Nature's Destiny (12 page)
“Your immune system is stronger. I wouldn’t be surprised if your anxiety fades out too.” He’d obviously heard a lot of my story, but that didn’t matter. I was happy - elated even. Anxiety wasn’t going to be a problem anymore.
“Your dinner is in the kitchen. Luna cooked Chinese,” said Lara, licking her lips.
“Great. Can I speak with you, Luna?” he said.
“Sure.” I watched him walk out of the room before I got up. Roxy followed me into the hallway on her way to bed. She grabbed at my arm.
“Don’t lose faith in romance. When you meet the right guy you’ll wonder what all the worrying had been about because sex will come naturally. Trust me, Luna. We all go through it.” She patted my arm before walking away.
I hadn’t noticed before, but Riley looked exhausted. His clothing was wrinkled from driving, and his eyes drooped heavily. He stood by the island, waiting for his food to heat up in the microwave.
“How are you, Luna?” he asked.
“I’m fine Riley, but you look exhausted.” I stood as close as I dared.
“It’s been a long day,” he attempted a smile. “I’m sorry I caused you pain earlier.”
I looked at him confused. I hadn’t seen him all day. “How…”
“By not letting you go on a run tonight. It was too dangerous to let everyone out when I wasn’t here to oversee things. If something happened while I was gone, to you, to my sisters…”
“It’s alright, Riley.” I lay my hand on top of his. “I understand,” I said. He swallowed, and nodded.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop either. I didn’t want to interrupt because I didn’t think you’d tell me. I’m sorry.”
Even if I’d wanted to, I couldn’t be mad at him when he’d given me the opportunity at a new life. “How was your day?” I asked.
“Draining. Things are not looking good.”
He looked sad and angry, and like the world was resting on his shoulders. It was no wonder he looked like he was about to topple over.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, concerned.
“Not tonight.” He held onto my hand, and stared into my eyes. He stroked my face, and ran his thumb across my lip. “I hate that some teenage fuck up ruined your life. And I hate that it skewed your perception of men.” He watched me closely. “I promise you we’re not all like that,” he whispered as his eyes bore into mine.
He leaned in slowly, waiting for my response, and kissed me lightly. He pulled away before I had the chance to take it further.
“You should get some rest.”
“Me? You’re the one who’s about to collapse on their feet!” I protested. “You may be Alpha, Riley, but even you have to sleep otherwise you’ll have the attention span and capability of a zombie.”
“At least I’ll be a good-looking zombie,” he winked at me, before taking his plate out of the microwave. He walked out of the room and headed towards the study. I shook my head in disbelief, amazed at the dedication he had to go back to work.
I returned to the living room and sat with Faye and Lara, secretly feeling pleased. Riley had kissed me.
Again.
The beating of my heart echoed through my ears, and the constant pounding increased as I struggled to breathe. I fought desperately for the next intake of air, and my lungs burned simultaneously as my legs turned to jelly. I prayed for a change in temperature, and for some rain to ease the torment.
“Don’t give up on me, Luna.” Lara paced ahead of me, breathing evenly like a beauty queen on parade. I hated her for it.
Lara had ruined my sleep when she’d dragged me out of bed, after rudely bursting through my door. By the time my heart rate had returned to normal she’d seduced me with talk of running, and I’d assumed she’d meant as a wolf. No such luck.
“We need to build up your strength and stamina,” she continued to explain. “If you can’t run well as a human, what hope does your wolf have?”
I didn’t mention that I’d coped just fine with Riley that first night, it could’ve been a fluke for all I knew.
“For all intents and purposes I will be your personal trainer. You’re welcome.” I wasn’t quite sure why I needed a personal trainer or why I had to be grateful. I groaned with disapproval.
Growing up I’d avoided sports as much as I could. I didn’t mind swimming, there was something magical about floating on water, but anything that was going to make me sweaty I generally steered clear of. I hated feeling that way, it was nasty.
Lara had pushed and pushed to see how fast and capable I was, but it wasn’t anything impressive though. After twenty minutes I was ready to collapse. In my mind I was begging for her to stop, but I wouldn’t show it.
