Her Younger Mate (Old Version)

Chapter 33: The Rogue

A/N: Life is too short to edit chapters in the middle of finals week. 

Anna was in her apartment, her back against the wall as she slowly slid down to the floor. Once her butt reached the fluffy carpet,  she cradled her legs and put her forehead on her knees. The sound of the fire alarm muffled her loud sobs. She used her shirt to wipe her nose.

After about fifteen minutes Anna stood up took a barstool and stood on it to reach for the fire alarm and silence it. Someone knocked on the door and she opened it to see two police officers staring at her. They peeked at her apartment which evidently was not on fire.

"Miss, could you tell us what happened?" said the younger officer as he noticed her bloodshot puffy eyes.

Anna sniffled and swallowed the lump in her throat. By their smell she knew they were in Caleb's Pack. She looked down feeling embarassed.

"I... I was cooking and I got distracted and next thing I know is that everything is burned and the fire alarm is ringing..."

The police officers were nodding trying to hide their amusement at her story.

"Then... I tried to..."

She reached for a sheet of towel paper and she blew her nose loudly. "Then I tried to reach for the fire alarm but it was too high for me."

"You alarm was ringing for almost twenty minutes. Your neighbors got worried," said the older officer.

"I just wanted to cook something good. Okay? But everything got burned; I was too frustrated to think quickly. Cooking and loud noises stress me out."

The younger officer looked at her sympathetically and patted her on the shoulder, while the older one gave her a judgmental look and shook his head before turning around and leaving. After they left Anna threw away her first failed attempt of rice with chicken and lay down on her bed contemplating a future without ever trying to cook again. After a while she began laughing hysterically at the ridiculousness of the whole scene. 

***

The next day at the waterfall, Caleb, with the help of a book, showed Anna the stories of the origin of the meanings behind all the flowers he had given her. They only met briefly because Anna had to train with Kathy and Matt and Caleb had to work on a school project and other homework. 

Anna spent the rest of the afternoon teaching the siblings judo holds. By the time they were done, she was exhausted. That night she cooked white rice and managed to not burn it, but she put too much water and it was all watery. She threw it away and ordered pizza. After dinner she prepared a few classes for the following week.

She was done at about 2:00 AM. Anna had called Marcy the day before to talk about her father and Marcy had insisted in meeting in person.She had texted her asking her to meet at the Alpha's house after she got out from work the following day. 

***

On Wednesday morning, Anna found two red roses at her doorstep. She remembered that Caleb had mentioned that the number of roses also had meanings. According to google, two roses means 'deeply in love with you.' Anna sighed, a silly smile tugging at her lips. 

She found Caleb by the parking lot as usual. This time, Matt and Samuel were there as well. Anna walked up to them and waved. Caleb's face lit up as soon as he saw her and she gave him a broad smile. 

Samuel nudged Matt. "Totally ship it," he said.

Matt chuckled and nodded. 

The day went by and Anna told Caleb to met a little later than usual that day. She did not tell him that she was going to his house because she wanted to see his surprised face.