3. Snowstruck
1638 Words
Elena's POV:
Thanks to Milo, I was allowed to stay in the cabin... but Caeleb didn't look too pleased about it. Why did I even care? But a part of me hated that he hated the thought of me in his little world.
I shook my head. The rejection was in the past. We had both moved on in life, and I no longer...
No longer? A faint voice whispered, like calling out on my life.
Ok, maybe I hadn't completely moved on. Maybe a part of me... still felt something, but it was because he was handsome, and not because of the past crush.
Shaking my head, I studied the boy and his dad.
"Go back to bed, Milo. It's already late, buddy," Caleb said, looking at the boy. Milo nodded, throwing a look at the box of cookies with a pout. "I promise to feed you the cookies the first thing in the morning." Caleb looked at his son, and Milo nodded enthusiastically before stomping toward the room. He stopped by the door.
"Good night, daddy. Good night, Aunt Harper's pretty friend."
I chuckled. "At least, he is a gentleman unlike his father," I muttered, and Caleb fixed me with a dark look, shaking his head, but the corner of his lips pulled up before his face went back to normal...
Goddess, the man was good at showing his displeasure.
Caleb turned toward me, his eyes narrowed. Those beautiful lips were pressed together in disappointment.
"Is this really a mistake?" he asked, and it took me everything not to break that nose of his.
"What? Do you think I came all the way here for you? The ego of this man!" I huffed, shaking my head.
"I didn't say you..." He trailed off when I glared. "Came for me."
"You meant it, didn't you? What? Do you think the girl who once had a crush on you is now stalking you all the way to a holiday cabin? Is that it?" I asked, crossing my arms, and his eyes drifted lower, before they snapped back up, and a faint blush adorned his cheeks.
"What? No? When did I say all that?" He looked bewildered.
"Really? You sounded like that. I promise I have no interest in you, Alpha," I whispered, turning around. "Where is this spare room?"
"Upstairs," he said, pointing to the small stairs. There was only one room there, smaller, quaint. Better to stay the f**k away from him, or he would accuse me of seducing him or something.
"Thanks," I said, staring at my car. It was already covered in snow. Sighing, I walked past Caleb, only to be hit by his warm scent. And my body stiffened.
I felt something stirring under my skin. A faintest flicker... I blinked, and it was gone as fast as it came.
Goddess, he smelled delicious, and if I wasn't careful, it would be so easy to... go back to the old patterns.
Crushing hard on Caleb Monroe, the second time, wouldn't be great for me, or my mental health.
"I really didn't mean it like that," he said softly as I climbed the stairs.
I gave him a nod. "Good night, Alpha."
"You... can just call me Caleb."
When hell freezes over...
***
I woke up to the warm scent and a childish voice giggling.
It was such a strange, yet warm sound. I had always woken up to an empty apartment all my life, and I loved it that way, most of the times, but today... I needed the warmth.
I slipped out of the bed, thinking about last night... and my lips pulled up, automatically, which I had no control over.
Sighing, I took a quick trip to the small bathroom before walking out. Pulling on a sweater, I padded downstairs, straight into the kitchen.
Caleb Monroe stood at the stove in sweats and a white t-shirt that did nothing to hide how marvelously built he was, flipping pancakes with all the seriousness of a doctor performing a master surgery. Milo sat at the table coloring, and whispering something to his dad.
Caleb glanced up, and then nearly dropped the spatula.
He stared at me like I’d walked out of a memory he wasn’t prepared to face.
“Elena,” he said—my name slower this time. Softer. Certain.
“Did you forget that I am here? Again?” I muttered.
His jaw tightened. “I didn’t forget. I know you are here.”
“Really?”
He swallowed hard, and nodded.
"Really." His eyes darkened as they traced me from head to toe, before he turned, his shoulders stiff, muttering something that sounded almost like, "you are not that easy to forget."
My heart raced as I stared at him. Did I hear that right... or did I just make it up in my head?
I walked toward Milo as he studied his father.
“Daddy,” he whispered loudly, “your face is red. Are you cold?”