Air escaped my mouth in noisy puffs as we stepped through the woods, and slowed to a jogging pace. I focused as much as I could on the nature surrounding me. It was beautifully green as the tall trees populated the area. It was like looking at a picture in high definition that had been photo shopped to amplify its glory.
The sweet call-and-answer of birds echoed throughout the forest, my ears were sensitive to the smallest of noises. I was pleasantly surprised at how relaxed I was despite the lack of oxygen. Nature was wonderful.
Our trail looped and soon the house was within distance again, and just as stunning as when I’d first arrived.
“I’ll race you to the house, Luna. If I win we do this again tomorrow, and if you win you can have the day off,” she goaded with a grin.
I couldn’t resist temptation. “You’re on,” I said, and pushed at the ground with everything I had. I forced my feet to run faster, and sucked in as much air as I could.
Within seconds Lara flew past me, her body becoming nothing but a blur to me. That was when I’d realised she’d been taking it easy on me, and I’d had no chance of winning.
“That... wasn’t fair… you know!” I said between gasps. The beginnings of a cramp filtered its way into my calf, and I bent over to smooth it out.
“Don’t be a sore loser,” she smirked. “I’m determined to sway your views on running you know. After a few weeks you won’t remember why you hated it in the first place. There’ll come a time when you’ll beg me for a good run!”
“Don’t count on it,” I mumbled. “Can you at least give me a time for tomorrow? I could really do without your dramatic entrance,” I chastised.
“Sure. Say six in the morning? It’s nice and quiet then.”
“Great,” I answered sarcastically.
I was glad to walk into an empty kitchen. I waited while my glass filled with water, and my throat constricted in anticipation. I was parched, and I couldn’t wait to wash away the filth. I had to hand it to Lara, I did feel strangely energised.
“You look a mess, Luna,” said Nick as he walked into the room.
“Gee, thanks Nick. You’re charming as ever!”
“Just keeping it real, baby,” he winked. “Lara’s doing?” he asked, with a knowing look.
“She forced me! Honestly, she’s going to kill me if she keeps it up!”
“Don’t be silly, Luna! The first day is always the hardest. It’s easy from now on,” she said.
“Don’t believe a word she says! It’s going to get tougher!” Nick sniggered.
“Well, aren’t you all encouraging today!” I replied, punching his arm. He jerked back a little too late, and rubbed absentmindedly at the mark.
“Not a bad hit, Luna,” he approved. “If you ever want to go through combat training I’ll teach you.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. You’d probably poke an eye out or something,” I teased.
“Nick’s an MMA. You’re safe with him,” said Lara.
“MMA?” I asked.
“Mixed Martial Artist. Don’t you know anything?” It was safe to say Nick hadn’t lost his sarcastic wit between the banter.
“Shut up, Nick! The only reason I’d need to learn how to fight would be so I can knock you down,” I retaliated.
“That’s settled then. I’m sure I can squeeze you in around my busy schedule. I’m a man in demand you know.” I desperately tried to suppress a giggle. “Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried, Luna.”
“OK, and in the meantime I’ll just hang around waiting!” I lifted my hand to my head damsel-in-distress style. “Right, I’d better go shower.”
“I wish you would. I can smell you from here,” he said, wrinkling his nose.
“I do not smell!” I shouted, and stormed out of the room and up the stairs.
“Whoa there, tiger!”
“Sorry, Riley.” I’d walked into him at the top of the stairs. My one-track mind almost knocked us both over.
“In a rush?” he asked, glancing me over.
“Entirely.” A girl couldn’t walk undetected, and of all people Riley had to be the one to see me in such a sweaty mess. “I need to shower,” I explained, thinking of how disgusting I probably looked.
His eyes glowed with hunger, and I melted at the thought of him joining me. That would have been a better way to start the day.
“I won’t keep you then. We need to talk later though.”
“I won’t be long,” I promised.*
“Better?” Faye asked as I walked into the kitchen. Roxy sat with her at the table with cups of tea in their hands.
“Much. There’s something extremely satisfying about washing away the dirt and putting on clean clothes,” I said as I rummaged through the fridge for a drink. I sat down and joined in with their conversation. “What have I missed?”
“Not much, we were just planning dinner,” Roxy replied.
