His Willow

Chapter 34

We strolled with vigour along the forest edge, hand in hand with Jessie humming along with the birds, perched in the trees and singing their little hearts out.

"These cookies are going to go down a treat! Maybe a few hotties might leave their mates for my hot stuff instead." Jessie spoke confidently with her head held high with mischief, making my eyebrows rise with wide eyes.

"A girl can dream." I wrote, showing my notepad in Jessie's direction.

"So true Willie. I'm planning on stealing a few hearts with these," Jessie said, taking a huge inhale of the steaming cookies, truly a godly scent and hopefully lingers on our clothes and skin, replacing the vomit-inducing smell that keeps lingering around us.

"Ooh I spot Violet and Craig up ahead, I want you to meet them first. All you need to know is that they're good people, very polite, mated to one another for six years now and tend to the gardens, greenhouse and feeding the wildlife that inhabits the area. We are going to approach nicely with a smile; I'll offer them a cookie and introduce you, all clear?" Jessie asks, glancing down expectantly with a pointed look, treating this as a serious mission with all hands on deck.

I nod my head shyly while carrying the box of cookies, watching each of them trembling slightly in their positions, vibrating from my clammy hands and erratic heartbeat.

Don't think, just walk.

Don't think, Breathe with eyes up and focused.

I chanted in my head, controlling my breathing as best as I could and acting as normal as possible, not wanting the pack to see the true extent of my social anxiety and panic attacks in stressful situations, precisely like this one.

You've got this angel.

Alaric's voice penetrated my mind like a whisper in the wind, making my foot halt mid-air and my heart sore from the voice I yearn for most. It was so quiet that I was lucky to pick out the words, but Alaric's voice is so natural and distinct to me now that I could spot it from a thousand people, winding into my mind like vines and soothing the storm in my body.

"Violet! Craig!" Jessie yelled, effectively snapping me out my trance like a bucket of ice water. Jessie grabbed the couples attention from trimming a rose bush with enormous scissors in both their hands, making me gulp nervously at them wielding such a sharp weapon.

"Long time no see Jess," The male Craig spoke with a smooth tone of voice, very unexpected from his rugged and messy appearance.

Looking over at Craig for a moment, I decided to do a little breakdown of key features that stuck out to me. The first was his hair, Craig has a light brown man bun with grey specks running through, complimenting his ageing skin and dark brown eyes, appearing very hollow the more you stare into them. He seemed to be an older man but certainly not past fifty from my estimate, and if he is, then he has aged exceedingly well.

Examining his facial features and stance, he looked like a friendly man but has a lot of darkness behind his eyes, most likely a troubled past with deep wounds that never healed within him, I can relate to that greatly.

As I look at him, his scars are visible, evident at sight and gaping with pain. I can imagine the average person couldn't see that themselves, but someone as damaged and hurt like myself, you start noticing things that not many can see, like a sixth sense you develop over time.

Glancing from him to his mate Violet, I was immediately hit with her floral perfume that made my mouth water at the fresh scent. Her honey-blond hair shone in the sun and made her look like a true gleaming angel before us, her cream floral dress was flowing in the wind and came down to her ankles, the pattern was very fitting to her name.