Chapter 33 - State of Affairs

It was Adalyn’s final day of house arrest. She hadn’t heard much from Kai the last few days other than the odd text message. He also hadn’t mentioned anything about the ball that Melody had invited her to either. She was starting to second guess if going with Melody and surprising him would be a good idea after all.

Adalyn has just gotten out of the shower and was drying her hair in the mirror when she caught movement in her reflection. She turned around to see Kai sat on her bed staring at her with his devilishly handsome smile. His eyes quickly scanned the delectable sight in front of him. She had on a pair of cotton shorts and a white cami on, revealing just enough flesh to wet his appetite.

“Ahhhh! Why do guys think it’s okay to just come in to my room without knocking first?!” Adalyn protested. She held her hand over her chest to calm her rapidly beating heart.

Kai’s brows furrowed immediately “Guys? Am I going to have to keep records on who comes and goes in here?”

“Stop making me sound like a hussy,” Adalyn launched her wet hair towel at Kai which he swiftly caught. “First Gabriel, then Arrow and now you.”

Kai’s scowl increased hearing Gabriel’s name. It was bad enough just knowing that Adalyn and him were both under the same roof but if he was making surprise trips to her bedroom then that was a whole other matter.

“Speaking of which,” Kai asked. “Where is he? I usually sense him lurking nearby but I didn’t pick up on him today.”

Adalyn was surprised to hear Kai asking about him considering that they’d never met before. At least to her knowledge.

“He’s gone away for a few days. Said he was going to meet up with some old friends of his. That’s probably code word for him hooking up with some girl.” Adalyn rolled her eyes thinking about it.

Kai had hoped that maybe his brief words with him had sunken in after all. Either way, knowing he was gone for a few days seemed to put both him and Pax a bit more and ease. With what happened with Elias the other night, he was going to have to start being more aware of things that might trigger him. He suspected that his run-in with Gabriel the other night probably played a big part in it.

After speaking with Elias, he hadn’t yet worked out what he was going to do next. Whilst he did want to be with Adalyn physically, he didn’t want to pressure her in to it or make her feel obliged to in any way. He needed that to be completely down to her. The other option was to claim her, but with her still being a target, he didn’t feel comfortable with that idea either.

“Everything alright?” Adalyn asked. Kai had looked conflicted and lost in his thoughts and she had sneaked up on him. Instead of answering, Kai pulled her towards him so she stood between his legs. He then pulled her face down to his and kissed her. His hands skimmed up her bare thighs playfully. As his hands reached the hem of her shorts a quiet moan escaped Adalyn’s lips. The sound went straight to his cock. He released his mouth from hers after realising he was bordering on dangerous territory.

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” Kai asked through hooded eyes. He could already tell that Adalyn was already starting to get aroused from their little interaction. He needed to distract himself from thinking about sex for more than five minutes.

“No...” Adalyn responded. She had already started to feel cold from where he pulled away. Part of her had secretly hoped for a repeat of their foreplay a few nights back.

Kai stood up to tower over her. He could see the disappointment in her eyes when he pulled out of the kiss. He leaned his nose in to her neck and took in a few big sniffs before he started nuzzling against her affectionately.

“Good” Kai pulled back from her neck to stare in to her green eyes. “I was thinking that with everything that’s happened, it might actually be nice if I tried to go about this the right way and take you out.”

Adalyn’s eyes widened before a shy smile broke out on her face. “Like a date?” she asked.

“Yeah. We could go have dinner and a drink somewhere. Would you be up for it?”

Adalyn had never been on a proper date before. The closest she ever came to one was having pizza with a couple of her guy friends from school.

“I’d really like that!” she smiled broadly. “Will that be okay though, considering that nobody is supposed to know that we’re together?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something.” Kai smiled seeing how happy his little offer had made her. “But before that I had an idea…” he continued.

“Okay…?” Adalyn responded apprehensively.

“I was just thinking, that now your wolf is back it might be a good idea for me to start helping you with her. She seemed to respond to me as your mate, so I'm hoping that might be a good place to start.” Kai had mentioned this to her previously. Her wolf was definitely strong and part of him felt that if she could get a better handle on her, she’d be more capable in defending herself, which would make him more comfortable in being able to claim her.

Adalyn’s heart sunk as soon as the words came out of his mouth. She had secretly hoped that he’d forgotten proposing to help her before. Her face instantly conveyed this.

