Wolfe

16

Chapter 16

Marley watched from beside Jace as Ronan stayed submerged in the lake's water; her nose and the rest of the top of her head being the only thing above the water's surface. She leaned back on her hands while Ronan watched a northern leopard frog swim around her, the mer's head turning slowly as she kept her gaze on the amphibian. 

"I can hear you thinking." Marley teased lightly, Jace turned her head towards the wolf and roamed her eyes over the redhead's profile. The small rays of sun that had managed to pierce through the trees' thick foliage beamed down on the young werewolf, her red hair seeming to become lighter as the sunlight shone down.

"...Have you felt weaker? Since-"

"No." Marley interrupted swiftly and made Jace's eyebrows raise in surprise.

"No?"

"You don't weaken me, Jace. Nor Ronan. I've never been stronger, actually." She continued. Her lips curled upwards as she leaned back on her hands, tilting her head back to stare up at the trees.

"Really?"

"I was always the weakest of my siblings. A runt in every aspect. Couldn't hunt, couldn't forage, couldn't track, couldn't, couldn't, couldn't. It's why I ran away. They wouldn't let me even try."

Jace legs moved into a criss-cross position and wrapped her hands around one of her shins as her upper body slouched towards her partner. Her eyes quickly flickered towards Ronan, the mer now floated about on her back with the frog croaking lazily atop of her stomach.

"I was wary of you at first. Had never met a human before. I only had my father and aunt's stories about how evil they were, how they would hunt me because of what I am."

"I remember thinking that I was gonna die when I saw the gun in your hand. But you put it down. Hell, you left it behind to carry me."

"You offered to hunt with me. Not for me. With me. You don't see me as the little runt that needs help for everything." Marley finished. She moved forward to rest her forehead against Jace's and tapped their noses together with a gentle rumble.

"...I don't think I could ever see you as weak." Jace murmured and made Marley's lips curl into a soft grin. The wolf moved her head lower in order to nuzzle against her human's neck, her tongue making a quick swipe against the horizontal scar.

"Good. Because I'm not, and neither are you."

"We're not your grandmother and grandfather, Jace. Okay? Don't let my aunt's words get to you anymore." Marley whispered against tanned skin. Another rumble left her when she felt Jace's chin rest atop of her head.

"...I'll try."

The two rested against each other for a couple of minutes until they heard a small splash, Jace lifting her head off of Marley's so they could look towards Ronan. The leopard frog was swimming back towards Ronan, the mer smiling at the amphibian as she watched it climb up her shoulder and then jumped up onto her head.

Marley's head tilted curiously as the frog did a backflip off of Ronan's head and landed in the water with a small splash. The young girl's gills flared as the frog popped its head out of the water and gave her a croak.

"10 outta 10. Killer flip." Ronan told the amphibian.

The frog gave her a proud croak in return before it started to slowly swim in a circle around her once more.

"Interesting."

"What?"

"She can talk to them. Well, The frog at least." Marley explained and caused Jace to turn towards her.

"Is that odd? Can werewolves not?"

"No. Druids are the only ones that can talk to animals from what my Aunt told me. But then again, she's never met a Mer. No one in the pack has really." Marley finished as they both looked back towards the pup. Ronan's gaze shifted from the frog towards Marley and Jace before her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

"The water's nice, ya know...If you w-wanted to swim." Ronan spoke up, though her voice grew more hesitant at the end. Marley gave the pup a crooked grin and moved to get up only to let out a startled yelp when she felt Jace wrap her arms around her waist. The blonde lifted Marley up and walked towards the end of the small wooden pier before throwing the wolf into the water.

Jace watched as Marley stayed submerged and even swam deeper into the water before she dove in herself. Ronan watched as Jace swam towards her before emerging, one of the human's hands moved to push her hair back as her gaze went towards the leopard frog.

"What's his name?"

"H-His name's Paldo."

"Paldo. Pleasure."

Paldo croaked.

"He said 'Hi'."

Jace gave Paldo a small grin when Marley quickly shot up from under the water and grabbed her human's shoulders. The redhead dunked Jace's head under water with a soft laugh, Ronan and Paldo backing away a bit as Jace popped back up and splashed water at Marley.