Chapter Sixteen
Noah woke alone, the bed next to him empty. Had Ronan left again? He hoped not. Getting up, he checked the bathroom, kitchen, and living room, finding all three empty. The last unlocked door was to the training room so he padded down the hallway and slipped inside.
The morning sunlight was streaming through the windows, and he drew in a breath when he caught sight of Ronan. That answered the question of what shifter animal the alpha was. He lay on the floor in his wolf form, bathing in the sunlight that spread across the floor.
As he stood there, staring, he could see Ronan’s ears were standing on end, the alpha having heard him arrive. Noah left as quickly as he’d come, stumbling back out into the corridor. He stayed there, torn between going and hiding in his room and returning to the training room to be with Ronan. Wolves were… wolves were rare. He wracked his brains trying to recall what little he knew about them. His pack didn’t have one. A neighboring pack had one, he was old, and everyone was scared of him, though Noah had never worked out exactly why. Noah had his own reasons to be scared of wolves. And yet, Ronan had given Noah no reason to be scared of him. The alpha was different, sure, but not bad different.
Creeping back to the door, he peered inside. Ronan lay exactly where he’d been when Noah had left, his body stretched out. His ears pricked up a little, probably well able to hear Noah sneaking around. The rational part of his brain was arguing with the part that kept telling him to run, rational Noah talking about how much Ronan wanted him as a mate and how hurting Noah wouldn’t help that. The other part of Noah’s brain was stuck in an endless cycle of run or hide. He did neither, stepping through the door and pausing just inside the threshold.
Ronan lifted his head, yellow wolf eyes gazing at him as Noah slipped gracefully into a crouch. Closing his eyes, he let the change come, freeing his fox from within.
When he opened his eyes again, Ronan hadn’t moved, still, but watchful. He got his paws under him with ease and padded across the floor toward the alpha. The closer he got, the more aware he was of how small and puny his fox form seemed compared to Ronan’s wolf. He tried to push those thoughts aside, focusing instead on something they shared. As a fox, he loved lying in the sunlight, feeling its warmth heating his skin.
When he crouched beside Ronan, the alpha leaned closer to sniff him. Noah huddled in on himself, just a little, but let the alpha scent him, knowing it was important. Then it was his turn and he cautiously scented the strong and beautiful wolf next to him. Ronan’s coat was dark gray with black markings. His eyes, which had seemed yellow at a distance were more green now that he was closer. Ronan’s scent was now a heady mixture of human and wolf, equal parts distracting and enticing.
Ronan gave him a little nudge of encouragement so Noah stretched out alongside him, their fur pressed together as he lay on his side facing the window. Ronan’s nose nudged the nape of his neck and Noah couldn’t stop the reflexive tension that spread through him. But all Ronan did was scent him again, before resting his chin a little lower on Noah’s back.
They stayed like that, as the sun climbed higher in the sky, as the light and shade painted patterns across their fur. The room grew warmer and Noah found his eyes drifting closed again, his body craving the sleep it had lost waiting for Ronan to return.
When he woke, he was back in human form, lying splayed out on his stomach on the exercise mat. He reached a hand back to search for Ronan, making a sound of complaint when he didn’t find him. Before he could push himself up onto his knees, the alpha spoke.
“Don’t get up. I’m right here.”
There was the press of a knee against his side before the alpha’s hands were on his T-shirt, tugging it down and away from the back of his neck. He made a sleepy sound of protest and tried to fix it.
“It’s okay,” Ronan said, his voice low. “This’ll just take a second.”
Blinking sleepily, Noah tried to follow what the alpha was saying and doing but was distracted by the scent of roses drifting through the air. Before he could look and see where it was coming from, Ronan’s hands were back, fingers coated in something cool and oily brushing slowly across the back of his neck. Across his scars.
“Ronan?” He pulled himself forward, out of the alpha’s grasp and rolled over, scrambling to get his feet under him. With one hand, he rubbed desperately at the back of his neck, trying to get whatever it was off.
“Noah?” Ronan tried to get closer, and Noah was caught between trying to ward him off and trying to get that stuff off his skin before it started to burn.
“Stay away,” he said, hoping that would hold the alpha off while he yanked off his T-shirt and wiped frantically at his neck with it.
“Noah, please. Talk to me.”
Ronan moved closer, holding his hands out, and Noah stumbled back toward the window. He could already feel his skin tingling.
“I have to get it off,” he said, talking to himself more than to the alpha. “Before it burns.”
Ronan was talking again, but Noah wasn’t listening, scrubbing hard at his neck with the material of his T-shirt.
He heard Ronan curse and then the alpha was there, lifting him bodily into his arms and over his shoulder, carrying him swiftly from the room. He fought to get free, kicking with his legs and shoving with his arms, but it didn’t even faze Ronan.
They were through the bedroom and into the bathroom, and then he was being set down on the floor and spun around to face the sink. Strong arms bent him forward and the tap was turned on. He fought to get upright, to get away, but his strength was no match for the alpha.
Something wet pressed against his neck and he flinched.
“No. Please,” he begged. “It’ll burn me.”
An arm wrapped around his waist and he was pulled upright, his back pressed tight to Ronan’s chest as the alpha watched him through the mirror.
“Noah, take a deep breath and listen. It’s not going to burn you, it’s just oil. Aloe vera, with some rose, and wolfsbane. That’s all. It’s harmless.”
But… but that…
“You weren’t trying to burn away my scars?”
Now that he could take a breath, he realized that the tingling on his neck had died away. There was no pain, no burning. Ronan held a flannel in his hand and went to press it against Noah’s neck. When he flinched and jerked forward, the alpha pinned him with his gaze through the mirror. “It’s just water. It won’t hurt you, I promise.”
Noah took another shaky breath and nodded, letting Ronan rest the flannel on the nape of his neck. It was wet and cool.
“I…I…”
He should apologize, shouldn’t he? What must Ronan think of him, panicking and crying like a baby, and kicking him and…
He was turned around and pulled into a hug.
“I am so sorry,” the alpha whispered into his ear. “I had no idea. I should have explained beforehand, but I didn’t realize…”
Noah buried his head into the crook of Ronan’s neck as the alpha held him. Each breath drew more of the alpha’s scent to him, calming him and settling the racing of his heart.
When he was calmer, Ronan picked him up and carried him into the bedroom, setting him down on the end of the bed. He grabbed a chair and set it in front of him, sitting down so they were face-to-face.
“Tell me.”
Noah opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He drew his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, before he tried again. He meant to answer the alpha’s question, to tell him why he’d believed the oil would burn him. What came out of his mouth was something else entirely.
“The shifter who scarred me, he was a wolf.”