Slowly, I sit back down. To my surprise, so does she after a while, when she realizes Colten isn’t coming back.
“Hungry?” I ask, rummaging through the bag. I pull out some sandwiches and some apples. I can’t offer her a feast in a cave, but some food is better than none at all. Besides, I don’t know what the rogues fed her, if they fed her at all, so something simple for me could be a luxury for her.
She doesn’t move, just stares. I stand up, moving toward her, intent on sharing the food one of my pack members brought. Goddess only knows when the last time this poor thing ate. However, once I get a little closer, she growls, making me stop.
I toss the shirt at her, hoping she will slowly warm up to me. However, as the shirt lands next to her paws, she jumps back like I threw a grenade at her. Her eyes stay focused on me as she sniffs it.
The shirt has Colton’s scent, so I know it is one of his.
“Sandwich,” I tell her, tossing the zip-lock bag to her. I hate how the only way to ensure she is fed and dressed is to toss everything at her like she’s some wild dog.
The gray wolf is my mate. As crazy as it sounds, she is my second chance, and I don’t want to come across like some tyrant who will hold her chained to a tree like those monsters did.
A loud, frustrated sigh leaves my lips when she doesn’t move toward it. I get it, she’s scared and confused, but she needs food. She can’t starve herself just because she doesn’t trust me yet.
“Do you like apples?” I ask her. Since she doesn’t react to anything I say or ask, I just roll the fruit to her.
With every passing minute, I become more frustrated by the dead-end situation. Hours pass, and she never shifts or eats. In fact, she barely moves at all.
I rest my head back on the cave wall to force myself to sleep. My eyes burn from exhaustion, even when I force them closed. However, that is when I hear something.
My eyes fly open to find her wolf eating the apple. The animal is skillfully using her paw to hold it still as she chews on it. I can only assume she’s used to consuming food only while she’s in her wolf form, but the view makes me smile.
I close my eyes again, resting, her scent overloads my senses, and I relax. The tension slowly leaves my body and mind.
I must have dozed off because I woke up to the noise of a rock rolling on the ground. My eyes snap open. She must have kicked it because she froze in front of me. She is trying to sneak past me while I sleep, her tail is tucked between her legs, and her paw hangs in the air like she is too scared to move.
She is within arm’s reach, yet her heart pounding in her chest makes me remain still.
“I can take the chain off,” I point my finger at the heavy-looking object as I offer my help.
She has picked it up and is holding it in her mouth. To be completely honest, holding that thing looks rather hard. It’s heavy and rough, so her jaw has to burn like a bitch. I know the weight of it must be making her neck ache.
“I will get something out of the bag. It’s something that will break the chain. I didn’t come here to hurt you, don’t be scared.” I explain as I reach for the bag slowly.
Her eyes follow my every move as she drops the chain. It hits the ground, and the sound of the metal colliding with it echoes off the cave’s walls. This is the exact moment I realize how right I am – the chain is too heavy. The weight is hurting her.
She keeps her head low to stop the strain. I grab the bolt cutters out of the bag, and she suddenly growls, stepping back. There it is. I found another trigger.
I put my hands up in surrender. “Listen, this will cut the chain. I can take it off for you, or give it to you. But you will need to shift to use them. The choice is yours.”
I move forward, but she moves back. I risk taking another step toward her, but the same thing happens, so I sigh before tossing them near her feet.
She uses her nose, pulling them toward her before picking them up in her mouth and moving away to the corner. She shifts, but stays crouched, using her long hair as a veil to cover her body from me. At this point, I’m not even interested in her body, all I want is to rid her of that hideous chain.
I watch her struggle, trying to get at the chain under her chin. She doesn’t want my help. I don’t blame her. There is a long bridge of distrust between us, but I can’t just stand aside and keep watching as if this matter doesn’t concern me.
“I can help you if you let me,” I tell her, but she growls at me again. Is that the only language she knows?
She glances at me through her hair. It’s barely a second that our eyes meet, but it’s almost enough to distract me. I hear the clink of the chain as it hits the ground before she shifts back so quickly that I almost miss it.
I growl, annoyed. She hasn’t said one word, not even her name, and hasn’t acknowledged I am her mate. How hard is it for her to say one damn word? Just one.
I have a life of my own, without her in it. I can’t forget who I am just because someone is so fucking unreasonably scared of me without a goddamn reason! So far, I have done everything to prove I am no threat. I got her out of that camp, offered clothes, fed her, and even gave her the tool that rids her of that awful chain. And this is what I get? Growls and attacks?
Fuck this shit.
“Can you speak or something?” I snap, annoyed that she would just shift back.
Donnie snarls at me for snapping at her. Now I have two damn animals growling at me.
“Fine, I don’t need you.” I mutter under my breath and wave her off. “I have sat here for hours, and you still don’t speak.” Getting to my feet I stretch, I’ve hit my limit.
She growls and steps back, but I ignore her. Guess what, princess? That behavior and attitude doesn’t surprise me anymore, and I am not affected by that crap.