We went to the top floor again, but this time Damon led me to another room. He walked in without knocking and I followed right behind him. Inside, a group of strangers sat at a large table with Alfa and Julie.
"You're finally here. Take a seat" He pointed to two empty seats at the end of the table. "Tess, this is my partner, Luna Becky" He placed his hand on the shoulder of the pregnant blonde beauty with light blue eyes. I nodded, smiling awkwardly.
"I'm glad you joined us. If you have any questions, I'm always happy to help." She smiled warmly at me. I whispered a quiet thank you and sat down in the chair that Damon had pulled out for me. Regardless of everyone's surprised faces, he sat down on his own and waved hello to everyone. Before we started eating, I was introduced to Beta Ian with his partner Zoe and Gamma Daniel with his partner Ivy. A moment later we started eating and from time to time everyone engaged in small conversations. Only Damon and I ate in silence, not paying attention to the others. It seemed he wasn't the life of the party either. Julie, sitting next to her brother, started talking about her partner, forgetting that I was sitting there too. Hearing how loving he was to her, how tender he was, how he cared for her... I sat there with my head down at the table, trying to swallow my bitterness. Damon noticed a slight change in my behavior. He decided to let Alpha know via mindlink that he was taking me home with him. Zack looked at him and nodded.
"Let's go" Leaning towards me, he whispered in my ear. I shuddered, snapping out of my thoughts. It looked like I was scared of him. Seeing this, he growled to calm me down, which caught the attention of the others. I looked at him for a second, smiling slightly and thanking him in my head for caring so much about me. We didn't notice the others' surprise and bowed, without saying a word, we went towards our houses.
Damon
Walking along the path, arm in arm, I looked at the woman. When our eyes met for the first time, I felt something I should never feel again. I quickly suppressed this feeling. I shouldn't and can't do this to her. I could immediately sense a change in her behavior. And the way she reacted to my growl... I immediately wanted to hug her and purr for her. I noticed that she felt something for me too. She just didn't know why. Her slightly furrowed eyebrows looked adorable. For a moment, a smile appeared on my gloomy face. I don't know where she came from or why, but she was just perfect. Her delicate hair slithered over her petite back. I could stare into her brown eyes forever. But her emaciated figure make me wonder why she looked like that. It would be better to help her eat some more…I frowned, mentally scolding myself. I won't betray Sara...I can't...She was my whole world....
Not knowing when, we returned to her house. I stood in front of the entrance, waiting for her to come inside. Hiding behind the door, she uttered a quiet "Thank you" and disappeared inside. I returned to my house next door and sat in an armchair, wondering what to do with this rare phenomenon. It was starting to get dark when my perfect hearing caught her crying. My heart squeezed hearing her despair and my wolf wanted to force me to go to her and comfort her.
"I need to find out more about her" I stood up from my chair and resisted the urge to go to her. I went towards the packing house. As I walked down the path, I asked Zack for information about Tess. He knew I was on my way, so he said he would wait in his office. When I walked in, Zack was leaning against his desk and Julie was sitting in one of the chairs. I stood next to the door and listened to Tess' story and how she came to be here. I quickly understood why she was so depressed and thin. If something like that happened to me.... I thanked him for the information and returned to my home. For a moment I listened to see if Tess was still crying, but all I heard was silence. I laid on my bed and went to sleep thinking about this little human.
Tess
After Damon escorted me home, I silently thanked him and closed the door behind me, embarrassed when he caught me looking into his beautiful green eyes. I decided to go to bed earlier, feeling today's journey and all the accumulated stress. I unpacked a few of my things and went to run a bathtub of hot water. I added my favorite peach oil to it and slowly entered it, immersing myself up to the neck. My body quickly began to relax under the influence of the heat and the first tears appeared in the corners of my eyes. I was alone. I didn't have to hold back anymore. I burst into desperate tears, covering my mouth. I was mentally and physically exhausted. Julie's stories only increased the pain I was struggling with. I needed someone who could hug me and comfort me…So much… The figure of a certain handsome, green-eyed warrior appeared in my chaotic thoughts. I remembered how he growled for me several times today and how calming it was for me. Suddenly I noticed that I had stopped crying and my breathing had evened out.
"Why does he have such an effect on me?" I asked myself, frowning. I got out of the bathtub and changed into a T-shirt and loose shorts. I quickly got under the blanket and hugged my tired head to the pillow. So much has happened in it over the last few days that I was surprised, how it hadn't burst yet. Sleep came quickly. That night, as well as every night before, full of nightmares. Another bad night of sleep. Without knowing when, I was woken up by a knock on the door. I rubbed my tired, swollen from crying eyes, wrapped one of the blankets around me and went to open them. I carefully poked my head out and saw Damon standing in front of the entrance. He was obviously worried about my appearance and I was embarrassed and quickly looked at the ground.
"Did something happen?" I asked quietly.
"I came for you. Alpha told me to keep an eye on you, remember?" He answered me in his low, hoarse voice.
"I thought I wouldn't have to leave the house" I lowered my voice even more. Damon sighed, sat down on the step in front of my door, and patted the space next to him.
"Sit down" He said gently, not looking at me. I walked out the door and sat next to him, still wrapped in the blanket. The morning in the forest was quite cold.
"Listen, Tess. When Alpha assigned you to me, you were added to my duties... Wait. No, that's wrong. I didn't mean for it to sound like that" He ran a hand through his hair, trying to find the right words. "I mean, you should be where I am so I could know what you are doing"
"Can't I just stay at home? I won't go anywhere and you can do your job in peace" I suggested, worried.
"Tess... Look at me" He asked and I immediately looked into his beautiful eyes. "That was the Alpha's order. I, and now you, must obey it. Do you understand?" He asked gently, trying not to put any pressure on me.
"When I can't be around other people" I admitted. "I feel very uncomfortable then and I don't know what to do with myself" I looked worriedly into his eyes, hoping he would understand me. Looking ahead, he rested his head on his hand and began to think about something. His muscular arms caught my attention as they began to flex with the change in position. For a moment I wanted to touch it, but Damon pulled me out of my inappropriate thoughts.
"We will do this. We will eat food somewhere out of the way, away from the crowds. During training, you will be able to sit far away, but enough for me to see you. We will discuss the rest on a regular basis. What do you say?" He looked at me hopefully, hoping I would agree. I thought about it for a moment and nodded to him, smiling slightly. He didn't have to do this for me. He could have said that I had to go everywhere with him and if I didn't, I would be out of the pack. But for some reason, he wanted us to get along, which I was fine with. We nailed the turtle in agreement, smiling at each other sincerely.
"So, are we going to eat something?" He stood up and brushed himself off, looking at me.
"Can we start tomorrow?" I asked shyly. "I don't necessarily want to show myself like that" I knew I looked bad. Very bad. Damon looked at me and finally nodded.
"Wait. I'll get us something to eat in a moment" He said, walking away along the path. Seeing his figure leaving, it warmed my heart. I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I got a really caring guard. I started rocking from side to side, thinking about what our next days together would be like. Like no one else, he tried to understand me and looked for compromises. He didn't let me wait long. He showed up back in record time with two trays of food.