Lone Werewolf

I lied

"I'm sorry," she apologised. I snapped my focus onto her again, frowning; confused.

"For what?" I wondered, bewildered. 

"Looking ugly." She said.

The shock pierced my chest, and then melted into anger. How could she think that?

"You're beautiful," I stated, truthfully, "Why wouldn't you be?"

She was reluctant, it was amplified in her body language and she shrank back from me, taking her hands away from mine.

"The scars," she confessed, "I mean, they don't exactly look...appealing. I mean, well, they're just ugly, like I said."

"I am not repulsed by them," I expressed, glancing back down to her wrists, "Angry?" I paused, trying to collect myself, "God, yes. I'm so angry. But not at you for having them. Never at you. You've done nothing wrong - it's them that will pay."

Neither of us needed to say who 'them' was and, in actuality, I didn't know who they were to her, but to me they were my worst enemies. They were the animals that ruined my mate's life; they were the ones who made her cry at night, they  were the ones who gave my girl those scars.

"I won't let them hurt you," I declared, "Never again. I swear it on my life."

She was startled. I guess it was a little early in the day for confessions but she needed to hear this for her sake. Sometimes I forget that she's never told me anything about her past and get lost in my own assumptions. They weren't hard to make.

She flinched all the time – she was hit.

She has those brutal bracelet scars – she's been in silver chains.

She was so thin – did she eat?

I had to reign my thoughts back in before they spiralled again and ate away at both our consciences.

"Let's not dwell on it," I stated, "There are more pancakes to be eaten."

**

We spent the day with Alpha Arden and her Beta – Chandni, being introduced to their sizable pack. Arden was kind to Eden, which was a relief, since it meant I could relax a least a little and I had worried that Arden would be her usual formidable self.

We had met a few times before, once even as far back as to when she was still an Omega; struggling but determined to make her place in the pack. And she did, two years ago, when she beat the late Alpha fair and square. They say she ripped out his throat.

Some people are simply born to rule.

"Cesare?" Eden asked, once Arden left to talk to my cousin about something important. Although it still struck me as odd that she even acknowledges Tide as. I was about to respond to Eden but Chandni was coming towards us, glowering at Will who strolled by her side.

"He's one of yours?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at me. I frowned, ready to be on the defensive.

"What seems to be the problem?" I enquired.

"I caught him lurking by my Alpha's office," she disclosed, "Keep your men out of places they shouldn't be."

"Right, yes, of course." I conceded. She nodded, dark eyes scrutinising me with that suspicious glint I had come to associate her with in the few short hours we had been acquainted. Arden had chosen her right-hand woman well – Chandri was loyal, smart but she'd be damned if she let anything slip past her notice. She threw us one last dissecting glance before turning back the way she came, shouting over her shoulder, "Arden wants you in her office – 5 sharp."