RISK

11

Xander freezes as Isabella stirs in her sleep. He prays his movements didn't wake the sleeping girl up, as he wants her in his arms forever. Xander could tell Isabella started to grow tired in the middle of the second movie. She kept trying to fight it but eventually the fatigued girl fell asleep, her head resting on his shoulder. As her slumber deepened, her position shifted and her head ended up resting on Xander's chest. He happily adjusted their bodies so she could be more comfortable, and after doing so, he has made tremendous effort to stay still so he doesn't wake her.

Xander's eyes begin to feel heavy, fighting off sleep. He hasn't been sleeping well recently, and a deep slumber would be beneficial. It seems like all he's been doing recently is killing and it's starting to get to him. Other Alpha's might call him weak for this; for feeling. He's been trained to kill enemies, then to be able to sleep without thought. That's what Alpha's do. Does that make him a bad Alpha? No, it makes him human. He looks down at his mate in his arms, and grimaces. She doesn't know the arms holding her are the hands of a murderer. Hands so evil should never hold a body so precious, Xander thinks. But she's his mate. Not holding her would drive him even crazier than killing does.

The rhythm of Isabella's heart beat acts as a lullaby. It calms the Alpha down, allowing him to drift to sleep. He's not sure how long he's asleep before his phone goes off, waking him up. He quickly answers it to avoid waking Isabella up.

"Hello?" He whispers frustrated. He finally was having a decent slumber, only to be interrupted by his Beta.

"Where are you? You're gonna be late for the meeting." Josh says quickly.

"What meeting?"

"The meeting you scheduled last week," Josh says confused, "Wait why are you whispering? Where are you?"

"Shit right. Ok I'll be there soon."

"You should be fine if you hurry. I'll see you later." Josh hangs up.

Xander curses mentally. How could he have forgotten about a meeting that he himself scheduled? This doesn't look good for him.

He looks down at Isabella who is still sleeping and sighs dreadfully because he has to wake her up.

"Isabella." He whispers her name as he lightly rubs her back. Softly rubbing her back does the opposite of wake her up. She slightly moans in comfort and cuddles into his body more. Xander smiles at her unconscious action, but he has to try to wake her again. 

"Isabella," He lightly shakes her, "I have to go."

Isabella's words lazily blend together, "Just stay."

Xander smiles once again but then frowns, "I can't. I want to but I can't."

"No." She simply says, refusing to move.

Xander's mind jumps to thinking about trying to wake Isabella up every morning, when they start spending nights together. He imagines it being quite a struggle if she's going to act similar to this. 

"You know you're stubborn when you're tired," he laughs, "I'm going to take you upstairs so you can sleep there and then I have to go, ok?"

"Ok." Isabella says quietly.

Xander wraps his arms under his mate's body then stands up, holding her bridal style. Isabella wraps her arms around his neck, her head still laying on his chest. Even throughout the whole maneuver, Isabella looks like she barely woke

Xander follows Isabella's familiar sent all the way to a room at the end of the hall. He opens it and her wonderful scent hits him immediately. He admires the wall she has dedicated to her drawing and paintings. Although he wants to, he doesn't waste time looking around more before resting Isabella's small body on her bed.