Blood Rose

28

I rubbed the small mark left behind from the IVs in my arm, my mind drifting as I laid my head against the wall and anticipated Fox leaving his office. I had been sitting on the floor for an hour now because he had told me to not come in, but I was starting to think he'd forgotten.

Or maybe ignoring me.

I huffed out of frustration and finally barged straight in after standing up. Fox looked straight over at me with his arms crossed and his body leaning against his desk as he talked with Striker, Aira, and Ekon, all of the titles. My eyebrows furrowed at the sight and I crossed my own arms at the sudden silence that crossed the room.

"Fox, what's going on here?" I asked to break the silence that everyone else seemed uncomfortable with. He ran his hand through his hair before looking at me.

"We're discussing the upcoming war. I told you to wait to talk with me later." He didn't seem too lenient to continue this conversation with me, but I wasn't having it. Being out of the loop was annoying enough before, but after being kidnapped it's gotten worse.

"I want to help." I declared, not budging. Fox didn't even sigh or excuse himself from the room before he took quick strides over and grabbed me by my arm, forcing me to follow him out of his office until we stopped in front of my room. "Fox, what the hell?" His jaw clenched and he grabbed my hands, sternly looking me in my eyes like he was about to scold a child.

"You're no longer helping with the whole war stuff, Naomi. I need you to hold the fort down with the pack and keep the town together and happy." I made a disgusted face at that and ripped my hands out of his, the shock from our bond vanishing.

"And I need you to stop babying me. I have just as much knowledge as you-"

"But you don't have the war experience, do you?" I frowned at his quick, snappy words and before I could react he grabbed my hands again. "I've taken over other packs through battle and managed them from a large distance away, meanwhile keeping them in my name." I struggled to free my hands from him before he just altogether grabbed my waist and held me against him. "You have no business with it anymore, do you understand?" I scoffed and opened my mouth to say something before he growled and repeated his question. "Do you understand Naomi?" I bit my tongue before nodding. "Good. Then I need you to hold the fort down with the pack-" I turned my head away from him as he continued. "-and keep the town together and happy." I finally pushed against his chest and tore my body from his, heading straight into our bedroom before slamming the door in his face.

Lucky for me, I was stubborn. Unlucky for him, I wasn't going to give this up so easily.

•

After a whole day of not seeing Fox I decided to look for him to talk in hopes he'd see the reality of our situation. I picked up his scent coated in another and I perked, moving outside to the backyard. He was standing at the edge of the cliff holding a cigarette and taking drags from it, facing the mountains and trees. I didn't know he smoked.

I looked down at my barefoot and at the dirt before stepping onto it and making my way over to him. I couldn't blame him for smoking though, he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders and I wasn't exactly helping.

I put my hand on his shoulder and my other hand on his other shoulder, moving so that I could see his front. His eyes looked foggy, but he knew who I was.

"You never told me you smoked." I stated, watching him take another long drag before he looked at me, blowing out the smoke but making sure it didn't hit my face while my hands dropped from his broad shoulders. He dropped it in the dirt and smashed his foot over it without looking down, making sure our eyes were connected.