Silenced: Luna in the Making

Chapter 13

'Today is a good day,' Xander thought to himself as he stole a glance at his little mate who was currently working on tracing letters. Even though it was a Saturday, his office had seen an increase in traffic. The pack was finally starting to utilize him as an alpha. Requests, disagreements, and general information an alpha should be informed of had been brought to his attention by pack members who had never before darkened the door to his office. 'This is how a pack should function,' Xander thought pleased with the progress. Unfortunately it also meant he would have to start training Brexton and Mason, as his brother had clearly delivered as promised.

Elsbeth broke his concentration when she grunted in frustration. It looked like her e's were still causing her trouble. Even though he had to badger and bribe her to get to work, she really had been making tremendous progress in just a few short days. Xander should have given her the weekend off, but selfishly, he wanted to keep her close. He had to leave tomorrow evening to meet with the high council and was already dreading the separation. Elsbeth had clearly not been pleased when Xander had instructed her to report to his office. Nevertheless, she had been fairly diligent in her work the entire morning.

"Time for lunch," Xander told his treasured mate.

Elsbeth nodded and neatly organized her workbooks into a pile.

"You have been working very hard today. I am proud of you," Xander complemented truthfully. "We could take the rest of the day off as a reward. Would you like that?"

Elsbeth beamed under the praise and was quick to acknowledge her agreement.

"How would you feel about a picnic?" Xander queried.

Elsbeth responded with a thumbs up signal. Ever so slowly she was breaking her communications rules. Thumbs ups, laughs, grunts, audible sighs were becoming more and more frequent as she was starting feel comfortable enough to express herself. Xander was sure it was only a matter of time before he would hear her precious voice.

Fifteen minutes later with a packed bag Xander was outright laughing at the doubtful expression on Elsbeth's face.

Elsbeth was doing her best to give the alpha an intimidating glare. The only problem was the more she glared the harder Xander laughed. When she had agreed to a picnic, there had been no mention of having to ride his wolf just to get there. While she was willing to tolerate Xander's presence, there was no way she wanted to be anywhere near his smelly wolf.

"Look, it is not that bad, even the pups can do it," Xander said as he pointed to the children in the backyard. Sure enough Daniel and his buddies were packing the pack's smallest members around just as he had decreed.

Elsbeth rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in response. There was no way she was getting on his back.

However, Xander was ready to pull rank. He could tell that his tiny mate was not overly frightened, she was just being stubborn. Leveling her with a glare of his own, Xander laid out his expectations. "Listen, I could give you some options and then let you chose, but I am not going to do that. I am going to go change into my wolf and when I return, you will get on my back. If you disobey, you will be punished accordingly. Is that clear?"

Elsbeth contemplated the alpha in front of her. While he was ordering her around and threatening punishment, she felt oddly safe around him. To be honest, she had already given the alpha ample opportunities to justly punish her as she regularly defied him. She had been around enough wolves in her life to know that it was rarely tolerated. However, he had never once even raised his voice to her much less a fist. Even in this, Xander was giving her time to think and was not just beating her into submission. Knowing she didn't really have a choice, Elsbeth slowly acquiesced.

Immediately the glare on Xander's face was replaced with one that could almost be described as fondness. He was just relieved that she had not pressed him. He knew given Elsbeth's age and defiant tendencies at some point in time he would need to establish a healthy hierarchy with her, he was just glad this moment did not call for it. Wolves were a pack animal and they lived with an inherent pecking order. When the lines were blurred, everyone suffered.

Before Elsbeth was ready, an enormous black wolf stood in front of her. If she didn't hate the sight of wolves, she would have considered him beautiful. He was by far the darkest and largest wolf she had ever known. The sun reflected off of his pure black fur giving it an almost purple hue. As he took a step toward Elsbeth, she instinctually took a step back.

Xander cocked his head at his mate. Earlier she had been acting stubborn, but he could tell that her step back was from genuine apprehension. Unfortunately, since she had never shifted he was unable to communicate with her in this form. The only thing he could do was to become less intimidating. Lowering all the way to the ground, Xander rested his head on his front legs and let out a sad whimper.

Elsbeth stared at the beast in front of her. Mentally, she knew it was Xander but she just could not get the images of the wolves from Dex's pack out of her mind. After she had failed to shift at the age of twelve, the pack had started to use her as a punching bag. They were bad enough in their human forms, but in their wolf skin, it was pure torture. She had been bit, clawed, pounced on, pulled, pummeled, and embarrassingly enough peed on a couple of times like she was some object for them to mark. Very quickly after her fall from grace, she had learned to flee at the sight of fur. Willingly approaching a wolf felt suicidal.

Xander was trying every trick in the book to apparent failure. He had rolled onto his back, made the saddest whimpering sounds, slithered forward on his stomach, stood on his haunches to beg, but to no avail. If anything Elsbeth was looking more frightened than when he had first turned. Xander was just about to give up when help came from an unlikely corner.

"You know he won't hurt you," Daniel said carefully as he approached. He had been watching the interaction and felt the need to step in. Alpha Xander was right, no one in their pack should ever be afraid of the wolves.

Elsbeth glanced at the newcomer before turning her attention back to the beast.

"You know that it is the Alpha right?" Daniel questioned.

Elsbeth nodded in confirmation.

"And do you know that you are the last person on earth that he would ever hurt?" Daniel continued.

Elsbeth looked confused at that statement. Why would Daniel think she was anything special to the alpha?

"Did you see him yesterday playing with Sophie?" Daniel asked trying a different approach.

Elsbeth nodded again.

"And did you see how careful he was with her?"

Elsbeth had enjoyed watching the alpha play with the little girl.

"He will be just as careful with you. He knows his strength and is particularly gentle and protective around those he cares about. He cares about this pack and he cares especially about you. No harm will come to you when you are with him in either form," Daniel stated.

Apparently, those words of encouragement from a pack member were enough for Elsbeth to overcome her apprehension. Well, that and recollection of the promised punishment gave the tiny blond the motivation needed to propel her feet towards the deadly beast.

Xander could not have prepared himself for the feeling of his mate running her hands through his fur. It was electricity, awe-inspiring joy, and peace all rolled up into a single moment. He barely remembered to thank Daniel as he was so consumed with her touch. Not giving her a chance to overthink, Xander swiftly made haste to their destination.

Despite her earlier misgivings, Elsbeth was glad Xander had ordered her to climb on him. Regardless of where he took her, she would always remember the overwhelming feeling of freedom and rightness as he ran through the trees. She could hear the rhythmic pounding of his paws as they hit the soft ground. Trees and bushes became a blur as they rushed past them. Elsbeth hoped he never stopped running. It was like she had found a piece of herself that she had not even known was missing.