"Wh-what does Caccia mean?" I asked hesitantly.
"Chase," he replied, "You're at one of the best parts."
I nodded, returning to the book I had been ploughing through and now, if I compare the halves, I was about one quarter of the way through.
"And, um, strumentalizzare?"
"It means exploit."
"Oh, thank you."
He smiled at me from over his book and I blushed, feeling heat emanate from my cheeks.
"You are very clever, you know that?" he praised me, "Fate has done me well to mate me with such an intelligent girl who speaks my native language. I never dreamed my mate would read my grandfather's originals."
The blush deepened, if at all possible and I had to look away from him, squirming in the praise. Was he expecting a compliment back? I knew many people like to exchange them in that way.
"Thank you, I think you're smart too."
He smiled, eyes twinkling with amusement – as if thinking of something fond.
"Oi! Brother, I thought you wanted to go shopping!" A female voice trilled in a strong Italian accent, causing me to flinch and cringe into the cushion. Cesare only rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and took out his phone, sending some kind of message to her. He waited to hear her steps thundering out of the room before standing up and offering an outstretched hand to me.
I hesitated to accept his offer, remembering that these gestures could quickly be made cruel – just when you had almost made it to your feet. Instead, roiling with guilt, I hauled myself up, wincing at the pain that laced through my sides. I rocked a little on my feet, caught off guard by the knifing pain in my ribs.
Cesare was quick to reach out a hand and stabilize me, eyes filled with concern.
"I'll get you some more painkillers – they must have lost their effect," he reassured me, although I was still wary of the hand still hovering around the small of my back, even as he helped me out of the hidey-hole.
I pulled away from him at the first opportunity, placing distance between us whilst he foraged in the bathroom cupboard for the promised pain medication. It felt pretentious and selfish to be so waited upon but I wanted the agony to disappear again, as it had never before.
He came back in and passed me a cool glass in his hand, small escaping droplets splashing onto my hand before he placed the pills in the other. I glanced towards him, unsure.
"It's only paracetamol, its fine, you just swallow them with the water."
I nodded with relief and popped the pills into my mouth before taking a big gulp of water and swallowing before I could rethink. I could feel them pass down and scrunched my nose up at the uncomfortable feeling.
"We best get going," Cesare said, leading me out of the room and down the stairs towards the entrance way. When we arrived, a flamboyant young woman was standing by the entrance – wearing a bright pink kimono, a black top and jean shorts, oh and sunglasses.
"Eden!" she exclaimed, "It's lovely to meet you, Luna. I'm Celia, his sister."
She came forward and reached out a hand, which I eyed warily. She glanced towards her brother and shrugged, turning around, out and down the marble steps of the entrance.
The word 'Luna' echoed in my brain and I shivered, my mother had been the Luna – never me. Cesare gestured for me to follow and I did, ending up outside a sleek, black car which looked very fancy and expensive. Celia was already in the driver's seat when Cesare opened the back door for me and I was sat in the confined space of the car, tensing up at the proximity of the situation.
The seats were a soft leather and I stared in wonderment at the many lighted buttons and switches around the car. When it peeled out the driveway I jumped and clutched the seat in front of me, scared for my safety.
"Put your seatbelt on," Cesare told me from where was sat next to me - I was surprised he didn't take the seat up front with his sister. I nodded and searched for where it might be. I had never actually been in a car before. Where was it?
"Here," he said, leaning over me, I panicked, breath speeding up but he refrained from touching me, only brushing against me with slight subtlety. Even that was enough to set my nerves alight. A black strap came diagonally across me and he clicked it into place in a red button thingy.
He smiled encouragingly, "I'm going to assume you've never been in a car before."
I nodded, confirming his assumption. He pointed toward the window and I looked out, immediately enthralled by the forestry speeding past. It was like we were running at lightning speed, everything only a blur of colours. I forgot to be scared of the small space.
I tried to keep my eyes fixed on one tree but then my eyes were quickly shifted and I was forced to gaze upon a new stretch of tree line. I could imagine this is what running as your wolf felt like – the wind would be whipping your fur and your paws would barely even reach the ground.
Soon enough the trees thinned out, obstructed by invasive buildings of brick and cement. I frowned, it all looked grey and ugly, and completely ruined the beauty of what once was there. People bustled around in the streets, many different people with different hair and race and clothes. It was fascinating. I saw one man with a yellow umbrella, prepared for the gloomy cloud unfolding above.
Reading, looking at pictures and seeing actual cities were very different things and I found it scary and imposing. I could easily get lost in this unusual environment.
We drove into this big, gloomy multi-story carpark and I clutched the seat in fear, it was so dark in here.
"Hey, we're here," Cesare remarked gently nudging me. I jumped, startled out of my thoughts and turned to face him. He smiled gently, pressed the button for my seatbelt and unfolded himself out of the car, I turned back and tried to open the door but couldn't work out how. I began to panic, anxious to escape the car, now feeling trapped but Cesare was already kindly opening the door for me and so I tumbled out awkwardly.
The carpark smelt dank and horrid, a stranger coughed and it resonated throughout the space. I jumped and stepped closer towards my mate, hands shaking with fear.
Celia exchanged a look with her brother, one I couldn't decipher and stayed looking at a puddle of substance by my feet. Was it actually water? I guess it could be...
"Lets go then!" Celia chirped brightly, "We've got a lot of work to do!"
She began walking and I followed on behind, Cesare kept his pace with me, as I had begun to accept he would. A clap of thunder made me squeak and I looked out through the gap in the wall to see rain pouring down onto the poor people below. At least the man with the umbrella would stay dry...
"And the good news is: the shopping center is nice and dry, oh and it's HUGE!" Celia exclaimed, clapping her hands together with excitement as she turned to face us.
