The Contact
"You know my name, not my story"
- unknown
Solomon was so restless that he can't even stay in one place. For days, he barely sees Paige in the pack house and she just vanishes in to the air in the forest. He was desperate that he even asked some of the pack members about Paige, only to get nothing from them. He felt dejected thinking that Paige was avoiding him.
He thought that after knowing her name and having a physical contact with each other she will open up to him, but he was wrong. Paige avoided him like a plague. Her scent vanishes in the forest causing him to have a hard time to track it.
Things happen so fast like a blink of an eye. It seems like it was minutes ago when they were at the prison cell, questioning the Rouge yesterday.
Solomon went with Paige and Eaton together with Alpha Slade and Beta Nicholas at the prison cell. He knew he doesn't have any right to be there because he was not part of the Wolfsbane pack but he need to.
He needs to be sure that she's safe there. He knew that she's strong, strong enough that she can protect herself and her pack; but she's still a woman, a lady. Sorry for being sexist but there's a part of him need to protect her. He needs to protect her not just in physical but also her emotional and mental.
He couldn't even understand everything that happens in the prison cell. His whole attention was focusing to her.
He keeps throwing worried glance at her unmoving body as she stood there. He reached for her trying to ease the fear inside of him that is keep rising, seeing her face held no emotion.
It was passive.
He would rather see her mad or annoyed or snap at someone, at least she show emotions.
Then minutes passed the rouge become different; like he was another man. He called himself a sorcerer, not that Solomon really care but he dared to ordered those pack of rouge to get her, to capture her. They have to go through him before they can touch any strand of her hair. He heard things from the Rouge but his eyes never left hers. Those things or rather information is affecting her – he could clearly feel it.
A snapping of bone in the neck caught his attention seeing that Rouge just killed himself.
Solomon looked back at her, his fingertips were about to touch her when she suddenly walked out in the prison cell in dazed.
Solomon was having an inner debate if he should stay there or goes after her. As both side has no plans on losing, he looked at Alpha Slade asking for help.
Solomon caught Alpha Slade looking at him as Alpha Slade was touching the Rouge's neck checking the pulse; when they both know that the Rouge is dead obviously. They can't hear the Rouge's heartbeat anymore.
Alpha Slade nodded to Solomon as if giving him permission to follow his Sentinel.
Solomon gave him a grateful smiled and dashed out of the prison cell to follow her.
Solomon sniffed trying to catch her scent, tracking where she went off. Her smell is different that set her apart from the scent of the wolves here. But in this moment, he couldn't catch her scent.
It was all gone.
As if she wasn't here.
He went outside and the lawn was deserted. He was about to run into the woods when he catch a glimpse of a figure standing near the forest at the side of the pack house.
There she is, standing like a statue looking at the forest in dazed. It's almost dawn but the gloomy dark clouds were piling up in the sky concealing the beauty of the light of the dawn.
As he thought, drops of water started one by one pour down from the sky to the ground until it becomes heavy rain with cold air.
Solomon walked towards her slowly.
When he was a few inches away from her, she turns around to face him. She looked up as he looked down at her trying to shield her from the rain but they were already drenched anyway.
It was still fresh in his memories of how he was surprised when she put her hand in his chest stopping him from attacking that prisoner. That simple touch sent an electrifying shivers throughout his body making all of the parts of his body function at its finest, forcing his wolf to focus only to her forgetting everything that surrounds them.
Heat traveled all over his body and the bond was starting to form as they already jumping to the phase two - the Contact.
Solomon eyes met hers. Her eyes were so vulnerable and seem lost. The emotion in her eyes contradicts her passive face.
He gently touches her cheek pushing away the strands that was sticking in her face.
It was their second physical contact with each other.
He felt an ice cold in his fingertips as he touched her skin. The fear inside of him spiked up again. She was supposed to warm not cold.
It was a perks of being a werewolf, they are warm or rather hot no matter what temperature the place is.
He pulled her in his arms generously sharing his warm in her cold body. He didn't even care if she doesn't like being touch but he won't just stand there doing nothing as her body was starting to drop its temperature like a dead body.
He wants their bond to grow stronger; it is the only thing that connects him to her. She didn't moved and he took that an advantage to pulls her into him even tighter than before.
They stayed in that position until the morning rain stops.
He felt her twitched in his arms and pulled away from him
"Paige..." Solomon protest wanting her in his arms again.
She put her hand in his lips to shut him up, then she look up in the sky seeing the morning light starting to paint the sky.
"No!" He growled as he grab her arm sensing she was going to leave him again.
She looked at him pleading to let her go. He was torn between letting her go and pulling her again in his body.
