Chapter 7 - Noah
Two weeks. That was how long Sage and I had been orbiting each other in my home that suddenly felt too large and too small at the same time. I wanted her closer anytime she was away, but as soon as she was near me, the restlessness became almost too much to bear.
We didn't fight or argue, but by the second week, those kinds of interactions would have been a welcome change from the bland, cold attitude my mate was leveling at me.
She wasn't outright hostile, and we didn't avoid each other completely, but she'd made it clear that she didn't want to interact with me unless absolutely necessary.
I couldn't say that I blamed her, but I did wish that she would give me a chance. We'd gone from being best friends to strangers, and even though I could feel our bond humming between us, Sage wasn't having it.
She slept in the guest room—her choice, not mine.
I'd tried to get her to stay with me, but she made it abundantly clear that she'd rather sleep outside on the ground than share a bed with me.
I told myself that I was fine letting her sleep elsewhere, but every night it was like I could hear her breathing through the wall, and my wolf paced inside of me, ready at any second to burst forth and claim what was ours if only I'd give him a chance.
I was stronger than that, but her scent, sweet and warm, and her nearness were wearing on my self-control. Every time I walked into a room and she was there, or every time she brushed against me as we passed each other, the hold I had on myself grew weaker and weaker.
It was both a blessing and a curse that I was swamped with pack business.
I knew that those early days with Sage were important if I wanted to make her relax around me and eventually accept our bond, but I was also thankful for an excuse to be away from her and the constant temptation that she offered.
But it wasn't just convenient. The pack business was real, and it had to be dealt with.
After being gone for so long, things had stacked up, waiting for me to return.
Disputes, supply issues, dealings with other local packs, and, of course, the slow, steady decline of our pack land.
That last one terrified me and made me feel helpless, but it also wasn't something I could ignore.
It was a mystery I had to solve, even if it felt impossible.
Crops were dying, rivers were running dry, and no one knew why. And then, of course, there was the issue of my missing memory.
Cal was the only one I told about it, and I trusted my Beta to keep things quiet.
Some of the pack were already on edge because of my choice in mate, and the fact that their Alpha had forgotten a significant amount of time would put them on the edge of revolt.
I didn't blame them, of course, because their fears were founded in reality.
An Alpha that was mentally unsteady was dangerous.
Something told me that my Beta knew more than he was letting on. When I pressed him, asking him if he knew why I was so far away from our territory when I was attacked, he said he wasn't sure, but that he'd look into it.
As the days passed, I'd get bits and pieces of memories—running through the forest, chasing something that I was desperate to catch, and then, strangest of all, feelings of hesitation to fight back when I was attacked.
Something was missing not just from my memory, but from my life, and those who knew what it was were unwilling to tell me.
I was getting sick of waiting, and soon I was just going to force the answer out of Cal, even if it tainted the necessary trust that existed between an Alpha and his Beta.
I couldn't keep living without all of my memories, not when I was also fighting with the overwhelming desire for a mate that wanted nothing to do with me.
Then there was the issue with my father.
I hadn't dared to take Sage to see him, but as soon as she fell asleep on our first night back in pack territory, I left the house to go and confront him myself.
I knew that some of his old cronies had undoubtedly already broken the news of my marriage to him, but I also knew if I didn't tell him myself that he'd call me a coward.
I'd made my way to my childhood home that night in the dark, entering without even knocking.
I hadn't thought about the house's other resident, my cousin Summer, because I'd been so wrapped up in thoughts about Sage and how Dad was going to react, and I'd scared the hell out of her by just barging in.
She'd scolded me for not inviting her to the quick wedding ceremony, but her usual bright attitude had been subdued. She knew what I was there to do, and she wasn't going to hold me up for too long.
I found my father in his study, sitting in his wheelchair and looking out the window into the darkness. He didn't move when I came in, even though I was positive he could hear me.
"Dad."
"Son. Come in."
