Variety was an outgoing ray of sunshine. She loved gushing over Soren, complimenting her gentle but guarded face and long blonde locks. She felt very much like a mother hen, hovering over her and making sure she was okay.
Soren loved every minute of attention she got. Despite not being a fan of the spotlight, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from leaning in towards the woman who exuded kindness and caring. It had been so long since she had seen her own mother, that she had almost forgotten what it felt like to have one. James took care of her of course, but Variety mothered her, and she found that she loved it.
The tall slim woman didn’t stay at their table long, leaving “the love birds” to their own devices. Soren watched as she walked over to her husband, slapping his butt on her way by. Soren giggled, their interactions were so unique, and yet she was sure anyone who saw them would see how perfectly they fit together. She wondered if people would think that about her and James.
The food was amazing. James had ordered both a vanilla and chocolate milkshake, letting her choose which one she preferred. Taking the vanilla for herself, she watched as he dragged the chocolate one across the table towards himself,
“Which one’s your favourite?” She asked curiously.
“Chocolate. It’s obviously the more superior flavor, it’s not my fault you don’t see that.”
Soren wrinkled her nose,
“I just like this one better, that’s all.”
“See,” he said with a wink, “I told you we were made for each other.”
“But if we were made for each other, wouldn’t we both like the same flavor?”
James scoffed, “Of course not, how could I love you if I was always getting mad at you for stealing my ice cream?”
Soren giggled, James loved to joke around. She had never laughed so much as she had when with him. She thought back to their walk through the forest grounds, the amount of times he had had her laughing and giggling amazed her. When she was with him, she felt carefree, something she hadn’t felt since she was twelve.
The burger and fries were amazing. The food exploded on her taste buds and she had to restrain the gasp that threatened to leave her lips at the taste. James smiled knowingly over at her, as if he had known she was going to love it. She couldn’t manage to finish all the food on her plate, and she was grateful that James didn’t insist she try. It was a lot of food for a regular person, let alone her who was still trying to train herself to eat three times a day.
When she had had her fill, she let James finish hers, he had finished his own burger in a grand total of two bites and had just been watching her eat for the last half hour they had been at the dinner. Looking around she admired the checkered floor tiles and cohesive retro theme of the diner. She loved how the red booths matched the stools at the counter, and how the walls were covered in pictures of teens and families enjoying their meals.
What caught her eye however, was a girl in a booth across the diner. She was fiercely beautiful, with long brown hair and dark unblinking eyes that stared right at Soren. Her gaze was meant to be intimidating and Soren had to give her props, it really was. Vaguely Soren wondered if she practiced the look in the mirror, it was deadly. The girls stunning good looks were contorted with the look of pure malice, showing her ugly nature within. Soren nudged James’ leg with her foot,
“Who’s that?”
James looked up from his milkshake and across to where Soren was looking. James’ attention did nothing to deter the girl, in fact it made it worse, her upper lip curling with disgust as she got up and stormed from the restaurant. James swore under his breath.
“James what’s going on?”
He didn’t answer her though, just pulled out his phone and held it up to his ear,
“We have a problem. Come to mine as soon as possible.”
Soren didn’t have to hear the person on the other end to know it was most likely Matt. Her mind was reeling with questions about the girl and her hostile behaviour, but she knew she wouldn’t be getting any answers from James in his now aggravated state.
James threw a handful of bills on the table, standing up and pulling her up with him. She followed along, sensing that now was no time to argue. James nodded to Pops as they tore out the door, Soren at a fast trot to keep up with James’ long strides. His grip on her arm was tight, and despite knowing he didn’t know how hard he was holding her, Soren felt weary of him. He was dangerous in his unsettled state, she could practically see his wolf trying to break out from within. She knew that he would never want to hurt her, but he forgot she was only human, and that meant his tight grip would do a lot more damage to her than one of his kind.
They finally reached the cabin and Soren let out a sigh of relief as James released her arm. He stormed into the kitchen pacing back and forth, Soren rubbed her arm, he was making her nervous. She felt more and more anxious with their proximity. Leaving him to his frantic behaviour, she went and sat in the living room.
