Chapter 38: Thirty-eight.

Two hours had passed, when Elijah finally heard multiple vehicles approaching the house. Colt had fallen asleep after half an hour of him lying beside her, her eyes closed with her breathing steady, and thankfully she had stopped shivering, the shock having left her system. But he still couldn't bring himself to leave her side. He would stay there with her as long as he could, using every last moment he had to be by her side. Unfortunately for him, by the sounds of the worried and annoyed voices downstairs, the last moments he had were fast approaching.

Elijah found himself pushing closer into Colt's side, trying to savour as much contact with her as possible. He was discovering for the first time in his life, what fear tasted like. He was afraid, afraid he was losing her, and when he seen the look on Isla's face as she entered the room he felt as though his judge, jury and executioner had arrived.

"Don't you dare think you can hide there next to her!" Isla hissed. "Man up, Mr. Lupus and get your furry backside out from my daughter's bed, and face me properly." She sneered malevolently at him.

Isla was stood her arms folded across her chest, every inch of her screaming angry tiger, rather than wildcat, as Elijah slinked out of the bed, his head held low.

"Shift. Now." she demanded of him, before walking around the bed to check on her daughter.

Once she was satisfied, about what was going on and that Colt was settled, she turned to the naked man by the side of the bed. "Unless you intend on meeting my sons and Colt's brothers in your altogether, I suggest you find something to cover up with. Once you have, I will see you downstairs." she said dismissing him.

"I wont leave her." he growled defiantly. "Not when she isn't alright. You weren't here. You didn't see her, she was so cold." he said shuddering at the recollection.

"Growl at me again, and I will personally claw your tongue out Mr. Lupus." Isla hissed back. "And do not presume to tell me what I do, and do not know about my daughter. You may be her mate but I have her whole life's worth of experience knowing her, in comparison to your meager week, half of which you weren't even together." she scolded. "Colt will be fine after a full night's sleep. Her body handles this type of shock differently. But I will not discuss it further, where she will be disturbed. So, cover your self up and get your backside downstairs, now!" she snapped.

Elijah sighed defeated, his shoulders slumping at the battering Isla had just dealt his ego. He looked over at his mate's sleeping figure with an unmasked longing, "She's really okay?" he asked scared to believe it was true.

Isla sighed, seeing that Elijah's concern was genuine, and decided to tell him what he needed to hear. "Yes. For now she is fine."

"Alright." Elijah said resolutely. "I will just grab a towel, and follow you down."

"Fine." Isla said, and headed downstairs muttering, "Bloody wolves, and their lack of bloody fore thought, never bloody bringing clothes anywhere."

Elijah followed downstairs to the kitchen, with a large towel wrapped around his waist, five minutes later after making sure Colt was still warm and comfortable. When he entered inside the large kitchen-dining room, Isla was standing with her arms crossed looking out of the window above the sink, with three male wolves who he didn't know, and barely recognised. Except for their similarites to his mate, of course, meaning these were most likely three of her five brothers.

Silently and quickly he appraised the three men, two of a similar age to him and one who was in his opinion a child playing at being a grown up. Without meaning to he was automatically sizing them up in case of a fight. The young one would be easy to take out, he had barely begun to fill out but the two older men would be tricky. They looked strong, and were roughly the same size as he was. It would be a hard task to best all three together and walk away intact himself, but he may have a chance if he killed the smallest first, making the other two sloppy in their anger.

Elijah was grabbed from his tangenting thoughts when one of them spoke.

"You're a fucking dirty bastard, Lupus." the tallest seethed, almost as if he could see right through him with his penetrating glare that was so like Colt's.

Elijah growled in response, but before he could formulate words to respond, Isla snapped. "ENOUGH!" She scowled at them both. "Harris, don't you dare disturb your sister, and you," she said zeroing in on Elijah, "Pack in the growling, it's getting bloody old, not to mention boring. We all know your a bloody wolf for goodness sake, try channeling your human side instead, maybe long enough to explain what the bloody hell you were thinking."

