He looked at her darkly, his eyes taking her in. What sort of naive girl gave her heart out just like that? In exchange for a name?
"Your name is a warrior's."
He smiled. "Do I not look like a warrior?"
"You look like...a strong passionate warrior. With a face better than a thousand flowers. A heart softer than a thousand cotton balls."
He tried hard not to let disgust sip into his face as she talked. "You really think that way of me? What if my face is deceptive? What if I am not any of those?"
She let her head down and thought about it. "I believe every hard heart can be softened. In a lot of books I have read, they do not always come tailored for compassion, or love. They sometimes come hard and twisted, like you claim yours to be "
"Do not do that with just anyone," He said taking his eyes off her. "It will not help you."
She laughed. A sound that he found rather annoying. "Now that you have given me your name, how do I give you my heart?"
Now this was a topic he wanted to discuss.
"Well...how do you give your heart out to someone?" He asked, his eyes darting to a small knife in the far side of the room.
"I am not sure, Axton." She said shyly.
"Did she just call me by my first name?" He murmured to himself. "It all depends on you, maiden. However you deem fit. Just know that, I want this heart clean and soft. Just right."
She nodded, then stood. His eyes widened with heightened expectations as she did, but then became confused as she slowly walked to him, a small shy smile on her face.
She leaned to his half lying position, bringing her face close enough for her lashes to brush his face.
"What are you doing?" He asked, the fact that he was right now, more immobile due to the fact that he wanted to be, not just because of his ailment.
"What do you mean?" She asked blinking slowly.
He closed his eyes as her breath fanned his face, her eyelashes leaving ticklish lines across his cheek. When he opened his eyes to meet her eyes, the deep blue had him losing breath for a second, but he tried to get back his voice.
"What are you doing?" He asked again, but this time around his voice was soft, as if he did not want to break the delicate threats the seconds of this moment was put together with.
"I am about to give you my heart." She said simply, then leaned in, lightly brushing her lips to his.
It was not quite a kiss, but it was enough to leave him dazed and hanging, his eyes fixed on the spot where she had been even when her father called for her and she straightened, leaning away from him.
"What were you doing?" Nicholas asked as he advanced, his eyes angry.
"Father...I was..." She said, then turned to Alpha Axton who still hasn't found himself.
"Did I teach you to be this cheap?" He asked, before raising a hand and landing a slap on her unsuspecting cheek.
Axton was the one who felt the most startled by it, as he blinked, his hand going to his right cheek.
Natalia was holding her right cheek too, and sobbing quietly.
"What in heaven's name has gone wrong with you? How would you slap her knowing fully well what she means to me?"
Axton came between them, his hands on his waist, his broad body efficiently covering Natalia.
Nicholas swallowed, then looked at Axton. "What are you doing to my daughter? Who do you think you are to sway her like you are doing now?"
Axton laughed then said something he never thought he would say. "You mean, she is swaying me. Can you not see or have you gone mad?"
Nicholas looked at both of them, most of his anger directed towards alpha Axton then turned on his heel and walked away.
"Do you feel better now? You are standing up straight unlike other times."
Alpha Axton looked down at himself. The left part of his body, where his skin had been sagging was now tight, fit, like he wasn't disgusted by it just some moments ago. He looked down at his hands and compared them, both fingers were long, beautiful and almost shiny. Like his skin used to be before that night, ten years ago.
He removed his cloak, then walked to the broken glass he believed served as a mirror for them. He heard Natalia gasp at his shirtlessness, but at this moment, he couldn't care less.
The chiseled, toned body, the abs, the carefully groomed six packs, the shine and sheen of the moistness of his body, it was all there. Intact.
"Moon Goddess, what is this joke you are playing on me?" He murmured to himself, then turned to Natalia.
"Was there ever something wrong with you?" She asked, letting her eyes roam over his body.
"I am finding it hard to believe....that there was too."
"Nicholas!" Alpha Axton yelled as he hit the door of the sanctuary with his fists, feeling energy that he hadn't felt in the last ten years surge through him.
Nicholas opened the door, trying hard to keep his face straight. He had already seen it, every bit of it.
"Why are you not surprised?" Axton asked as he pointed at his body.
"Because I already saw it, and was about to tell you."
"What is it? Nothing special happened today, except..."
Nicholas nodded. "It is that exception. You need Natalia's heart. But, you don't need to pull it out of her. You need her to be in love with you."
Axton nodded, running his hands over his now healed body. "I do feel like you are hiding something, Nicholas."
Nicholas shook his head, but said nothing. He didn't even need to as Alpha Axton continued,
"I am going back to my pack with her this very evening. Get her ready."
Nicholas nodded and watched Axton as he walked away.
"Of course, Alpha. I am hiding something."