"Let me come with you" He stubbornly said.
She touches his hand and gently untangled it in her arm turning her back to him, but he grabs her arm again. "Please" He pleads.
He won't let her go somewhere not without him.
She didn't turn around to look at him. She just shrugged her arm off in his hold. She shook her head and ran towards the forest.
Solomon stood there watching her disappeared in the forest. "This is the only time I'll let you be alone" whispered and then he went back to the pack house.
A knock brought him back from his reverie. He stood up and opens the door.
"the meeting will start soon, they need you in the meeting hall now" Eaton bowed and left.
Solomon took one last look in his room and closed it.
Solomon was walking towards the meeting room. The meeting room was beside Alpha Slade's office. As he enter the meeting room, everyone eyes was on him. He looked around seeing all the Alphas of different small pack are there, seated facing the oval table. His eyes found the glass wall that overlooking the forest outside. He was hoping to see Paige walked out from the forest and decided to attend this meeting.
Someone cleared his throat snapping Solomon from his own world. He moved to looked at the direction of Alpha Slade.
"Take your sit, Solomon" Alpha Slade offered Solomon a seat beside him. Beta Nicholas was standing behind Alpha Slade. Solomon nodded and sat comfortably in the chair. "Let's get to the point" Alpha Slade started the meeting. "There's a rumor saying an unknown pack claim the barren territory of Crescent pack" everyone was surprised hearing the information then murmurs immediately filled the office.
That caught Solomon's attention.
Solomon frowned thinking how brave the unknown pack to claim the territory. The land was barren for seventeen years and the barren territory only response to the Crescent pack.
The Crescent pack territory was the largest of all packs territory. It was given by the Luna – the moon goddess herself to the very first shifter - the Crescent family. No one can prosper in that land only the descendant of Crescent family.
So, how can they live there if the land is a waste, barren and dead? Since no one could answer those silent questions.
Solomon spoke up, "We should investigate more about this matter"
They have to investigate more about the rumors.
Alpha Slade nodded in agreement. "We will be appointing everyone a task to gather information about this rumor and we have to train harder to prepare for the possibilities attack from this rumor pack." Alpha Slade appointed everyone on their task but Solomon was too occupied of thoughts about Paige that he didn't even bother to listen to Alpha Slade instruction.
Solomon waited for 10 years to finally meet his Lifemate. He was looking forward to the day when she finally showed up and they will spend their days knowing each other, falling in love with each other and planning for their future.
Meeting their Lifemate doesn't mean they're automatically in love with each other. It is knowing that this person was made for them. It takes a process to nurture their feeling to love. It is something that they have to work for.
"Solomon" Alpha Slade called trying to get his attention but Solomon was still lost in his thoughts. "Solomon" Alpha Slade called again but this time it was louder.
"Yes?" Solomon replied absently stared at the wall.
Alpha Slade's lips twitch trying to hide his smile. "The meeting is already finish"
Solomon blinked a few times before he looked around. Alpha Slade and Beta Nicholas was the only one left in the meeting room together with him. He didn't realize that everyone was already left to do their task. Solomon's mind was still far away from their meeting.
He looked at Alpha Slade, "where is she?" He asked out of nowhere. "On the second thought you don't need to answer that question." Solomon stood up. "I'm going to find her myself."
"Solomon" Alpha Slade called again before he could reach the door. He stopped and looked back through his shoulder. "I need to talk to you"
"We can do that later." Solomon replied and open the door.
"Now" Alpha Slade said. "We need to talk now"
Frustrations were starting to build inside Solomon. He turned around, "what is it?" He crossed his arms in his chest. "Make it quick." He said impatiently.
"You do realize that you are in my territory" Alpha Slade said looking directly in his eyes. "Even though you are the next Alpha in line, I expect you to respect me as the Alpha of my territory."
Solomon sighed and seated in the nearest seat. "I'm sorry... I'm just..." he couldn't finish his sentence as his body felt so restless without seeing her in these past few days. He put his elbow in the table and rests his forehead in his knuckles.
"I understand." Alpha Slade nodded as his features soften. This is his first time to witness someone who was so frustrated because of their Lifemate. He hopes that someday he wouldn't experience what Solomon was experiencing right now. "I need to talk to you about her. So, listen carefully."
"I'm listening" Solomon mumbled.
+++
Paige stayed almost a whole day in the forest. She was roaming around the territory away from the pack house and residents area.
She wanted to be alone.
She couldn't even sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes a hazy images flashes in her mind causing her a severe migraine as if her head was splitting into two, and when she's awake her mind tried to wander about what that Rouge says.
