Chapter Nine

As we made our way through the house, I finally realized how big it really was. I tried to smell the air just to see if there were any other wolves present but my allergies were still going haywire.

“Is there anyone else staying her?” I asked him, looking around as we passed room after room.

“Samuel, my sister and my parents. I asked everyone else if they could avoid the pack house for a few days.” He said smiling down at me.

“You did it because of me didn’t you?” I asked in a light tone. Now everyone was going to hate me.

“Yes, but they understand why.” He said trying to calm my fears.

“Okay.”

The rest of our walk into the woods was quiet. I didn’t feel like talking and apparently neither did he. He stopped in the middle of a clearing looking back at me.

“Do you want to shift here?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I said stretching before shifting. It was always easier to shift after stretching.

It felt so good to back in my most comfortable form. I let out a short howl of happiness before I started to stretch my limbs. I looked over to my right and saw Adrian in his wolf form. His wolf was so beautiful. His fur was as black as night and his eyes were such a vibrant green color they almost appeared to be glowing.

I felt ugly standing next to him to say the least. Especially since I had new pink scars on my side and legs. I truly was inferior to him. It just made it even harder to believe that I was his mate.

He nudged me with his head almost like he could read my mind. I nudged him back so that he wouldn’t worry about me. I only needed myself and nobody else.

“Come on!” I said as I sprinted across the clearing and back into the woods. He was right beside me in seconds. The wind going through my fur was amazing. I decided to run a little faster just to see if he could keep up. He stayed beside me but easily caught onto what I was doing.

We both slowly increased out speeds until I was at full speed and he was too, only I was faster now. I smiled to myself as I kept running. I started to slow down when I heard a creek flowing.

I trotted over to the water lapping it up. It felt good going down my throat. I heard Adrian walk over beside me, panting.

I laughed. I just couldn’t help myself.

“Stop…laughing.” He said talking deep breaths. “How… can you…even run that fast?”

“I don’t know. I’ve just always loved to run and through the years I’ve kinda had to run everywhere.” I said referring to me being a Rogue.

“You might be the fastest wolf I’ve ever met. I was the fastest one in the pack but now you’ve taken that title away from me.” He said finally catching his breath.

“It wasn’t even a proper race. You’re probably faster than me.” I said bumping my shoulder with his which made him fall into the creek. “Oh my goddess! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!” I said and then splashed my paw into the water beside his face. “Oopsie?” I said a smug look on my face.

He smiled at me and then pounced trying to shove me into the water also. But I dodged it which just made more water splash onto him. “S you’re really being a big meanie.” He said pouting.

“Sunny.” I said revealing my name with a smile.

“What?” He asked as confusion filled his features.

“My name, is Sunny.” I said looking into his eyes.

“Sunny, that’s a beautiful name.” He said walking over to me. The sound of my name coming out of his mouth sent shivers down my spine and that’s when I really wanted Jake back. I wanted to hear his snide remarks and how he talked about random stuff to help with my anxiety when I was a kid.

“I miss him.” I whispered.

“Who?” Adrian asked

“I miss Jake.” I said as a stray tear went down my face.

“He’ll come back. We just have to feed you and get you back into optimal health.” He said nuzzling my neck with his head.

“Can we go back?” I asked him.

“Mhmm.” We started to head back to the packhouse at a slower pace than when we left and that’s when I realized I didn’t even think about Marcus at all.

My sinuses finally cleared up and that’s when I smelled something familiar and not in a good way. I stopped abruptly as the person who it belonged to popped into my head. I started to back away slowly not wanting to believe my own nose.

“What’s wrong?” Adrian asked with a worried expression.