The Resilient Mate

Chapter Four.

A heavy arm pinned me down and for a moment I panicked. I launched myself from the bed and only when I turned to look at the hulking figure of Griff did I react.

“Eve what’s wrong?” He asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes groggily.

“Nothing.” I muttered, walking into the kitchen for food. The breeze kissed my naked body and I knew that Griff had a good view of the scars from my time with Al- Qaeda. There was no food in the fridge so I pulled out the room service menu. “What do you want?” I asked him.

“Whatever you get.” I felt his arms slid around my waist and run up and down my stomach. I called room service and them together we hopped into the shower, enjoying another tryst.

We lay in bed the whole day, getting up only to go to the bathroom or get food. I lay on my stomach, half my body covering Griff’s as he ran a calloused hand down my back. “What are you planning on doing with your leave?” He asked. I knew that my team would return to active duty in a few days but for the first time in seven years, I wouldn’t be joining them.

I shrugged and trailed my finger over his broad chest. Truthfully I’d thought about it hard and long. The pack would have received a letter with the military’s condolences on my passing and I knew that my father’s would have been devastated. I knew that I couldn’t just let them believe I was dead; even though I left I knew that they loved me and it would’ve broken their hearts to hear that their only child had died.

“I’m going home.”

His hands stopped their wandering as he absorbed the full impact of my words. “You’re going back to the pack?”

It was against were laws to tell humans about the existence of supernaturals due to hunters and the dangers that humans posed. I was raised as a wolf but I was human; the laws didn’t apply to me. I had told Griff a few years into our friendship and he was fine with it; though I think that because he hasn’t had to watch a wolf shift, I don’t think he realises the full implications.

I nodded and locked my gaze with his. “You’ll be gone and I’ll have nothing to do, nowhere to go and no one to see if I stayed here. What am I going to do for a year while you’re away? I’m my own person and I haven’t seen my dad’s in seven years; hell they think I’m dead! I walked out like a coward but I’m a different person now and I can handle it.”

I saw a big smile break out onto his face and he rolled me underneath him, peppering kisses on my face. “I’ve never been prouder of you Eve… we’ll there are moments that come close, but I know how much they hurt you. The point is that I know you can do this; I don’t expect for you to wait for me, you’re the last person I would want to hold back because I know how amazing you are and repressing you would make you hate me. I value our friendship too much to lose you; I want you to visit your family, face your demons. I’d be there but you and I both know that’s not possible.”

I nodded and went to push him off me and stand but Griff just grinned down at me and pressed more of his weight onto my body. “That doesn’t mean that I’m done with you though; not by a long shot.”

And he proved it.

-

My heart pounded in my ears as I wove through the almost non- existent road which led to the pack house. The house was in the heart of the Austrian Alp’s and was almost inaccessible to vehicles save for the one path I was driving down. I’d caught a two hour flight to the nearest airport and then bought a second hand car I knew would be able to handle the conditions. Thankfully it was summer so there was no ice or snow to cause a dangerous accident.

My palms became sweaty as I saw dark shapes darting through the trees. Anyone else wouldn’t have seen them but with my training and knowledge of pack workings, I knew that they were patrols. They would have contacted the alpha, Jenna and enforcers telling them that an unknown vehicle was encroaching on their pack land. Ten more minutes and I would be there.