I wasn't sure whether that was classified as a good thing, it seemed to only make it easier to get lost. Her heels made a rhythmic clicking sound against the cement and she spun around, just in time to push through a heavy door.
Cesare once more held it open for me and I slipped through, silently padding down the steps on the other side to join Celia who was waiting by another door. I was getting anxious, wondering where they were taking me, but when we had entered the other door I was relieved to find that we were in a well-lit, but crowded area.
We seemed to be on a type of balcony/platform with benches lining the walkways and shops on either side of us. Celia was already disappearing into a clothes shop, made distinguishable by her pink kimono.
I struggled to follow her, panicked by the amount of people surrounding me, their voices felt too loud to my hyper-sensitive ears and there were so many distracting smells it was disorientating. There were no forest smells around here, nothing to be my guide except Celia's faint trail, mixed with thousands of new scents.
A man pushed past in front of me, making me step back into someone else who frowned at me in annoyance. Cesare was now ahead of me and I panicked, blindly grasping him by the hand to stop myself getting lost.
The feel of his hand in mine, warm and stable, was comforting and I calmed down a little, clinging to his side as he expertly maneuvered his way into the shop and over to Celia.
"What do you think about this?" she asked immediately, flashing me a pretty blue summer dress with a thin brown belt across the waist.
"It's nice." I replied, uncertain. My hand was still clutched in Cesare's and he squeezed it in reassurance. I smiled a little.
"Cool! I'm picking out what I think is your size and then you can go try them on!"
I nodded, watching as she whipped up a tornado of clothing, arms full with them. Holding hands with him begins to feel awkward and scary, with me overthinking every slight movement he makes, so I'm relieved when Celia dumps a pile of garments in my hands so that I can let go of his hand at last.
Not that I didn't immediately miss it afterwards.
**
I liked most of the clothes, but there were heaps of them. Dressing and undressing was hard work, especially since I had to keep mindful of the recent bruising on my ribs. Celia sometimes wanted a show of the clothes and I had to show her, embarrassed about the scars visible but her eyes would brush over them every time – settling on the way the dress rumpled or the shoulder alignment of a sweater.
Looking in the mirror I had to admit, even to myself that the clothes complimented me and made me look...cute? Almost. I loved all the soft sweaters though.
Not soon enough, the last t-shirt had been tried on and I could struggle back into the burrowed clothes with aching arms. I hung the clothes lying around my feet on the hangers and exited the stall, finding Celia there with armfuls of the approved clothes.
"Come on, we'll go pay for them," she ordered, briskly marching out of the changing rooms. Cesare was sitting, looking bored, on a seat outside the rooms but he snapped to attention when he saw me emerge.
"Here, let me get those," he offered, scooping the clothes out of my hands, I flinched away when our hands touched. I blushed and he smiled goofily at me, dutifully following Celia up to pay.
The cashier took the mountain of clothes in with wide, but happy eyes beginning to methodologically fold and stuff everything into plastic bags.
"That'll be $1,500 please."
My eyes widened and my mouth fell agape, watching as Celia calmly payed with a credit card. $1,500! How could I ever pay that back!?
"Don't worry about it," Cesare said softly, peering down at me with concerned eyes, "I'm an Alpha remember? We have the money and besides, this is your entire wardrobe."
"How can I pay you back?"
"You don't need to." He reassured me and I frowned.
"Are you sure? That's a lot of money to spend on me..."
He shook his head.
"It's nothing like what I'd be willing to pay to make you comfortable."
I was lost for words.
"Thank you!" I eventually managed to stammer out, breathless.
"You're very welcome."
"Come on kids!" Celia cried, "To the next store!"
**
"What do you think about this one?" Cesare asked, raising one eyebrow comically underneath an ugly pink fedora. I giggled, the sound bubbling uncontrollably from my chest, which in turn caused him to laugh whole-heartedly.
He reached over to the sunglass stand on his right and grabbed a big pair, offering them to me with a flourish, "M'lady?"
I took them, feeling another smile creep its way onto my mouth as I tried them on, laughing at the bug-eyed appearance they made me have in the mirror. He came up behind me, checking himself out, now in a flattering straw hat. He didn't seem to care that these glasses made me look ugly.
I was so lucky.
"Hey, you two! This is serious business! What boots do you want Eden!?" Celia's voice interrupted our fun and Cesare rolled his eyes.
**
We were sat at a café, I had just eaten the most amazing sandwich for lunch and was quietly sipping on my drink. Soaking up the atmosphere in peaceful bliss, content with my full stomach but still ignoring the stare of Cesare, too intense for my liking.
This day had been so amazing.
"Thank you," I thanked them, running a finger nervously along the rim of the mug, "This day has been amazing and thank you for lunch and the clothes."
"Today was really fun!" Celia exclaimed, "I love shopping so you are most welcome."
She winked.
Cesare, who was seated opposite me, squeezed my arm very gently with his hand. Careful not to hurt or startle me.
"I enjoyed today too, thank you for letting us take you here, I can tell it's a very scary experience."
I blushed once more and nodded, taking a sip of my hot chocolate.
**
We were making our way back to the carpark, pushing past the floods of people. My hand was tightly grasped by Cesare, who was paving a way through the rush trying to get to a sale or home.
His phone began ringing and so he let go of my hand to fumble around in his jeans pocket. Celia was ahead of us, browsing through a jewellery shop to our right. I kept close to Cesare as he managed to get his phone out, but a familiar scent invaded my nostrils just as I collided with someone.
"Hey! Watch where you're-" the 'stranger' faltered, eyebrows furrowing in recognition whilst my heart rate sped up and panic overcame me in full fling, "you!"
I ran.