The Aurelia⎪✓

{11}

Solivagant

(adj.) wandering alone

♡

As the wind nipped at my cheeks, I felt more alive than I had for the past two weeks. The forest surrounding the house was absolutely breathtaking and I'd gotten to know the premises very well. This was my exact definition of living, walking barefoot in the forest, hearing the branches breaking underneath your feet, listening to the wind howling between the intimidatingly tall trees. 

The fear of being caught had been too much for me these past days, my wolf slipped through once and Arrax ordered every werewolf out of their beds. It happened during the night in the middle of a nightmare, but I was quick to sense the panic around the house and got a hold of myself again. It just couldn't happen, had I let them smell me for even a second longer they would've been able to track me down. It was my life at stake here.

A howl in the distance made me aware of where my feet had led me, standing at the edge of their territory I decided for a second to take that one step. That one step that would ruin everything between my one soulmate, the step that would kill the friendships I'd slowly been building here. It was a step I had to take, but I wasn't ready. Not yet. 

Creating more distance between the border and myself I backed into a tree, shocking me as I jumped to the side. Maybe I should walk back, it was too suspicious I was out here all the time. To the others it must look like I was running with my wolf, but that wasn't the case, I did everything to keep her inside actually. 

She had been begging me for a release, but I had to stay safe over anything else. It was a love/hate relationship between her and I, if I granted her a run we were more than fit for each other, if I denied her she'd torture my body until I did. 

Voices approaching made me straighten my back, in the hopes of looking as casual as could be. Their smell reached my senses and I was quick to recognize Lilly and Balto, they could probably smell me soon too. Luckily for me I wasn't standing above the border of the territory anymore, that would've looked suspicious. 

"Aspen, you here?" Lilly yelled, her curious voice reaching my ears. 

Walking into their line of sight, I smiled, "Hey guys, what are you doing here?" 

Balto smiled down at her before meeting my eyes again, "We were just walking along the border, the real question is what you're doing out here?"

Keeping my cool, I casually shrugged at them, "I'm a curious soul, so I wanted to see if I could spot the Aurelia myself." Lies. It was all lies. But this specific lie could probably divert their attention from me, I knew how both of them felt about the Aurelia. 

Lilly tutted at me in disapproval as Balto nodded in agreement, "She's right, Aspen. You can't walk alone around here, this is too far away from the pack house. None of us are safe."

Oh, but didn't they know? They were the ones making me unsafe, they were the ones threatening my entire existence. Didn't they know? 

No. How could they know? All through their lives they'd been taught to despise me, they'd been taught to fear me. I was the one person they were entitled to kill, adult as child, man as woman. The license to kill was in their hands and it scared me to no end. This would be the ruin of me, they would. Staying here to create a friendship that was doomed to begin with, staying here to love my mate who hated me, openly and in secret. 

"I ain't afraid of anyone." I settled on saying, once again a lie. 

Lilly grabbed my shoulders lightly and our eyes met, "We know how strong you are, but don't compromise your safety in order to prove anything to us."

Shaking my head at her, "You've got it all twisted, Lilly. I'm not proving anything to anyone, actually I'm just trying to live a little. I've been coped up in that house for two weeks now, it's driving me crazy."

"Fair enough, I get that, but please get one of the pack members to follow you if you ever decide to go out here again." 

"I promise, if you promise to stay silent about seeing me out here." Bribing them was my last resort, if Arrax heard anything about me walking around out here, he'd have my head. 

As Lilly agreed I could see Balto shaking his head, "I can't lie to my Alpha."

"I'm not asking you to lie, Balto. If you just keep your mouth shut about anything you saw out here, then you're only withholding information." Lilly looked at him over her shoulder, gazing into his eyes and giving him a small nod he finally agreed. Good thing I had her out here as well. 

"I'll just go back to the house, so you two can keep checking the borders." Removing myself from Lilly's hands, I walked away from them with a smile on my face. 

The walk back to the house was refreshing as my head finally was cleared, the negative thoughts were pushed to the back of my mind, and I tried to appreciate exactly what I had right here, right now. It was important for me to recognize that I was lucky at the moment, with a bed to sleep on, food coming on beautiful silver trays, shower available at any given moment. It was what I'd yearned to have for years. 

As I crouched down under the branches, the pack house became visible to me. Darkness had settled across the sky as raindrops fell heavily from the sky, already drenching me completely. The thought of leaving everything here pulled at my chest, but I shook my head to rid myself from those thoughts. I was allowed to enjoy what had been handed to me, if even for a second. 

Reaching halfway across the field of grass, the doors to the house opened and a very angry Alpha stormed out. His fist were clenched and a deep shiver of lust shook my entire body, his anger turned me on so immensely. Our eyes met and a gush of wind hit me straight in my gut, as the days passed it was getting harder for me to ignore our bond. 

His large strides in my direction told me that Balto had tattled on me. It wasn't shocking to be honest, he was his Beta and if Arrax had asked what they'd seen, he had to tell him. I had to be prepared for a fight, his body was almost smoking from pure rage and my lust really was messing with my priorities at the moment. 

Arrax finally reached me, standing right in front of my body and trying to control his angry breaths. He was just too sexy. 

"Are you willing to tell me yourself or do you still want to keep it a secret?" His voice grumbled, I was kind of surprised he didn't yell, but this brooding voice was actually way worse. 

"I take it that Balto told on me?" 

"The fuck he did!" Arrax yelled before composing himself again, "What in the actual hell were you thinking?"

Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I tried to ignore the tingles in my fingertips. "I was walking, it isn't a crime you know?"

"Walking?" He scoffed, "You were ready to cross the border of our territory."