Myths & Rejections

Chapter 17 - The Call

Word Count: 3313

When Adam got to the dock he could see Matt standing at the gang plank of the boat, he looked a lot paler than he had the first time Adam met him, and he was clearly still recovering, but he looked stronger than he should have. His t-shirt covered his chest and shoulders so Adam couldn't see the wounds that had covered him when they'd pulled him out of the water, but he figured they must already be healed, he couldn't imagine Harper letting Matt out of the house if they hadn't been.

"Hey man." Adam greeted him, nervously. He had to admit he was a little intimidated, the creature in front of him was powerful, and like nothing he'd ever known.

"Morning." Matt returned, quirking an eyebrow, and hiding a smirk. He knew he made the wolf nervous, and he was glad. Harper had told him everything they'd talked about, but he couldn't really buy into it. What kind of male stood by and watched females mistreated and did nothing? Matt would admit though, that he had no idea about werewolf culture. Harper had told him the alpha was like the god of the pack, he had absolute control of his pack members, she said they could not refuse his command, no matter how much they wanted to or tried. Matt couldn't imagine such a thing, his kind had nothing resembling that, there were strong and weak sirens. The strong protected the weak when they could, but sirens were solitary creatures, they didn't have packs, or villages. A family would live together in a pod, but that was rarely more than 4 or 5 individuals, when children were old enough to be on their own they usually left the pod. Females were more likely to stay with their family than males, but it was rare that even they stayed with their families long.

"How are you feeling?" Adam asked. "You look good, all healed up?"

"Mostly." Matt answered. "I'll be tired for the rest of today, but otherwise good to go."

"That's amazing. Werewolves heal fast, but being torn up that bad? Losing that much blood?" Adam shook his head. "Would have been in a coma for days, even an alpha would have been in bed at least a week."

"Well, we have to heal fast or we die." Matt shrugged. "You don't last long out in the ocean with open wounds, literally everything out there will try to eat you if you do."

"Starting to appreciate being a werewolf on land." Adam laughed. "Outside of rogues, there isn't much we have to worry about, maybe a grizzly bear or a mountain lion."

"Or people," Matt remarked.

Adam caught a scent on the breeze and turned to see the girls coming up the dock, his eyes immediately locked on Celie and his breath caught in his chest, his wolf whined happily in his head. She was stunning. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she wore a green tank top and a pair of faded cut off shorts, he could see the straps of a bright green bikini under her shirt. He didn't know if he would be able to focus if she was in a bikini all day, not that he would complain.

Then his eyes moved on to Harper and he caught a look of absolute adoration on her face as she looked at Matt, a look Matt retuned. Adam could clearly see the love on both their faces, it was obvious to him that they were mates, and that they were bonded, their anniversary must not be far off. He thought of Harper saying she was scared of it and he couldn't help feeling kinda sad at that, she shouldn't fear bonding to her mate, it was a blessing.

They were busy for several moments, loading and stowing away gear, then they were finally ready to set sail.

Celie was quiet as she sat on her lounge chair on the boat deck, watching the shore flow by as they headed out of the bay and the water faded from pale to dark blue. She tried not to stare at Adam as he stood against the rail staring out over the water. He had the awestruck expression that people who have never been to FL get the first few times they go out onto the water and it made her smile. She remembered how she and Harper had been when they first moved here, the beach, the water, the sun, the heat. It had been a huge transition for them, the North West was a different world from the South East that's for sure. But she loved the tropical climate and culture of south FL, she couldn't imagine living her life anywhere else, especially not in the cold, dark woods of the pack.