White Rose Pack (Chapter-40)

Adina had had a terrible day. She had a headache that had been getting worse since breakfast, a dull throbbing pain in her heart, and a guilty conscience for scaring Mateo and Julia. And on top of all, her entire being ached for Colin. Her wolf was restless and angry. This had not been a good day in any sense of the word. Sean and she were heading up to the pack house. She was planning on taking a long bath and then just curling up in her, well, Sean’s, bed.

“I hate to do this to you, but I need to take a conference call with my brother tonight. It may take a couple of hours,” Sean said.

“No problem, I understand. Of course, you need to talk to him. I can take one of the empty guestrooms,” Adina said and gave him a smile.

“You need protection,” Sean insisted.

“I’ll be fine. We can ask Mateo to put a warrior outside my door, since I will be in the pack house. I need to apologise to him, anyway”.

“No, I don’t trust them”

“You don’t trust any of the warriors? There are like 400 of them,” Adina said.

“Not with your life. I’ll check to see if Colin will be in your apartment this evening”

“No Sean, I’m not spending the evening with him. Not yet,” Adina said, upset.

“Sorry Adina, but I’m not budging on this. Too much is happening right now for you to be safe anywhere but with him or me,” Sean said, giving her a firm look.

“Fuck” was all she said before resigning to her fate.

In the kitchen, Mateo, Julia, and Jason were sitting. Both Mateo and Julia flinched when they saw Adina. Jason gave them a curious look.

“I’m sorry if I scared you last night,” Adina said, standing a bit on the side to give them a safe space. “I rarely lose my temper, but I did last night, and I know that can be frightening. Pleas know that no matter how angry I look, I would harm none of you.” she continued.

“It’s okay, luna,” Julia said with a smile. “But you looked scary”

“No kidding, I will never ever want to be on your bad side,” Mateo added. “But you don’t need to apologise. We are fine.” Adina gave them a little smile.

“Want something to eat? We have enough for both of you,” Julia offered.

“Yes, please,” Adina said, and she and Sean joined them. After a while, Sean looked at Mateo.

“Do you know if the alpha has anything planned for this evening?” he asked. Mateo shrugged.

“No, not that I know of,” Mateo answered.

An hour later, Sean escorted Adina upstairs. She was reluctant, and he almost needed to push her along. He opened the door to the apartment and made a gesture for her to go in.

“I need to take a call that will keep me occupied for a couple of hours. I’m leaving her for your protection in the meantime.” Sean said to Colin, who was sitting at the desk. He nodded.

“Stay here and I will come back for you when I’m done, baby cake,” Sean said to Adina. His use of her nickname was meant to put her at ease. She smiled at him to let him know she would be fine, even if she doubted, she would.

As Sean walked out, Adina took the book she had brought with her and settled down on the couch, keeping her back to Colin. She curled up in the couch’s corner, folding her legs underneath her. They stayed like that for a while. Adina could feel Colin looking at her from time to time and she felt better being near him. Her headache was improving.

Suddenly, Adina could hear the sound of the office chair moving as Colin stood up. She took a deep breath but forgot to exhale while she waited for his next move. He came slowly around the couch, sitting down at the other end. It was like he was scared to make her upset. Adina slowly realised she was holding her breath. She let the air out and sat up, then she looked up and faced him. He looked worried and uncertain, which surprised her.

“I’m sorry babe, I shouldn’t have pushed my opinions on you, and I really shouldn’t have used my alpha command. I promise I will never do that again. Can you forgive me?” Colin asked.

“Yes, of course I forgive you. The fault was just as much mine. I shouldn’t have let my temper go. Will you forgive me?” Adina answered.

“There is nothing to forgive,” he responded, and held out his hand. Adina placed her hand in his and he squeezed it gently.

Adina would have thought that their talk would have cleared the air. But it still felt like there was an invisible wall between them. Colin hadn’t moved closer to her; she hadn’t moved closer to him. Before they had spent time in a relaxed silence, their bond had made it unnecessary for constant talking. But now the silence felt stifling, and Adina desperately tried to think of something to say.

“Adina, what happened to your family?” Adina looked up at Colin in surprise. This was not where she thought the conversation was going.

“What?” she asked.

“I know the general facts. Alpha Aries filled me in. But I never asked you about it because I was afraid to hurt you. But I think it’s important that I understand, so if you can manage it. Could you please tell me what happened to your family?” he explained.

He was right, Adina thought. She should have told him he would understand things differently. But she didn’t like to think about it, and even less to talk about what had happened. Putting words on her experience always made it feel more real. To be honest, part of why she hadn’t told him was that she also was afraid.

She was afraid that when he finally understood, he would agree with her she shouldn’t stay with him. That idea was terrifying, even though it was necessary. But she nodded and changed position. She let go of his hand and drew her knees to her chest, letting her arms circle around them.

“I grew up in a smaller pack in England,” she began. “My father was the alpha and my mother his luna. I was the firstborn, and I was quite spoiled not only by my parents but by the whole pack,” she continued with a small smile.

“When I was four, my baby brother was born, and I think my parents were worried about how I would react. But I loved Jack from the moment I saw him. When he started crawling and then walking, he would follow me around and I would show him things.”

“He used to crawl into my bed in the evenings and I would tell him all the old stories before we went to sleep. My mother was the Beloved One and would take trips all around the world because of it. Sometimes we went as a family, sometimes it was just my mother and I. She was making sure that I would be ready when my time came, so I always went with her.”

“On my father’s side, all of our family lived in our pack. He didn’t have any siblings, so it was just our grandparents. My mother had a brother, Uncle Arthur. He was the alpha of a pack in Ireland. He had his mate and two small pups. We would go visit him sometimes, or they would come to us. He and my mother were really close, and my father loved telling me that when he and my mother found out they were mates, Uncle Arthur almost didn’t let her go with my father. We were a happy family with a happy pack.”

“It happened when I was six. Me and my mother were preparing to go on a longer trip, so she had made Jack sleep in his own room so he would be used to me not being there. It was hard on both Jack and me.”

“It had snowed that day and we had been out playing in the snow. Even my father had joined in, and I fell asleep quickly. I woke in the middle of the night by screams of terror. Before I knew it, my mother came running in to my room. She dragged me out of bed and made me climb out of my window.”

“There was a small roof below it and she told me to jump down from the roof into the snow. I think she had forgotten that Jack slept in his own room because she went inside again, telling me I needed to get ready to catch him when she returned. When I climbed out on the roof, I dropped into the snow on the ground.”

“I didn’t have any shoes, and it was so cold in the snow. But I stood there looking at the window, hoping for my mother to come back. All around me, I could hear people screaming and wolves growling and howling. I was so scared. Then I saw my mother. She had Jack in her arms and was about to go out the window.”

“But something grabbed her and pulled her back into the house. I could hear her yelling for me to run in to the woods, to hide. But I couldn’t move. I just stood there frozen in place, looking at the window. Then I heard her scream and then Jack screamed. I had never heard anything so horrifying in my life. Then I just turned around and started running.”

“I ran through the village, and I could see the pack members laying in pools of blood, how unknown wolves tore at women and children. Houses were on fire, and I just keep running. A man grabbed me. I didn’t recognize him. He was naked and covered in blood and dirt. He was going to kill me. I could see it in his eyes.”

“But then an old man, a pack member that used to give me toffee, ran out in front of me and tackled the other man. The stranger tore his head off his body, but it gave me enough time to run to the edge of the forest.”

Adina was so engulfed in memories that she didn’t feel the tears that ran down her cheeks. She didn’t look up; she didn’t look at Colin. She kept her eyes fixed on her toes.