Alliance of Shadows: NEIL

Unexpected Acceptance

I had no idea how long I had been lying face down on my bed. My head was buried in my pillow, and I was unwilling to move after I'd showered. The hot water had done little to soothe my tormented thoughts. Leaving Izaria the way I had made me feel worse. Seconds turned into minutes as time ticked slowly by at an agonizing pace. The room was dimly lit, the only light coming from the small bedside lamp.

Then I heard the door of my room open, and her intoxicating scent filled my head. She had showered, and the smell of water and soap saturated the air around me. It was fresh, clean—just like her. Her presence was a stark contrast to the turmoil in my mind. I didn’t bother to turn over. The fear was just too great, paralyzing me into inaction. The weight of my decision pressed down on me like an unbearable burden.

Why didn’t I wait just a few more days? I chastised myself for my impulsiveness. Yet, the answer was clear. I couldn’t. Not with the Pack’s arrival looming on the not-so-distant horizon. The urgency of the situation demanded honesty. If I'd kept the truth from her, if I hid what I was from her, and there was another attack, I stood to lose the most precious thing in my life. The thought of her finding out from someone else, or worse, during a crisis, filled me with dread.

The silence in the room was deafening, broken only by the sound of my own uneven breathing. I could sense her hesitation as she approached the bed. Her footsteps were soft, almost tentative. She didn’t know that I could smell her fear, her anxiety mingled with the fresh scent of her shower.

I sucked in a breath when she lightly trailed her fingertips over the bare skin of my back. My stomach knotted tight, and I found breathing hard to do with her so close. I slowly turned onto my side, and my eyes widened at the sight of her covered only in a dark green towel.

She brushed a stray strand of black hair out of my face. The tiny half-smile she was wearing made me want to groan in lust. I searched her face for any clue of what she was thinking. Her features remained blank, but the light was back in her eyes, flickering in amusement.

“I should be angry at you,” she said softly. “When you left the room, I felt empty, Neil.”

She shushed me when I tried to speak. Her fingertips lightly pressing down on my lips as she raised a brow at me. “I just…”

“No, it’s my turn to talk, and you're going to listen,” she told me sternly. Then, more calmly, she said, “I went for a shower, and I just sat under the water thinking about everything. All those times when people called you a monster, when people tried to get me away from you.”

Her voice became tighter as if she was fighting her tears. My heart was hammering again, pounding furiously against my ribcage as I struggled to silence the damning voices that said I was better off dead.

“Then I thought about all the times you held me, the times that you helped me. You gave me precious new memories to cherish, Neil. Those memories we shared replaced the fear and anxiety I was so accustomed to. For these last few months, you made me feel alive. I felt whole - like I finally had a purpose. You gave me time with my family, and you've never abused me. You didn't force me to keep having s*x with you, and that helped me so much more than you realize. Everything I am now, is because you didn’t give up on me,” she whispered.

I shivered as she traced my abs while she slipped into the bed beside me. The towel lay forgotten on the floor while her nakedness was on full display.

“The thing is, I don’t have a single memory of you that's bad, Neil. I wasn’t prepared to have anyone make it their mission to help a weak little girl like me, but you did.” I closed my eyes, biting back a moan as she kissed my neck. “I honestly can't recall a moment you were not protective of me or encouraging me. It was always you, Neil. It always will be.”

I felt cold metal on my face and knew the ring was still in place on her hand. I wanted to howl with joy. She hadn’t rejected me. Shifting my weight, I raised my hands to her face and pulled her down for a kiss. To my surprise, she eagerly kissed me back. Her hands splayed over my chest as I pulled her on top of me. She broke from me to whisper in my ear. “If I can accept that my family is full of some pretty powerful people, then I can accept that you are a Werewolf.”

The weight of her words fell over me as she impaled herself on my rock-hard member while telling me she loved me. Months of stretching my self-control to the breaking point had led to her coming to me. I breathed her name, thrusting deep into her core. Rolling over, I intensified my strokes as I watched her writhing beneath me. Her legs locked around my hips, pulling me deeper while her nails clawed at my back. Her inner walls tightened around me as she screamed her release, her back arching off the bed. Collapsing on the bed beside her, I couldn't stop shaking.

“My sweet angel,” I whispered as I pulled her into my arms. “I’m sorry I walked away like that. Believe it or not, I was afraid you would reject me. Did the guys tell you what rejection is?”

“Kaden explained that it was like a break-up, but with pain and the feeling of emptiness. Are you really a Werewolf,” she asked when her breathing levelled out. Her eyes searched my face when I didn't answer right away. “Neil?”

He’d watered it down for her, giving her basic info without breaking the order of silence. Good. That would actually save me some explaining. “Yes, but it's a little more complicated than that. I'm actually the Alpha, the top dog, so to speak.”

I took her arm, trailing my fingers down to her hand with the ring, and brought it to my lips. My brown eyes met her blue, and I couldn’t help kissing her senseless, our tongues dancing for dominance. I groaned as she buried her hands in my black hair.

Breaking the kiss, she said, “I’m not afraid of you, Neil. I’m afraid of losing you. So, that whole Baby Alpha game wasn’t a game, was it?”

“Kaden always likes skirting the rules and laws of the supernatural just to see how much he can get away with. No, it wasn’t a game, but the nickname was real. He stuck that on me when he was only four and I was an asshole seven-year-old that thought I was too good to be friends with anyone. Dre and Kaden have been with me the longest.” A smile pulled at the edges of my mouth as I looked into her eyes. “Do you have any idea what you make me feel? The thousands of ways that you make me happy daily?”

“No, not really,” she admitted quietly.

Leaning over her, I twisted a strand of mahogany around my index finger, “Every look, every kiss, every touch makes my heart soar. Every time you defended me, you proved your worth as a Luna defending her Alpha Mate. Your kindness and gentle ways are perfectly paired with your temper. You complete me, Izzy. You are my Soulmate, my other half, my calm, and my reason for existing.”

Her eyes swam with tears, her lip trembling as she waited for me to continue. “I always felt like there was something more between us, and Dre told me about the bond between Mates. I just thought that what I felt for you was gratitude for helping me get stronger, but now I understand everything. You knew all along, and you still let me set the pace.”

“I was at my lowest that day you found me in the kitchen. I was fighting with my father, and Clara avoided me because of my moodiness. I had lost the respect of my people, my pack, long before that, too. You walked into the kitchen like a ghost, and I got to see that beautiful smile for the first time.” I opened up, which was shockingly easy to do.

“Is that why Henry was always such a buzzkill?” She asked, and I lost it. I laughed so hard she was laughing at me. “What? What did I say that was so funny?”

“So… so I’m not the only one that thinks dad could do with stick-removal surgery?” I asked jokingly.

That’s when she joined in on my fun-making. “He’s such a simp for Aunt Clara, too.”

“You have no idea, babe,” I chuckled. Smiling, I kissed the tip of her nose when she protested. “You saved my life the day we first spoke. I hated myself for the marks I left on you the first time we were together. When you didn’t say anything to Philip, I was a little anxious, but you defended me.”

Her hands forced me to focus on her, “I love you, Neil, and nothing is going to change that. Not now, not ever.”

“What about if I steal all the covers?”

She rolled her eyes, “Please, that’s my line. You’re basically a living heater. Speaking of, Kaden’s a wolf, isn’t he?”

“A hybrid, but yeah,” I admitted. “He’s a literal royal pain in the ass sometimes, though.”