I shut the study door behind me, and he turned to face me, his expression closed off. I wasted no time, "I'm here to tell you I've taken a Luna. It's Sage Williamson."
There was silence for a few long moments, and I thought he might let me leave without saying a word. I didn't give a damn about his silent disapproval, and it would have been a welcome change from him lecturing me on what a failure I was.
But of course, he wouldn't let me get away that easily.
His face twisted with anger, the same expression he'd use on me when I was a kid and I'd done something to piss him off. "I told you years ago to never go near her again, and now you've taken her as a mate," he spat. "She will ruin this pack."
He raged at me, rambling and listing all the ways I was a disappointment, but I didn't react. I let him throw everything he had at me until he was breathing heavily, red in the face.
"Are you finished?" I asked.
His voice was rough when he responded. "I should never have given the pack up to you."
It was cruel, but I couldn't help it. I laughed. "And what, continued to be an Alpha when you can barely walk on your own? Be serious, Dad. You can hate my choice in mate all you want, but this is my pack now, and things are going to change. You have no power anymore."
I left him to seethe, and hadn't gone back since. I'd had no idea how good it would feel to finally confront him, even if it had only been a minor victory. My father had been a tyrant for years, and now, his days were numbered.
Summer had pulled me into a hug and congratulated me, and she'd tried her best to keep up a cheery attitude. But she couldn't hide the tension, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. She was scared of change, of the future.
"This is a good thing," I promised my cousin. "Change will make things better for all of us. And I think you'll like Sage."
"I'm sure I will," Summer had said, and squeezed my hand.
I'd returned home, too amped up from the confrontation and everything else that had occurred that day to sleep.
It was a pattern that would continue for nearly fourteen days, me lying awake, knowing my mate was down the hallway.
Within reach, but still so distant in her mind that we were basically millions of miles apart.
Sage showed little interest in leaving the house and interacting with the pack, which didn't surprise me, considering how unpleasant a greeting they had given her on her first day back.
For the moment, it was fine, but soon I'd have to force her to make a few appearances.
The sooner the pack got used to her and her new position of authority, the better.
It was Sage's tendency to be a homebody that sent me spiraling when I returned one afternoon to find her gone.
I'd gotten so used to her sitting on the couch and reading, baking, watching television, and doing yoga that it was like the house had been hollowed out without her there.
Panic hit me hard—was she trying to escape?
Sage running back to the Brokenclaw pack had been a concern since the moment I married her, but I had assumed that I would be able to tell through our bond if she managed to get too far away.
Even though we barely touched or spoke to each other, our proximity had strengthened the bond considerably, and I'd been able to pick up on some of her more intense emotions.
The bond had given me a sense of security, and now Sage was gone.
I'd forced my paranoia down and focused on her scent. She'd done little to hide it, and it was easy for me to follow where she'd gone. The first sign that I'd been wrong about her intentions came when her trail led not to the borders of my territory, but to the center of it instead. When I
reached the town center and saw her exiting a shop with a paper bag in her arms, the sun glinting off her hair, I'd been shocked.
She wasn't running. She was...shopping?
Still not ready to believe that things were as simple as they seemed, I followed her at a distance, watching as she entered one shop, and then another, and another. Her body language was relaxed, not stiff and poised to bolt like I expected, and she wasn't in a hurry, either.
Surely she had to be doing more than just shopping.
The thought occurred to me that she was buying supplies for when she tried to escape, and that idea was believable enough that I found myself stomping over to her when she exited the next store.
Sage didn't see me at first, but she sensed me before I could take her off guard, whipping around to glare at me.
"Can I help you?" she huffed. "Going somewhere?" I countered.
She looked down at the bags in her arms. "Yeah, back to the house now that I'm done shopping. Is that okay with you, or did you want to skulk around in the shadows some more?"
"I would have to 'skulk in the shadows' if you weren't out here gathering supplies to make your great escape."