White Rose Pack (Chapter-41)

In the other corner of the couch, Colin’s heart was breaking. Each word and each tear that came from Adina made another piece of his heartbreak.

“I knew the woods well,” Adina continued without pause.

“I kept running as deep into the woods as I could. A fallen tree trunk formed a shelter. I crawled into it and curled into a ball. I was in my nightgown and the snow kept falling. The screaming continued and I could smell the fires that were burning. I just lay there in a ball, crying and letting the snow cover me.”

“It became day, and the screaming stopped, but I stayed where I was. The snow kept falling, and I just lay there. When the night came, I got terrified that the strange wolves would come back, so I just stayed where I was. Hoping that the snow would have covered my tracks.”

“Another day was dawning, and my strength was running out. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. Then I heard my uncle calling for me. He knew I was out there. He could feel the bloodline. I tried to call him, but my voice was so weak. But he found me. He dug me out of the snow and pulled me into his arms, draping his jacket around me.”

“Later, I found out that his pack had been attacked the same night. He survived because he and his gamma had unexpectedly needed to go to another pack. But his whole family had been killed, as well as his pack. My uncle took me away, and the council placed us in a pack in Asia. He was with me for the first months, never left my side.”

“I shot down. I didn’t speak a word, I didn’t cry. The only time I was when my uncle forced me to. It took me two months to recover from where I functioned. My uncle had been holding it together for my sake. But when he saw me getting better, he let go. He had lost his mate, his pups, and his pack. He was broken.”

“At the end of the third month, he tracked down a large group of rogues and took them down by himself. Effectively committing suicide. And then I was alone. In the beginning, I was moved between packs and covens every month. Never settling down, never staying in one place. When I was eight, it was decided that I would stay for a full lunar year.”

“I was doing badly, having a hard time forming social connections, my grades were horrible, and I was almost never talking. It helped a bit to stay in one place longer. I started doing better in school and I started speaking to people in full sentences. But I still had trouble forming social bonds. In my opinion, there was no meaning in doing so. Everyone around me just kept leaving, or I left them. When I was ten, things got so bad that the council got me a bodyguard that could protect me. You know that story.”

“Sean” Colin said and for the first time since Adina started speaking, she looked at him.

“Yes, that was when Sean came into my life. Both Sean and I had lost our families, even though his still was alive. We became each other’s family. We trusted no one but each other and we relied on each other. Maybe not the healthiest way of living, but it got us through,” Adina finished, and her tears were still running down her cheeks and Colin couldn’t handle it anymore.

He got up and walked over to where Adina sat. She hugged her knees so tightly that it looked painful as she slowly rocked herself. Colin picked her up and sat down on the sofa with her in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he dared without harming her. Gently rocking her and leaning his cheek on top of her head. He said nothing. What could he say? He felt her loosen her grip around herself and instead flinging her arms around him, clinging on to him, burying her face in his chest as she kept crying.

At some point, the door to the apartment gently opened and Sean looked in. Colin made eye contact and nodded slightly to let Sean know things were under control. Sean nodded and gently closed the door as he headed downstairs again.

Colin had a lot more appreciation for the man. Colin decided there and then that Sean was to be considered as his brother. He had saved Adina in more ways than one and Colin suspected that if Colin ever were to convince Adina to stay with him, it would be because of what Sean had done today. He mentally linked the pack and let them know his decision.

Colin also found he understood Adina’s point of view a lot better now. She hadn’t just lost her family; her family had been wiped out alongside her pack and her support system. He knew what it felt like to lose one’s parents. But he had still had his pack and his friends to get him through it.

To be all alone at the age of six, having to live with what she saw and heard. He understood how that made her feel like she would place no one in that position again. But it didn’t change how he felt. Her place was with him, with their pack. They would not let what happened to her family happen again.

They sat like that on the couch for hours. Adina eventually stopped crying, but both of them craved the intimacy after a day apart. Finally, Colin placed a gentle kiss on top of her head and pulled her slightly away from him so he could look her in the eyes.

“Let me run you a bath, babe,” he said, gently stroking her face. Adina nodded but didn’t let go of him.

“I’ll be right back, just stay here,” Colin cooed and tenderly transferred her to the couch. He felt her hands unlock their grip around him and he felt empty.

With a last kiss to the top of Adina’s head, he went into the bathroom to fill the large tub. He noticed some glass bottles standing on the edge of the tub. They hadn’t been there when he used it last time. He picked one up and read the label: lilac bath salt.

He looked at all of them and realized Adina must have added them. There were bath salts, bath oils and foams. Colin didn’t have a clue how to use them but took the salt and foam that were labelled with lilac scent and added some to the water. As the bath slowly filled with water, he went to get Adina.

She was still sitting on the couch where he had left her. He placed another kiss on top of her head before lifting her and taking her in to the bathroom. He placed her on the countertop at gently started helping her to remove her clothes. The bathroom had filled with the scent of lilacs. Colin relaxed as he associated it with Adina. 

“Will you stay with me?” Her question was like a whisper and made his heart quiver.

“Nothing could stop me,” he assured her as he started removing his own clothes.

Adina’s gaze focused on something behind him, and her eyes grew bigger. Before Colin could turn around to look at what she was looking at, she giggled. Colin paused and looked bewildered at her. Her giggles transitioned into laughter.

“I think you need to turn off the water,” Adina said, trying to control herself.

Colin turned around at looked at a mountain of foam. The bathtub was filled with it, and it had billowed over the sides covering the tiled floor. Colin let out a curse word and tried to hurry over to the faucets without slipping on the floor. When he turned the water off, he turned around to look at Adina.

She was sitting, naked, on the countertop, looking at the foam with a smile on her lips. He could still see the sadness and pain in her eyes. But there was also laughter and joy.

“How much did you put in?” she asked him. He just shrugged, looking at the foam.

“Is it all just foam or is there some water in the tub?” she continued. Interesting question, Colin thought. He bent down to determine how much water there was in the tub, earning him a giggle from Adina. He loved the sound.

“Almost full,” he reported with a grin. But he still couldn’t figure out what to do with all the foam. There was no way either of them could get into the tub as it was.

“Scoop the access into the shower,” Adina said happily, as if she had read his mind.

“Good idea is you going to help?” he wondered as he tried to scoop the foam, not doing a good job at it. She giggled and shook her head, content sitting and watching him.

Colin evacuated some of the foam, bringing the amount in the tub down to an acceptable level. He lifted Adina and placed her in the tub before getting in himself behind her.