Last night I dreamt I had forgotten my name
'Cause I had sold my soul but awoke just the same
I'm so lonely
I wish I was the moon tonight
-Neko Case - I wish I was the moon
Chapter 24.
My shirt was wet with tears as I held Ally's head against my chest and listened to the sound of her weeping. Cotton was acting strange again. What happened with Pete was only the start of today's mess.
"You mean this is the asshole that almost tore you to pieces and you only just realise that now?" the memory of Ally yelling at Cotton was still fresh in my mind, even as the sun was setting and night was dropping in around us.
"I'm lucky I even remember what happened at all. I could be fucking dead right now Alison, And he's the one who almost killed me" Cotton yelled back pointing his finger at Pete, who's body lay limp on the dirt floor. Pete's heart rate was slowing and his breaths were short and far apart.
I was trying to change back into my human form but my wolf felt threatened by Cotton, she was ready for whatever happened, I , on the other hand, couldn't hurt Cotton, he was one of my best friends.
"Noah get here now" I yelled in Noah's head.
Cottons head snapped in my direction. "Dont worry darling, By the time the Alpha gets here ill be gone" He said, exaggerating the word 'Alpha'.
"Cotton, What the fuck is wrong with you man" Jake said walking back into the trees carrying an arm load full of clothes.
"What the fuck" Cotton said turning to look at Jake.
"You should have my back, not these pathetic mongrels, were brothers, you have no link to them" Cotton said as he walked over to Jake.
I didn't know what was up with Cotton but I knew there was something wrong with him. I hadn't seen him act this way before.
"What's wrong, I'm almost there" Noah replied in my head seconds before he leapt through a gap in the trees behind me.
Cotton turned and growled at him, His body shook uncontrollably before he shifted and began to run in the opposite direction, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.
Ally and I spent the last few hours talking about Cotton, and how his wolf acted up all those years ago. Maybe that's what was happening again now, maybe he just needed help again.
"You girls alright?" Jake asked, as he joined Ally and I on the porch. He handed us both a tall glass of orange juice and leaned against the wooden railing opposite me.
"Ally, I don't know what's happening with Cotton right now, but he'll come around" Jake said quietly, his face and voice full of worry.
Ally looked up at him, her eyes still full of tears and nodded before standing up and walking to the door.
"I'm going to head off to bed, I'll see you guys in the morning" She said goodnight and then went inside the house.
"Jake, what was up with Cotton today? Ive never seen him act that way" I asked
"Did Ally ever tell you how Cotton joined our family?" Jake asked as he moved to sit down next to me on the swing chair.
"No, Ally and I haven't had much time to talk lately" I replied before taking a sip of my orange juice then handing Jake Ally's glass that she had left out here on the floor.
"When I was a few years old, my grandfather died, I was really close to him and I took it really hard, my parents weren't expecting me to understand what death was, but I did and I mourned more than a child my age should. A few days after his death, I shifted, They think because of the stress. It only lasted a few weeks and then my wolf went back into hiding. But in those few weeks I learnt a lot about running in the woods, hunting food, I learnt about scents and a few others things"
"One day I was running in the woods near our home, and I came across a young boy, about the same age as me, sitting in the dirt on the banks by the river. As I came nearer I realised he smelt of wolves, like my parents did, but different. I shifted into my human form and though we couldn't speak to each other, I managed to coax him to follow me back to my house. My father saw us emerge from the woods and ran to help"
"When we couldn't find his parents, we asked around the other packs to see if anybody was missing a child, Nobody came forth to collect him, and nobody knew of any children missing, My parents decided to adopt him" Jake said smiling at his recollection of the way he and Cotton became brothers.
