Chapter 41
Chapter
Forty-One
The mood in the house shifted. Originally, everyone seemed to look over their shoulder since I had been avoiding Marcus while he was home. The situation was strained, but far less overwhelming.
It helped break the ice when I stepped out of the kitchen and ran directly into him.
He wrapped his arms around me to stop Kayla and me from falling.
The shock of his touch forced him to hold me up, and the both of us laughed it off awkwardly.
It felt as though that eased some of the tension between us.
If he felt the bond, he never acknowledged it. Never asked. Sometimes his dragon would brush up against the bond, but nothing from him. It was weird living with him as though he were a stranger.
For the most part, I tried to stay out of his way. I didn’t want to push it too much, and I think he was doing the same. We ended up running into each other in the kitchen more often than not, especially since I had to use the main fridge for overflow storage of my milk.
Rounding the corner, I stepped into the kitchen. Marcus was eating a sandwich at the island. I passed him quietly, opening the fridge. I came down for some juice since I felt my sugar was low, but glancing at the now mostly empty bottle of milk, I couldn’t stop the smile from filling my face.
I decided I would fill it up every time it was empty. Which was actually every couple of days or so. More-so as a joke between Candice and me. I had six extra bottles from two feeds today, so I would top off the bottle in the fridge before I froze the rest.
Marcus had been drinking at least three glasses in the morning and something like two at night, according to her.
He used to drink milk when we were living at his house, but not that much.
Tyson said he might be trying to compensate for the weakness he was feeling in his bones.
At the rate he was going, he was going to end up gaining a ton of weight just from my breast milk alone.
He had gained quite a bit of weight in his time with Ebony.
I didn’t mind, and Beau poked fun at me because he finally became the ideal Alpha for me.
Still, making him gain a little more wasn’t bad, or at least making it harder for him to lose the weight.
A little revenge on my part for having to gain so much weight with Kayla and trying to always force me to eat.
Keith had come by the other day and his eyes shot up.
Seeing them side by side, Marcus had actually filled in more than Keith had.
He couldn’t believe his eyes; a flicker of joy mixed with his astonishment at being the thinner twin for once.
No one said anything out loud but, Marcus currently was tipping the scales pretty heavily.
“You aren’t going to talk to me today?”
I pulled the bottle of orange juice from the fridge and placed it on the counter. “Sorry. Didn’t realize I was here to entertain.”
“Oh, we going to be sassy today?”
Keeping my laughter down, I grabbed a glass and filled it up before taking a sip. “Maybe I am. What’s it to you?”
“I think our resident Omega might need a nap. Who has the little pterodactyl right now?”
“Your mom does. I just finished feeding her, and she wanted to wiggle around. I swear, she thinks it’s normal to crawl at three months.”
He hummed, his eyes on me as he took a bite of his sandwich. “Do you want to go for a walk?”
“I might go for a run, actually. I have been needing to stretch my legs.”
His head cocked to the side. “Can I see your wolf form?”
“Would you be mad if I said no?”
“No, I wouldn’t. I understand this is hard on you. Did I see you in your wolf form before?”
Before. We didn’t really talk about it. Since that night, I didn’t really talk about my Marcus. It wasn’t something I wanted to push on him. I did everything I could to see this version of him as a completely different person. Even though my wolf and bond said otherwise.
Lately, I had been feeling a lot of anger. I told everyone else that they couldn’t be mad anymore. It wasn’t his choice after everything that had happened. It was just so hard not to fluctuate between anger and sadness while dealing with these different versions of him.
“You haven’t, actually. Which is why I’m sensitive about it.” I snorted, quietly adding. “Plus, you might fall for me if you saw me.”
Marcus started to choke on his food, and I threw my head back laughing.
“Don’t choke on your meat, Marcus. That would be a terrible way to go.”
“My god, you’re fucking sassy today. Go for a run already.”
Barking out another couple of laughs, I sealed the last bag. “Fine. I will. Don’t come trying to talk to me anytime soon because you’re bored.”
Walking out of the kitchen, I flipped him the bird.
“Wait, Colton! I didn’t mean…!”
Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. It was funny getting to be like this with him.
He was so different, acting far less mature.
