Ayn's Healing

Chapter 23 - Kari

Author note: I am not big on adding soundtrack, but this chapter deserves one (Riders on the storm by The Doors, see banner).

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When I arrive back home it's already evening and gray clouds are gathering against the mountain sides. I announce myself loudly, but the house is silent. I drop my backpack on the kitchen table - since there is nobody in there to scold me - and I mind link Timo.

"Hey, Beta, I am home. Where is everybody? There seems to be a storm brewing up here."

"Welcome. Your parents have left this morning for Pass Two, to spend the weekend there. We're down in the valley with Mia, she was craving burgers. We've been here for a while so we'll be heading home soon."

"Is Ayn with you?"

"No, she didn't want to join. She said something about being tired. She's probably sleeping."

As he is speaking, I am going up the stairs jumping them two by two. I knock on her door and there is no answer. I sniff around for that sweet lime tree flower scent of hers and it's very weak, so I know exactly what I will see when I enter.
Nothing.
The room is empty and charmingly messy, with a couple of books and herb jars scattered on the floor and with the dream catcher hanging crooked from a ceiling beam. Timo said they had been out for a while, so I am wondering how long it has been since she left, and how far do I need to go looking for her.

I connect to the Beta again, to inform him that I will kill him dead if I don't find her and cut off the mind link before he has a chance to justify himself. 
The clouds are now hanging heavy over the house and the first thunder shakes the windows, bringing with it a curtain of raindrops. As I think of the best search route - the garden, the edge of the forrest, down to the valley if she needed some stupid leaves again - and get ready to shift into Storm, I hear the front door creak and small tiny steps in the hallway.

I walk out of the kitchen and I see her, taking off her soaked boots. When she raises her eyes, half covered by her dripping cape and sees me, her face lights up with a beautiful warm smile.

"Hi, you are back."

But I am too angry to react normally to her greeting and, as I advance towards her with wolf speed,  I can only lash out at her.

"Where the fuck were you?? Why were you out alone? Again?" I grab her wrist tightly and I feel her fragile bones through her skin. It's like holding a tiny baby bird, I am thinking, and this image makes me relax my grip for a second. She uses this second to pull her arm back and then runs away from me to the sanctuary of her room, as lightning strikes somewhere close and the whole house is suddenly bright and shaking.

I could catch her easily but I decide I need to calm down first. I had come back wanting to woo her and, in the twenty seconds we have been together, I managed to curse her and hurt her.

Cold weather, angry males - it's like I am trying to live up to all the stereotypes, I sigh and go back to the kitchen. Tea, she likes tea, I am thinking and I rummage through my mom's collection for something good smelling. Sage. Sage should be good, I tell myself, as I brew us a pot. I climb the stairs and knock again on her door, as I have done half an hour before.

"Ayn, open the door."

"Go away, shifter." Her voice sounds more sad than angry.

I am not even mad she calls me shifter. I am mainly relieved she doesn't call me a lot worse.

"Please open," I ask as politely as I can, since until now I have never had to beg a female to let me enter her room.

"No. Leave. I cannot look at you right now."