I let go of him and sat back. After I ate my waffle, I had some cereals. Johan loved those too. That was insane! As if we were meant to be together. “Adélie, thank you for the funeral. It was perfect.”
“You’re welcome,” she smiled.
“So, what should we do today? Who is up for some bungee jumping?”
“I would have loved to, hon,” Johan said. “But Mad is mine for the day.” Oh, well, that was new. I usually liked to be aware of things that concerned me. Johan did his best not to smile, and put his hand on my knee, which he started to graze softly.
“You suck!” the witch said. “You leave for like a century and you don’t even wanna spend time with us. You’re a pain.”
“I’ll go with you tomorrow, Esthelle!” Johan promised, nudging her. “I’ll do anything you want. Tomorrow.”
“Anything?” she asked squinting with a mischievous tone of voice.
“Well, anything within reason. If you want me to wax my crotch, I might say no.”
Everyone burst into laughter, including me, and the tense atmosphere brought by Ryan’s presence was lighter. Even Milo smiled, and that was a big step. Hurray! I winked, and he winced. Johan too. Men were unbelievable. Even if they were on the same page, they still found a way to hate each other. Ridiculous.
“Well anyway,” Bridget complained — for a change. “I’d like to be a part of your pack too! When should we do that?”
I nearly choked on my coffee. The proof that Milo wasn’t mad at me, here it was — he still made me a latté every morning. Johan had grimaced when he’d handed me the mug, but he hadn’t said anything. That was progress and I was happy.
About that Bridget situation… Granted, we’d had a conversation about her joining the pack, but I thought that she might eventually forget about that crazy idea. The vampire had always had strange whims that usually went away two days after. I thought she’d feel the same about joining the pack. But she seemed quite determined. I told her to think it through for a couple days, and so she did. And apparently, she hadn’t changed her mind. I also asked her to let the others know to see how they felt about that. Did she do that too? “Hum…” I coughed as Johan patted my back. “Did you ask the guys about it?”
“Guys!” she called out with pomposity. “You do all want me to join your pack? I’ll be as gentle as a lamb. I’ll let you borrow stuff from my closet, and I promise I won’t drink your blood. At least I’ll try.” She put on an angelic smile, and batted her eyelashes at everyone, hoping to seduce them until they agreed.
“I don’t think the guys would be interested in borrowing things from your closet,” Esthelle pointed out chewing, and Lola smiled looking at her.
The witch started when the vampire kicked her under the table. A grumpy “ouch” echoed around the room, but Bridget didn’t lose her angelic look. Her blond curls, her pink scrunchies and her big blue eyes could have anyone fooled, but not me. Thankfully enough, I was immunized against her. I was worried about having her in the pack though. It was one thing to take a shapeshifter in, but a vampire… That’s another kettle of fish.
Overall, she did get along just fine with the others, and she’d come all this way to find me. She proved that she was my friend, and that she would agree to submit to me. There was no reason why I shouldn’t welcome her into the pack. And besides, what kind of an alpha would I be if I refused? I was extolling difference and cohesion between species, so it would have been stupid to refuse Bridget just because she was a vampire. So, if everyone agrees… “We’ll talk about this later,” I said. “You all have until tonight to think about Bridget’s request, and if everyone agrees, we’ll include her and Danny in the pack.”
I didn’t mention Johan because he’d shook his head to prevent me from doing so. I gave him a questioning look, but he said in my head that we’d talk about it later. Fine by me. Yet I was a bit puzzled. Didn’t he want to be part of my pack? He’d pushed me to have one himself. He did say that it’d be an honor for him to have me for an alpha. So why would he act like this? I’d rather not dwell on it — he’d give me an explanation eventually.
