“I will kill him,” Devon roared when he saw the look on Percy’s stupid face.
Devon paced back and forth in the back of Isaiah’s mind. An image of him tearing through Percy played on a loop in his head. So much so, a slow smile spread across his face as he glared at Percy.
“I am so sorry, Alpha Isaiah,” Percy said while bowing his head. “I didn’t mean to disrespect you in any way. I was only expressing my feelings-”
I knew it! “Your what,” Isaiah growled, taking another step closer to him.
“Appreciation,” Percy said quickly. “I meant appreciation, which is still considered a type of feeling and the only feeling I feel towards Zira. So not really what you think. More like ‘Hey friend, I appreciate you’ not like ‘Hey, I’m in love with you’,” Percy laughed nervously.
Though Isaiah didn’t see anything funny. Every word coming out of Percy’s mouth was making him angrier.
“Percy, stop talking,” Zira said, shaking her head.
“I just…sorry…I babble when I’m nervous,” Percy laughed again while moving closer to her to get away from Isaiah. Isaiah noticed and took another step towards Percy as a growl rose from his chest.
“Move...away.”
“Yep, sounds like a great idea,” Percy said with a nervous laugh. “I forget how touchy-feely I can get. Truly, it’s a flaw of mine. Definitely got me into loads of trouble before. I mean, if it wasn’t for Zira, I would probably be dead already. Right, Zira?”
Isaiah watched slowly as Percy’s hand glided to Zira’s arm. Zira saw the motion and tried to move away. It registered late on Percy’s face, but Isaiah didn’t care.
"Don't you dare touch her," Devon growled through Isaiah as he lunged for Percy.
At the same time, he felt hands restrain him from behind. Still, Isaiah was able to move closer to Percy with the extra weight of Hunter and Jace.
“Let go of me,” Devon said with as much force as he could.
The boys didn’t hesitate to step back and bare their necks in submission, but Devon could see them giving each other worried looks. Zira handed Arias to Isabella, who tiptoed out the room as Zira stepped in Devon’s way and somehow that pissed him off even more.
Is she really defending him, Devon wondered.
“Zira-”
“Devon, please. He meant nothing by it. Right, Percy?”
“Of course,” Percy nodded quickly. “We’re just friends.”
Devon huffed at him. He didn’t believe a word coming from Percy’s mouth.
“Percy, why don’t you find something else to do in another room,” Zira suggested as Percy ran around the corner.
Devon started to run after him when Zira placed her hands on his chest to stop him. The action almost shocked him completely. It was the first time she had touched him since coming back. Even with his dress shirt, Devon could feel the sparks spread throughout his body. It was…calming and chaotic at the same time. It was enough to bring Isaiah back to the forefront.
Zira took this chance to move closer as he wrapped his hands around her waist, bringing her flushed against his body. The motion made Zira gasp and his body taut with desire just from that small sound from her. The time lost between them was clear.
“Isaiah,” she whispered as their foreheads touched.
Her hands traveled through his hair, sending waves of pleasure through his body. His nose found the crook of her neck and surrounded himself with her scent. For the first time in a long time, Isaiah felt like he could breathe easily. They stood there for a moment and realized they were the only ones there.
Just when Isaiah thought everything would be fine, he caught it. It was small, but not small enough for him to completely ignore it. Percy’s scent. On her. Isaiah stopped Zira’s roaming hands and slowly pulled them off him.
“I can still smell him on you,” Isaiah growled before walking around her to leave.
The comment made her smile. He was jealous, which meant he cared more than she thought. She followed him to his office and watched as he immediately made himself a drink. Zira sat down in the chair in front of his desk, trying to calm herself. Ever since she touched him, Nina’s been pacing in her mind. She wanted more than touching.
“So, it might bring you some enjoyment to know both our mothers gave me their own type of lashing for leaving,” Zira laughed.
Isaiah took a sip from his drink and sat in his chair before looking at Zira. She adjusted in her seat under his gaze. Nina wasn’t making it better with all the howling in her head.
“Can you relax,” Zira asked her.
“I can’t help it, Zira. He is oozing sex appeal,” Nina practically purred.
“It’s not the time for that right now. We need to have this talk,” Zira snapped at her.
“Talk fast because soon I won’t be able to control it.”
“It? What the hell is ‘it’?”
“Is this going to happen anytime soon,” Isaiah asked with a hint of annoyance and breaking her from the conversation with Nina. “I have a training session starting in fifteen minutes,”
“You just came back from…you know what, it doesn’t matter right now. I just wanted to talk about us…”
“Oh, us,” he said with a cruel smile. “That’s an interesting topic.”
Zira looked at him confused. Did we not just share a moment back there, she wondered.
“I’m telling you, Zira. I can feel it coming. Let me take over. I can change his mood,” Nina cooed. “I’m sure Devon would oblige.”
“Nina, give it a rest.”
