Chapter 26

The days grew warmer and longer as winter transitioned into Spring. The gardens around the pack village started to bloom and it lifted my spirits to see all the beautiful colors of nature alive and vivid. I rose early in the morning, as I had done the past few days to watch the sunset. Today though, I had a light giddy feeling in my chest as Isaac had promised to take me somewhere. I picked out a light summer dress but paired it with a wooly cardigan as it was still quite cool. Isaac had stayed true to his word and had cooked me pancakes for breakfast for the past week straight. I bounced down the steps to see him grilling some bacon as pancakes lay on the kitchen island behind him. I came to a stop, seeing him standing shirtless in the middle of the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I'd seen him shirtless before but only when I'd been disoriented, everything was chaotic and all over the place.

Now, there was a completely different atmosphere and I couldn't help but admire the way he just seemed to glow. Isaac had that something about him - as he turned to me and offered me an award winning smile. I watched the way his muscles creased as he leaned against the island.

"Done checking me out buttercup?"

My lip quirked up. "I don't think so. I'll stare a little longer."

His eyes shone, the dark grey melting to a light silver and he motioned towards himself. "Stare all you want, this is all yours."

"Tempting but all I really want is pancakes."

He tossed me a playful look. "Ouch am I being dumped for pancakes?"

"There are worse ways to go."

He hummed in agreement before turning to flip the bacon. I grabbed a pancake and drizzled some honey over it before adding some coconut shavings and finishing it off with some cinnamon.

"You put the weirdest things on pancakes. Cinnamon and coconut? Wouldn't one like cancel the other out? And never-mind that you put honey on top of that."

I winked at him. "Actually they compliment each other."

Maybe I'll cover you in honey and eat you.

I jumped, my face going red at my own thoughts and he turned, giving me a knowing grin in response to my blushing.

-/-

"Where are we going?" I hummed along to the radio as he drove along a wide stretch of country road. We had been driving for more than an hour and as much as I enjoyed seeing the countryside stretch out for miles around me, I was getting curious about where we were going.

He gave me a dazzling smile. "You're just going to have to wait and see."

"How about a hint."

He rolled his eyes. "You'll like it."

"That's a statement that doesn't really tell me anything."

He shook his head, holding my gaze for just a second longer, but it left a fuzzy warm feeling that ran through my body. We still had issues to work through, I knew that. We still had to sort out the whole Gloria thing in full, I had to get him to open up more and he was still working on building my trust back up. But little by little I was beginning to chip away at the shell that he kept hidden behind. He understood when I needed space : like when he didn't persistently follow me into the village after I went to cool down, or force me into listening to him. He waited for me to come back to him.

He pulled into the side of the road and I lifted an eyebrow. "Are we going on a hike?"

"Just a small one, it'll be worth it." He went around to the back of the car and grabbed a wicker basket and I almost jumped in excitement. "Are we having a picnic?"

The idea almost reminded me of Arden. We'd have picnics all the time, eating food that we'd all prepared on the lush grass meadows and making daisy crowns as I imagined what the outside world would look like with Esme. I felt a painful pang of nostalgia, of the life I left behind. But I turned to see Isaac's smiling face and it eased it a bit.

"Cmon." True to his word the hike was only a short distance, as we disappeared into the woods and walked until we reached a little clearing and I almost couldn't believe my eyes.

-/-

The clearing stretched out into a meadow of wild lavender. It was like a cotton blanket of a silky violet color stretching out in front of me. Just past it, the ground slanted down to where I could hear water falling. "Just past here." He said, smiling at my dumbstruck expression. When I looked out of my home back in Arden, the image I used to see mirrored what I was seeing now. It left a heavy, nostalgic feeling in my chest. But a warm one at that.

We made our way to the sound of water and when I thought it couldn't get better I saw the clearing come to a stop, as a waterfall sprayed out, crashing against the rocks below and sending sprays of water up in the air, to dance along my skin.

"Wow." I said, and he turned to look at me. "This place is magical." The atmosphere here felt .. different. Almost as if it existed outside of time. There was a type of serenity I hadn't experienced in a long time. Isaac moved to place the basket on the ground and pulled out a large checkered blanket. I grinned, realizing we were having a picnic after all. After the blanket had been spread out, we both saw, surrounded by a mesh of wild lavender as water cascaded down behind us.

"How did you find this place?" I asked and he smiled, looking up to the sky. "My dad showed it to me."

"He used to take me here when I was a kid, when I first came to the pack."

I raised an eyebrow. "You weren't born in the pack?"

He shook his head. "Up until I was thirteen, I didn't even know I was a wolf. My father didn't even know I existed - he had another family, a mate of his own. However years before that he had slept with my mother which resulted in me. My mother believed they were meant to be, they had a child together, he had promised her everything. That all changed when he met his mate."