Breakfast went on in a cheerful mood. Bridget kept bragging about how many qualities she had that would make her an asset in the pack, hoping to convince the others. From my point of view, she wouldn’t get her way with her continuous chitchatting, but anyway. At least no one was bored, and that was good. Esthelle and Lola shared complicit and tender gestures towards one another, and I was glad to see it. My wolf-cub hadn’t come to me to talk about her soulmate since that first day, but it didn’t matter because she seemed happy. That was the only thing that mattered to me. They both seemed alright and happy.
Lola would sometimes blush or feel a little self-conscious, but things were going smoothly. Adélie seemed to be over the moon. Her “son” had come back, and she was pleased to welcome a group of supernatural beings into her home. She was glad not to be so lonely anymore, and she was happy too. Even Esthelle felt delighted to share her phlegm and her stupid jokes with some other person than her sister. I didn’t feel guilty about coming into their lives anymore because I could see they were happy that I did. I could have stared at my friends for a while if Johan hadn’t taken me away.
He sent me to get ready, and I didn’t protest. I was excited to spend some more alone-time with him. I had only spent one night and a few stolen moments, but that was it, and I wanted more. Much more. I went back to my attic. Lola was now living here with Bridget, who was happy to behave like a bat. I decided that I’d definitely stay in Johan’s annex, but my stuff was still here.
I took a quick shower and put on a simple black skirt and a red blouse. I didn’t have a lot of fancy clothes, but at least they were mine. And besides, I could count on that vampire friend of mine to go drag me into a shopping spree soon enough. I got rid of my scrunchie — I knew that Johan would like to see me kinda wild. Even though I didn’t have to be all perfect like in my former pack, I did use an eyeliner pencil to bring out my eyes — and it matched my two-colored eyes. They instantly looked bigger. I also applied some blackberry-flavored lip gloss and I was ready to go.
Ready to see what Johan had in store for me. Ready to see him and have a good time getting to know him.
I was going to have a good day.
And there was no one stopping me.
Chapter 31
“Where are we going?” I asked my soulmate for the hundredth time. And like the previous ninety-ninth times before, Johan just smirked without answering. I was going to lose patience. We’d been walking across town hand in hand for forty-five minutes now, and it was terribly hot. I was on the verge of turning into a pool of sweat. Yeah, that’s gross, but it was darn hot.
I was rather proud of myself since I wasn’t complaining that much. I did ask where we were going every two minutes, but I was still enjoying our stroll. I’d never done that before. In William’s pack, there was no time for a little lover’s walk. I did roam my favorite street on my way to work after dropping Lola and Danny to school, but that was completely different. Now, I was with Johan and I didn’t have to hurry anywhere. I could go wherever I wanted and take my time without being eaten alive by anxiety, and enjoy the sunrays, the landscape, and Johan. So yeah, I was being a pain because I was curious to know where he was taking me, but in the end, I loved to walk around, without having to go anywhere. I was actually wondering if that wasn’t in fact his surprise, to get me to stroll endlessly. That sounded like him.
“You wanna go grab a bite somewhere?” he offered, and my train of thoughts stopped.
“I don’t know, is ‘somewhere’ the surprise?” I grumbled even if I did like the idea of eating with him in public.
He laughed and I couldn’t help smiling. How could I be such a pain when he was this relaxed? His face was glowing with pleasure, and he loved to spend time with me. And so did I. No matter what he’d planned for today — if he did have something planned — that day was already perfect. He seemed ha
ppy to have me by his side. I felt like I was the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World and that he was presenting me to the world, proudly and happily. I loved that.
However, I was on the one hand pissed to see that a lot of women were gazing at him, and on the other, I was pleased to see that he didn’t even notice them. And besides, he was mine. Women could stare at him as long as they wanted, I was holding his hand. That way of thinking made the jealousy in my head fade away.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Johan said eventually. He leaned towards me and kissed my cheek. His beautiful grey eyes were sparkling joyfully.
