Chapter 36: Thirty-six.

Colt's eyes hazily fluttered open, she was wrapped in a cocoon of soft warm bed sheets, or so she thought. After a moment she realised it wasn't the bed sheets that were providing the warmth she was enveloped in, but the muscular figure that could only belong to one man, Elijah Lupus. Her head was resting on his shoulder, as their naked bodies were pressed together, right down to the intertwining of their legs. She had to admit it, they did fit together perfectly. For once in her life she felt whole, she felt complete.

Elijah's breathing was so steady as he slept, it dawned on her just how tired he must have been and she even felt a little guilty, until she remembered him urinating against her house. Colt happily lay there in his arms for another five minutes before she had to move, her body becoming stiff and uncomfortable, between their gymnastics under the covers and her own in the tree tops last night, her muscles were well and truly worn out. Now, there was only one place Colt wanted to go, the hot tub, and then the sauna, at the Spa's complex. But first, she would need a shower.

Smiling at her plan, she kissed Elijah's cheek then slipped out of his arms, finding how his face momentarily crumbled incredibly sweet. She grabbed her belongings and quickly ducked into the ensuite to grab a shower. Cranking the heat up on the shower, Colt quickly washed, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being clean again, not to mention she adored Elijah's Lemon and Mint body wash, crisp and fresh like him. The bathroom was filling up with steam again as she heard the sound of the door opening.

"Good Lord, woman!" came Elijah's slightly croaky voice, making her laugh. "Can you even see? It's like wading through soup. Damn it!" he muttered stubbing his toe.

"Is my big bad mate, alright?" Colt asked smiling from her position under the spray of water.

"Fine." he grumbled. "I didn't need all ten of my toes anyway."

Again Colt scoffed, "Oh dear, I think I have inadvertently discovered your weakness. All heroes have them, I suppose. For Superman it was kryptonite, for Elijah it's a stubbed toe, apparently"

"Well that's just mean, Little Bird." Elijah laughed, "Besides have you ever seen Superman and I, in the same room together? Just saying." he asked, lighthearted.

"I can't say that I have." Colt answered, turning the heat up again to chase off the draft from Elijah's entrance into the room.

"Exactly." Elijah nodded affirmatively. "Also, if by chance you want suggestions for a new pet name that doesn't centre around a cartoon dog, then I think that's a good place to start."

"Nope." Colt responded laughing, "Wolfy or Balto sum you up nicely."

"Gee, thanks." Elijah said dryly. "Anyway, have you got any room for a little one in there?" he asked hopefully.

"I don't think I have any use for a little one," Colt responded provocatively, making Elijah smile. "Also let's be honest here, there is nothing about you that can be described as little, Elijah."

"I'm glad you noticed." he said, opening the shower screen to step inside, "I would have hated to disappoin... Holy Shit!" he shouted and dived out of the shower cubicle. "Are you cooking lobsters in there with you! Fuck that's too hot! Get out! Get out now, before you scold yourself." he demanded, angrily.

Colt laughed, and stepped out, every inch of her pale skin a glowing pink colour. "Wimp." she smirked. "It's all yours Balto, I even lowered the temperature for you, and your delicate skin." she patronized, while pouting at him.

"Little Bird, that's seriously not good for you." Elijah said, reaching out to hold her. Her skin was roasting under his touch. "Why would you do that?" he asked.

"Because Elijah, I like it hot." she said biting her lip and throwing him a wink.

"Stop it." he growled feeling his arousal building.

"Don't worry your safe. Go shower, I'll make you some food." she smiled kissing him fully on the mouth, and exiting the room to get dressed.

Once dressed, she skipped downstairs, to sort out her starving mate. But before she got to the kitchen, she heard Elijah's cell ringing. After pausing in slight hesitation at whether she should answer or not, she decided to go for it, not wanting him to miss anything thatcould be important.

"Hello?" she answered, politely.

"Good Afternoon, its Miranda from New Horizon Real Estate calling for Mr. Mr. Lupus, is he available please?" Came the response.

"Hi there, I'm afraid he is not available right now, can I take a message?" Colt asked, bored already at the thought of dealing with Elijah's pack business.

"May I ask who am I speaking with please?" the agent asked.

"Oh, this is Colt Merrier, I'm Elijah's mate." she curtly replied, enjoying the sound of the sentence as she spoke.

"Oh wonderful, well certainly then. Can you find out if he is looking to reschedule our visit to appraise the Sanctuary Mountain Resort to next week or the following please?" Miranda enquired.

This grabbed Colt's full attention, as her stomach filled with dread and her heart hit the floor, beginning to crack as realisation dawned on her.

"What do you mean, your appraisal of the Sanctuary Mountain Resort?" She asked struggling to maintain a professional voice.

"Mr. Lupus has asked us about putting the resort on the open market. I must say it is a fabulous idea, the market is fantastic for selling such properties at the minute, and....." Miranda said.

