, with a a tinge of sad. She hugged me, really tight.

Evangeline

He fully undressed and my heart broke a little, he had actual bruising. Wolves heal quickly, we bruise and are affected just like humans but it takes just a little more force or pressure on us. I am absolutely certain what she did, was painful and if I had doubted anything he said, which I hadn’t, I could never now. I pulled him to me and I hugged him. He dumped probably far too much shampoo on my head started to pile my hair into it. I laughed at him trying to figure out how to go about this.

“I really hope you have conditioner.” His eyes narrowed and he looked at me, flipped his wet hair back with a quick head turn.

“Obviously, have you seen this picture or perfect hair care routines?” He replied sarcastically. And I laughed. His mouth met mine, gently and softly.

It took nearly forever to rinse the shampoo out of my hair and the conditioner adventure wasn’t much better, but we laughed and he seemed more relaxed by miles.

I got out first and handed him a towel, he threw it on his head, drying his hair a bit before wrapping it around his waist. I took the moment to examine a bit more obviously the extent of said bruising without him particularly noticing. I think he picked up on the rage vibes. I dressed quickly. Running a brush through incredibly conditioned hair leaning over to pull it up onto my head in a wet messy attempt at a bun, leaving out enough of the front to cover the part of my face I was accustomed to hiding.

Lev came and pushed the hair back

“Why do you cover your face?” Still wrapped in his towel. I turned my head and tilted it back, guiding his fingers to my cheek over the faint divots that crossed it. He traced his fingertips along them, two spanning from my ear, down my check and to the underside of my chin. “How have I never noticed these?”

“Because I’m very good at hiding them.” I smiled and pulled his face to mine. “I have to go talk to Alpha really quick, I promise, it won’t take long at all. Then we have to rest of the day to do whatever you want and go wherever you’d like.”

“Don’t leave me.” He grumbled. It pulled hard at my heartstrings.

“I’m just going to a different room, I promise I’m not leaving you. Just a few minutes.” I kissed the tip of his nose and scurried out.

Ciaran

There was a quiet knock and I knew immediately who it was, everything she did was so quiet.

“Come on in!” I boomed in stark contrast. She entered, and it took me a second. Her hair was pulled up but the pieces she always wore over face persisted. Her one eye peering into me. She was covered in tattoos, from her neck I’d not seen exposed before, down her arms and chest. How had I not noticed that before. I felt a pang of guilt for realizing I had not truly looked at her in years.

“Alpha.” She nodded her head. “I don’t want to be here long. I really just want to be with my mate right now.” Her face was hard, different from the times she’d been here with Lev.

“I wanted your report from yesterday.”

“I don’t have much to report. The wolfsbane separated me from Nox, I wasn’t able to perceive any of it really.”

“Can I speak to Nox then?” She hesitated. Fidgeting with her hands a bit.

“Nox isn’t very good with her social graces, Alpha. It’s my fault…”

“It’s ok, Anjie. I know and I won’t hold it against her. But I really need to know what she experienced out there before we can figure out how to move forward and what role she’s going to play in that.” She nodded, and her head tilted to the side a bit. Her hair falling over both her eyes before she shook it back, and black eyes glared a hole through me, the fidgeting stopped.

“What.”

“I need your report”

“The flower is everywhere. It hides the traps, no wolf could heal in that field. No wolf could shift. And most wolves would forget who they were, and run stupid into them. My Evie sat in the dark for hours and you left her there.” She hissed at me, leaning down over my desk towards me, and I would be lying if I denied the intimidating presence this tiny body had. “And you left her mate unguarded, while you and yours sat safely away unhindered and unbothered.”

I put my hand up, but she held her ground, her black eyes blank and giving away absolutely nothing, I relented and leaned away from her.

“But you came back.”

“That stupid old man would have us lost in that field with his dated insults and mouth that wouldn’t shut up.”

“But you brought him back, and you brought Anjie back.”

“Because he asked me to. Not for you.” She snarled.

“Nox, I don’t think we can fix whatever is wrong out there without you, and Anjie. I think we need your help…”. A very deep and very primal growl rose from her stomach.

“You need us now? After you left us to rot for years in the middle of the mess you ignored? Denied us the opportunity to find our mate, then sent us into the war with nothing but a feeble old man?”

“Anjie asked to be moved. She asked to be separated.”

“YOU COULDN’T LOOK AT HER!” Her teeth had extended, I had never seen this before, it was almost like a partial shift, she was controlling what she took over.

“You see a scared girl with her guts spilled on the floor around her with pleading eyes. But they is not who we are. If you want our help. I want that wolf.”

“What wolf?”

“Don’t play stupid with me, Alpha.” I took a deep breath. And faster then even my wolf eyes could perceive it she had moved back and with a little shake of her head there was a deep but shining eye staring at me.

“I’m so sorry. Disregard her. Did you get what you needed.” Her hands fidgeting again.

“What happened to Lev.” Her gaze shifted away.

