The Resilient Mate

Chapter Sixteen.

The smooth, flat stone skipped over the water’s surface. I watched as it sank to the bottom of the lake, ripples of water licking the shore line. I sighed and rested my forehead on my knees. I felt empty; all my anger and sadness had just drained from my body after I had left Jenna’s office. I knew that I would have retribution but for now I just want to curl up and cry; but I couldn’t. I just felt… numb.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I tensed before the warming scent of pine and rain. I felt his giant body sit down next to me and somehow I just knew that he was staring out at the lake. I peered at him from the side of my eye; he really was strange… quiet, solemn, but strong, like an oak tree.

“Thank you.” I murmured.

There was silence until I felt his gaze on me. “For what?”

I sniffed and shook my head. “Everything.”

I felt a tear trickle down my cheek as the full impact of everything really hit me; I’d lost my baby, I was no longer human… I was no longer me. All my life I’d been excluded for not being like them and after I’d come to terms with it, I am changed; all after losing my baby. I felt my body wracked with sobs as tears trickled down my cheeks. I felt so damn useless and broken and weak; I couldn’t even protect the one person who’d wholly depended on me, the little life I’d come to love.

I felt warmth invade me before I was scooped up into thick arms and pulled onto his lap. His hand gently guided my face to his neck, his other wrapped around my body, gently rubbing my back. “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

His chest rumbled as he pulled me away and looked down at me. “You will train, you will fight and you will win.” I think that he meant the challenge but for some reason it felt like he was talking about something more.

I sniffed and looked up at him with wide eyes. “Will you train me?” I knew just from looking at the way he carried himself that he was a warrior. The way his gaze swept the room and how he just stood back and observed everything told me he was trained. “I know you can.”

He stared out at the lake before he nodded, so quickly I would’ve missed it if…. if I didn’t have supernatural sight. A smile slipped onto my face and on impulse, I cupped his face in my hands and pressed my lips to his. It didn’t last that long but after a few seconds, I felt him respond. His lips moulded to mine and when I pulled away, there was a small smile on his face.  

“Thank you.” I muttered, resting my forehead against his. I felt something inside me warm at the feeling but I pushed it down.

I felt him chuckle, his warm breaths hitting my lips. “Don’t thank me yet pup.”

I felt a growl bubble in my chest but I bit my lip and pushed it down; I was not… well I guess I was and animal. I pushed away and stood, pulling off my shirt as I walked away. I pulled off my bra and turned to Kade, covering my chest with my hands. “Catch me if you can.” I focused on the image of a dark brown, almost black wolf and felt the change wash over me. I fell to all fours as a wolf and took off into the forest, hearing a loud growl behind me.

I was so thankful that I’d read so many of Jenna’s books when I was a teenager because now I knew more than some who were born wolves. Right off the bat I knew how to control the shift which wasn’t as easy as I’d read about, but I was slowly getting used to it.

I ducked under fallen logs, jumped over rocks and crept through bushes. I knew that I had an advantage in the undergrowth because I was smaller than Kade. As I went to jump over another log, I was tackled to the ground by a heavy weight. With a growl I snapped at the massive wolf on top of me and tried to wiggle out from underneath him.