Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Lily

Peeling her eyes open, Lily looked groggily at Elijah. He scrubbed at his eyes, which widened as they met hers.

His hands shot to his head, leaving her sides abruptly cold. Lily squinted at him, but she was too tired to wonder why his hair suddenly needed to be adjusted over his ears. She also did not have the presence of mind to consider why his eyes went from light to dark to light again as he relaxed, winding his arms tightly around her once more.

Her heart grew as she wriggled impossibly closer. This – this was what she’d wanted with Atticus. With Elijah, Lily felt as though she belonged.

“What time is it?” Elijah murmured, his voice thick with sleep. Lily smiled at him.

“I’ve no idea.”

Sitting upright and pulling her with him, Elijah peered through heavy-lidded eyes at the curtains, first at the window and then at the balcony on the other side of the room. No sunlight streaked in on either side, and Lily watched as Elijah cocked his head – presumably trying to work out if that was because they’d slept through the entire day, if the sun was directly above them, or if it was just overcast outside.

Lily let him do it alone. In his presence, it was easy to just let herself be.

“Shit.”

“What?”

Elijah wrestled with the covers. “It’s midday.”

“And?”

“We have somewhere to be.” He glanced at her apologetically. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Okay.” Her weeks in the wilderness had hardened her, and Lily shrugged away her sleepiness, allowing nerves and excitement to fill its place. Leaning back against the headboard, she stretched out her body – allowing herself one last moment of warmth and comfort before she threw the duvet back.

They dressed quickly. Elijah kept glancing outside, peering behind the curtains as Lily stepped into her last set of clean clothes from Entra. The tunic hung to her mid-thighs, its gilded edges sweeping across the plain, comfortable style of leggings that she’d become accustomed to wearing on the run. She belted it with a sense of finality, a sense of purpose; she had a home now, a place to belong.

Elijah dressed in clothes that were much the same as hers, though his tunic was made of thicker material, and had been dyed a darker colour. His trousers, also dark, were looser than her leggings, though they stayed close to his leg and tapered in at the ankle. Lily watched him curiously through her long lashes.

She’d worried that she wouldn’t fit in here. Bending over to lace up her boots, she saw him for what he was – or perhaps what he intended to be seen as. They were dressed as two sides of the same coin, a male and female counterpart of one another. And, more than that, they were a team.

His eyes were light as he held out a hand for her to take. His sunlight was warm, and welcoming, and real – and Lily thought she may never need to leave this place of peace. She bathed in his heat for a moment, her dark eyes meeting his silver ones. They glimmered like molten metal as he watched her in turn.

The bond shimmered as their hands tangled together, fingers interlocking. “Are you ready to meet our pack, mate?” Elijah’s voice was slow and smooth and endlessly reassuring. The bond between them practically purred.

Lily’s grip tightened. Her heart sputtered at his wording. Elijah was the Alpha. She was his mate. It… it was their pack, now. She wasn’t ready to consider the role she might have to take to stay with him.

She’d never wanted power. She’d never wanted anything, really. Swallowing hard, Lily nodded.

The Blood Moon pack had lost her. Stuck in its carnage, she’d lost herself. All Lily had desired was an end to the cycle of bloodlust and war. She’d wanted no part of it – to hide away, a forgotten wolf in a carnivorous pack.

But here, Lily had a chance to find herself. And, more than that, she had a chance to make a difference. It was one thing to avoid conflict. It was another to stop it altogether.

Besides, she admitted to herself, staring up at Elijah’s face, finding a witch capable of stopping her shifting was a child’s dream. Tracing the scar that ran from his temple, down, down across his nose before coming to rest above the corner of his mouth, Lily’s eyes fell on the soft smile that promised it would wait patiently for her to untangle the knot of loss and emotion within her.

Elijah had spent some of last night detailing the troubles facing the Sea Pine pack. About the pressure to fight, to take a stand, when all he wanted was to keep his people safe. To keep his home safe. Suddenly, she shook her head. “No.”

Confusion marred the handsome lines of Elijah’s face. “No?” he repeated, though not unkindly. He squeezed her hand, and Lily knew his concern came from a desire to understand – rather than a desire to beat the contrary answer out of her.

Towing him by the hand, she dragged him into the office. Sneaking into it the night before felt like it had taken place decades ago. It had been a lapse in judgement, and it was one she was more than willing to forget.

Elijah followed her willingly, even as she dropped his hand to rifle through the shelves for a pen and paper. Without having to ask, he passed her both and leant against the desk as she started to scribble across the page.

“Last night, you said that as a result of the Red Ripper pack, the tension between long-allied packs is rising.” Lily drew as she spoke, joining shapes with sharp arrows. “Nobody quite knows where they stand. Tradition has, for lack of a better term, been thrown out the window.”

Elijah joined her behind the desk, watching her hands fly intently. “Yes. But what does that have to do with this?” He nodded at the paper.

Lily pointed at the centre of the page, where she’d drawn a circle. “That’s a pack – any, it doesn’t matter.” Then, she traced the other circles surrounding it, all equidistant to the innermost circle. “And these are the packs that surround them. I think some packs will want to demonstrate their dominance, their power.” She followed the arrow she’d drawn from the centre circle to one at the edge of the paper.

Elijah’s eyes traced her movements keenly. She drew a new arrow, this one from a closer circle into the centre one. “Because that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Acquiring power?”

“You think that will leave the centre pack vulnerable, without proper defence,” Elijah murmured.

“Exactly. It may be a show of strength to go elsewhere, to fight, but I…”

“Tell me.”

“I think the safest course of action is to stay at home. To not fight.” Lily built up momentum as her confidence grew. “I think that demonstrates something far more important. Your allies will know they can trust you if Sea Pine doesn’t take advantage of the unrest. And, perhaps even more importantly, should any of your allies turn on you–“

“Then we’ll be here, ready to defend our home,” Elijah finished, his eyes shining.

“Perhaps you will think me weak,” she said, dropping her gaze. “A Warrior Wolf, unwilling to fight.”

Elijah swept her into his arms. “It is quite the opposite, in fact.” His grip was fire itself, and it burned away the last vestige of her shame. “I think you are the strongest person I have ever met, Lily. And one of the few wolves to see the destruction and the pain that comes with war.”