Alpha's Chosen

26

Meredith's POV

"When do we start?" I ask, allowing my hopes to rise, even a little.

"You will return with me, with Bella when Red lake is repaired" he states, not a question, but a statement.

"Oh will I?" I ask in return, a slight scoff to my voice, as if I would ever give up the chance he is offering, a chance no one has dared even think to offer me before.

"You will" he replies, smirking down at me as he does, as he leans over me.

My tongue moves out to wet my lips as I take in this new look of his, this ... playful.... look.

"What if I say no... will she come here?" I ask, my eyes moving back to his as I do.

"You will come with me" he says, so matter a factly, so sure it has my core tightening at the double meaning.

Because I would come with him.... anywhere he wants me to go.

Our spell is broken, the hot air around us instantly cooled as the loud ringing of Cole's phone begins to echo around the small space.

Cole steps back, my body taking a moment to grieve what we have lost before moving itself to retrieve the goddess foresaken piece of metal.

"This is Meredith" I sigh, Cole turning to smile at me as I do, as if he has won some victory in knowing someone else finds his phone, its incessant calls, as tiresome as he does.

"Yes" I answer, throwing my head back as I do, "No" I answer to the next because surely Beta Dilan has eaten beside him before, surely he has witnessed as Cole inhales any and all foods, so why is he calling now worrying about whether the wolf, the Alpha, is a vegetrarian?

"I'm sure all the menu options and dishes desgined by your chef will more than meet Alpha Cole's standards and he has no dietary requierements nor limitations. We will see you then" I finsh, hanging up the phone without waiting to hear his reply.

"What ever happened to common sense? I swear most of the calls I've taken on this stupid phone in the last twenty four hours could have been answered by using even a little of it" I groan, placing the phone back into my pocket as I do.

"Mmmmm" Cole hums making me look back up at him, his playful smile still in place.

"You're... you're enjoying this aren't you?" I ask before running my tongue along my teeth at his continued grin.

"A little" he openly admits with a shrug.

"Would you still enjoy it if I returned the damn thing?" I question, each of us taking a step closer, a magnetic pull silently taking hold between us.

"You wouldn't" he states, again with such confidence I scoff.

We've know each other days not years, not even weeks.

"How can you be so sure?" I ask with a huff, crossing my arms over my chest and pulling my feet to a stop.

"Because I know you" he says and I'm shocked into silence.

Its the second time he has uttered those words, is he seriously that coc*y or... or am I that obvious... that easy to read?

I bite into my lip, eyes falling from his before I turn.

My feet move, taking me to the only place of refuge in the small space.

The window is open just enough for me to see out over red lake.

The small packs lands forrests marred with damage from the flood, but there is also signs of the life returning.

A deer, her young grazing on the tree line.

The wildflowers starting to sprout through the dense grass in the afternoon sun.

The puddles growing smaller by the day....

I sense rather than feel as he arrives behind me, the tempation to lean back to fall into him almost too much to bare as I instead force my fingers tighter around the splintering wood of the windowsill.

"You've been locked up. Kept safe within those four walls for too many years to let freedom, no matter how small, let slip through your fingers.

And that phone. That goddess foresaken phone with its afinity of callers. There's a freedom in that.... one I never noticed before I handed it to you".

"You want it back?" I tease, keeping my eyes ahead as his soft laugh sounds behind me.

A deep, hoarse laugh that sounds unpracticed. Unused.

"No... not me" he says, a long breath leaving him before he continues, "I see it in you though. The joy it brings to you, the different conversations, back and forth and connection you feel with the different callers.

Like the small smile that lingers on your lips after a successful call.

The eye roll you do everytime you hang up after listening to another one of Henry's raving on rules and regulations.

And .... and the uncertainity every time you end a call with my parents. Whether to tell me, whether to listen to them, whether to urge me to call them back... or worse... return home all together".

"Return home?" I ask, more of a squeak than actual words as I turn and bump into his chest.

"Return home" he repeats, "Have they not told you of their wishes?" he asks, head tilting curiously as he does.

"No... no they just always make me promise I'll tell you... that I'll get you to call them back when you can.... Its not exactly a lie" I continue talking even as my mind demands my lips to shut the hell up, "I mean every time I see you you either are actually busy or look as if your bed is already screaming your name or.... or you already have the world on your shoulders....".

Cole's eyes move from mine to out the window behind me, a look of indecision, of turmoil there.

"What are you thinking?" I ask without thought.

"Sometimes, somedays I think I was made for this. To be Alpha. To lead a pack.

And somedays I think it was all just some big mistake.

Like my soul landed in the wrong body.

That I'm just stumbling through life, hoping I'm making the right choices.

Hoping I'm not fu*king this whole thing up.

Hoping I'm good enough" he says, his eyes glassy as they return back to mine, as I feel his soul reach out to mine.