Chapter 17 - Pax

It was the next morning and the sun was already beating down. Weather around the coastline tended to change quite quickly and there was almost no evidence of a storm the night before.

Adalyn stirred in the bed as the sunlight came in through the window. She’d slept so heavily. The bed was so incredibly comfortable too, nothing like the one that she had back at home. She stretched and then rolled over. There was no sign of Kai in the bed or the room. Lingering remnants of peppermint and oak, his trademark scent was, the only proof that he’d ever been there. Her astute sense of smell was slowly starting to come back. She could feel more of her wolf’s presence although but it wasn’t yet back to what it was.

Adalyn rolled out of bed and went to go and find her mate. After poking her head in to a few of the back rooms she finally heard talking in the distance. Her body instantly warmed to the sound of his voice. She peered her head through the door of a study. Kai was on his phone with his back towards her. He was looking out the window and seemed to be in deep discussion with whoever he was talking to. He was back in his original the clothes, now that they wet dry and had his hair tied back.

Kai immediately sensed her presence and turned to face her. He smiled and looked at her seductively whilst still talking on the phone. Adalyn was still in just her long t-shirt and with her hair all messy from the bed, she looked like a vixen to him.

Realising that Kai was still on the phone, Adalyn motioned with her hands that she wouldn’t disturb him but Kai signalled for her to come in. As he continued his phone conversation, he walked up to her and lifted her chin up to his lips then planted a soft gentle kiss. Adalyn closed her eyes and began kissing him back. She was already starting to get used to it and loved the way it made her feel. In between their little make-out session Kai interspersed some ‘hmm’s’ in acknowledgement to some of the things that the caller was asking about. Adalyn struggled not to giggle between the kisses.
When Kai released her lips, he signed of the call. “Okay, I’ll let you know when I head back”.

Kai hung up then buried his head in to Adalyn’s neck. “You smell amazing” Kai pulled back and took her in visually “And you’re definitely a sight for sore eyes. How are you this morning?”. After last night's events he was keen to sense her mood and work out if she had any recollection of what happened during the early hours of the morning, or the the nightmare that triggered it.

“Good, I think. Had a really deep sleep” Adalyn replied.

"…good" Kai answered, trying not give any signs of what happened the night before. He had been debating the whole morning as to whether he should tell her about what occurred last night. If she recalled anything he was just going to tell her, but she didn't seem to recall anything at all. If he could avoid it, he wanted to avoid putting anything else on her plate considering all of the things that he was now exposing her to, so he decided to keep it to himself for now.

“Everything okay?” Adalyn gestured to his phone to query the phone call.

“Yeah, all good. I took off from the palace a bit suddenly when I came to get you, so a few things have piled up. Lara my secretary just wanted me to sign off on a couple of things” Kai replied.

Adalyn nodded, she had no idea what the everyday life of a prince would be like, but it seemed like he was giving up a lot to watch her. The look of guilt on her face was quite quickly evident and Kai quickly picked up on it.

"Before you start thinking about it, there isn't anywhere else that I'd rather be, so don't worry about it. She's paid very well to handle my affairs at the palace when I'm not around, so I'm getting my money's worth these few days", he chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. Adalyn closed her eyes and smiled as she welcomed the warm kiss on her head.

“Well, I hate to have to do this but we’re gonna have to head back to the main house now on the estate. My friend should be over shortly with some more of the information that I discussed. You okay to head back?”

“Sure, let me go get changed.” Adalyn slipped out of his hands and went back to the room to retrieve her clothes.

The night in the guesthouse had been a nice change of pace for Kai. He really wanted to stay there and just continue getting to know her. He was determined to get to the bottom of all this so that they could stay like this permanently. He’d promised her that he’d get her back home to her family as soon as possible but he wasn’t looking forward to them being separated again.

Kai waited outside of the guest house for her and a few moments later Adalyn poked her head out the front door.

“Ready?” Kai asked.

“Yeah” Adalyn replied. “Although I only have one shoe now”. She waved the one white shoe she still had in the air.

“Well the main house isn't too far from here. You kind of have to walk round to the front of the estate to get in at the main gate though. I would have originally proposed that we both just shift and run back but I'm guessing your wolf is still feeling the side effects of those cuffs huh?”

Adalyn nodded to confirm that her wolf’s full presence still wasn’t there.

“I wouldn't really recommend walking barefoot either” Kai scratched his chin. "If I shift, would you be comfortable holding on to my back in wolf form? Will probably be the easiest way to get back”

Adalyn hadn’t ridden on the back of another wolf since she was a kid. With her wolf being pretty unstable, she used to ride on Gabriel’s wolf’s back a lot when they were younger.

