10: Snow, Silent and Scent
1337 Words
Zolani
I woke up to Aradia poking my cheek like she was checking whether I’d expired in my sleep.
“Blink if you’re alive,” she said. “Snore if you’re possessed.”
I groaned and rolled onto my side, dragging the fur duvet over my head. “If you don’t leave me alone, I will haunt you. Loudly.”
“Rude,” she replied, completely unfazed. “Also, it’s morning. Which means breakfast. Which means bacon. Which means if you don’t get up, I will eat your portion and claim it was a mercy killing.”
I peeked out from under the covers. “You already ate my bacon yesterday.”
“That was different. You hesitated. Wolves don’t hesitate.” She yanked the duvet off me with brutal efficiency. “Up.”
I sat there blinking, hair a mess, robe twisted, dignity nonexistent.
“Do you ever knock?” I asked.
“This is my house. I knocked when you were born. Once. You cried. It was awkward.”
I laughed despite myself, rubbing my face.
“You’re impossible.”
“And yet, beloved.” She flopped onto the edge of the bed, eyes far too sharp for this early. “So. Did you actually sleep, or did you lie there staring at the ceiling, overthinking your entire existence like a tragic heroine while thinking about your 'waiting till marriage' boyfriend?”
I groaned. “Can we not psychoanalyze me before coffee?”
She shrugged. “Worth a shot.” Then, like she was commenting on the weather, she added, “Oh. Dad’s back.”
My stomach dipped before I could stop it.
“Back… ?” I asked, keeping my voice carefully neutral.
“Mm-hmm. Came in before dawn. Didn’t sleep.” She hopped to her feet.
“Anyway. Shower. Meet me downstairs. Try not to look like a Victorian orphan.”
***********************
Breakfast was just as chaotic as always. Wolves filled the long dining hall, laughing, arguing, shoving plates around, the noise bouncing off stone walls like they were daring the morning to fight them.
I slid into a seat beside Aradia, wrapping both hands around my mug and staring into the steam.
“Relax,” she murmured. “No one is going to eat you up and he’s not here.”
“Who?” I asked too quickly.
She snorted. “Wow. You’re jumpy. I meant my dad. He skips breakfast when he’s in work mode.”
“Oh,” I said, forcing a smile. “Right.”
I lifted the mug to my lips just as I felt it, not sound nor movement but a scent.
My spine went rigid.
Aradia followed my gaze just as Cassian entered the room,coat still on, hair damp from snow, expression carved from stone and exhaustion. He didn’t look at me at first, which somehow felt worse.
“Morning Alpha,” someone said.
“Alpha,” another greeted.
Cassian nodded briefly, distracted. He murmured something to one of the guards, then lifted his head.
His eyes found me instantly and the air around us tightened.
My breath caught and for a heartbeat, nothing else existed. My pulse stuttered, a dangerous heat consumed me despite the winter chill.
Then he looked away like nothing had happened.
Aradia leaned closer. “Wow. He looks like hell. Someone definitely pissed him off.”
I swallowed. “Yeah.”
Cassian took his seat at the head of the table. He didn’t eat, didn’t talk. He just listened, jaw tight, eyes sharp, absorbing everything around him.
Then his voice cut through the noise like scissors cutting through paper.
“Aradia.”
“Yes, Father?” she sang.
“Walk with me.”
She stood immediately, then glanced back at me. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I said quickly. “I’ll stay.”
Cassian didn’t comment. He simply turned and walked out.
Aradia grinned. “Try not to get eaten by wolves while I’m gone.”
Soon, breakfast was over. I found myself walking down the hallway leading to my room and I felt him before I saw him. His footsteps were controlled and heavy.
He stopped a few feet away, simply standing there like he was breathing in something that shouldn’t even be there in the first place.
“Are you well?” Cassian asked. His tone felt different than usual, he felt very serious.
“Yes.” I said, diverting my eyes from him.
“Enjoying the meal?”
“Yes,” I shrugged.
He nodded once, like he was checking items off a list, yet his eyes lingered longer than it should.
“Good.”
Then silence stretched, painfully and I was trying so hard to keep still but it wasn’t working.
I shifted in my feet. “Aradia said you wanted to talk about security.”
“Yes.” He met my eyes, steady and unreadable.
I felt my chest squeeze about and I gently pressed my thighs together trying to stop the building heat down there.
“You are not to wander alone.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“You are not to leave the grounds without an escort.”
“I don’t want to leave,” I said, pacing slightly, aware of every heartbeat in my body.
“You are under my protection little human.”
My chest tightened. “I didn’t ask for that.”
“I know.”
“Then why… Why do you think you’re the best person to protect me?”
“Because it is necessary.” His voice didn't waver, but I could feel the heat in it.
I crossed my arms. “I’m not helpless.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You’re acting like it. You’re acting like there’s going to be war soon and you are my knight in shining armor.”
He stepped closer, stopping just inside my space. The air between us felt hot as I could feel his breath on my skin.
“I am acting like an Alpha responsible for everyone under his roof, especially the only human here.”
“And I’m acting like a grown woman who understands consent.”
Something dark flickered across his expression, but it disappeared almost immediately.
“Be careful little human,” he said quietly.
“Or what?” I dared
His jaw tightened. “Or this conversation goes somewhere it shouldn’t.”
My heart hammered because I wanted it to.
“Then maybe you should stop looking at me like that.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re angry with yourself. Like you are fighting something you want.”
For a split second, something raw crossed his face; hunger, guilt, something I couldn't name. Then he straightened abruptly and stepped back.
“This conversation is inappropriate.”
I let out a soft, brittle laugh. “You started it.”
“I am ending it.”
“Good,” I said.
“I know you are engaged Zolani.”
“Then act like it.” I whispered almost like I was lying to myself.
“I am.”
He turned and walked away without another word but his scent lingered in the air. My nails dug into my palm as I tried to slow my racing pulse.
I stood frozen in the hallway long after he disappeared, the faint echo of his boots mixing with the rapid thump of my heart.
Why does he affect me this much?
I wondered, cheeks flushed, stomach twisting in ways that had nothing to do with fear.
I leaned against the wall, closing my eyes, trying to steady my racing thoughts.
The hallway had grown cold, but the memory of him, his eyes, the way he looked at me, the tension that made my body ache, kept me burning from the inside out.
Somewhere deep down, I knew I wasn’t fine. I wanted to be, but I also didn’t want to stop thinking about him. A dangerous awareness settled in me,this wasn’t over.
- Writer