"Cotton shifted when he was almost 12. His wolf bowed down to my father and mother but refused to follow Alpha Theo. He couldn't control his actions or anything while he was in wolf mode, and people that Cotton was very close to while he was a human, His wolf viewed as threats. It took the help of a witch and a lot of time bonding with Alpha Theo to get his wolf to behave. The witch told us that it was because Cottons wolf belonged to another pack, his blood bonds were stronger than his emotional bonds"
"After he found out Ally was his mate, Cotton took more control of his wolf, His wolf tried to mark Ally while we were at school one day, and Cotton struggled to get a grip on himself. We were only kids and usually when you mark your mate, you also complete the mating ritual, if that's what you call it" Jake said winking at me and bumping his shoulder against mine, which made me blush.
"Cotton's wolf hasn't been difficult since then, I don't know what's going on now, I guess it must have something to do with the attack the other day" Jake said as he stood up and walked to the porch railing again.
I stood up and joined him next to the rail.
"Noah asked me to help him with a few Alpha things tomorrow" Jake said as he stared out into the night air.
"What does that involve?" I asked following his gaze out to the moon, it looked enchanted tonight surrounded by stars and a halo of white light.
"I'm not too sure yet, I won't know until tomorrow. What will you girls be doing? Maybe Quinn could join you?" Jake said turning his head to look at me.
I didn't know how I felt about Quinn. I hadn't really got a chance to speak to her or get to know her. From what Noah had told me, which was very little, she seemed like a very nice person and she was eager to start a new life in our pack with Jake.
"Yeah that sounds like fun, maybe we'll all go shopping for new outfits for the party tomorrow night" I said winking at Jake with a wide smile on my face. Shopping would keep Ally happy and give us all a chance to get to know each other.
"Oh okay, ah, how much do you need?" Jake said pulling out his wallet and opening it to reveal a thick wad of cash.
"No, no, no you need to talk money with Quinn, keep in mind she'll need shoes, and she may need more every day clothing too" I said trying to give him a few hints as to how much money she would probably need. Whatever amount he gave her, we would make it work tomorrow.
"yeah, of course" Jake said shaking his head as if he thought he was being silly. "Thanks dyls, it really means a lot to me that you would invite Quinn to go along with you, you're a great friend" He said before wishing me goodnight and heading to the flat at the back of the big house.
"I was afraid you guys were going to "bond" all night" Noah chuckled behind me.
I turned around to see him standing in the doorway leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs crossed at the ankle.
I smiled and motioned for him to join me by the railing. The moon was big and glowing bright tonight, and I wanted to share its beauty with him.
Noah put his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. His body was warm and soft against my own, I wanted to skin into him and just lay there all night. His lips softly pressed against his claim, sending sparks through my body. I put my hands over his and pulled his arms tighter around me, causing his whole body to press against mine.
"Are you ready to go to bed?" He whispered in my ear.
"Not yet" I replied shaking my head a little bit. In all honesty I didn't want to go to bed at all, I felt energy radiating from the moon and the longer I stood here the more I seemed to soak it up. I wanted to run in the woods, swim at the little beach at the edge of the forest, I wanted to let my wolf out at night, and howl at the moon like wolves did in the movies.
"We can do that if you want to" Noah said softly before pressing yet another kiss on his claim.
I wanted Noah to make love to me underneath the stars in the meadow.
Noah grunted quietly and pressed his body further against mine then whispered in my ear "oh really?"
"Oh definitely" I exhaled before moving out of Noah's arms and running off the porch onto the pathway in front of the house. I pulled my t shirt up off my body and threw it at him, and then I turned around and removed my shorts as well, I don't know where my random burst of confidence came from, I really didn't even care that people might have been able to see me in my bra and undies, I was feeling wild and free and I decided to just go with it. Noah looked surprised with his mouth hanging open and his eyes were wide. I giggled loudly then turned and shifted, sprinting into the woods to wait for him, It was only a few seconds before I heard the pounding of his paws hitting the grass behind me.
Okay I owe you all an apology; I'm soooooo super-duper sorry this has taken me so long to upload. Things popping up all the time, work, sleep, food, house work, Life stuff plus a few random extras. Hopefully it won't take me so long to upload the next chapter which I've already started on but it's only a few paragraphs long, I'm not making any promises but I will try to be fast :D XOXO