The two quick knocks on the door had her sending a thanks out to whatever higher power was watching over her, scrambling to let the person in to calm James down. Opening the door revealed Matt, his eyebrows drawn together in worry, which only increased when his eyes honed in on the darkening marks on her arm.
“Shit.”
He stepped inside and closed the door behind him,
“Where’s James?” Soren pointed towards the kitchen,
“Okay, stay in the living room, I’m going to go try and calm him down.”
Soren was grateful Matt was there to deal with the situation. She didn’t know how to deal with a worked-up human, let alone one with a wolf trying to claw their way out from inside. She sat on the couch in front of the fire place, tucking her legs up into her chest. Wrapping her arms around her knees she sat in silence, straining her ears to hear any of what was going on in the kitchen.
Not long after she had settled, she heard both men approaching. Matts hand was resting on the back of James’ neck, and Soren felt like running and tearing it away, she didn’t want Matt to hurt James. She stayed on the couch though, still a little intimidated by James shaking form, his hands clenched into fists.
“Look at your mate, James. You’re scaring her. I know your wolf just wants to protect her, but right now the only one posing her any threat is yourself. Look at her arm, you see that bruise? That wasn’t Grace’s doing, that was you, so you need to calm down right now or I’m taking her to my place to be with Margot.”
James’ eyes glued to the purple finger marks blossoming on her arm. All the sudden his fists unclenched, and he stepped towards her, reaching a hand out towards what he had done.
Soren didn’t mean to, but she couldn’t help the flinch that resulted from his sudden movement. She knew he was calmer than before and wouldn’t intentionally hurt her, but her instincts had her moving away from his touch.
She watched as his eyes began to fill with anguish. He dropped to his knees before her and stared at the ground.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know how that happened. I swear I never meant to hurt you, I’d never hurt you, I just couldn’t control myself. I forget how fragile-”
“James,” she interrupted his rambling apology, “I know. It’s okay.”
She placed her hand onto his lowered head, tugging gently on a few longer strands of brown hair. When he looked up there were tears in his eyes, her heart shattered.
“You didn’t mean it, I know that, but you need to tell me what’s going on. What had you so worked up?”
James sat back and looked over at Matt. Once all three of them were settled in the living room, James began to explain,
“The girl in the diner, her name is Grace, she was born into the pack and is one of our best fighters.” James looked worried.
“Okay, and?” Soren prompted.
“She’s never been a fan of humans. She’s part of a small number of wolves that think humans are lesser beings because they can’t shift. They believe that us wolves are stronger and more advanced and so we shouldn’t hide from the human race, that we should band together and take over.”
“Wow. So, I guess that mean’s she doesn’t like me much.”
“Too say the least. What has me worried is what she’s going to do when I introduce you to the pack as my mate.”
James ran his hand through his hair. It didn’t ease Soren’s nerves when she saw that Matt too, looked concerned.
“What do you mean, James?”
“Well, in order for the system to run smoothly, wolves are given their rank and status through pack consensus. Basically, everyone has to agree to allow another wolf to take a position in the pack. When I became Beta, I was challenged by two other wolves in the pack that thought they could do a better job.”
Soren leaned forward, anxious to figure out what he was saying.
“What does it mean to challenge someone?”
“We had to fight. To the death.”
Soren gasped, deep down she wasn’t surprised, it was a kill or kill world in the wilderness, and they were wolves after all, but she had a hard time picturing the soft and gentle man before her killing anyone.
“So, you think this Grace woman is going to challenge me?”
“That’s what we’re worried about, yes. Normally it wouldn’t be an issue, most alpha and beta females are accepted with little to no complaint or controversy, but because you’re human, Grace might not settle.”
Soren felt dread build in her stomach, she didn’t want to kill another person, even if they wanted to kill her first.
“Could I have my bow?”
James shook his head dejectedly,
“No. No weapons, its man to man, or in this case, it could be man to wolf.”
The dread that had been building now filled her entire being, from her fingers down to her toes,
“So, I’m going to have to fight her while she’s in wolf form, and all I get is my bare hands?”