Nina was pushing her to release their pheromones, which would only complicate things. “Look, I know we didn’t leave on the best of terms.”
Isaiah snorted. “I remember. We had a ceremony where you didn’t become my Luna and then the next day you left without saying one word.”
“Woah,” Zira said, defensively. “I left many words in a note and a text.”
He laughed haughty. “Right, because this didn’t deserve a face-to-face conversation.”
“I know-”
“A year, Zira,” Isaiah yelled, standing up. “You left us for an entire year.”
“I know. I just-”
He stood behind his chair glaring at her. “You left me in the dark and the moment I got you on the phone, you made me feel like I was…I was…interrupting something. How do you expect me to feel?”
Zira opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Her heart ached from the amount of pain she put him in.
“Isaiah…I’m…I’m sorry.”
She moved around the desk towards him. She just wanted to touch him. To feel him.
“Don’t,” he barked, backing away from her. “I can still smell him on you.”
Zira sighed. “Isaiah, he’s harmless. He’s a white wolf and he only wants to help.”
“More like helping himself into your arms,” he whispered. “And what was that display downstairs? Touching you like that,” Isaiah asked.
“It was nothing,” Zira said with a little laugh and a wave of her hand.
“He was touching you,” Isaiah growled and his eyes flashed blue. “In front of Isabella, in front of our son. Goddess, I could just rip his arms from his body for that.”
Isaiah’s eyes darted towards the open balcony, wondering how fast he could get to Percy and do just that. Zira took this opportunity to step closer to him, releasing her scent with the help of Nina, much to her pleasure. Isaiah sensed it and watched her cautiously. She was close enough to touch his shoulder and could immediately feel his resolve melting away. Suddenly, everything felt right, and Isaiah’s eyes were staring at her hand before moving to hers. Zira took this invitation and laid her head against his chest.
“Nothing happened nor will anything happen between us, Isaiah,” she whispered as she looked up at him. “He’s only here to help,”
Isaiah’s eyes shifted between hers before slowly nodding his head. “He’s only here to help,” he said as more of a question than a statement.
“He’s willing to try, at least.”
Isaiah broke away and moved to the couch. "Well, at least something positive came from your journey. I just…I just wish…it was something we did together.”
“There seems to be a recurring theme here,” Nina said.
He took a deep breath and looked at her. He didn’t like getting emotional, but he felt like everything he kept back was pushing towards the surface. She could tell and he saw it on her face. She cautiously sat down on the other side and reached for his hand, but he pulled away.
“I know that how I did this whole thing was wrong and I’m so sorry, Isaiah. Really and if you will allow me, I want to make it up to you and Arias. Just give me a chance.”
Zira inched closer till their legs were touching and he didn’t pull away. Good sign. Nina was practically wagging her tail in her mind from the closeness.
“Zira. I don’t-” A knock on the door interrupted him as they both stared at the door. “What!” Hunter slowly poked his head through the small opening of the door.
“Sorry for the interruption, but are we training or…”
Zira didn’t want to lose this momentum as she looked at Isaiah before saying anything. “If it’s okay with the Alpha, I wouldn’t mind keeping his company for a little longer.”
“Long enough to postpone training until tomorrow,” Hunter asked hopefully.
Isaiah looked between them before shrugging his shoulders. “Fine, whatever.”
Hunter practically jumped out the room. “Thank you, Alpha. Everyone would be happy for the rest.”
“Just go before I change my mind,” Isaiah growled.
Hunter looked at Zira mouthing ‘Thank You’ before leaving the room. Zira looked at Isaiah who was swirling and staring at the drink in his hand. Zira yawned before standing up.
“We still have to talk about Arias,” Zira said.
“We can do it tomorrow,” Isaiah replied, getting up from his seat and walking over to the balcony doors.
“Well, I could really use a shower and a nap. Still trying to catch up from the trip.”
Zira watched him, hoping he would accept the invitation, but he stayed quiet. She walked over to the door and held it open to see if he would follow. Instead, he kept his back to her without any sign that he would follow.
“Strike down two days in a row,” Nina said, shaking her head. “You humans and your emotions. Werewolves don’t have time for this. We would have wrestled, mated, and basked in the moonlight by this time if you had let me take over.”
Zira didn’t respond to her. Instead, she left and went back to his room. This day has been a huge drain. From Bella, to her parents, to Zed, and now Isaiah.
After a much needed shower, she climbed into bed with Arias. His little eyes opened just a bit and she tensed up, thinking it might turn into another crying fit. Instead, Arias looked at her, yawned and smiled before his little eyes closed.
“Don’t worry, Bugga. Mommie’s gonna make sure you’re all healed up,” she whispered into his hair.
She watched his little snores for what seemed like hours until she felt her eyes closing themselves. Not long after, she felt the other side of the bed dip and his presence enveloped her. She was still too tired to open her eyes, but she didn’t need to see him to appreciate his presence.