Chapter 6 - Dawson
I thought Yvonne would be glad to see me, since I saved her twice the night before.
But the glum look on her face paints a different picture, and I can already tell that she’s not happy to see me standing on the porch of the log cabin behind my house.
What was she expecting? That I’d just leave her to her own devices while she’s under my care?
Pfft! As if!
“Hey, Yvie, I—” I quickly catch myself when her unabashed silver glare threatens to unleash some deeply hidden wrath that perhaps even she’s unaware she possesses.
A shiver courses down my spine, and I hide the effect she has on me by taking a deep breath for composure that flattens my voice.
“Hi, Yvonne. I was just checking that you and your son are settled in.”
Yvonne huffs her contempt with a sturdy grunt, then steps aside while tilting her chin defiantly.
When did she become so feisty?
The Yvonne I knew back then was a timid creature whose pale cheeks turned a bright shade of color whenever I walked in.
The she-wolf standing in front of me now is different, haughtier as she scoffs under her breath.
“If you’re here to check up on me, then you should know I’m on my best behavior.”
“That’s not…” My voice tapers off into a heavy-hearted sigh.
I know why I’m here, but I highly doubt that it will matter to Yvonne that I no longer have an old hag bearing me down with his rules and regulations and blackmail.
She doesn’t know that I’m a capable alpha who will not stand for any form of abuse, especially against her.
But why do I feel like I need to prove myself to her?
Where will it get me?
No.
I don’t have any ulterior motives.
I’m just doing what any of my fellow alphas would do in this situation.
“That’s not why I’m here, Yvonne,” I say, my voice stern and measured this time. “I’m only here to check up on you and your son. Are you guys settling in well? Has anyone bothered you?”
Yvonne’s eyes narrow at me, a terse silence stretching around us before she responds.
“We’re fine,” she says coldly, and I notice the way her shoulders are tensed as she keeps her frame rigid and uptight.
It’s not the only thing I notice, the next bout of deafening silence allowing me to see her fully while the moon sends rays of silver light filtering through the doorway.
Her eyes—radiant pools of silver—glow with an inner sovereignty that I only briefly glimpsed almost six years ago when passion ignited those depths and set them aflame.
Like polished blades of a freshly-chiseled dagger, the intensity of her eyes seems to slice through my soul until I’m bleeding where I’m frozen to the spot.
It takes every ounce of strength I can muster to tear my gaze away, letting my eyes rake over the rest of her face and gather every intricate detail as if it’s for research.
What I discover is that every intrinsic detail seems to draw me in the way it did in the past. Now that she no longer wears spectacles that cover most of the top half of her face, I’m able to trace the bridge of her nose more closely, and it reminds me of the time I’d gently pulled her eyeglasses off, then explored her nose like a nomad on a hike with the tip of my finger coasting—
“Super hero dude!” a breathy, cheery voice rings out from behind Yvonne, followed by a stampede of tiny pattering feet as the boy emerges from the corridor and comes rushing forward with open, flailing little arms.
“Champion!” I grin bemusedly as I lean down and catch the boy just as he comes hurtling toward me. I lift him off his feet and spin him in the air to the rhythm of his gurgling giggles.
When I’m done spinning him around, I meet Yvonne’s speculative gaze.
Chuckling, I let the sprightly youngling explain to his mother why he’s glad to see me.
“He save me from hole in floor!” the young man proclaims, giving me a high-five. “He’s my hero!”
“Oh, I see,” Yvonne chuckles dryly as she avidly averts her eyes from mine. “But your hero was just on his way out.”
The boy pouts in response, but there’s an inherent need to obey his mother when she nods, gesturing for him to get down from my arms. When he’s on his feet, he stands at attention as Yvonne instructs him to go back to the bedroom and wait for her to tuck him into bed.
“G’bye!” he sulks, throwing up a reluctant hand before he drags his feet back inside.
I look up again, only to find Yvonne staring at me with an expectantly lifted brow.
“You’re on your way out, right?”
“Y-yes…” I hesitate, my bottom lip trembling with hesitation to say something more. But before the words can come, Yvonne shuts the door in my face.
Well, that didn’t go as I expected, even though I didn’t have a plan.
Perhaps that’s something I need to work on the next time I come to check up on them.
A Day Later
I rap three times on the door, waiting with one arm bent behind me.
