Forty-one

“Hayden. Something bad may happen soon. To you and me.”
“To you and me, or to us? Or both?” Hayden asked.

“All of it. Something is going to happen to our relationship, and we may split. After our split, we may also get hurt individually. I can fee it, and I’m scared,” Alexia explained in a small voice.
She took a deep straggling breath and continued, still staring at the glimmering surface of the ocean, “I’m scared, and I don’t know what to do. Every instinct in me is telling me to run, to push you away, to clip our relationship in the bud so I can prevent this catastrophe. I –” Hayden cut her off, turning away from the ocean to face her.
“So you’re going to listen to it, huh? You’re going to let a fear of the future dictate our present? You’d really give up on us?” he asked, his throat tight. It took every fibre of self-control for him not to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her.

She also turned her head to face him over her shoulder. The wind blew her hair into her face and she anchored it behind her ear. She said nothing, just kept staring at him.
Hayden sighed and grabbed her shoulders, turning her until she faced him fully, “Look, our path, our destination, our mission…we weren’t assured that it was going to be easy. We knew that and we decided to step in, right?”
Alexia nodded.
“And now that we’ve faced our biggest obstacle, you want to back out? I won’t let you, darling. We’re in this together, and we will conquer it together. I’m for you and you’re for me. Got it?”
“But what about the Helena issue? You said you feel like she isn’t dead. How am I to be sure of my place when its original and rightful owner is till alive to claim it?” she asked, unsure and insecure.
He let go of her shoulders and stroked her hair, “You don’t have to be insecure about anyone. Helena may be dead, she may not. But she certainly left my life so you can enter it. That happened for a reason I don’t know, but I am grateful for.
If that’s the sole reason for your worry, we’ll ask the warlocks to do a bit of searching, the whole trance and stuff. Is that okay?”
“But –” she began and Hayden groaned. He covered her mouth with a wide hand, silencing her.
“But nothing, Alex. But nothing! I’m yours, you’re mine, okay? Everything else comes right after. Damn, woman!” he yelled. Alexia shoved his hand away and punched him in the arm. He smiled and rubbed it, then his eyes scanned over her body.

Bruises bloomed everywhere. Her face was now red and throbbing, and she had a black eye. Her exposed abdomen sported marks, scratches and more bruises, with a very angry-looking one on her right side. From the way she stood, her legs were sore, and her feet were covered in sand and bruises on her toes. His smile dimmed and a serious look entered his eyes.

Hayden grabbed her ands and examined her raw knuckles. They were bleeding and one finger was swelling. She had dislocated the knuckle.
“Fuck! Alexia, look what I did to you. Look what you pushed me to do!” he swore, angry at himself.
Alexia waved it off casually, “It’s nothing. I did the same to you, and I forced you into it. It’s really my fault. I’ll be fine.”
“Alexia…” he trailed off, caressing her knuckles with his thumbs. Without warning, he realigned her dislocated finger. She only winced.
“Let’s go home. I’ll get some pain relief tablets and run myself an ice bath. I’ll be fine and so will you. Perks of werewolf healing,” she commented.
Hayden wasn’t finding it amusing, and his deadpan expression told her that. She wisely kept her mouth shut as he grabbed her hand and they walked home.

***

When they got home, Hayden sent Alexia up while he retrieved sacks of ice from the fridge in the minibar. When he got upstairs, he walked in on Alexia taking off her yoga pants. He was taken aback and he wanted to leave the room but she chuckled, “You can come in, Hayden. It’s okay”.
He entered the room and he saw that her underwear was more of shorts than panties. His eyes quickly skimmed down her legs, and he swallowed thickly, berating himself mentally. Alexia caught the look in his eyes and chided him, “Stop it, Hayden. My father has done worse to me in training.”

