A Wolf's Duty (5 page)

“Hi.”

“Hello Xandria, how are
you feeling today?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re late.”

“Yeah, I am. I
got lost.”
Liar,
she chastised.
You were going to
stand him up.
She remembered waking up
having reached the conclusion that this meeting was a bad idea, but
her body had other ideas. And while she had been mentally listing
all the reasons she shouldn’t go she had apparently showered and
dressed. Before she realised what she had been doing she had
already left her house and was on her way.

He could smell that she
was lying but chose not to probe any further. “Sit down and we’ll
have some breakfast, you look like you need it.”

Sliding into the booth, it
took a moment for Alex to process his comment, her nervousness
suddenly evaporating. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she
snapped.

“It means you’re very
small, I can’t help but worry that you’re not eating
enough.”

Her mouth opened to issue
a retort but she closed it abruptly as she realised that he was
telling the truth, she rarely ate enough to satisfy her hunger but
alcohol was more important than food to Fred and he budgeted both
her and his salaries accordingly. The lion’s share of their meagre
foods supplies went to Fred and so she had become accustomed to the
constant feeling of hunger.

If he wants to
buy me food, who am I to refuse?
she
thought, choosing not to enlighten him as to her thought process.
“Never mind.”

“Are you two ready to
order?” The waitress had managed to appear unnoticed during their
bickering session, startling the pair. Turning to face the young
brunette, Tobias forced himself to turn his snarl into a smile and
place their order.

“We’d like two full
breakfasts please.”

“Drinks?”

He turned to Alexandria
and waited for her response. “I’d like an apple juice
please.”

“I’ll just have some
water.”

The waitress dutifully
noted their orders before heading back to the kitchen leaving the
duo alone.

“Why did you order for me?
I might not have liked the things in a full breakfast.”

“Do you like the full
breakfast?” She felt her stomach tighten in anticipation of the
coming meal and frowned at him. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” Her
deep set frown had his inner wolf growling angrily at him. “If it
really upsets you then I’ll do my best not to do it
again.”

“Thanks, I just like to be
given a choice in things you know?”

He smiled at her and she
felt her stomach churn not in hunger, but with the re-emergence of
her own personal flock of butterflies. His smile seemed to
transform his face making it even more appealing and she felt her
body grow hot just from being in his presence. “I know exactly what
you mean.”

Awarding him with a small
smile of her own, she watched in interest as he began to fidget, as
though searching for something. She didn’t know why but the sight
of him fidgeting made her chuckle it seemed an almost inappropriate
action for the man in front of her.

The sound of her small
laugh washed over him and made him want to laugh in response;
instead he stopped his search and turned to her fixing her with his
most penetrating stare. “What exactly is so funny?”

Her laughter died
immediately and he cursed himself for causing her to stop.
“Nothing,” she replied, her voice small once more as her shyness
returned.

“Xandria, I want you to
relax, I like hearing you laugh. I get the feeling that you don’t
have much reason to.” She turned her face away from his and he
sighed in apparent defeat before getting a second wind. “I bought
you something.” Her face turned back to him and he grinned. “I want
you to be able to contact me whenever you feel the need.” He slid a
small mobile across the table and waited for her to take
it.

“I can’t accept
this.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too much, we don’t
know each other. I can’t accept a gift like that.”

“You haven’t even seen the
best of it yet.” Reaching across the table, he grabbed her hand and
pulled it towards him, noting with pride that she had trusted him
enough not to struggle. Reaching into a pocket on the inside of his
jacket, he retrieved a small silver bracelet and calmly placed it
around Alex’s wrist.

“What’s this?” she asked,
taking her wrist back as he allowed it to slip out of his
grasp.

“It’s a gift.”

Turning her wrist over,
she studied the delicate piece of jewellery noting first the odd
clasp; two wolf heads facing each other, their yellowed jewelled
eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Twisting the bracelet again, her
eyes narrowed as she tried to make out the scratching on the metal,
before she lifted her arm to her face to examine it in detail. The
scratches were in reality an intricate picture of what she could
only assume was a forest. The detailed work on the band snapped her
out of the haze she had been in.

“If I couldn’t accept the
phone, there’s no way I can accept this. It’s too much. You don’t
even know me. You can’t just go round giving people silver
bracelets, it’s ridiculous.”

He grinned at the
flustered look that had come over her face, leaning his head on his
palms to be closer to her. “It’s platinum actually,” he answered
calmly. “I’m allergic to silver, a genetic trait,” he
shrugged.

Her mouth hung open for a
moment at his admission before she mentally righted herself. “Well
then I definitely can’t accept it now!”

“Of course you can. I want
you to have it.”

“You can’t buy people,
it’s wrong,” she mumbled, her voice low.

“I have no
intention of buying anyone, like I said this is a gift. I want to
give you things.”
I need to give you
things.

“You don’t give this kind
of a gift to a stranger.”

He sighed as he
realised the moment he had been regretting had appeared. “Well
about that…” he closed his eyes, trying to hide his thoughts from
her as he decided how much he would tell her.
I’ll start small. Just the stuff that she knows about,
he decided; opening his eyes and leaning his head
against his chairs head rest.

“Alex, there’s something I
have to tell you.”