I was so glad to see him like this. I’d feared he might never be able to forgive himself regarding my grandma, and that he’d live in guilt forever. A veil of sadness covered his eyes when he heard my thoughts and I immediately blamed myself for thinking that. I was just happy to see him happy. I kissed his cheek back to make amends, and his big smile showed me I was forgiven. When he smiled like that, I had trouble not kissing him. He was too attractive for me. I had no willpower whatsoever. The excitement and the lust of my she-wolf was making it hard for me to be more patient.
I wanted to make him mine a little bit more by the second. A wave of desire came from him, and it showed we were on the same page. Nonetheless… I didn’t want to go too fast. He was my soulmate, but it didn’t mean we had to rush things. Or… did we?
Johan sensed my doubts and my discord, and so he pressed his forehead against mine. He was having doubts too, and questioned our relationship, his feelings for me, and his ambiguous yet platonic behavior. But none of this mattered. We were together, and for now, that was enough. “We have all the time in the world” he whispered, which made my concerns go away in the blink of an eye.
He always had the right things to say to comfort me. How did he do that? He had to have a secret… I followed him to the restaurant he’d chosen for lunch, and my eyes wondered what kind of place it was. The front window was covered with snails’ shells. Brown, beige or yellow spirals dressed up the walls. It was beautiful, in an odd kind of way. However, I could only be skeptical, seeing how original that was. Johan smiled with mischief and kissed the top of my hand. A blond, smiley waitress and her plunging neckline took us to our table and left quickly — she’d probably sensed I was about to scratch right out of her the eyes she’d used to look at my man. He seemed very much amused by my behavior. Super. At least one of us was having fun.
“Daniel told me you loved to try out new things to eat, and so I thought you might like to discover some French cuisine. I thought we could have snails, frogs’ legs and some bread pudding for dessert.”
I did my best not to wince at the thought of eating snails. How French was that… But after all, why not? I was quirky. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to eat the shell. It seemed too crunchy and not tasty enough. Johan bit his lip not to burst into laughter again at my thought.
“Serves you right! You shouldn’t be barging in my head!” I reprimanded him.
For once, that bond was useful! If I could embarrass him like that more often, I most certainly would. He put his hand on his mouth to repress the giggles that were threatening to show up. Yeah, I was the funniest. He couldn’t be cute AND funny, we had to share.
“You’re cute too…” he protested.
The waitress showed up again to take our order. I crossed my arms and stared at the blond girl. She wasn’t the least interested in me and kept on looking at Johan. She didn’t look mean. On the contrary, she struck at me as shy, given the way she was fiddling with her fingers. The fact that she was not the type of woman to go after men should have gotten me to chill, but it didn’t. If even discrete and shy women were after my soulmate, I wasn’t out of the woods.
“What’s it gonna be then?” she asked, finally looking — smiling, even! — at me.
“Nine snails each, frogs’ legs with potatoes dauphinoise, and bread pudding with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate coulis for dessert,” Johan reeled out as if he knew the whole menu by heart.
“Oh, you’re a regular!” the pretty blond brightened up. “Great to see you again. I hope your partner will enjoy our food.”
“She will, thank you,” I said harshly, vexed that she should speak as if I weren’t here — even if she’d been polite. The waitress blushed and handed us our drinks before leaving with any further ado. I may have been bitter. Poor girl. She’d been nice, after all…
“Mad’, that was beneath you. She was nice.”
“Beneath me?” I repeated, taken aback. “Am I the one making a scene because you’re saying hi to your best friend with whom I know nothing will ever happen?”
“That’s different. The waitress isn’t head over heels in love with me, and she’s nothing compared to you.”
I rolled my eyes at him — I couldn’t think of anything scathing in response. Well done, you took me down a peg or two. It’s not like I did it on purpose! I just wanted him to be mine only. I was never one to share anyway. I noticed his smirky smile and changed the subject.
“You come here often then?”
“Yeah. The food’s nice for my mouth and the waitresses are good for my eyes.”