I got to be sassier than I would with him normally.
It made me feel better watching him squirm.
The bond was healing, slowly, but it had been so broken, it felt like nothing was happening.
Opening the door to the nursery quietly, I smiled as Candice rocked in the chair while reading a book to Kayla. I leaned over the top of the book to check to see if she was awake. Sure enough, all her wiggling put her to sleep.
“Will you be okay if I go for a run?”
“Of course! It’s my time to spend with my grandbaby, anyway. Go. Or did you want to have Lauren come over and go with you? I think she said she was off today.”
I nodded, thinking for a moment. “I would actually. Let me text her.”
Pulling up her messages, I sent off a quick question asking if she wanted to go with me.
I hadn’t felt strong enough to shift until this month.
Really, it was my wolf that was nowhere near strong enough.
I was worried about what would happen if I tried.
How much damage all the pain, weakness, and the bond had done to my wolf.
I’d been afraid to try alone, so asking Lauren to join would make me feel better.
“I’ll refill the milk in the fridge tonight before I got to bed.”
She chuckled. “You are terrible.”
“What? I think it’s funny.”
Tyson knocked on the doorway, smiling. “You two are incorrigible.”
Smiling, I shrugged as Lauren replied she was heading over right now.
“I never said I wasn’t. In fact, this isn’t the first time I’ve done something like this.
I did it to my sister when I was like…fourteen?
I used to put my brother’s muscle-builder powder in her smoothies.
” I snorted. “Worth it. She blamed my brother.”
Tyson laughed, but held it back when Candice shushed him. “Quiet. She’s asleep.”
“Lauren is on her way, so I will run with her. Thank you for the suggestion. I was not feeling super comfortable going alone.”
“Of course. I’m happy to help. Now go. We have plenty of milk for her if she gets hungry.”
Nodding, I leaned down and kissed my little girl’s chubby cheeks before heading downstairs. Tyson followed, citing that he wanted to see me shift as well. He was the only one other than Mike who knew my lineage, and I’m sure he might catch the difference between my wolf side and my dragon side.
“Colt!” Lauren jogged up to me in a dress that I was pretty sure was Beau’s, considering how much it didn’t fit her.
“Thanks for coming with me. My wolf is feeling a little stronger, and I thought we would try going for a run.”
“Then we should definitely make it a nice, long run. We are stuck in the lair unless you want to go a little into the territory.”
I looked back at Tyson. “I don’t want to be anywhere where I’m not allowed.”
“You’re allowed anywhere on the territory, Colt. You’re our son’s mate. Whether he remembers that is moot. You are marked and mated. You have a child with him. That’s that. Our territory is yours to be free.”
Nodding, I turned back to Lauren. “Wherever you want to go, I’ll follow.”
“Alright.” She smirked and nodded to the ground. “Go ahead. Shift. I need to see you fully fluffy.”
Groaning, I shook my head. The two of them looked as if they were getting a Christmas present early. Slipping off my shirt, I tossed it to the side and pulled off my pants. Lauren was glaring at me a little too intensely.
“Lauren?”
“Sorry. I just hate seeing how much damage everything has done. I wish we could help more.”
I snorted. “Don’t even start with me. I don’t know if I will ever get back to my normal weight again. There is a chance that I have some permanent damage to my body at this point.”
“What is your normal weight? One forty-five?”
My brow furrowed. “No. It’s about one-thirty to one-thirty-five. Depending on the day.”
“That’s too low, Colt! You’re a fucking wolf shifter! You shouldn’t be that light!”
“I also shouldn’t be a pipsqueak at five-seven, but here we are.”
Rolling my shoulders, I took a deep breath and let out.
It was easy to picture myself shifting into my wolf form.
It didn’t start nearly as quickly as normal, but it was like starting up an old engine.
Next, I opened my eyes. I felt everything sharpen; and my field of vision widen.
Shaking out my fur, I stretched out my front legs and then my back legs.
Everything felt alright. A little tight, but otherwise everything was working.
I definitely needed to stretch a little before running at full speed.
Hell, it might even take a couple of shifts before I was back up in form.
I’d been trying to exercise a little, but I’d need to add in some for my wolf form.