“Food, my favourite topic.” They chuckled. “Do you mind if I make a cake?” I asked. I’d thought about it yesterday, and now that I had the time it was all I could think about. It was better than thinking of everything else that was happening to me. I got up and searched around the cupboards for the ingredients as they finalised their dinner plans.
I had everything I needed to make a chocolate cake and quickly weighed and made the batter, carefully spooning the mixture into the tins. I placed them into the oven and set the timer for twenty minutes before I sat back at the table.
“What was it like growing up here?” I asked Faye, remembering Roxy’s childhood story yesterday. I wanted to know more about my new family, and I couldn’t wait to start asking questions.
“It was mostly awesome,” she began. “We grew up with people we could depend on, and that proved most valuable for my family.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because my parents passed away six years ago.” My heart lurched, as images of a younger Riley, Faye and Lara flooded my mind. I couldn’t imagine growing up without my parents, they were such solid people that it was easy to take them for granted.
“Lara was only thirteen at the time, and I was sixteen. I remember the moment the call came in to say what had happened.” She took a deep breath, steadying her emotions.
It wasn’t the story I’d expected to hear. I’d imagined happy stories of childhood mischief when I’d asked the simple question.
“Our parents were on their way to Vegas for the annual Alpha summit.” I marred my brows in confusion. “A location is chosen each year for Alpha’s across the world to gather and connect, share problems and to speak with the Ancient Guardians.” I didn’t know who the Ancient Guardians were, but I didn’t want to interrupt again.
“The reports say it was an accident, but Riley, Lara and I aren’t so sure,” she shook her head. “Both engines on their jet had failed when they were at maximum height. We were told they’d had no chance of surviving - if the impact hadn’t killed them, then the fire would have.” She dropped her head in her hands, and Roxy comforted her.
“What makes you think it wasn’t an accident?”
“It seemed too coincidental. Our pack is the only one in Wales, and besides our size in numbers we’re extremely wealthy compared to others.”
“How old was Riley?” I asked.
“Twenty. He was the youngest Alpha to ever take on such a large pack. He was so happy and proud when nobody challenged him within the pack,” she attempted a smile. “He was our rock,” she wiped away a stray tear. “Plenty of pack members offered their condolences, my parents loss was just as devastating to them, and they always extended an arm with anything we needed.”
The people in the pack that I hadn’t met sounded like people worth having around. The sense of family beyond blood resonated deeply within Werewolves, and I was glad to be a part of that union.
“When Lara and I went through the cycle of ‘what ifs’, Riley comforted us by making us realise how useless it was. We couldn’t change the past no matter how much we wanted to. He kept us busy when we needed it, and took us running to soothe the pain.”
“When you’re a wolf your basic instincts take over. You know yourself that you’re still in control, but the animalistic ways of our nature is what gives us our extra abilities like the speed of our healing. If we run as wolves when we’re sad, the pain is easier to deal with, and we heal much quicker,” Roxy explained.
“There are happier stories,” Faye began, cheering up a little. “Riley, Nick and Shane were trouble makers growing up.” Roxy smiled at her, obviously aware of the memory.
“They pranked as many people as they could. You should have seen how angry dad got at times. It was never a good thing when the Alpha had to tell his own son off for disobeying him.”
The thought brought happy memories, and I was glad to know Riley had had a proper childhood before his responsibilities clamped down around him. Even in his own grieving process he was looking out for his sisters before he paid attention to himself. He was every bit the protector he’d told me.
“Best of all, Lara and I pranked Riley
all
the time. We’d paint his nails and plaster his face in make-up when he was sleeping, of course at the time we didn’t really know what we were doing,” she shrugged and began to laugh as the memory took over.
“We took photos every time, printed them out, and covered the area in posters. Inside, outside, you name it!” I laughed with them, delighted to hear at least one embarrassing story of Riley’s. “Mum thought we were her golden angels. She
never
told us off!”
The timer on the oven beeped continuously signalling the cake was ready. I got to my feet and hurried to take it out while Faye and Roxy continued to laugh. I’d started out with the wrong question though my intentions were pure, but now I was happy I’d asked. Through their difficult past, they’d bonded and built a stronger relationship together.
I couldn’t wait to build mine.