Chapter 9: Ch. 9 Discovery
Arms tightened around my smaller frame as silent tears rolled down my cheeks. Everything I had been holding in for god knows how long wanted to spill out. Terror of losing a piece of me, anguish at knowing I could already have, fear, anxiety, pain, fury. Why did this all have to happen to me? I had already lost so much before those despicable people tore what little I had kept to myself away from me. Why did they have to take my wolf too?
"We'll figure this out," the burly man murmured into my wet hair, his hands rubbing small circles across my back, "please don't cry. It pains me..." confusion and helplessness etched in his words, his hands paused a moment in their endless circling before he huffed a sigh and continued, "Have you ever seen a hairy man ugly cry? It's not pretty. Snot dripping, dribble oozing down my chin, red blotches. It's worse when I grow my beard out. Eek."
A half laugh half sob emitted from my lips. "I'm sorry," pressing my palms into his toned sides, I tried to push away, but found myself held tighter against him.
"Don't. Not yet," he mumbled, his head dipping down to nestle into the crock of my neck, "you feel like... home."
Frowning, I blinked watery golden eyes in confusing. What did that mean? Was it the shampoo I used? Did using Jade's shampoo leave me smelling more like him, thus leading this man to smell his pack? Bewildered, I let my hands gently rest against him and simply stood there, letting him hold me. I realized only then that I didn't tremble in his hold. I wasn't afraid of him in any way. His touch wasn't sexual, but it felt...different. Familiar almost.
"My Pack died when I was young, slaughtered by a Rogue led Pack. They killed women, children, our parents. My parents had stashed me and my brother in a small hidden door beneath the floor boards of their bedroom. I remember hearing my mother scream and my father's enraged growl. Then nothing. In the dark we had felt the warm blood of our mother drip down on us through the cracks of the wooden floor, having to stifle our agony for fear of being discovered. Me and my brother were the only living survivors of the massacre that killed off the Night Howlers. Jade's father had found us three days later still stuck beneath the door."
Blinking against the tears that blurred my vision, I heard his hammering heart beat and it made my stomach clench at the horror he had to live with.
"I'm so sorry. That had to be... horrible to have to endure," I whispered.
"It was, but Jade and his father welcomed us into the Pack with open arms and eventually the wounds scarred over. The moment I smelt you, though, all the years of therapy had riped the hole wide open. Something about your scent alone, without the smell of your wolf even, clawed at me. Maybe that was why I was quick at the mouth. It was unnerving," he paused and I could audibly hear him swallow before he continued, "The moment I touched you, though, it was like a pouring cold water over a burn. Soothing."
He stopped talking and inhaled deeply against the curve of my shoulder.
"The strange thing is... " his voice was soft, barely a rumble of noise, "my wolf keeps murmuring... Alpha. Just who are you?"
Not knowing what to say, I decided to give him my name. "My name is Fayelynn Emery Halstein, named after my..."
"Mother," we said in unison.
The heartfelt hoarse word had me pushing away from him forcefully. Meeting his wide shell shocked brown eyes, I felt the shock reflect from my own features.
"How did you know it was my mother's name?" I whispered, afraid of the answer but desperate to know.
Brown eyes stared at me with so many mixed emotions. "Harvey and Emery Halstein were the Alpha and Luna to our Pack. They were believed to have died during the ambush, but their bodies were never found."
Heart clenching, I felt my world tilt. "They lead your Pack?" How was that possible? My parents had me believe there was no one else besides our family for years.
Nodding his head slowly, he gazed at me as if I were a crown jewel he just discovered. Mouth gaping, eyeing twinkling, body almost twitching in excitement. When he suddenly dropped to his knees, hard and heavy, it startled me enough that I let out a high little yip of surprise. A completely girly sound I hated doing.
Blinking as my brain cried "ouch, that had to hurt" and "what the hell is he doing", I didn't get a chance to say anything before he wrapped those meaty arms around my waist and nuzzled his cheek against my towel covered hip, murmuring something against the cloth. Gaping at a loss for words, I yelped when the door slammed open and a pissed off Jade came smoldering into the bathroom, raising the temp in the room from the heat he was emitting.
Black eyes met my wide amber ones before they dropped to land on the man latched around my middle. Those full lips drew back in a snarl, his k9s lengthening as I watched. Naked except for the maroon towel wrapped around his hips, he took a step forward, his muscles rippling as he reached down towards the man at my waist.
Arms automatically curling protectively around the burly man's head, an answering snarl crawled up my throat. "Don't!" the single word was quiet but demanding all the same, the slight growl to it surprising me.
Hand freezing inches from touching the wolf's neck, Jade's black eyes flew up to meet mine. His wolf stared at me through those black eyes like I was a different kind of species.
"You know Hunter?" his voice was low with caution, his eyes battling between hurt and bewilderment.
I opened my mouth to deny really knowing him, but a voice behind Jade answered me. "She was too young to remember us and we were small enough that our memories fragmented."
Jade stepped to the side, his head turning towards the man that stood behind him. An exact replica to the man at my waist stared at me from feet away. It was like a deja vu moment.
"What do u mean, Ash?" Jade's soft question had me glancing at him.
Brown eyes meet mine and I noticed that there was tears gathering on his lashes. "She's part of my Pack, Alpha. The only descendant of Harvey and Emery Halstein."
Wide black eyes swung over to stare at me. "You're the Alpha of the Night Howlers?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone