Chapter 26 His Fear

Here I am, three hours later, standing at the base of Blue Moon Hill, looking at the sign that says NO VEHICLES ON THE HILL, HIKERS ONLY, and suddenly realizing what a stupid decision I made to wear heels and a dress.
"Hey! You never said it requires walking to get to your pack house." I snap at Eth, who is snickering.
"I warned you to just wear your usual clothes, but you weren't going to listen to me." Eth shrugs.
"You could have just told me." I glance over at the information board next to the sign, indicating that the trail's full length from here to the summit is about 20 miles, 15 miles to the Blue Moon Pack House.
"Eth, do you allow visitors to shift here?" I ask, looking down at my heels and expecting Blue Moon Pack to have some kind of humane rules, such as allowing members from foreign packs to shift in their territory.
"While I'm interested in your wolf form, you know one of the Universal Rules - No shifting in territories not belonging to your pack," Eth says.
"Fine!" I let out a sigh, then pat my cheeks.
"It's okay, Ella, you can do it. Claire can race a T-Rex in heels. You can also finish a 15-mile hike in heels." I encourage myself in a whisper.
"Then let's go up the mountain, shall we? I'll help you cover all these unnecessary things," Eth laughs, then takes the gifts and flowers I've prepared from the car.
"Wait! Before we head up the hill, you have to tell me if your mother likes to receive champagne roses and scented candles. I don't want to make another stupid mistake." I stop Eth and ask him.
"She doesn't hate these things. She should be happy to receive the gifts." Eth replies.
"That's good to know." I sigh with relief and step ahead of Eth towards the hill.
The road leading to the pack house is not tarmac; it's made of wet mud, dirt, and dead leaves. So my ten minutes of walking on such a bad road in high heels already made me feel like walking for half an hour or more.
"You know it's a good distraction to enjoy the scenery of the hill," Eth says with a relaxed tone as he walks in front of me.
"If someone had told me that the trail was so bumpy and difficult, I would have... worn sneakers and a sweatshirt. And now I could probably listen to the birds singing in the woods... and... enjoying various wildflowers under the pine trees." I pantingly say. It's a good thing I left Mia's trench in Eth's car. Otherwise, her trench would not have stayed clean in the wood.
Eth checks his watch, then tells me, "If we keep going at this speed, we'll get to the pack house just in time to see them having after-dinner dessert."
"That's okay. If you're hungry, you've got food in that blue bag. We can... make a fire with the fire starter I got when I bought the scented candles and cook the chicken for dinner here." I jokingly point to the blue carrier bag.
Eth lifts the blue gift bag, sniffs it, and says, "I thought you bought ten pounds of scented candles, but it turns out you also have raw chicken thigh."
"Yeah, good smell!" I will never tell Eth that I prepared raw marinated chicken thighs because I thought he missed my cooking.
"Organic chicken?" Eth asks me.
"Yes! They come from an organic supermarket." I say.
"Did you debone the chicken thighs?"
"Yes. 100% boneless chicken thigh." I still remember the last time he ate at my apartment and brought up the desire to have the chicken thighs deboned before roasting.
"Did you give the chicken a pound with a meat pounder before pouring in the sauce?"
"I did." Why did he have so many questions?
"Is the marinade the same as last time?"
"That's right. It's exactly the same as what you had last time." I answer his childish questions with patience. At least, it keeps me from thinking about how difficult this path is to walk.
"Did you prepare these chicken thighs for me?"
"Yes!" I subconsciously answer his question, but only after answering do I realize I shouldn't have admitted it. Coincidentally, I step into another mud puddle for the third time and struggle to lift my foot to get out of it. The mud splashes onto my lower legs.
Damn it! What a lucky day! I think sarcastically.
Eth lets out a laugh, perhaps because of the comical way I pull my heels out of the mud. Maybe he thinks I'm silly for preparing chicken thighs just for him. After all, it is the Blue Moon Pack's barbecue party, so there must be a lot of fancy and delicious food.
Whatever the reason, his laughter sounds harsh to me. I am just getting mad when he walks up to me and puts both the flowers and the gift bags in my hands, then he turns and squats down. Is he going to give me a piggyback?
"Come on, Cinderella, I'll carry you up the hill." He says, waving his hands to indicate that I should hurry up and do as he says.
My anger vanishes all of a sudden after I hear what he said.
"Are you sure?" I ask.
"Of course! I don't want my parents to assign pack members to search for me." He said.
Eth's back is strong, and that's the first thought that pops into my head after he picks me up on his back. The scent of flowers mixed with the aroma of buttered bread lingers around me. And I can't help but kiss Eth's neck as I greedily breathe in the smell that is only mine at the moment.
"Hey!" Eth, who originally walks steadily, almost throws me out after I kiss him.
"Don't do anything to distract me!" He turns back to warn me. But his reddening ears and rising heat tell me I've stimulated his desire.
I sneer, but he retaliates by squeezing my lower leg. I roll my eyes, unwilling to argue with him in case he gets pissed and throws me off the hill.
"I'm curious. Do your members, including your parents and siblings, usually spend hours going up and down the hill?" I ask him.
"Sort of! They can always shift when they get tired of walking." He answers.
"If you get tired later, will you also shift?" I ask, with a strong curiosity to know what my mate's wolf form looks like. Perhaps with the same dark brown fur and blue eyes as his human form.
"No need for that. It's just a weighted marathon for me." He replies without a blush.
I am about to say something to praise his excellent physical strength when the sound of a helicopter suddenly comes from the distance.
I look up and see the helicopter flying towards the top of the hill.
"Shit! It's Lucas!" Eth whispers a curse.
"Wait, why can Lucas take the helicopter up the hill, and we can't?" I ask, sensing something is wrong.
"He has a helicopter." Eth gives a shitty excuse.
"You don't even have a helicopter as an Alpha? If so, then why don't you ask him to carry us? I think he would have agreed." I say.
"I don't like helicopters! It's too noisy!" He grunts and carries me forward.
"Are you afraid of heights?" I voice my suspicions.
"I just don't like noisy flying machines." He slyly argues with me, wearing his reddened ears.
I bet he's lying.
The tall Eth is afraid of heights. What a surprise that is! I admit I wanna laugh.
"Make a laugh, and I'll throw you down the hill right now." Eth squeezes the threatening words out of his teeth.
"All right, all right! I'm not laughing!" I try to restrain my desire to laugh, "I thought you weren't afraid of anything." I joke.
"Well, I'm not a fearless god. Losing your fear is the scariest thing." Eth says.
"Seriously, you're afraid to take a plane. Do you never travel? I remember you plan to attend the Chicago breeding center tour next week, don't you?" I ask.
"Just because I don't like noise doesn't mean I can't take it. Like right now, even though you're making jokes about me in a happy mood, I still graciously choose to carry you on my back instead of throwing you into some tree." Eth says.
"My bad! I'll shut up!" I bristle, choosing to view a pair of red squirrels chasing each other around a tree trunk a few feet away.