Everything Anew

Chapter Forty-Eight

Forty-Eight

Lila

Everything felt like it was moving too fast once I was accepted into the pack. The few days I was back home, the others become more affectionate and talkative towards me. Nathan sat on the porch and drank his coffee spiked with alcohol with a smile on his face, while the rest of the pack pushed me towards the trees.

"Let's go on a run!" Evan said with a toothy grin. 

"I bet she can kick all our asses faster than you can bark." Seojoon laughed.

"Of course she fucking can, have you seen the size of her?" Eric asked.

"If we're placing bets, then mine is on her. Nate might kill us otherwise." Markus chided.

I couldn't help the joy that radiated off of me; I felt it through the link between Nathan and I. We were both happy, and I was afraid to hold onto that in fear it would be taken away any day now. Skoll was out there, he could be watching us and waiting, waiting to take me away and drag me somewhere no one could find me. But I was with a pack now, my pack, and I let myself enjoy the happiness while it lasted. No matter how short lived it might be.

When I shifted, it felt like everything I had forgotten finally came back to me. A rush of nostalgia mixed with pure bliss settled into one. I yipped and ran through the trees with the others following me. We stayed close to our land, eyes on the ground for any traps, but we pushed ourselves forward and ran alongside one another for the first time since I met them. There was only one thing missing.

I rushed back to the house, the other four following close behind, and when I stopped at the porch I raised my head towards Nathan. He looked at me with an arched eyebrow, and when I let out a loud huff and lowered my head, he got the message.

"You know I shouldn't." He said while swirling his coffee.

I growled and pushed a thought into his head that essentially meant 'that hasn't stopped you before.'

A roll of his eyes and a short stretch later, Nathan was cautiously undressing and shifting before us. I watched him step down the stairs and meet us, noticing his limp but trying not to stare. He could walk well enough on three legs and manage a little on the one in the back, but I made sure he didn't push himself further.

'No running.' I thought.

'Of course alpha, always ordering me around.' Nathan snorted, making him sound cute rather than intimidating.

He pushed by me, but not without rubbing his head from my muzzle all the way down to my back. His scent was already on me, but not enough for him to be satisfied. I let him do it; because a part of me also knew he'd smell like me too, and that satisfied my wolf just as much as it did his.

When he was finished, we all took turns teasing the alpha, hearing a few growls slip out of him, but it was playful enough that we persisted. The beta pushed it a little further than us, getting a nip or two at his hindquarters as a result. Nathan couldn't run, but we still darted around him and ran up to him to give him a quick nudge with our heads. I stayed by his side the most, feeling better there than anywhere else.

They promised me once Nathan got better they'd take me on their first hunt, that I'd be the one to track it and take it down. It was difficult to put into words how much that meant to me.

When the sun began to set, Nate bumped his head against mine and thought of something that I hadn't taken part in for months. I stared at him, freezing in my tracks, and when he waited for me to go first, I didn't hesitate to listen.