Pack Business

He watched her storm away. Just like the rain that pounded down around them, she was just as intense, especially when she was angry. Or hurt. Right now, she was both. She had no reason to be, but she wouldn’t hold still long enough to hear him out. He could explain, if he could only get her to listen.

Growling in frustration he stomped after her.

“Would you stop and listen!?” he yelled at her over the crack of thunder.

She glared up at him. “Listen to what? You’re not getting what I am saying. You don’t see why I am upset. So, what is there to listen to?”

The rain was starting to slow a bit, but by now, both were soaked through. She turned to leave again, and he decided he had had enough. He grabbed her arm and dragged her around the back of the house to the small garden alcove. He would make her listen if he had to hold her down to make her stay.

He pushed her down onto the wooden chair that sat beside the table where they both liked to write when the weather was cool.

Immediately she bounced back up. He pushed her down again, giving her a stern look. Her eyes got wide, then narrowed to slits. He swallowed hard, almost afraid to take his hands off her arms. Then his anger and hurt came back.

“Stay put!” he said. He stepped back.

She bounced up again, this time ready to fight.

“DO NOT TREAT ME LIKE A CHILD!” she screamed.

He towered over her. “Then stop acting like one!”

Her head snapped up and she took a step back. The chair hit her in the back of the legs and she instinctively sat down. She crossed her arms, gave him an impassive disinterested look, and heaved a sigh.

“Speak.” She commanded.

“I won’t treat you like a child, do not speak to me like a dog.” He grumbled.

She snickered, just a little. He shot her a withering look. She stopped.

“You totally took what happened out of context. I didn’t lie to you. I didn’t leave you out. You know how I get.” He said.

“That is the problem.” She said softly. “You get so focused, so tunnel-visioned, you forget to share any changes or additions with me. You called me your equal, I am your second in command, yet you treat me like I am nothing more than a foot soldier, on a need to know list. I know you don’t do it on purpose, and I know I need to separate business from personal, but you need to remember to include me in that business, or clearly define the role I have so I don’t make this mistake again. I can’t take it.”

He stood looking down at her. She made a good point, and if he had of remembered, he would have told her.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.” He looked at her misery etched across his face. “Talk is talk, that’s all it was. You ARE my second, always will be. I can’t, I won’t do this without you.”

She uncrossed her arms and stood up. He was shielding his energy from her. He had done that the night before when she had been dealing with an undesirable. Her hurt and anger flared again.

“Why do you do that?” she asked. He looked at her, confused.

“Do what?” he asked.

“Shut me out.” She replied. “You did it last night, left me out there, on my own, and now you are doing it again. We promised. We said, after the last time, we would never do that again. Especially not telling the other we were doing it, and yet, here you are, or should I say, here you aren’t.”

She pushed past him and walked away a few feet. “You either trust me, let me in, and commit to this, or let me go. I can’t do halfway anymore.” She kept her back to him, so he wouldn’t see the tears streaming down her face. A knot of fear settled in her stomach and she wasn’t sure if it was hers or his. She heard him sit down in the chair with a hard thump.

“Ouch.” He said softly.

She turned at looked at him. He sat in the chair, hands on his legs, looking down. His shoulders had slumped over, and he looked defeated almost. She walked towards him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she used her other hand to raise his head.

“Look at me.” She asked. He pulled his head away and looked down again.

She used a bit more force. “Please.”

He looked up at her, eyes shuttered.

She had hurt him. In her anger, she had hurt him. That was the last thing she had wanted.

“It’s my turn to be sorry.” She whispered.

He shrugged, “Nothing to be sorry for.” It was his go to line. She knew it well.

She cupped the sides of his face, forcing him to look at her. She searched his face, his eyes, to see if there was something left to salvage. To see if she had gone to far this time. She found it, that spark, that connection. She used her energy and reached for it. She never broke contact with his eyes, and she pulled on that connection.

A slight gasp escaped him, and she watched the shields fall from his eyes. The pain, the hurt, the betrayal he felt, the affection he held for her, the need, it was all there. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, as she breathed out, she let everything she felt for him, all that she held inside, pour into him. Tears trickled softly down her cheeks, but she was unaware.

He watched her, watched all her defences, all her barriers get moved to the side, so that he could see, so he could feel, directly into her. She hid nothing from him. Her eyes, usually hazel, burned with a reddish amber. A low guttural sound rose from a throat that looked human but held a noise only an animal could make. The hands on either side of his face caressed his cheek as they became claw like.

He reached up and grabbed her by the wrists. “Enough.” He said softly.

