The Wolf's Den

Stryker

Anyone else having trouble sleeping??

Here's the results of my sleep issues *ta da*

**************

 Bee's window was dark, with only moonlight touching it and not a single movement to be seen through it. I knew she was awake from the sounds of her footsteps pacing about, even though I couldn't get a single glimpse of her.

Staring up at Bee's bedroom window in my wolf's body was surreal. After being away for so long, and having to be distant in the brief times I'd seen her over the years since, it felt like I was walking in my sleep. Like none of it was real.

Her cinnamon smell that wafted to me and beckoned like nothing I'd ever encountered before. The sight of the house she'd put her blood, sweat, and tears into over the years to rebuild without me or her brothers. The same house that was a second home to me throughout my entire childhood and teen years, right up until I discovered my mate. Then my only home became her.

Even when I had to leave again and again to Alpha duties and plead to the werewolf council for a way to have my human mate in my pack. The only place in my mind that could be called home, was with Bee. But all the same, to her it was me leaving her without a real reason.

And I didn't blame her for one second for thinking her brothers or I were about to dip out again. 

Not after how long we'd been gone, with us only stopping in once in a great while when we could.

Nothing, nothing-- not having to leave her and pry her arms off my torso as I left, not being away and fighting with Rogue wolves and council members for her and the chance of us having a future-- nothing messed with me more than the possibility that my absence had done more harm than good.

As if she could feel that I was close too, Bee drifted closer to the window until I could see her red hair framing her pale face, her face was still with no expression and only her eyes moving as they moved about the yard frantically. I wondered for a split second, a hopeful small second, if she could feel our mate bond somehow that drew us together.

But then I remembered. She'd never feel it.

Bee wasn't a wolf, she'd never feel our mate bond that intertwined us like I did.

I watched as she titled her face up, looking at the moon only partially covered up by pale clouds as it cast a glow right back on her. Her features softened just for moment as if it was just her and the moon speaking without words.

And then she looked straight at me. 

It was the night playing tricks on me, but I could've sworn her eyes glowed like a wolf's. It was only half a second, and even knowing it wasn't possible, my heart still skipped a beat.

**********

Ansel, Kal, and I all sat at the kitchen table waiting in the early morning hours. 

Breakfast was eggs and bacon and amazingly enough, not burned, and cooked by Ansel. (The toast had gotten burned beyond saving though.) Plates, food, and silverware were all on the table in front of us, coffee was on the counter, and the massive wooden clock from the Larkson's great-grandmother stood in the hallway just outside the kitchen ticking away. It was the only sound echoing throughout the house.

And we kept waiting.

I didn't have to touch the food to know it was long cold now. 

The sunlight cast glows through the window as it rose higher, and still we waited.

After a moment, Kal shattered the silence with a scoff and shoved his chair back from the table to stand up. He paced for a moment as his brother and I sat in silence. He then leaned against one of the counters and rubbed a hand down his tired face, closing his eyes and breathing in deep.

''Maybe she's sick?" Ansel offered up half-heartedly as an excuse, except he didn't even sound like he believed it.

Kal snorted and kept his eyes closed, ''Right, Ans. Right.''

Ansel fell quiet and said nothing else, glancing towards the doorway one last time before he shoved his plate away too  and reached for the coffee.

''And maybe we're getting what we deserve for ignoring her when she was here, maybe that.'' Kal uttered what we were all thinking under his breath, but given that we all had supernatural hearing we still heard it.

I flinched and closed my eyes not just at the truth he'd spoken but also at the rawness in his voice as he said it.

Kal was not a soft guy by any means, and out of all the Larkson children was the one that hid all his deep emotions the best. To the point where one could easily forget and think they weren't there at all.

As his best friend, I felt awful and guilty for the strained relationship he now had with their little sister. And for also being one that forgot about his feelings too. But I tried to never linger or delve deeper into that. Instead, I kept refocusing on Bee and how I could possibly win her back over. That would solve so many things for all of us.

But Bee was nothing if not stubborn as hell.

She didn't come downstairs once while we waited for her, even when I heard her stomach growling from hunger and her frustrated sighs with my heightened hearing. She stayed where she wanted to-- away from us.