CHAPTER 29

Armando drove them to his estate and all the while, Asher had to restrain the anticipation and not growl out in satisfaction. His wolf was none the better; prancing and wanting to mark her already but first and foremost, he was going to tell her about himself, then tell her about the marking and mating. He felt nervous and he had never been that nervous since years ago when he had been a little boy.
It was just before he was sent off to boarding school. When he had heard about the plans in place for him, he had made one last herculean attempt to get his mother to even pay him attention for just a minute or even get her to hold him. He had always imagined what it would be like to be held securely in the safety of her arm. So, young and foolish Asher had snuck out at dawn to pick the beautiful flowers he had seen growing behind the house. That part had been easy. No one really paid attention to what he did when on his own.
The hard part had been the anxiety attack he had as he made his way to her room. Instead of knocking at her door, he had waited patiently for her to wake up and emerge from the room. He had stood right in front of the door; in her path,so there would be no way she missed his presence like she always did. Asher remembered he had held the flower up in front of him like a sacrifice. He had reasoned that if he still did not catch her attention, the beautiful flowers would.
His mother had woken up and he heard her move around the room but he still did not knock. Then she had opened the door and without missing a step, she had moved around him, completely ignoring him and the flowers. That had been the sad part. After that, he had tried several other means, thinking she did not like the flowers and obviously, they had all failed.
Shana noticed a sad smile play across his handsome features. "A penny for your thought?," she asked. She needed to say something to dissipate the silence in the car.
"Just thinking about my fancy dinner," he replied carelessly. She was pretty sure his thoughts had nothing to do with a fancy dinner but she just smiled, seeing no point in pursuing the topic.
They were so far away from the noise and bustle of the city she could be convinced they were in a small countryside when they pulled up in front of a large mansion.
"You live here?," she asked in amazement after he helped her out of the car. Her gaze travelled to the house and the sprawling land around it, loving the large space.
She understood that he was a shifter and he probably needed his privacy to do the shifting without the prying eyes of humans but she never imagined he would own that much of a property for his dwelling. Maybe this was not just his dwelling. It could be his territory also, meaning other wolves lived around. It was dark but she could not see any other house around.
"I do. Welcome to my house," he said quietly. He took her hand and led them up the stairs.
After he had moved out from his stepfather's, he had moved to one of his penthouses in the city as an act of rebellion. Except for Rose, the people around him had not even noticed his absence but he had not been at peace leaving the territory for good.
So after the previous Alpha's death and he had been chosen as the new Alpha, he had moved back and walled off a major part of the land, building his home and hoping that some day, he could find as much peace and sense of belonging as he had privacy on the dwelling.
And he hoped the day was within his reach, he thought. This house was going to become Shana's own very soon and he hoped she liked it.
He could almost picture running with her in his wolf form in the rain around the grounds of the estate or better still, making sweet slow love to her in the comfort of their room. He could see her strolling in the gardens, swollen with his pup, her skin radiant with health.
He had expected her to forge on, questioning him about why he needed so much space but she did not. She probably just assumed he had the money to spend;which he did. But the whole territory had become his since he took the role of the pack leader and the only money spending had been the house he built on it.
"It's beautiful," she said gazing at the ...
His wolf rumpled in appreciation. She was definitely in love with the house. He had been secretly waiting for her opinion.
"Glad to hear that," he said smiling down at her as they entered the house. She never assumed her opinion mattered but it looked like it did to him.
Shana was wowed by the state of the art interior design and she could not stop 'wowing' the entire time as he showed her around, describing little details about the house to her, almost like an agent trying to sell it off to a potential customer. Well, she as not about to splurge on a house like his anytime soon, not like she even had the money if she wanted to.
Although everything was beautiful, the house lacked a kind of personal, homey feel. It all just seemed too perfect. He obviously did not stay home much, except when he probably took a woman home for dinner.
"Stop that thought Shana," she chided herself. Now was not the time to start thinking about the numerous women he had brought home for dinner and shown off his beautiful house to.
She expected a place that big to have a truckload of staff but there was only one present to serve them their meal and she was so cordial, smiling at her like she knew a secret she did not.
Elise knew her Alpha had never brought a woman into his house and a human at that. But for her, it was a nice change. Even if no one saw it, the Alpha was a good man and he deserved happiness, the kind she could see in his eyes whenever he looked at the human. One of the reasons he had picked her to serve him was because she could keep her mouth shut and mind her business and she was going to do just that.
Like Asher had predicted, his housekeeper had outdone herself with the meal. Everything looked fancy and absolutely delicious and she was happy he had taken her to his home, not some fancy restaurant.
The table was cleared and then the housekeeper disappeared. Then it was just two of them and she could almost slice through the tension radiating off him. She felt nervous too, not knowing what to say or do but it was like he had it bad than she did.
That was good.
"I need to talk to you about something," Asher started hesitantly. "More like show you something," he added, running his fingers through his dark curls. He felt so nervous and for once in her presence, even his wolf seemed to be having some kind of nervous breakdown.
"OK, but what do you need to show me?" she asked with a little encouraging smile.
Then she guessed from his action that he was about to confide in her that he was a shifter. That had to be the only plausible reason to make a male like Asher fidget and she had not been expecting that.
If he was confiding in her, that means he wanted something more than just a fling with her. The realization made her feel all the worse for what she was about to do. She was never going to be forgiven, just like his stepfather had never forgiven his mother and even him.
He moved closer to her and placed a finger on her lips. "I need to show you, remember?," he said. "If you have any questions after, I'll be happy to answer them," he added, praying she stayed around long enough to ask questions.
"OK."
He took her hand and led her out of the house into the dark grounds of the estate, confirming her guess.
"I want you to promise me something," he requested with his heart in his eyes.
"OK?"
"Promise me you won't do anything rash no matter what you see tonight and most importantly, promise me you are not going to run out on me."
She was going nowhere.
"I promise," she said, smiling at him in reassurance.
"Good. Even if you decide to run after that promise, I'm going to come after you," he said with a nervous smile.
"I keep my promise Asher," she said softly. And this promise, she was going to keep because what was going to happen was not something she did not know already. She was was going to have to put on a stellar act of surprise though.
"I'm sure you do," replied nervously as he let go of her hand and moved away from her.
Asher did not bother with his clothes like he usually did. He stepped further away from her and proceeded to shift.
His first shift had happened when he was a boy of nine and he had been scared by the pain, then the confusion that followed. He did not know what was happening to his body and at first, he had kept it to himself, thinking he had a problem. And he later got to realize his reaction had been normal. No one expected him to shift that early or even paid enough attention to have that kind of talk with him except Rose, so he had no information about his kind.
He had cried in agony as his bones cracked and reset to take the form of his wolf. He had had no one, expect Rose who had been there for him. She had told him he was not supposed to shift for years yet and she had single handedly performed the rite of passage, something no elder in the pack had dared to do not to incur the wrath of his stepfather.
Now, the pain was there but it was something he had grown to welcome and even love.
Shana watched in awe as his hands became large paws and the snort come out of his face, the cracking bones as his limbs elongated. It made her wince for the pain he was going through.
Then there, his complete transformation into a very big grey wolf.