She took a deep shuddering breath and pulled her energy back in. He let go of her wrists and she dropped her arms to her side.

Her heart broke. He sat with his head down, unmoving. She had failed. She had given him everything she had in her, and he had again, shut her out. She pulled back slightly, preparing to leave, this time for good, and his hands flew to her hips and pulled her back.

Her body tensed, afraid to move, afraid to breath. He pulled her close enough to lay his head against her. She could feel his body breathing deeply. He was pulling in her scent. It was intimate, personal, and something he had never done before. He had never committed her scent to memory. Not like this. Doing it like this would imprint her on him always.

She tried to pull back, but his hands tightened. He pulled her in farther.

“Please.” He said softly. “Don’t go.”

Her heart raced and her stomach clenched. “Why?” she asked. She needed words. She needed to put the voices to rest, the questions needed to be quieted.

He sighed heavily. “All I can say is that we need you. The pack needs you.” He took another deep breath and buried his face in her stomach. “I need you.”

She relaxed her body just a little and wrapped her arms around his head, cradling him against her.

“Why?” she asked again.

He groaned in frustration. He wasn’t good at dissecting or discussing his emotions. He had kept them shut off for so long, becoming nothing but a hunting and killing machine. She had awakened things within him he never thought he would feel again.

“Why?” she asked again.

Her stubbornness was one of the things he adored about her, but at times it drove him crazy.

“I need you.” He said again.

“You said that already.” She replied.

“I can’t do this without you. I can’t run this pack without you. You are the one who has the connection with everyone, the one they go too when they have an issue. They talk to you, they lean on you and they listen to you.”

She pulled back again. “Is that all?” she asked quietly. She knew he valued her work, and the effort she put into the pack. She ran things like a well-oiled machine, but she needed more. She needed to know that his affection for her was more than just because of what she did within the pack. She needed to know it was personal.

“You know it isn’t.” he said uncomfortably.

“No, I don’t.” she said. “I know that you care about me, that you value my effort and my hard work. I know that you turn to me for pack business and discuss everything with me, regarding the pack. I know that you vent to me about your family, but you do that with Dalan too.”

He looked up at her. He felt more than he saw the walls creeping back into place. He lifted her by the hips and sat her across his lap. She struggled a bit until she realized it was causing more of an issue than it was freeing her.

“I said I needed you. That goes beyond pack business. I want you, as you can clearly see. I also adore you more than you probably know. That is all I am capable of right now. I meant it when I said I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to do this without you. Any of it.”

Her face softened into a smile. She knew that was hard for him, he had been numb for so long.

The rain had picked up again and was coming down hard. She stared into his eyes, lost in all she saw and all she felt. He stared up at her, feeling the same way. She leaned down slowly, brushing her lips gently across his.

“I adore you too.” She whispered.

His arms tightened around her, and he deepened the kiss with a low rumble in his throat. She tightened her legs around his waist, and he stood, resting her on the edge of the table.

Hands, lips and mouths explored each other as passion and primal animal instinct took over. He fumbled with the belt in her jeans when they heard someone clear their throat at the entrance to the alcove.

He pulled back and looked down at her. Her eyes were wild, her hair messy and her cheeks flushed. He raised an eyebrow. “You good?” he asked.

She took a few deep breaths and calmed herself. “Yeah” she said as she pulled her shirt back into place. He pulled her up from the table and stood her back on the ground.

Turning toward the sound he saw Dalan standing there, a big grin plastered to his face.

“Am I interrupting?” he asked trying to see around his friend.

“Yes.” He said.

Suna stepped from behind him and glared at Dalan. “What do you what?” she snarled.

He laughed and gave Suna a wolfish grin. “The council has assembled, and they are looking for you and Reese.”

“Oh my god! I forgot about the council!” Suna tucked her shirt and ran towards the meeting hall.

Dalan looked at Reese with a knowing grin. “Finally gave in did you?” he asked.

“I didn’t give in,” Reese said, irritated. “I care about her; it was time she knew.”

“Uh-huh.” Dalan laughed. “Dude I know you, that was more than just caring.”

Reese shot Dalan a look. “Shut up.” He said as he straightened his shirt and readjusted his jeans. “Let's go, the council hates waiting.”

The two left the alcove and strode towards the meeting hall. Dalan had assumed his position to the left and slightly behind Reese. He was Reese’s bodyguard. He was also Head of the Guard. Reese, being the Alpha of the pack, had certain privileges afforded to him, such as a bodyguard, which he rarely used. The two moved quickly towards the meeting before Suna could take over completely.

[To Be continued…]