Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Alec POV

I walked down the stairs, following the scent of coffee and scrambled eggs. As I turned the corner to the kitchen my eyes locked in on Rose's back, she stood by the stove and the ends of her black hair was gently curled as it was still damp from her morning shower. I walked over and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Good morning," I caught a whiff of her strawberry shampoo. 

She sidestepped deliberately out of my embrace with the excuse of getting some fresh thyme from the pot that she had placed on the window seal. After carefully snipping off a few stems she turned back to me.

"Morning," her look told me that she disapproved. 

I stared back at her, struggling to understand her disapproval. She had been so distant ever since we moved here. She didn't seem to mind the way things had been between us when we were both working at Central. Why should things be different now? I knew it was fruitless to discuss the topic with her, so I dropped it.

"So what's your plans for today?" her tone was soft, as if she realised what was going on in my head. She was pulling the thyme into small pieces and strewing them onto of the scrambled eggs.

"I don't really know," I poured us some coffee and handed her one of the cups.

"You should really spend more time with Cleo," her voice had suddenly turned short.

Before I could comment on it, she had continued, "We need to move on with the bonding ceremony as soon as possible. You need to have that in place to fully be able to mentor her."

I started to get annoyed, she always told me how much the bonding ceremony would change me but she never told me how it would affect me. I had never been through one before but she had done it with a number of mentees. She seemed determined that it would change things between her and I, I couldn't see the logic in this.

"I understand that I need to step up and be more of a mentor and not leave you to do everything. But I thought you didn't like the thought of me and Cleo going trough the bonding ceremony." 

Rose clenched her teeth, it was a very slight movement and if I hadn't been intimately familiar with the features of her face, I would never have picked up on it.

"Yes, I'm not thrilled about it. But you have been assigned as her mentor and the ceremony is not optional. You'll need it. Especially now more than ever..."

"What do you mean?"

"The ceremony is a link, it will strengthen and protect you both as you help her understand her abilities. You might need it more than what you think."

"Really?" I found it hard to understand how standing in a circle in the woods and chanting some ancient words would be able to protect us.

"Really. Plus there is so many other factors that we need to consider. I need to tell Central that Cleo is Steel, as soon as I do they will call me in to deliver the labs but also to go through all the research and procedures and that can take a while."

"So I would be alone here?" I didn't like the thought of Rose leaving me behind and going to Central but I knew that was she was saying was right, as soon as Central knew they would call her back for a while.

"You wouldn't be alone here. You will have Cleo and you'll also have to deal with her wolf boyfriend." 

I raised my eyebrows, I had seen the wolves in the woods but Rose had clearly put a few more pieces of the puzzle together. I felt a heaviness across my chest as I considered how this could complicate things.