I’d given this much thought and decided that, as much as Yvonne is clinging to walls she’d built—walls that I was only able to break through years ago before she fled the pack—I have to do something to chip away at them so that she lets me in again.
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but I am an alpha werewolf who trained tirelessly to earn my position in this pack.
I refuse to spend another restless night like last, tossing and turning and wondering how Yvonne could replace me so quickly. Had our passionate night in the library opened her up to another world of opportunities, allowing her heart to burst open so she could find her mate elsewhere?
Why had I felt so strongly about her to the point that I would have claimed her as my mate if not for Elder Garret?
There’s a reason why fate led me to her, finding her in the midst of danger in the pack she’d chosen—the pack her former mate was from.
As much as I will not question fate, having a strong belief in whatever the Moon Goddess ordains for Her creation, I have so many questions.
Questions that Yvonne can only answer.
The metallic drag of the latch on the opposite side of the door signals the response to my knock, prompting me to straighten up and prepare for Yvonne’s coldness.
It’s more bitter than the biting cold of the Alaskan air, and even though I’d braced myself for impact, it comes as a shock to my system when she opens the door and sighs despondently as if she’s disappointed to see me.
“Hi, Yvonne,” I chirp eagerly, hoping to lift her spirits with a charming smile.
But it falls on blind eyes when she steps closer and folds her arms.
“What do you want?” she asks coldly, but the flicker of disappointment sparking in my chest isn’t strong enough to dampen my own spirit.
“Ah, not even a ‘good morning, Dawson?’” I chuckle lightly, but my lighthearted taunt falls on deaf ears.
“Good morning, Dawson,” she says flatly. “What’s up?”
I clear my throat and take one step forward, narrowing the distance between us, but it only works to my detriment when I’m consumed by a sweet, floral scent that arrests my airways and hauls me into memories of the past.
“Yvonne…” I whisper, holding my breath to relish in the scent she exudes.
She lifts her eyes timidly, staring at me through the elegant tresses of thick, dark lashes. Her silver eyes slice through my chest when they meet mine, and my breath catches in my throat.
Beautiful…
The word echoes in my mind, hanging on the tip of my tongue and stopped from falling out when Yvonne clears her throat and takes a step back.
Internally, my inner wolf protests the loss of the close proximity, but then I’m reminded of Yvonne’s discomfort when she hesitantly tucks her hair behind her ear.
A pang in my chest ignites the sudden urge to reach out and help her tuck back the other side, but when my arm involuntarily stretches out, I produce the box I’d been hiding behind my back.
“Oh … er … I brought this for little Gio,” I say nervously, pushing the box forward until Yvonne takes it from my hand. “He told me he likes elephants. So, I got him something he might like.”
“Yeah, he—um—he has this stuffed elephant he can’t live without,” Yvonne hesitates as she keeps her eyes firmly on the box.
For a moment, her softer voice betrays the cold front she keeps clinging to, but then she looks up with a frown, her eyes narrow, a suspicious glint passing through.
“He has enough toys. Luna Aurora arranged—”
“Can you just accept the gift?!” I cut in abruptly, the hint of aggression in my voice catching Yvonne off guard when she gasps.
The soft, tender sound strikes me, and I realize that my rudeness was out of place. Yvonne lifts confused, weary eyes at me, and again I have the sudden urge to reach out and console her with a hand on her creamy cheek.
I fold my hands into tight fists, stifling the urge because I don’t want to frighten her.
I know I shouldn’t feel this way, like I’m responsible for her emotions, but I do feel it.
Deep down, my inner wolf chastises me for what I did to her in the past, and weighed down by the heaviness of that remorse, I spin on my heels and bolt away from the small cottage in my backyard, deciding to forego breakfast.
What I need is a run to clear my head.
Another Day Later
“No! It’s enough of this, Yvonne! Can’t you see what you’re doing to me?! I’m a madman!”
My hands curl into fists at my sides, my chest heaving uncontrollably. Huffing and puffing and wildly out of breath, I stare at my reflection in my bedroom mirror.
I’ve spent most of the evening yelling at the mirror as if it were Yvonne. I just can’t seem to get her out of my mind, and I’ve been practicing what I might tell her when I see her tonight.
It’s not that she’s expecting me, unless she’s looking forward to another round of bickering that will only boil my blood and have me burning for her with a heat I can’t control.
But I must control it.