Noelle
After I heal Asher's wounds, he asks me to shift back so we can go inside and go to his room; apparently fighting with Elijah turned him on.
I won't lie; watching them fight over me was sexy, as cliché and shallow as that sounds. But I'm not really in the mood to fuck around. Plus, I like being in wolf form. It makes me feel more powerful than I ever have in my life, like I'm in charge of my fate for once.
He gives me a pouty face when I shake my head, but eventually just walks back to the house with me trotting next to him.
Corbin calls Asher into his office for a short meeting, and I start for my room, but something takes me in another direction, and I find myself in front of Elijah's door. Even with everything that has happened the past few days, I feel horrible about tending to Asher's wounds and ignoring Elijah's. It's not like he can shift and heal himself.
The door is cracked, so I push it open with my paw and slip inside.
Elijah is in his bathroom, shirtless and in his boxer briefs. Even when my wolf is dominant, I feel a stirring in my belly. But I push it down; Elijah's made it clear that he refuses to explore those feelings with me.
He's leaning over the sink, cleaning the cuts on his face, and my heart hurts with every wince as he pats the cut over his eyebrow with a wet washcloth.
My paws are silent on the carpet as I walk to the bathroom. I rub my body against the backs of his legs, and he looks down, his blue eyes wide and betraying his shock at seeing me in his room. In wolf form.
He's so tall, and most of his injuries are on his face. I'm not particularly agile with my new body yet, so I nudge his leg and jerk my head toward the toilet seat.
"It's not necessary. I'll take care of it," he says, his voice monotone.
I bite the bottom of his underwear, pulling him toward the toilet. The elastic at his waist slides down his hip, baring his hard, naked butt. For a second, I consider nipping at the smooth, tan skin, but he moves and sits. He rests his arms on his thighs and stares at me, his expression totally defeated.
I've never seen him look this miserable, not even the other night when I was in the cell. Something else is wrong, but I can't talk to him in this form, so I do the best thing I can for him at the moment.
I stand up and put my front two paws on his knees and bend my head toward his. Before I lick the wound at his eyebrow, I nuzzle him just once, hoping I'm sending the message that I am here, and I care about him, regardless of whatever is happening in his head right now.
His eyes dart to me, and his breath hitches. When I lap at his wounds, a little contented sound escapes the back of his throat, and I immediately feel better. I drag my tongue along the wounds on his face and the ones on his chest, paying special attention to the gash across his brow.
"It all feels easier as a wolf, doesn't it?"
I nod and continue lapping at the small scratch on his jaw.
He scratches behind my ear and tilts his head to the side. "All I want is to run until nothing feels complicated."
Before I even know what I'm doing, I squat on my back legs and hop up to his lap so I can better reach his eyebrow. I don't know how Asher managed to cut him so deeply, but this one is taking longer than usual to heal.
Elijah's arms fall around my body, and he holds me on his lap, steadying me, gently stroking the fur along my spine and down to my tail. And it feels so nice that I lose myself in my thoughts.
I think about what he said a moment ago: It all feels easier as a wolf, doesn't it? I wish he could just shift whenever he wants like I can; it would be so much simpler for us to talk and maybe make some positive change to our relation—friendship. For some reason, Elijah was so much more open with me when he was shifted, and I loved being in the presence of his wolf form.
A spark of electricity flows through my body, and I jump, nearly falling off his lap onto the floor. Luckily, he catches me, but I can see in his eyes that he felt something too.
What the hell?
I cock my head to the side, hoping he has some insight to give me because I am still feeling tingly from the tips of my ears all the way down to the pads of my paws.
"What was that? What did you do, Noelle?"
I jump off his lap and lower my front legs, looking up at him. How does he know it was me? Everything I've done as a lycan has been accidental. I'm learning as I'm going, so asking me seems pretty useless.
Elijah grabs a large towel from the rack on the wall and wraps it around me. "I need you to talk to me. What just happened?"
His concern is freaking me out. I don't want to shift back. What if I accidentally did something wrong? He can't scold me if I am unable to tell him anything.
"Noelle. Please shift."
The desperation in his voice is enough to make me listen. I close my eyes and imagine myself back in my human body, and just like that, I'm sitting on my knees on his bathroom floor, completely naked and barely covered by a bath towel.
The first thing I notice is how cold the floor is, and I start to shiver uncontrollably—both from the cold and from how nervous I am about whatever just happened. The last thing I need is for Elijah to have another reason to be annoyed with me.
Elijah jumps up and pulls me to my feet, making sure the towel stays closed, and leads me into his bedroom. He settles me on the bed and perches at the end of the mattress, as far away from me as he can get. "Talk to me, Noelle. What happened in there?'
I swallow and push my wild waves out of my face and adjust my legs, the towel gaping open just an inch. Part of my upper thigh is exposed, but I don't bother fixing it.
"I don't know what I did, Elijah, I swear."
"Were you thinking about something?"
My eyebrow dips. "Uh...I think I was thinking about what you said about wanting to be able to shift and run to be free. I—" I freeze and look at him, his blue eyes already wide.
"What? What is it?"
"I wanted you to shift any time like me...that it would make things so much easier for you," I say, and in my head, I add, and me too.
"Did you open the line between you and me?"
"Open the line? I don't know what that means."
"That night at the cabin, I shifted because you temporarily opened the line between us. You needed help, and although you didn't know it, you willed me to shift."
I stand up, gripping the towel and slap my palm on my thigh. "I don't know. I had no clue what I was doing that night. It just happened. What if I did open your line? What does that mean?"
"When the king promotes a lycan to alpha, they permanently open that line, giving them the ability to shift on demand."
My hand flies to cover my mouth and the towel slips, uncovering more of my body than I intend, but I can't be bothered to pay attention.
"I'm sorry, are you saying that I just made you an alpha?"
"I don't know, but something feels different. I...guess there is only one way to find out." Elijah stands. "I'm about to either look like a complete idiot or something amazing is going to happen."
"I'm not sure which I'd rather it be."
One side of his mouth quirks. "You would enjoy seeing me make a fool of myself."
He's not wrong. After the way he acted this afternoon, he would deserve it. But I want him to be happy and let go of the animosity he carries. If controlling his wolf would help that, I'm happy to see it happen.
Elijah takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. When he opens them, he is on the floor on all fours and covered in ebony fur. He brushes against my calf hanging over the side of the bed and looks up at me with pure gratitude. I just hope he didn't change because I wanted him to, and this is really his new normal.
I reach behind his ear and give him a good scratch. "So, off to run now?"
He bows his head but nudges against me one more time, and when he looks up at me, it's with questioning eyes.
I chew the inside of my lip and fight a smile. "You want me to run with you?"
He nudges me again, and I swear when he looks up at me, he is smiling, even though it's not possible.
"All right, all right. It's clear you're just dying to hang out with me," I tease as I climb off the bed and close my eyes. When I open them, I'm eye level with Elijah and I bump my head against his.
Even as a wolf, my breath hitches. There's something sparking between us, and I don't know if it's just the fact that I made him an alpha or what, but there's something there I haven't felt before this moment.
You think you can keep up with me, princess?
I snap my teeth at him. Don't worry about me; just lead the way.
Turn one lycan into an alpha and now you think you rule the world.
I lift my paw and push him toward the door. Not the world; just my newest alpha.