Hands touched me, and I nearly jumped back. While going through my checks, I almost forgot that Tyson and Lauren were still standing there. They had moved in for the kill, all four of their hands digging into my fur.
“Colton, you’re bigger than I am!” Lauren rubbed her face in my fur. “You’re also way softer. How is that fair? You’re beautiful.”
“I’m trying to remember what the top percentage was that you had. Was it void? Or celestial?”
He was mumbling and I don’t think Lauren caught it. I couldn’t remember either. Mike would know. Tyson brushed his hand through my fur and hummed.
“I don’t know if this is fur at all.”
“Ty, what are you on about? It’s fur. You can feel it and touch it. It’s fluffy and soft, and I just want to curl up on him when he’s like this.”
I barked at Lauren, and she let out an exasperated sigh.
“Fine, fine. We’ll…go run. Ugh. Whatever. I would rather just bury my face in your fur.”
She threw off her dress and shifted much more easily than I did.
Lauren was always impressive as a lion shifter.
Her whole body was muscular. It screamed power and strength.
While I was large, something I figured I got from my level, I had the strength of an Omega.
Which was pretty non-existent. My only claim to fame was that I was fast.
Ty unbuttoned his shirt, and I cocked my head to the side.
He backed away before shifting into his dragon form.
Of course, he dwarfed the two of us, and Lauren snorted.
He took off into the sky, and while I was watching, Lauren nipped at my neck.
I turned to snap at her, but she was already taking off towards the forest.
Taking off after her, I definitely felt the pull of all my muscles. It was painful, but I didn’t push myself either. Not yet. The last thing I wanted to do was tear a muscle. Lauren also kept a slow pace, glancing back at me every so often as I worked on stretching out my muscles.
The forest felt so good to run in. I found myself, after a while, letting go. Letting all the thoughts fall out of my head and run. Letting my wolf come forward and run to their heart’s content. We followed the shadows of the trees, pushing faster and faster.
Lauren was struggling to keep up. We had turned west behind the back of the house, and now we were nearly at a full sprint.
Even with her power, she wasn’t able to keep up with me.
Above us, I could see the outline of Tyson, sometimes casting a shadow on the ground.
Suddenly, my wolf started to chase him. He was the fastest, and they wanted to be faster.
A thrill I hadn’t felt from them in a long time.
After an hour, I slowed down. My chest was heaving, and we were losing our footing.
I didn’t stop, but I slowed down until I trotted through the trees.
I did not know where we were, since I had been following Tyson in the sky overhead.
We felt okay. Rusty, for sure. Out of shape and out of practice, but I didn’t feel awkward.
“You…little…shit…”
I turned back to see Lauren jogging in her human form through the trees. Cocking my head to the side as she flipped me off. She shook her head, plopping down on a fallen tree trunk.
“Don’t you try to be cute with your floppy fucking ears. Where the hell did that speed come from? You were racing a dragon, for god’s sake!”
Chuckling, it took a little too long to shift back, but I stretched my arms and cracked a few bones in my back. “I mean, it’s not like I caught up to him. He still flew away.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Colt. He might not have been flying at his fastest, but neither were you.”
“I don’t have power. I have speed. If I hadn’t had that, I would have died a long time ago.” Walking over to her, I held out my hand. “I would be a joke if I couldn’t run the hell away.”
Lauren chortled, taking my hand and standing up. “I am still mad at you.”
I laughed and shrugged. “I’ll let you cuddle me?”
“Deal.”
Lauren led the way through the trees as I followed, since I was completely turned around. I thought we had turned east, but I didn’t know. A little ahead, the trees swayed, and I watched Tyson drop onto the ground in his human form. He jogged over to us and immediately grabbed both my shoulders.
“How?”
Lauren burst out laughing. “See! I told you!”
I shook my head. “I have just always been fast?”
“That was dragon-fast, Colton! By the gods, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. It was incredible. Put in some serious training and you could outpace Marcus and me!”
“Absolutely not. I’ve seen him fly. There is no way I could ever beat him. Maybe as he is now. If I was at the top and he was as weak as he is now, maybe. Outside of that, I couldn’t.”
Tyson shook his head. “I don’t know, Colt. I think if we trained you a bit, you might be just as fast.”