“Sure!” Adalyn had caught a glimpse of Kai’s wolf in the reflection of the window back when she was kidnapped. This however, would be her first time seeing his wolf up close and personal and part of her was excited about it.

“Great!” Kai immediately started undressing. After removing his top Adalyn turned around to give him some privacy. Kai couldn’t help but smile at her doing this. He had never felt awkward or uncomfortable getting undressed and shifting in front of people, as was common amongst most shifters, but he could clearly see this was something that Adalyn wasn’t quite comfortable with doing.

For the time that he did observe her before they met, he had never once seen her shift. The way that her wolf completely took over her, suggested that she didn’t have a good handle on her wolf and her wolf seemed particularly powerful, so perhaps she had avoided it, he questioned himself. Kai had similar issues with his wolf when he was younger but was able to master control over him pretty quickly. If he could help her control it, she’d probably be more comfortable with shifting and getting undressed in the presence of other people preparing to shift. Then it would quickly become second nature to her.

After removing his last item of clothing, Kai folded up his clothes. "I'm gonna leave my clothes here on the ground. Would you be okay to carry them for me? I usually let Pax take the lead when I fully shift and he seems to think it's funny lately to shred them"

"Pax?" Adalyn queried. She turned her head to the side to hear him better without fully turning around.

"Oh, of course. I've never actually told you my wolf's name, have I?" Kai responded. "You'll have to officially introduce me to your wolf in her true form someday"

"Mmm" Adalyn responded nonchalantly. Most wolves shared their name with their human counterparts back when they first meet them as children, but Adalyn never knew hers as she had never told her. She suddenly felt embarrassed and slightly jealous of the way that Kai talked about his wolf and she wondered if she could ever have a similar relationship with hers. She didn't know how much Kai knew about her relationship with her wolf and now that he had brought it up, she feared that he would find out how broken she was as a shifter.

The recognisable sound of bones clicking broke her out of her thoughts. After the sounds of shifting passed Adalyn felt a huge furry head rest on her shoulder. She could feel him breathing deeply as though he was taking in her scent, and she instinctively raised one of her arms up to pet his muzzle. As she turned around, she looked up at this black giant standing in front of her. His black coat almost looked dark blue in the sunlight. If she hadn't known who he was she would have been intimidated to be around him, but as huge as he was, he seemed like a gentle giant in her presence. Adalyn picked up the clothes behind him and he followed directly behind her by the nose, captivated by every move that she made.

Pax poked his nose in to her face, almost playfully and Adalyn giggled as his whiskers tickled her face.

Adalyn stroked his muzzle again and looked into his eyes. "You still in there Kai?"

Pax smoothed his wet snout along her cheek as if to respond to her question.

"Okay, that was gross" she grinned.

Pax lowered himself to the ground to make it easier for her to climb on his back. As she she held on to his fur to climb up, he used his snout to lift one of her feet up as a boost. She was up.

Before she could fully settle herself on his back, Pax was off. "Woah!" Adalyn called out. Her stomach instantly dropped as he took off with speed across the green. She held on tight to the fur around his neck to keep herself steady. He was super-fast. He panted as he ran almost as if he was enjoying himself. Seeing him so look so happy made her feel the same. The wind whipping through her hair was thrilling and she felt free for the first time in a long time. Completely free of all her worries and troubles.

In a matter of minutes, they reached the front gates of the estate's main house and Adalyn jumped down. She petted his muzzle again in appreciation. "Thanks Pax!" she smiled deeply before turning around so that he could shift back in privacy.

After the familiar clicking sounds ceased, a bare arm reached around her waist to pull the clothes out of her hands. "Thanks for holding these," Kai whispered in to her ear before retrieving his top from her. She had been enjoyed the ride so much she forgot to lay his clothes out for him.

Adalyn froze as she felt his naked body brush against her back. Kai could feel her tense up and couldn't help but be slightly amused at it. After he put on his top, he reached back around her a second time to take his trousers and shoes, then whispered in her ear again. "Don't worry, you'll get used to this," he said with a smile in his voice, in reference to him getting naked to shift around her.

After he fully dressed, Kai clasped her hands in his. Her hand instantly warmed in his and the welcome feeling travelled all the way through her body. Just as Kai started to lead her up the path towards the main entrance of the main-house, she stopped suddenly and jerked her hand back. Surprised, Kai stopped to look back and see what was wrong. The look of pain was clearly evident on her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he queried with concern in his voice. Unable to speak, she put her free hand to her temple as she flinched. One of her headaches was back, back with a vengeance. She had gone a couple days without one and without her wolf to alert her that one was coming, she was completely unprepared for it. Her knees started to buckle under the intensity of it and Kai caught her in his arms just before she fell.