The Alpha's Warrior Mate

New Normal

Home. That word was so foreign to me. I shrugged it off and headed back to our room to change. I wanted a run at the obstacle course at the training fields and I was hoping to get to it while everyone was at lunch. Pulling on blue leggings and a black tank top i found some tennis shoes in one of the many drawers and headed out. The sun was high in the sky but the cool fall weather made it a perfect day to train. Ethan was doing whatever business he had to do so I knew I could get away with an hour or so.

I started climbing the rock wall. My muscles remembered the feeling even if they groaned against what I was doing. Scaling it was easy. I stopped to take a few breaths before finding the first rope. It laid out in front of me like multiple large ladders strung together on top and bottom. I grabbed the top and decided to take it like monkey bars. My hand slipped about halfway through. s**t. I dangled from one arm for a minute, catching my breath.

“Pull on three... one... two... three!” My wolf told me and I hoisted myself up using her strength.

“Thanks!” I told her.

“Let’s do the beams next.” She suggested.

On the platform passed the ladders I eyed six beams. They were each different sizes leading up in a spiral to a large one in the middle that had a rope attached to the top. I took a deep breath and jumped to the first. Regaining my balance I took the next three back to back to back. The fourth and fifth were farther apart. I sprung from my right leg and landed on my left. The final pillar was the farthest away. I use both legs for the jump and thrusted my arms down for momentum. Landing on both feet on the six pillar, I righted myself to regain my balance. A sly smile pulled at the corners of my mouth as I reached down to grab the rope. Instead of repelling, I jumped at an angle and allowed to rope to wrap around the beam like a tether ball. When I ran out of rope, I had about six feet to jump down. I pushed my feet of the beam and dropped to the ground.

CRACK!

My right ankle made a sickening sound as it gave way in the hole it landed in.

“s**t!” I yelled as I rolled into my back clutching my leg.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” Ethan yelled in shock as he ran towards me. 

“I was just going over the course while no one was on it” I mumbled through the pain.

“Well look what good that’s done you.” His voice was harsh and I flinched away from it, averting my eyes.

“Come on, let’s go inside” he said scooping me up bridal style.

“Hey, wait! I can walk I just need to wrap it!” I protested

“No. You can’t walk, Anna.” He laughed softly.

I hated to admit that the closeness was soothing. My wolf purred warmly the whole way back to the house. I felt her start to heal my broken ankle. When we got back to our room, Ethan sat me on the bed and told me to stay as he made a 180 back out the door. He came back a few minutes later with an ice pack. I shifted towards the end so he could examine my ankle. It was mostly swollen, but definitely improving.

“I think she likes me” Ethan winked up at me.

“I do” my wolf replied sheepishly in my mind.

“Lay back and let me elevate it.” I did as he said. He started to pile pillows up underneath my ankle and knee. “How is that?”

“Good.”

“Okay, stay here and rest. I mean it.” His face was serious.

“It’s not like I can run away” I shot back as he turned to leave the room again. I could have sworn I saw the smallest smirk. 

“What is his problem?” I said to myself.

A few minutes later a knock came at the door.

“Anna?” Emily appeared in the open space.

“Hey Emily” I offered

“Oh my god I can’t believe you’re hurt!” She exclaimed as she opened the door wider.

Two men came in carrying a large TV. My eyes flashed to the strangers as I sunk back in bed.

“Oh don’t worry about them, they’re just here to install your TV!” She said enthusiastically.

“Where do you want it, Luna?” The taller of the two asked.

“Uhh... it’s Anna. And over there is fine.” I gestured to a free space in the corner.

“You know, you’re going to have to get used to people calling you Luna, since that’s what you are.” Emily said matter of factly plopping down on the bed next to me. I shifted so she had more room but didn’t answer her. I kept my eyes focused on the new men who were now installing the TV into the wall.

“They’re okay, I promise. Ethan and Jacob are just down stairs.” She seemed to sense my restlessness. I sighed and rubbed my hand over my eyes.

The shorter of the men walked over and handed me a remote. I recognized him immediately.

“Nathaniel! How’s that left hook coming?” I grinned at him but his eyes hit the floor.

