Trusting Aden | ✓

twelve: show and tell

twelve: show and tell

She'll love you, Moon Goddess says so! My wolf reminds me. I know that, but it's terrifying to think that she won't. I want her to like me, I needed her to like me. For my sake and hers. I didn't want to scare her, but I desperately wanted to show her.

You have to win her over. The pack counts on it, you count on it. We count on it, we need her. She is the key to our happiness and to our success, my wolf explained.

I know that and that's why I'm so afraid to mess up! I retaliate.

"Okay, I'll show you," I agreed. She smiled shyly at my decision. Quickly, I grabbed her hand and ran through the hall and down the stairs to the clearing behind the Pack House. "Please don't be scared."

"I'll try," she blushed. She looked at me, studying my every move. Every movement I made, her eyes followed. Wonderful attention to detail, very vital.

"I have to get naked to transform so that I don't rip my clothes, okay?" I call out to her.

"I- okay," she blushed. I took off my clothes, only leaving my underwear on, for her sake. Her eyes scanned my body, taking in every flaw and imperfection, glancing over my tattoos and scars. She looked as if she wanted to ask more questions, but her shyness and fear kept her from doing so.

My wolf danced around, enchanted with the idea of finally having our mate. Once I was far enough from the packhouse, I started to shift. I felt every bone crack and break, shifting and molding into another one. After doing these thousands of times, I finally got used to the pain of shifting. This would be the third time my wolf has been in contact with her. I could feel how ecstatic my wolf was about the idea as well.

I remembered the first time I saw her. While taking a run a few months ago, I smelled something so potent and delightful, I had to follow it. And it led me to her, my love. One I shifted, I gave her a wolfish smile and took a step forward, but I only caused her to take a step back.

She looked so afraid. Sh finally believed me. "Don't hurt me please," she gasped. My heart sunk at the idea that she believes I'd ever hurt her.

I shook my head and whined as if saying "No, I would never." She nodded shortly, but her eyes still show the same fear they showed when that low-life attacked her.

No matter how many times I backed up, he always tried to get closer to me. Talk about personal space. Even though I had asked him to show me, I was still terrified. A man just turned into an animal, a huge black wolf. The wolf was almost as tall as me. He had huge electric yellow eyes and hard black fur. The only imperfection was his white nose, but even that was cute. Although I liked animals a lot, this was absolutely terrifying.

I shook my head, trying to not freak out. I didn't like this, I didn't like any of this. Nothing is going how I wanted it to go and I can't stand it. "I-I can't do this, I've got to go home," I called out. Shaking my head, again, I walked forward, almost passing Aden, but he jumped out in front of me, blocking m from going into the house.

My instincts were to scream and quickly pull my arm away, but I stayed still, gasping at the feeling. In this form, he could kill me in an instant. I took a deep breath and tried to form words, "Uh- I- I go- sit on- over there." Aden nodded and whined, breathing out hot air that tickled my arm. I sat down on the porch steps and stared at the huge animal in front of me.

The logical part of me was trying to figure out how it was possible to transform from a human into a wolf. But it's not logical, at all. Although I watched the transformation with my own eyes, I still couldn't believe it. I watched as Aden slowly came closer to me, obviously trying not to scare me.

Every part of me wanted to reach my hand out and rub his fur, but I was too afraid. I felt like a child who just got yelled at; too afraid to move, but needing the reassurance of everything being okay. It took everything in me to lift my hand up towards his fur. I blushed at the fact that my hand was shaking so much.

Aden seemed to see what I was doing and laid in front of me, low enough so I could reach his head. "I- I'm going to... pet you?" I tried. The wolf just nodded his head and snorted in delight. I pushed my hand out and placed it on his head. Warmth crept its way from my hand throughout my entire body. I slowly stood up and ran my hand down his body and back up to his head. His fur was soft and lush. "Your fur is so beautiful," I whispered to myself. He huffed as of he heard me.

I sat back down on the porch steps and continued to pet his head. We stayed like this for a while until Aden decided to bare his teeth. I jumped at the action and almost screamed. He whimpered as if he was apologizing and opened his snout slowly, towards my arm. I watched as he carefully pulled the large white bandage off my arm. To my surprise, he looked at the wound and proceeded to lick it. I jumped back, "ew, what are you doing!"

Aden growled and whined as if he were scolding a child. He then placed his paw on my lap, to keep me in place, and continued to lick my arm. Surely enough, once he was done, the wound was gone. "My- the cut, it's gone?" Aden then huffed at me and stood up. I followed suit and watched as bit his clothes and ran behind a tree.

Aden, in his human form, came running out from behind the tree with a huge grin on his face. "See I'm not so scary," he laughed once he got to me.

"I was scared for a while, but then I started to feel safe," I admitted.

"That's the mate bond," he nodded.

"Oh, because you have half of my soul?" I asked, trying to remember the book.

"Yeah, in a way."

"But why?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Why me?" I asked, without thinking. "Why did you or the Moon Goddess chose me?"

"Because we were made for one another," he reiterated.

"No, give me a different reason. I need a good reason. All you've given me is soulmates and better halves. I want a real, human reason, not that one," I tried.

He thought hard. By the look on his face, I could tell he wasn't about to lie, but who am I to trust him? "I understand how it feels to not be able to trust me or my judgments, but my reason is how I feel. When I'm holding your hands, like now, I can feel your pulse and the heat we generate and it makes me happy. I feel like a young pup, or child, just excited to be near you. It's crazy and I know you probably think I'm insane for 'moving too fast,' but I've literally waited my whole life to feel like this, and I finally am," he confessed.

My heart hammered against my chest, feeling insane for almost believing him. He's a guy, who you don't know. Why should you trust him? My smarter half asked. I have no real reason to stay, not like this, but I want to. I feel like I should trust him, but I'm scared. "Why should I trust you?" I asked.

He dropped my hands, my face slightly falling at the loss of contact. Before I could say anything, he explained, "It's quite simple. You treat people like how you want them to treat you. I always feel that everyone always wants the stuff that they themselves can't give and also that everyone will always want to have a chance in life– in whatever areas of life.

"Also, as I've learned humans do, you'd wish that someone could trust you. If there's a reason why you shouldn't trust me, then don't. But if I didn't do anything that is untrustworthy or something that made you feel unsafe, then why don't I get the chance for you to trust me?" His lips broke into a small smile, proud of his little speech.

I nodded at his response, letting him know I understood. He's not wrong. He hasn't done anything for me to feel unsafe or think that he is untrustworthy, but I still don't know. He is still a stranger who claims to think we're soulmates. But he is also a stranger who has saved you, very heroic, I think to myself. I take a deep breath, trying to clear my head enough to make a decision.

"Okay," I conclude.

"Okay?"

"Yes, I said okay. I'll stay."