His serious
tone prevented her from continuing her tirade and she noticed the
slight frown on his face.
I’ve never seen
him frown; he just doesn't seem the type. Then again I haven't
known him for all that long for all I know he could frown all the
time.
Noting the deep laughter lines around
his grey eyes she concluded that her earlier statement was more
appropriate.
He just doesn't seem the
type.
“What is it?” Her tone cautious, she
waited for him to continue.

“I know this is going to
sound a bit strange, but just bear with me and trust me when I say
I’ m not crazy. Ok?”

“Ok,” she agreed
quietly.

He sighed again, quickly
taking in her face and trying to commit it to memory in case she
declared him crazy and made him have to chase her to win her heart.
“Four years ago, I was sleeping in my bed, very comfortably I might
add, when all of a sudden I hear this voice in my head screaming
for my help. I don’t mean the kind of screaming you do if you see a
spider, I mean the kind of screams you associate with when someone
is about to die. The screaming woke me up, it wouldn’t stop and I
could feel this person’s pain as though it were my own. They were
in so much pain that I though my heart was going to explode. I did
the only thing I could think of, I tried to calm them and it
worked; the screaming stopped.”

Alex said nothing to his
statement, but her face had blanched, her throat working
convulsively as she swallowed. Choosing to finish what he had come
to say he continued.

“But it couldn’t mean
nothing, the fact I could feel someone else’s pain and they’d asked
for my help so I decided to track them down. Someone clearly needed
me. It took me four long years, where I dedicated myself to finding
them and over that time I came to realise that it wasn’t a once in
a lifetime occurrence. I kept feeling their emotions, which only
served to confirm that I was needed, so I kept looking and my
search is finally at an end. Alexandria?” Her face turned to him
and their eyes met. “What happened four years ago? Why did you call
for me?”

She stared at him in
amazement before her mouth automatically went on the defensive. “I
have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me Xandria,”
he growled, “I don’t like it.”

“Why exactly should I
believe you? Do you realise how unrealistic your story
sounds?”

“I know it sounds
unbelievable but I can prove it.”

“How?”

He frowned at her tone but
proceeded regardless. “Yesterday morning, you were upset. You
cried. I felt your tears. Didn’t you feel anything trying to warm
you, trying to make you feel better?”

Choosing to ignore the
speech she had given herself yesterday morning regarding her
apparent madness, she continued to remain silent.

“After that, you were
angry. I almost punched my waiter,” he chuckled. “And when you went
to sleep last night, you were thinking about me. You said my name
when you went to sleep. I must have made a big impression, I can
only hear your voice when the emotions are really
strong.”

Her eyes widened at his
last statement and her jaw dropped. “I didn’t say that!” she
spluttered, her hands reaching for tissue to shred in an attempt to
relieve her anxiety.

“You did,” he responded,
laughing. “I heard you say it, it put a smile on my face last night
and tided me over this morning when I thought you were going to
stand me up. I just kept thinking that no one who said my name like
that last night was likely to stand me up today.”

“If you really can do all
of that then what am I feeling now?”

“It doesn’t work like
that,” he sighed. “I can’t feel every little one of your emotions.
I feel the strong ones best although sometimes they do spill over
at the worst times. Like I remember about two years ago I was meant
to be hosting a party for my father’s birthday and playing the part
as warm host when…nothing. It was like an emotional vacuum, there
was no laughter, no tears, nothing.” If he had though her face
white before, it had become almost impossibly pale at his last
admission. “Xandria, what’s wrong sweetie?” Taking her hand in his
own he was shocked to feel her emotions flow through him, further
stunned by the presence of the nothingness that he had just
described. Wrapping her mind in the warmth of his own, he felt her
become aware of his presence in her head before becoming conscious
of her surroundings.

“It really is you doing
that, isn’t it?” He nodded. “You know I did wonder for a while if I
had just made you up as a coping mechanism. But I didn’t, did I?”
He shook his head in response.

“Do you want to talk about
it?”

Turning her head away and
covering her face behind a curtain of curls she sniffed holding
back tears “Why? You already know what happened.”

“That’s just it, I have no
idea what went on. I can only feel your emotions when they’re
strong. I have no idea what’s causing them. Talk to me.”

The warmth of
his hand gradually spread through her and she turned her gaze to
his.
He was the one that kept me going.
It’s because of him that I haven’t gone crazy, he gave me hope and
helped me keep moving onwards when Fred was at his worst, the least
I can do is answer some of his questions.

“Where do you want to
start?”

He smiled at her, gently
rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand in a reassuring motion.
“Let start at the beginning, what happened four years
ago?”

“My mum nearly died. I can
still remember her blood on my hands. She hit her head, I couldn’t
move and I was certain that she was going to die in my arms. And
then you,” she smiled at him as his face became connected to the
strength that occasionally filled her. “You helped me. I couldn’t
move and then you were there in my head and I knew it wasn’t too
late. My arms and legs didn’t feel so heavy when you came in. I got
up, called the ambulance and they helped her. I don’t think I would
have been able to do it without you.” She gripped his hand
back.

“How’s your mother
now?”

At his question, her hand
went limp within his grip, her smile faded and her eyes glazed
over. He could feel the nothingness pressing in on her and
struggled to keep it at bay. When she spoke again her voice had
lost all feeling. “My mum is dead.”

“I thought you said she
survived.”

“She did. My mum killed
herself two years ago. She abandoned me and left me in a world
where I had to fend for myself.”

“Your mother committed
suicide?”

“Yes.”