Since I was drinking my carrot-lychee juice — which was not bad — I spit it all out on the table when I heard his words. He laughed, I sulked. That was a low blow. He had no right to do this to me! Alrighty then, an eye for an eye… “Yeah, I can see that…” I sighed exaggeratingly. “I loved to gaze at Milo every morning while drinking my coffee…”
He growled angrily and he thought in his head about a dozen ways to get rid of the shapeshifter, each more splatter than the previous one. Swell! I had trouble getting into his head, but when I did, it was to hear him thinking about the way he’d kill Milo.
I took his hand and intertwined our fingers together so he might calm down. Apparently, it was harder for him to control his jealousy than it was for me. “I’m kidding,” I added. “He cannot hold a candle to you.”
“And no woman cannot even hold, like, a match to you,” he answered, even though he was still pissed.
“Thank God,” I teased as the waitress came back with our snails.
A delicious smell of butter and garlic tickled my nose. I was hungry. I looked at Johan grabbing this tiny fork and taking the snail out of the shell. Phew! I did the same thing and put it in my mouth. Wow. It was rubbery, but good. And the persillade was exquisite. “I like it,” I told Johan. “In your former pack… you were by yourself? Or did you have any siblings?”
“Good, I’m glad,” he smiled before his face darkened. “No. I mean, I had friends I considered to be family, but nothing more.”
“It must have been hard to leave them behind… They didn’t… try to help you?”
“No. You know, I was only sixteen when my parents’ beta and a couple other wolves overthrew them. My friends… they were my age, and they weren’t dominant enough to fight. They submitted to the new alpha because they didn’t have a choice. It was either that, or being banished, or even killed. I don’t blame them. They did what they thought was best for them. But I couldn’t stand by and watch.”
I kept quiet; I didn’t want to interrupt him. I ate my snails while listening — I was glad that he should confide in me, but I was also hurt because I could feel he was talking about painful memories. In a lot of ways, he’d walked a path similar to Daniel’s. He had to run from his pack, but he had to make it on his own first before receiving help and love from the witches. It couldn’t have been easy.
“And so I fought back,” he went on, his eyes fixed on his plate. “I tried to overthrow him in turn, but it doesn’t work like that. In spite of my lineage and the fact that I was born to rule, I lacked experience. And besides, no one would have backed up a kid for an alpha. I lost and I had to run for my life. I didn’t belong there anymore anyway. I had to wander alone for a while before I found Adélie and Esthelle. I struggled to survive. I’ve done things I’m not proud of. I stole. I fought. I killed othe
r wolves that threatened me.”
I grabbed his hand. Even though I couldn’t hear his thoughts precisely, I could totally feel his grief, his guilt, and how painful it was for him to talk of those things. I didn’t want to know about his past if it brought him sorrow. I knew all I had to know, there was no need to go into the details. He would tell me about it if he wanted to, but I wouldn’t make him, just like he didn’t make me tell him about the dreadful things I’d been through in my former pack.
He smiled, obviously comforted by my touch, and kissed my palm. “But it’s all over now. You turned into this amazing, hot, caring person. Maybe you wouldn’t have if you hadn’t been through all of this. Your hardships made you the man you are today. And maybe you wouldn’t have met me either…”
He laughed. “I obviously would have been unlucky if I hadn’t met you. I don’t regret anything. I did what I had to do; I did my best. If I could go back in time, I may want to change things, but I can’t… It’s all in the past, you’re right. It will be even more so when I’ve avenged my parents.”
“Of course. And I’ll be right beside you and help you in any way I can.”
“This is not your fight,” he protested, shaking his head.
“You’re my fight,” I rebuffed him. “I’m not gonna let my man fight his demons on his own, just like you wouldn’t stand by and watch me fight mine.”
“Of course not. I’ll never leave you alone,” he smiled. “But when it comes to me… I’ve always been kind of a loner. You’re an alpha, and you can’t drag your pack in my vendetta.”
“But you’re not alone anymore,” I pointed out. Whether you like it or not, I’ll always be here for you. And you’re part of my pack too, since you’re a part of me.”
She-Wolf I Page 39