He nodded and went into the bathroom. He poured the ice into the bathtub, then filled it up with cold water. Alexia heard the water running, so she entered the bathroom.
“You could have stayed put. I was coming to get you,” he said, taking her hand and helping her into the bathtub. She shivered as soon as she stepped in, “Ooosshh! That’s cold.”
“Endure it, Battle Angel,” he quipped dryly.
She laughed, her teeth chattering. Then she asked him, “Wwhheenn are you gggoing ttto have yyyour iccceee bath?”
“After you,” he replied, stroking her hair.
“Gggget inn with me,” she said.
“Really?”
“Yyyyeesss!” she hissed. Hayden shrugged and took off his t-shirt. His chest and abdomen were covered in bruises, but some were already healing. He took of his sweatpants too, leaving him in his boxers.

“Shuffle forward,” he told Alexia. She complied, and he entered behind her. Slowly, he sank to a sitting position, the water sloshing over the edges as he did so. His back was rested against the wall of the bub, and his arms were open.
“Lean back,” he told her. She leaned back into his chest and she sighed contentedly when he wrapped his arms around her. Her long legs were resting in between his.
“I like this. We should do this more often,” she said dreamily. Her eyes were starting to close as exhaustion suddenly washed over her.
“Beat each other up?” he asked chuckling. She didn’t reply him. Alexia was fast asleep.
He smiled and kissed her hair.

After some time, the ice cubes had melted and the water was warming so he tried to get out of the bathtub. His movement made Alexia stir and murmur in her sleep.
“…not Helena, me…”
Her brows were set in a frown and her mouth twitched like she was going to sob. A tear trickled out of the corner of one eye and Hayden could not take it anymore. Seeing that tear felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest, stomped on, chewed up by a shark and put in a blender.
Still bracing her with one arm, he gently woke her with the second hand. Her eyes snapped open and she grabbed his arm. Her eyes were flickering over his face and they seemed to calm when they found nothing.
“Sorry…I was…” she started.
“Having a nightmare, I know. I’m here,” he said, reassuring her. After clearing his throat, he put his second hand under her knees and lifted her out of the water.
“I’m fine, Hayden. You don’t need to carry me,” she argued, trying to wiggle out of his grip but he held tight. He manoeuvred around, never losing his grip on her to pick up a towel.
“Take it,” he instructed, and she complied.

He carried her out of the bathroom into the room, placed her on the edge of the bed then went back into the bathroom for his own towel.
They dried off and lay on the bed, wrapped in each other’s arms.
The last thing Alexia remembered before drifting off to sleep was Hayden telling her, “I love you.” Her lips curved into a smile.

***

Two weeks later

Ace and Alexia were in the common room, playing video games on a Saturday afternoon when someone knocked on the door. They paused the game and exchanged a bewildered glance.
“Who knocks on the door of the packhouse?” Alexia asked.
“I don’t know,” Ace replied and called out, “Who’s there?”

A muffled feminine voice replied from behind the door, “It’s me, Clara. Could you get the door for me, please?”
Ace hopped to his feet and hurried to the door, “Why are you knock.i.n.g…” his voice trailed off as he opened the door and saw her.

She had a dress on, but one of her legs was in a plaster cast, her neck was in a brace, and she used a pair of crutches. Her face was pale and dour, and her luscious blond hair was limp and greasy.
“Clara…what happened?” Ace asked, concerned as he opened the door wider to accommodate her. She limped in, her crutches making clack-clack sounds with the ceramic tiles.
“It’s a long story. Could you please help me take my luggage out of the cab?” she asked.
Ace nodded and went outside to the waiting cab, which left Alexia and Clara alone in the common room.

Alexia stared into Clara’s still-familiar blue eyes, but the hardened hate which used to be there was gone. It was replaced by fear. She remembered Clara’s words to her before she left the pack right after the battle.
Those eyes were similar to…no, it couldn’t be. Or could it?

Clara saw the anger and confusion in Alexia’s eyes, all directed at her. She swallowed, their fight flashing in her memory again.