Evelyn

Chapter 6: Maximus

"I don't care if it's a seven-hour drive. I need. Fucking. Clothes," I sneered into the phone.

Conner, my best friend, Beta, and most importantly pain in the ass, was refusing to drive and bring me clothing. I had only packed a day's worth of clothes and it certainly wasn't going to last two weeks.

"Dude, you know I get car sick!" my incompetent Beta whined over the phone.

I pinched my eyebrows together, "Conner if you don't bring me those clothes, so help me, goddess, I will-" I stopped short as my mate walked into the living room.

"You will?" my mate grinned at me with a knowing smile.

"Conner, just bring me the clothes. I've got to go."

"Wait, wha-" Conner was cut off as I hung up the phone.

"You didn't have to hang up on..."

"Conner."

"On Conner for me," she shrugged, "I would have waited."

My wolf howled at the mere presence of my mate. She made kindness so simple, so easy. I was in awe of her. It had been a long time since someone had genuinely relaxed in my presence and there was something fulfilling about it. It put a sense of calm in my spirit while also mounting the pressure to not screw up and lose her faith in me.

"I appreciate it but my," I paused thinking of what word to use in place of Beta, "secretary will have no problem carrying out his task," I smiled. I wouldn't honor the fool with the title of Vice President.

I stood up and looked at the ice skates swinging in my mate's hand.

"Time to skate?"

"Yes, sir," she grinned.

Her cheekiness took me by surprise and I couldn't help the way my Adam's apple bobbed in my throat as I gulped.

I coughed and then smiled, "Lead the way then!"

A short walk later, we were at Mont Clair Lake. In the daylight, the lake glistened and seemed to melt into the mountainous landscape. It seemed some other Ice Valley pack members had decided it was a nice day for ice skating as well, as we looked around the lake full of people. An elderly couple sat on a bench snuggled together, watching as children, teens, and adults laughed, fell, and skated along the ice. Sitting down on the snow-covered ground, Evelyn and I began taking off our shoes and putting on the skates.

"Have you skated before?" Evelyn asked me, looking up from her shoes and biting her pink lip.

"I have," I nodded.

I watched as her nervous lip biting intensified and I knew I had to put a stop to it before I ended up staring like a creep.

"Have you?" I asked her, with a raised eyebrow.

"Well..." she trailed off. "I have, I'm just not particularly good at it," she laughed nervously. "My friend Kayla usually acts as my balancing pole. My coordination is horrific," she sheepishly admitted.

Standing up, I offered her my arm.

"Who needs a pole when you can have a mountain?" I winked.

What I failed to mention was that I was also a terrible skater. A fact I may or may not have intentionally left out so that a scheme I had concocted would come together.

She rolled her golden eyes before her pale fingers gingerly grasped my arm. Moving slowly, I edged us towards the ice. Turning around, I shifted so that I was facing her and she was grasping both of my hands. She edged on the ice and once she was on, I let go of one hand and came to the left side of her, still grasping her left hand with my right one.