“Hi Luna.” Was all he said as my smile dropped. They both turned and left the room.

“I think Ethan gave him a really hard time after he landed that punch on you yesterday.”

“What! Why would he do that? I told him where to throw it!” I exclaimed.

“I don’t doubt that, Anna, but things are... different here. If it were any other Alpha, Nathaniel might not even be alive.” She said quietly.

I threw my head back on the pillows. “I’m starting to think I’ll never get used to it here.” Suddenly, an idea came to my mind. “Emily, why is Ethan so hell bent on keeping me in here?”

For the first time, she seemed like she didn’t know what to say. She took a deep breath. “Before Ethan was alpha his dad was. Everyone loved him and the Luna. She was a fighter, like you but... one day she was doing perimeter checks. It was routine but she ran across a few rogues. They outnumbered her." Emily’s voice got quiet. “The alpha wasn’t the same after he lost her. All of the women took on more domestic roles after that. Jane and Ethan took over most of the alpha responsibilities. As soon as Ethan turned 18, he was the new alpha. His father was so broken.”

“Where is he now?” I asked.

“He’s still part of the pack. He lives in a house on the outer part of the neighborhood.” She said simply.

“Enough of all the serious talk, you’re supposed to be resting! Now what do you want to watch?” She said laying next to me passing me a bowl of popcorn she had brought. My mind was racing thinking through the story she had just told me. We watched several Romantic Comedies on Netflix until she said she had to meet Jacob and left.

I looked at the clock on the wall, it read 4:30 so I figured I better get ready for dinner with Carter. I shifted my legs carefully out of bed, expecting pain but none came. I looked down at my ankle, it was completely healed. Throwing a mental thank you to my wolf I headed towards the bathroom. My muscles groaned under the hot shower water. I knew it had been a long time since I had been able to train but my body was resisting it.

Stepping out, I headed to the closet to find something to wear. Instead, I ran right into a solid wall. When his scent filled me I realized it wasn’t a wall at all. It was Ethan. His eyes got darker as he looked me over until he realized what he was doing and turned to give me some privacy. My face was burning. I grabbed for a towel and quickly wrapped it around myself.

“What are you doing?” I demanded

“Just coming to change clothes before tonight”

“Could you not wait until I was done?”

“I didn’t think you were going to come out of the shower naked!”

“How do you usually exit the shower, Ethan, fully clothed?” I shot back.

He laughed out loud for the first time. I studied his movements as his head tilted back and his white teeth flashed. I couldn’t help but chuckle back.

“I’m sorry” he said as I followed him to the closet.

“You say that a lot for an alpha.”

“I have a lot to be sorry for” he said so softly I almost don’t catch it.

“What’s with you doing that?” I asked

“Doing what?”

“Your personality shifts so drastically every five minutes. I can’t keep up.” I continued nonchalantly grabbing a pair of skinny jeans and a black blouse.

“There’s just a lot going on.” He sighed.

“You’re telling me.” I said through a laugh that stopped immediately when I realized he was shirtless and looking for something to wear. I hugged my towel tighter to my body and walked over to point to a hunter green shirt. “That one will look really good with your eyes”. He smiled softly in response and I left him to go out my own clothes on.

“Can I come in?” He peeked around the door from the bathroom to look into the bedroom after a few minutes.

“Does it matter if you ask when you’re looking anyways?” I teased.

“I couldn’t help it,” he teased back striding up to me.

I dodged him and traded places in the bathroom to get ready. In a normal world with no Red Aspen pack, this would be totally casual. Two mates getting to know each other, learning their likes and dislikes... but it wasn’t normal. What I had suffered at the hands of the Red Aspen alpha and his pack was too much. I could never forget the feel of their bodies forcing themselves against me. The way their my skin crawled when I heard one of them opening my cell door. I shuddered back to reality. I peered through the door looking at Ethan. He was laying on the bed with his legs crossed at his ankles reading a book. He was nothing like those men but I wasn’t sure who he was either. He looked up to meet my eyes and grinned at me. Maybe this could become my new normal, I thought to myself.