Caleb coughed. I smirked.
Something inside me... warm, soft, curious stirred as I sat next to Milo. He showed me the painting, and my heart softened.
For some reason, I was in that portrait, hair messed up... like a freaking noodles, and dress too big, bit I was there...
"I ate the cookies with milk," Milo said. "They the best cookies I ate."
"Thank you."
***
Caleb's POV:
Elena Hart.
I hadn’t thought of her in years, but the second she stepped into the kitchen, wrapped in a soft sweater and smelling faintly of cinnamon and winter wind, something in me reacted like I’d been punched... straight in my f*****g chest, and... further down.
Fuck.
"You sound like a pervert," my wolf dissed.
"I am not. It is just..."
"You haven't had a woman in so long, but still..." he trailed off. "But then again, she looks delicious enough to... drink."
I shuddered, the word rumbling under my skin... warm, hot...
I tightened my grip on the spatula, ignoring the way her laughter floated like summer song. She was with my son... and it was very inappropriate to have an erection like a freaking weirdo.
Of all the people to have walked into the cottage... It had to be Elena Hart.
Goddess. I would have taken anyone else.
Not that awkward eighteen-year-old trailing after my kid sister with flour on her face, her hair, everywhere.
She was a woman now.
Beautiful. Softer in some places, sharper in others. Eyes bright, body tense, mouth quick. And beautiful in a way that hit like a warm fire after a week in the cold.
She looked nothing like the girl I remember.
Except when she glared at me with all the indignation in the world. That look, I remembered. That hadn’t changed.
Milo looked between us, his eyes big and earnest. “Daddy, your face is red. Are you cold?"
Thanks, kid.
She snorted.
Goddess help me, the sound hit something inside my chest I wasn’t prepared for.
I dropped the spatula, and Elena giggled under her breath.
And my wolf, no longer, preaching me, stiffened. His eyes were curious. His body tensed.
Nope. Absolutely not. We were not doing that.
I forced myself to focus. I had Milo to protect. I had responsibilities. I had an entire pack counting on me to not make stupid decisions. Especially not decisions involving Harper’s best friend, who was clearly dealing with more than she was letting on.
"I need to focus. I need to get her out of this place."
But looking outside the window told me how it might not be plausible. The snow was still coming down hard.
"Or we could keep her." Black, my wolf, interjected.
"She is not an object!"
"The way you are looking at her... and anyone would think..."
"Shut up, Black," I said to my wolf, huffing as she stood up from the table.
"Do you have coffee," she asked, walking closer to me, and goddess, it took everything in me to not sniff... taking her scent in.
"There..." I whispered.
Elena moved around the kitchen like she belonged there—opening cabinets, finding a mug, brushing past me with zero awareness that her hip nearly grazed mine.
My wolf reacted every damn time.
When she reached for a jar on the top shelf and her sweater lifted a little?
His voice rumbled through me: Mate?
I nearly choked.
No.
No, no, no.
That wasn’t possible. I would know. We would know with surety if she was our mate. And as far as I knew, she had no wolf yet--I didn't feel the wolf in her, so that wasn’t even in the realm of possibility.
But something about her—her scent, her presence, the steady way she held my gaze—felt like a soft tug on a thread I didn’t remember tying.
I blew out a harsh breath and flipped another pancake, hoping she hadn’t noticed.
Of course she did.
Elena noticed everything. Even back then.
She stepped next to me.
"Do you want me gone?" she asked.
"What? Are you offering?"
"No," she smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. "Relax, Alpha. I don't bite..."
"I won't mind," Black moaned, and it was hard not to moan with him. My eyes fell to the soft curves... and my heart hitched.
"I promise I have no interest in you. I will just wait here until this snowstorm stops, and then I will get out of your hair."
I had no idea why her words made me angry.
So... what if she had no interest in me? Why did I even care?
"You care... because this time... you are interested in her, but unfortunate for us, she seemed to have grown out of that crush!"
Fucking hell...
(-)
- Writer