"Well, you can take your fabulous idea and shove it where the sun doesn't shine, Lady. My resort is not for sale, and Elijah has no legal rights to try and sell it. Feel free to cancel that appraisal right now." Colt interupted seething, and hanging up the phone before throwing it on the ground. "That dirty bastard." she scowled, feeling so many mixed negative emotions, from anger, all the way through to shame for being so naive.

She stormed out the cabin, rage flooding into every fibre of her being. She was boiling with it, if she hadn't left the cabing there was a good chance she would have slaughtered her mate in the shower. Betrayed wasn't quite a strong enough word for how she felt, and all in all, it caused her pain that had no way to manifest itself, reminding her again of her ineptitude at shifting like the rest of her kind.

Tears were streaming down her face as she stormed along the resort roads, so much so that she didn't even notice the motorcycle pulling up along side her.

"Hey Kitten, you look none the worse for wear?" Felix called to her.

Colt looked up confused, "What?"

"Woah, Boss, are you alright? what's happened?" Felix asked concerned suddenly at her anguished appearance, and jumping from his bike to help.

"I'm fine. No actually I'm not. I'm a fucking idiot." she sobbed.

Felix instinctively pulled Colt into a hug wanting to comfort her. But stiffened, pulling her back to look at her from arms length. "He marked you?" he inhaled again, just to make sure. "Kitten, please tell me that's not why you're upset? Did he, I mean did you let him?" Felix asked, his momentary jealousy disappearing from worry.

"It's fine, well it's not. Oh I don't know. He didnt force himself, no. I just, I think I made a mistake trusting him. No, I definitely made a mistake trusting him." Colt rambled.

"Trusting who, Luna?" Zachary asked, as he and Marcus appeared on their way back to the cabin.

Instantly they froze, I haling deeply as they looked uncomfortably at Colt and Felix's position. The apprehension growing in the air was palpable as they waited for a reason their Alpha's newly marked mate was in the arms of another man.

Colt, sensing their apprehension and disapproval turned, but instead of feeling the need to justify herself, she simply bit out. "I left the cabin, because if I didn't I could have easily killed that asshole Alpha, who seems to be under the deluded impression it's acceptable to try and hire a fucking real estate company to sell my life's work out from under me! How dare he!" she raged, her pain and bitterness seeping into every word.

"Shit!" replied Marcus, running to find Elijah, in the hope he could explain.

"That dirty bastard." said Felix in shock.

"Luna, you don't understand, that was before, he lost his temper and was determined go claim you no matter what. But, he stopped himself. He cancelled the appointment." Zachary begged for her to understand, praying it wasn't too late for his friend.

Colt ignoring Felix, turned on Zachary, "Except he didn't cancel it, Zachary. He postponed it! I just cancelled it when they called." she seethe as angry tears streamed down her face. "I wont be treated like a fool twice. Your Alpha can go to hell as far as I am concerned! I will never forgive him for this. Or my cousin for that matter, since he was so obviously in the loop."

"Luna, please just talk to him. He needs you." Zachary pleaded. "Don't abandon him now."

"No, he needed to mark me, for his sanity. Well, job done." she snapped sarcastically. "As, I am stuck with him now." She scoffed, bitterly. "But, I wont ever see him again."

Colt was vibrating with rage, as Felix rubbed her arms in support while she was still partially in his embrace, trying to soothe her despite his own disgust at the situation.

"Colt," Zachary begged, "Its more than that, so much more for him and you know it."

"Like you knew his plans to try and do this? Fuck off, Zachary I'm not interested in whatever excuse you want to churn out for him." she snapped again. "You can all rot in hell, as far as I'm concerned."

"COLT!" Elijah yelled, as he made eye contact with the small trio. Desperately trying to suppress his growl at her position with the lion. As he ran to intercept her.

"Go to hell Elijah!" she turned to Felix. "Get me out of here." she begged.

"Sure thing, Kitten." he said passing her a helmet.

Elijah's growl, could be heard vibrating through the ground it was so loud, as he watched in disbelief, seeing Colt climb onto the back of the lion's motorbike, and watching them speed off, with her arms wrapped around his waist. He didn't reach them in time.

Zachary turned to him, shaking his head. "You are a fucking idiot at times Eli. Take my advice, this time and let her cool off. Unless you fancy being a fucking Unic that is." he sneered in disappointment, then walked off.

Elijah fell to his knees, feeling like his world was crumbling underneath him. The image of her turning her back and leaving with another man would be one that was etched into his mind forever. He felt sick.

"For what it is worth Elijah, I think you should go after her." Marcus said, a hand on his shoulder. "You're mated now. Go and explain, but be prepared to accept when you are wrong, and beg for her forgiveness. Otherwise, you might well lose her forever on this one."

Elijah looked up painfully at his Gamma and nodded, thankful for the advice. Then his body painfully exploded, bursting forth to become his wolf and setting off, and giving chase.

Author's Note: Happy World Book Day! Thank you for reading. Find me on facebook @Bethanyriverwrites B x