“Don’t make that face, I know I said it might not be a pleasant to get her fully under your control but we can build up to that. I’m sure she’s keen to meet Pax too. What's her name?” Kai asked.

Adalyn turned away and walked to the other side of her room. The issues with her wolf were an uncomfortable topic for her. She didn’t want him of all people to think any less of her for it.

“Adalyn?” Kai asked concerned.

“I really don't want to do this” she replied bluntly.

“Don't want to do what?” Kai asked perplexed. She hadn’t even given him a chance to say what he was suggesting.

Adalyn waved her hand in the air dismissively. “Whatever it is your proposing okay. It won't work. It never works…”

Kai walked up behind her and tried to take her hand, “You have to try before you can say that.”

“I HAVE TRIED!” Adalyn snapped her hand out of his. He’d only been in her life a matter of days and somehow felt that he knew her wolf better than she did already. “Don’t act like you’re the first one to ever try and help me.” With this being such a difficult subject, she couldn’t help but start to get defensive about it.

His stubborn mate was back in full force. “Do you think you're the only one that has had trouble trying to tame their wolf? You're really not. I know that Pax and I can help. If you tell me what her name is I can...”

“Well, I can't help you with that one!” Adalyn snapped again.

Kai rounded her to better see her face. “I don't understand why you're being so defensive, all I'm asking for is her name.”

“Because I don't know it! Okay!” Adalyn glared up at him. He had her backed up in to a corner emotionally.

Kai didn’t back down; he could see the fear and frustration behind this fiery mask she was trying to hold together. He knew it because he’d been there before when he tried to tame his wolf when he was young.
“She's never told you?” he asked with new softness in his voice.

Adalyn could feel her eyes starting to mist up and she fought to hold them back, but Kai’s blue eyes burning in to her made her feel exposed and vulnerable.

As the standoff continued, Adalyn’s mask finally broke and a single tear made a break for freedom. “She won't tell me. She's barely said two words to me since she first surfaced. I've spoken to a ton of doctors and they’ve just attributed it to the loss of my parents, who I barely remember. So all I’m left with is a wild wolf and all these shitty symptoms. I'm just broken and damaged and there is nothing that anyone can do about it.” Fresh tears soon followed and Adalyn tried to quickly wipe them away. She was trying her best to appear strong in front of him, but Kai could see past it all.

The few tears that she had already shed were too much for him. He’d seen them too often already and he felt guilty for driving her in to a corner and making her feel that way.

“Woah, hey…” Kai crooned before pulling her towards him. “Please don't cry. You're not damaged. You just have a strong, stubborn wolf. I’ve been there, but I need you to trust me. Just give me a chance to try and help you.”

Adalyn took a moment or two to try and compose herself then she pulled back out of Kai’s arms. When she looked up at his face she didn’t see the pitiful looks that she was accustomed to. His face was full of understanding and sympathy. Perhaps whatever he had in mind was worth a shot.

“Talk me through some of your other symptoms that you mentioned.” Kai continued.

“Well…. she can force me to shift against my will. Then there are the skull splitting headaches…”

“Is that what happened to you when we were back at the Manor House?”

“Yeah.” Adalyn responded sheepishly.

Kai seemed particularly intrigued about that part and rubbed his temple as a he became slightly anxious.
“How often are you getting them?”

“Not too often now. Maybe once a week” she followed up. She could see Kai analysing everything that she said.

“Are they getting worse?”

The questions were coming quicker now.

“They're not more frequent but the pain is getting worse.”

Kai looked at her a bit more concerned. He had heard of this before. Regular splitting headaches, along with a lack of control over your wolf can be early warning signs that her wolf is starting to go feral. Kai gritted his teeth. This wasn't good. Feral wolves take over their human side completely and revert to being purely wolves living on instinct alone. They pose a risk to everyone and they’re usually culled before they can harm anyone.

Kai’s face grew tight with concern but he quickly tried to mask it to not alarm her. “You can't just sit on this and hope that it will get better or go away because it won't. You’re gonna have to get on top of it. The first step is learning her name. We can't do much else until we have that. Come with me, we're stepping out.”

Kai walked over to the window then ducked his head out.

“Kai, I can't. I'm grounded.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Do you always do as you’re told? Come on Rapunzel,” he chided. “Mother Gothel isn't here right now, so I promise I'll get you back home before she even notices.”

“Mother Gothel?! Hey that's my aunt you're talking about!” Adalyn grabbed a jacket before heading over to the window to join him. Kai pulled her towards him then he scooped her up in to his arms and then jumped out.