Ariadne: Almost an Alpha | ✓

Chapter 21 - Avoiding Him

Chapter 21 - Avoiding Him

Rolling onto my back, I stare up at the branches hanging over me. My arms and hands are spread out wide, catching the cold water as it runs over my fingertips. Small green leaves flutter down from above, and I find peace in watching them twist and turn through their fall. Patches of light leak through the trees. The current slowly brings me to a large patch, and it warms a spot on my stomach for a few seconds before I decide to flip over and dive into the water, swimming upstream. Only coming up for air when I absolutely need it, I twist and turn underneath the water, feeling the water glide past me and trying to forget about the little scene earlier. I didn't want Mateus to ever see that, to know just how weak I am. 

    "Ari!" I hear the shout when I come up for air, and I turn towards the rocky beach to see Dylan wading into the water, not caring that he's soaking the bottoms of his khaki shorts. .

    "Hold up, Dyl!" I shout to him. "Stop getting your pants wet. I'll come to you."

    I make my way to the bank, where Dylan hands me my towel.

He looks me up and down before teasing me. "Were you not worried about your own pants?"

Now waterlogged, my exercise shorts hang awkwardly off my hips, dripping water onto the sand and sticking to my thighs in weird places.

"You have a leaf in your rat's nest," he comments, reaching out to pluck the offending leaf out of my tangled hair.

I give him a tightlipped smile.  "Thanks, Dylan, you're sooo helpful."   

In response, Dylan flashes me his best, most innocent smile.

I roll my eyes at him and squeeze the water out of my tank top.

"You missed the pack's practice," Dylan notes as water continue to drip off me.

"I know," I grumble, patting my hair down with the towel.

"Mateus looked pretty perturbed too. Well, pretty perturbed for him, I should say. He suggested I come find you"

Combing through the worst of the hair knots with my fingers, I mutter an uninterested, "huh."

    "Are you going to tell me what happened or are you just going to keep giving me mumbled answers?"

    I give him my best glare.

    Unfortunately though, Dylan is used to it. "Ariadne Louise!"

    The mention of my middle name elicits an involuntary grimace from me. I sigh, then begin to explain, "We were training, and Mateus wanted to practice fighting in our wolf forms, you know, for the tournament." I pause, giving him a meaningful look.

    Dylan interprets it correctly, "You froze up?"

"You know I haven't had it happen in a while; I didn't even think it was going to be a problem, but I froze up anyway."

Dylan gives me a look of understanding as he pulls me in for a hug.

I rest my head on his shoulder as the story continues to pour out of my mouth, my voice shaking slightly. "He had me pinned down, and it just... it sent me back to that night. I couldn't snap out of it, and I... I panicked. I couldn't breathe, Dylan."

His hands rub my back in an effort to comfort me.

"I'm so embarrassed. I tried to pass it off as me panicking over a migraine, but that's probably the most pathetic lie I've ever used."

    He stays silent as I keep muttering about my embarrassment. I hate this; I hate feeling like I'm weak and pathetic, like I don't have control.

    My stomach growls loudly, and I step away from Dylan, deciding to put a stop to my pathetic scene. "Well, I guess I'm hungry."

    "Well, by the time we head back to the house and change, it should be dinner time. Or you could just show up to dinner looking like a drowned rat."

    "You don't like my new style?" I joke.

    "Oh, is that what's trending now?" He plays along.

    "Yeah," I begin, glancing down at his soaked shirt from hugging me, "it looks like you're even participating."

    We make the uncomfortable trip back to the main house. As soon as I step out of the woods, I sense Mateus's eyes on me, taking in my wet attire. When I look at him, he switches his gaze to Dylan, and his eyes narrow at Dylan's half-wet shirt. Two warriors are standing around him on the porch, and I smile awkwardly as we approach. By now, I know all of their names, so I politely greet them all as I go into the house. "Mateus, Zaire, Brandon, hope you're having a nice afternoon."

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While I'm in line for dinner, I feel a light touch on the small of my back.

"We need to talk," Mateus whispers into my ear, leaning over my shoulder.

"No, we don't," I respond through gritted teeth.

I grab my food quickly and hurry to Dr.Maria's table.

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The next day, I wake up and carry out my normal routine. I get a report on night patrols, make breakfast, check in with Nora, but instead of going to the midday training session, I hide in my office, deciding to go through the torture of paying bills rather than the embarrassment of facing Mateus. Yes, I'd have to suck it up and face him eventually, but a day of avoiding him won't hurt anything.

Halfway through the afternoon pack training session in the field outside, Mateus shows up, so I hang back and chat with my pack members afterwards. When Jeff, a mystery novelist in his late 40's, suggests that I read the first chapters of his newest work, I tell him I'm available now and walk with him to his cabin.

Then, I hide out in the medical cabin with Nora until dinner. Both of us agree that she should enroll in the town's school 30 minutes away as soon as she feels up to it.

At dinner, I sit at a full table of children and discuss my favorite superheroes with them.

Afterwards, I attempt to play video games with Dylan, Carter, Nathan, and Sterling. When Mateus passes the living room only to see that it is full of people, I can tell he's getting frustrated, but I still make it to my room for the night without having to talk to him.

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