Her biological parents are dead – killed by that nameless sorcerer and she has a twin brother.
She was hoping that her twin brother is still alive – the last living blood. She has urges to search for her unknown twin brother. But her instincts were telling her to stay; that something big is going to happen – something bad.
She hides her scent as she wanders around the territory trying to hide from Solomon. She couldn't afford any distraction but her body aches to touch – have a physical contact with him.
She cursed; it was a mistake for letting him touches her – worst to let her wrap his arms around her body. Now, they probably are both suffering. The bond between them is getting stronger after they just did the Second phase – the contact.
No matter how much she denies it, she loves being in his arms. She can feel the warm – a homey warm that her body is longing for.
She even refuse to attend any pack meeting knowing that her mind is in the unstable state – not stable enough to listen in the important meeting and she hope that Alpha Slade would understand her situation.
A few weeks passed when she decided to go home. When she set her foot in the wooden floor of the pack house, the silence reign; everyone in the pack house stared at her.
She just walked straight to her room ignoring all eyes that following her until she reaches her room. She immediately went to the bathroom to take a bath.
She looked at the mirror first and saw her current state.
She was a mess.
Her clothes are dirty almost covered with dust and there are a few leaves in her hair. Her hair looks like a haystack due to not bathing for a few weeks; and being her, she didn't even care about the thing.
She took her time to wash all the dirt in her body then locked herself in her room telling the Alpha not to disturb her as she was trying to regain her strength after those sleepless nights.
+++
Alpha Slade cleared his throat. "I want you to be patient with her. Please do understand that she was brought up in unloving family and pack"
"What do you mean?" Solomon frowned moving his head to look at Alpha Slade.
Alpha Slade looked first to his beta then back to Solomon. He sighed before he speaks. "We found her in the cliff. Bruised, wounded and a mess. She was a newly rouge who ran away from her pack."
Solomon tightly closed his eyes trying to hide the pain he felt after hearing those words.
How did she endure all of it?
How did these things happen to her?
He silently asked himself. Judging by what Alpha Slade said, he already knew that all of those bruises and wounds were cause by rapid beating. Now he understands why she was so detached from others. She builds all those walls to protect herself.
"Continue, please" Solomon whispered.
Alpha Slade was having a second thought to continue but since Solomon gave him the permission to continue, he signaled his beta to get ready. He knew that the next thing he's going to say will enrage Solomon's wolf. He inhale deeply and looked at Solomon with keen eyes. "She committed suicide by eating the Wolfsbane flower."
Solomon froze.
He felt one by one his heart crumble into pieces as the words 'she committed suicide' were echoing in his mind over and over again. Before he realized it he was shaking terribly. He grips his hands on the edge of the table trying to control his wolf. His wolf was clawing inside of him wanted to come out – out for blood, the blood of those who tormented her to the point that she decided to end her life.
Solomon's hands turned into claws that piercing the oval table creating a crack on it.
She tried to end her life! He growled inside.
If she dies, what will happen to him? Solomon whimpered and his wolf howled in sorrow thinking he almost loses her.
What will he do if she was gone? Solomon tried to inhale and exhale deeply to calm his wolf but the pain was too much to bear.
"How did she survive?" Solomon asked through his teeth. He knows that the Wolfsbane flower is poisonous to the shifters, and then how the bloody hell did she survived.
Alpha Slade and Beta Nicholas were too stunned to answer the question right away. They could see the flickering of Solomon's eyes from glowing silver to normal gray. The glowing silver eyes were too familiar to them but they couldn't remember it where. He gulped focusing on the question that Solomon asked but he already plans to search about those eyes.
"There's something on her blood" Alpha Slade answered, "we didn't know anything of it but my pack doctor conclude that her blood was came from the ancient."
It is true, Alpha Slade haven't seen anything like her blood that neutralize the poisonous flower in their body.
"What does it mean?" Solomon asked in confusion as he already calm down a little bit.
"We really do not the answer about that" Alpha Slade honestly. "My pack doctor is still studying her blood for almost 5 years and searching for answers"
Solomon nodded and lean his back in the backrest of the chair. He felt exhausted after calming his wolf and numbing himself from the pain. "Tell me more about her" he wanted to know more about her.
"I can't tell you more about all of those details because some of it was still unknown to me." Alpha Slade stood up. "She was like a daughter to me and it's been five years since we saw her in the cliff and yet she hasn't opened anything about her past to me." Alpha Slade said, "It is best that you ask her yourself and wait until she open up to you. That all I can give to you"
"Thank you" Solomon said.
"No problem." Alpha Slade and Beta Nicholas left.