The Beast

Chapter 13 - Acceptance

    I jumped slightly, started from her voice. Did she just tell us to come inside? Her daze was replaced with irritability. "Hello? Did you not hear me? Or would you rather get caught standing on my porch with probably the most wanted wolf in the country?" She hissed, stepping aside and waving us in.

    Arias and I shared a look, and I used our connected hands to lead us inside. Maia slammed the door behind us, stomping into her kitchen and pulling out a bottle of water from her fridge.

    "So, you're okay with this?" I asked, treading carefully as she chugged the cool liquid until the plastic crumbled in her grip. She set the empty bottle down on the island, watching our stiff postures with pointed eyes.

    With a sigh, she pushed away her loose strands of hair and leaned her weight on the counter.

    "You're my best friend. If you trust this man for whatever reason, then I guess I do, too." I smiled brightly and wanted nothing more than to jump over the island and squeeze the life out of her.

    "You have no idea what this means to me." I tried to show my gratitude to her, and she only rolled her eyes.

    "Yeah, yeah. Don't go getting all mushy on me now." She smirked, and I knew then that everything was going to be just fine. "Have you thought any of this through?"

    She always knew how to kill a happy moment. "Like what?"

    She moved around the counter and walked into her open living room, plopping down on the ottoman and leaving the couch open for us. I jumped onto the leather furniture without hesitation, but Arias seemed conflicted as he stood in the doorway, taking in yet another new environment. I patted the cushion next to me, welcoming him to join us.

    I hadn't realized the severe caution he seemed to harness around others. He was always open around me, not afraid to be near or touch me without the reserve he was showing. He seemed to scan every possible threat in the space before he deemed it safe for him to enter. He sat slowly onto the couch, his posture stiff as we both watched him with fascination.

    "Well," Maia cleared her throat and crossed one leg over the other. "How about where you plan on staying long term? Or what you're going to do if your father finds out his attempted murderer is staying in his territory?" I wrung my hands in my lap nervously.

    Of course I had thought about these things. My father would never accept Arias, no matter what he does to try to make up for everything he had done. Even if he started easing into it, as soon as he finds out they share the same blood, he would try to have him killed as payback for everyone we had lost.

    "I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I do know that I can't let him risk staying out there." She nodded along with me, seeming to understand. This was all new and confusing to me, and I just needed more time to figure things out.

    "Well, he can stay in your room. I'm going back to sleep." She smacked her knees and stood up from her seat, awkwardly saluting us as she dismissed herself back to her chambers to pass out with some reality show blaring on her wall mounted tv.

    Arias and I were left alone, and the silence in the room was deafening. "Um, I can show you to my room." I stood up slowly, and I could feel his eyes on me as I led him to the small room I had decorated myself.

    I suddenly felt self conscious as he took in the space around him. "This room definitely feels more like you." He ran his hand over the foot post of the bed, stopping in the center of the room so he could turn and look at me.

    I blushed and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Thank you, I think." His eyes darted down to my lips, and a faint grin of his own lightened his face.