“That’s not my story to tell.” I nodded, knowing that Ravyn had crossed a line into a zone she didn’t even know existed, that none of us knew existed.

“Take the rest of the week. I won’t bother you, and I’ll make sure the pack knows. We’ll call it a honeymoon of sorts to keep the prying to a minimum.” I paused, not sure if my next words were a good choice. “I’m going to need you and Ronnie to go back out.” She nodded and I think I saw a flash of rage, but I couldn’t be sure. Ronnie wasn’t wrong about Nox.

“Thank you, Alpha. And I’m sorry for her disrespect.”

“She’s fine. She has every right to be angry.” With that she turned and moved out of my office silently, closing the door without even a whisper. I picked up my phone and dialed Ronnie.

“Yeah, can you come in here, I think we need to discuss Nox.”

Lev

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

“Could you pretty please let me in?” I laughed probably harder then I should have. Key! Today!

“What if I wasn’t in here?” I opened the door and she sauntered in.

“Then I would have hunted you down with my trained killer sniffer.” She crinkled her nose up making an exaggerated sniffing gesture. I pulled her to me and kissed the side of her head since the pile of hair sitting on top of her head didn’t allow me access to my normal spot.

“You good?”

“Yeah! We have the rest of the week to not be bothered by this place, you’re all mines for so many days.” She chortled adorably pulling me to her.

“How did you manage that one?”

“Nox made Alpha pee his pants. No big deal really.” I tilted my head and examined her face.

“Nox is a handful. She had some issues with how things were handled yesterday, that’s all. Ciaran isn’t accustomed to her brand of doing things. He’ll get used to her.” There was apparently a side of Nox I hadn’t seen, but then I hadn’t seen much of her at all to be honest.

“What did he say about it.” She chewed her lip a little bit.

“We have the rest of the week to talk about it, can we not right now? I just want to not be here. I want a coffee.” I knew it was cheap but i held her face in my hands and asked for her eyes. It worked, “Lev I just wanna focus on you right now and not about having to go back out there and deal with that. I don’t wanna think about it.”

“He’s going to make you go back out there?”

“I don’t know it was mentioned, Nox didn’t like it she told him. Can we please talk about it later because I really just want to be with you, with neither of us worrying about what comes next as far as that goes. I promise we will, but just not today.” I kissed her forehead. I dug in a pair of discarded pants and found my truck keys. My Evie had plopped herself down on the couch, waiting for me to finish doing whatever in the bedroom. I felt a hard tidal wave of rage and when I got back into the room, she was standing with a very tiny pair of red underwear hanging off her finger.

“I’ll f*****g kill her.” Her eyes had gone black and she moved but not quite quick enough to get around me before I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her down to the ground with me. She was uncharacteristically strong and I felt my grip loosening as she struggled out of my arms.

“I’m sorry.”

“She doesn’t get to do this. She doesn’t get to hurt my mate and then leave remnants and reminders for me to find. Does she think you would lie to me?!” Does she think I couldn’t smell her filth in here?!” I wasn’t dealing with Evie. And I let Til surface, receding back.

“Shhhhhhh, little warrior.” I was actually taken aback. Til was a giant ball of ego and rage. His gentleness was shocking. He let her go, and she scrambled up. “Please don’t go. Please stay.” She stopped and turned, tilting her head before pouncing.

“Why?” His hands came up and stroked her hair.

“Because I need you more then she needs to be dealt with.” She drove her nose into his neck and inhaled him. Immediately relaxing. What. the .hell. was happening here.

His mouth found hers and his hands immediately started searching her body, almost frantically, he pulled at her clothes and rolled her over.

“No.” He stopped, looking at her a little dejected. “You hurt. I’ll wait.” His mouth found hers again and I was kissing Evie.

“That was interesting.”

“Very.”

“Coffee??”

“Yes, let’s go get coffee.” I said pulling her up from the floor. Til purring inside my head.

Evangeline

I sat in the passenger’s seat sipping my coffee. Lev drove.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t really know. Something.”

“Rea is good about figuring it out with you.” His hand was on my thigh, it had been on me and not left some part of my body since we’d left the pack house. There is a coffee shop not far from the gated entrance to the territory and they have iced coffee. It’s phenomenal and I can’t figure out why ive never thought to put ice in my coffee before. It’s magical. Lev put Rea’s shop address in his phone, I can’t get us there on a road. I only know how to get us there through the woods. I’ll get used to all of this civilized living stuff eventually. It makes me feel like a spoiled brat having to do so little work for the gratification I’m seeking. I’m hungry, foods made already, coffee, handed to me, laundry, someone takes it and does and leaves it by your door folded. It’s an adjustment.

“What are you thinking about?”

“How it’s weird someone folds your clothes for you.” He laughed.

“Not all the time. The she wolf who does it chases me out when I try to do my own because she says I mess up her system.”

“How long til we get there?”

“GPS says 23 minutes.” It’s hard to admit, but it’s think I’ve missed Rea. I’m excited to see her.