I felt a painful pang in my heart. I couldn't imagine how that would of hurt her.

"She left my father and started a life in the human world. She was a human herself and she hoped that I hadn't picked up the wolf gene, but I was born to an alpha. My mother tried her best to be a mom. But we lived in a one bedroom apartment in the bad part of town. I remember when I was younger, being woken up to the door being banged on, someone trying to kick it in. Our street was drug infested and very violent, but it was cheap and we couldn't afford anything better."

I reached across to clasp his hand in mine as he continued.

"My mom fell apart. She was working 12 hours a day to try and keep food on the table. She hated my father and refused to approach him for help. One day I came home and she was snorting cocaine on our couch."

I saw his eyes darken, his memories swirling to life behind his grey eyes. I could feel the pain and fear of those memories, I could tell he was struggling to say it. I squeezed his hand.

"Isaac, you don't have to tell me it all today."

He shook his head. "I need you to understand.

My mom changed, she stopped going to work. She stopped eating, we had no food. I'd spend hours hiding in my room from the strangers she'd let into our house. Then when I was thirteen I started showing signs of being a wolf. I shifted in the middle of our kitchen, she was high and she freaked out. She grabbed a knife and -

His voice cut off abruptly and he started to breathe heavily. "She tried to kill me.  She stabbed through my left shoulder. It was my first shift so I was already in pain, but seeing her there, wide eyed with blood red eyes trying to take my life - that's not something I'll ever forget.

I remember passing out and waking up in the middle of my kitchen, she was gone. My wolf healed the physical wounds but I was left with much deeper emotional ones. My mom finally cracked, she called my father and told him that he had a son, that I had shifted and that she didn't want me anymore. My dad took me in and I stared my new life in the pack."

I gazed up at him, thinking maybe that was his new beginning.

"It was horrible, I was seen as a reject. The child their alpha had with another woman. The Luna had been killed in a rogue attack a month before I arrived. I was kicked to the curb, abusive idiom thrown at me, I was treated like an outcast, a mistake. My father had only one child left, Alarik. My half-sibling who was supposed to succeed my father. Everyone praised him and damned me to hell. The pack was hurting, their Luna was dead and the alpha had lost his daughter. A family of four had been reduced to two. The pack suffered casualties, there was so much pain.

There were four people in the pack who accepted me. My father and Alarik, my beta Allen and ... Gloria. Although I was his damned half brother, Alarik was there for me. Through all the pain and emotional abuse, he was there. Not just as a half brother, but as a friend. He shared my pain and I confided in him. A month before he was to take the alpha title, he stepped down. He declared he would not lead the pack and he deemed me the new alpha."

I grasped his hand. "Alarik, where is he now?"

"He found his mate, alpha of the Eastern pack. They both co- rule it. We keep in contact when we can. I've never forgotten the support I got from him. Even after losing half of his family, he showed compassion for the bastard child who showed up on his doorstep. My father too- it was like the death brought us all closer. Although I did not know the Luna, I felt the sense of loss. They accepted me. My father trained me in alpha duties after Alarik stepped down. He didn't question my leadership, he didn't ask if I was even capable of doing it. He told me that I was his son, and through thick and thin he would support me. I had never of experienced that love before. But before that, when I first came, when I was lost and I had nobody. Gloria was there for me. We were only kids, we grew up together and I confided in her."

I stayed silent, ignoring the jealously sparking.

"But Aurora. The main thing that got me through all that pain and hatred was the prospect of finding my mate. I know I fucked up. I hate myself for hurting you, it's the biggest sin I've committed and one I'll spend my entire life rectifying. I'll never let you down like that again, I was blinded, I was manipulated by my past and you were caught in the whirlwind."

I nudged his side, sending him a little smile. "My father always told me that a little bit of forgiveness goes a long way."

His eyes clouded over and he stared at me with unparalleled intensity. "How in the bloody hell did I get so lucky." He moves so quick even my eyes had trouble following him as he pushed my body back into the checkered blanket, holding his arms out to steady himself.

"You're so damn beautiful." He whispered, as the dozens of lavender reflected back in his eyes. I could feel his warm breath fan against my face and I smiled slightly.

"You're more beautiful."

He gave me a playful look. "I wouldn't describe myself as being beautiful."

"Nope. I think you're very pretty."

He raised an eyebrow. "Pretty?"

"Bootiful."

He let out a light laugh. "Whatever floats your boat buttercup, if it makes you smile like that I'll be as beautiful as you desire." He gave me a wink before rolling to my side and we both gazed up at the indigo stretching about our heads for a while.

-/-

Hope you Guys liked this! The story line is about to pick up again, don't forget they still have that trial looming over their heads - and we'll be meeting some very interesting characters soon including Alarik!