Elijah audibly gulped, making the youngest of Colt's brothers laugh.

"Lewis, be quiet." Isla ordered.

"Sorry Mom." came the immediate response.

Elijah studied the four, wondering where Kalvin was, before looking at Isla directly and deciding honesty was the best policy, especially as these people would be his future children's family and he liked how fiercely they were there for their own. "The truth is I wasn't thinking. I was reacting. I am thirty-two years old. I have spent the last decade searching for my mate and I am not as immune as some think to solum rabidus. When I found her, she put up a fight that I never anticipated, I was struggling to keep a hold of my sanity as it was. So I made a rash plan, but thankfully was talked out of it, by my Beta and Gamma." Elijah stated, then scrubbed his face as if to rub away the memory, before hazarding a question of his own, "How do you know she is alright?"

"Because," Isla sighed, "It isn't the first time this has happened."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"No, enough questions from you." Harris interrupted. "If what you say is true, why was the realtor calling you back to rearrange. If you had called it off."

Elijah shrugged, getting annoyed "Because, like most, I presumed my mate would stay with me after we mated. So, I said I'd call them at a later date to discuss everything. How the hell do you know all of this anyway?"

"Don't worry yourself about that." smirked Asher, the only one who hadn't spoken yet.

"Look, I just need to know she is safe, that she will be okay?" Elijah said, struggling to contain his anger, at the dismissive tones he was getting from Colt's family as they closed ranks on him. "Stop shutting me out, I'm her mate and she is mine."

"Hmm, we will see about that." murmured, Asher.

"Excuse me?" Elijah snarled, his patience at snapping point, as he aggressively advanced into the kitchen.

"Mr. Lupus, behave yourself in this, my daughter's house." came Isla's stern voice.

Elijah looked at her dumbfounded at what they were saying. Like his and Colt's bond, which was now solidified meant nothing. "You will not take her from me." he swore. His intent clear. "We are mated, and I will not be simply pushed aside like I mean nothing in this. Either you answer my questions or you can leave." he sneered.

At this declaration, Colt's brothers stood in unison, growling menacingly, their shifts threatening to overtake their rationale, especially with the perceived threat Elijah was throwing at their mother.

"Boys!" Isla barked out. "Behave! That includes you Elijah." she snapped. "A blood bath in Colt's kitchen will not help, and I for one will not have anymore of my children harmed by you! Sit down now! All of you."

With that she pointed at the table, where she expected them all to sit down. Thankfully the four men did as they were told and proceeded to go and sit around the table, Colt's brothers murmuring in displeasure and even Elijah had to admit, the way Isla handled everyone was impressive, because even he felt disarmed by her words alone.

Once they were all seated, Isla took a deep breath and lowered herself into one of the two remaining seats. "Right, no more pointless bloody arguing and snarling. You are all big scary wolves, You have more than established that, but if you dont rein in your tempers you could make it worse for Colt. Boys you three at least should know better."

"Sorry Mom," they answered in unison their heads hanging low, that they let their anger get the better of them.

Elijah, couldn't help it, the snicker he released under his breath, at two large men and an overgrown teenager being told off by their mother in such a manner.

"Do not provoke my sons again Elijah." Isla warned.

He held his hands up in submission, nodding and stifling his laughter. "I'm sorry, it wasn't intentional. I am intrigued though at meeting your mate, I have to admit, if this is how you rein in your children, Kalvin Merrier must be quite the man to match you." He loosely complimented her.

"This is no joke!" Isla scowled annoyed, "And if you were to have met Kalvin tonight, I doubt you would still be able to breathe, Mr. Lupus."

"What?" Elijah said in his bewilderment at why the man his Beta claimed was becoming a legend among shifters, would attack him.

"You harmed his daughter Mr. Lupus, your mate. My husband is a traditional man, he takes the sacredness of mating very, very seriously." Isla replied, as though this was obvious and she was explaining it to a wayward child. "You are supposed to protect and support one another, not hurt them for your own, no doubt selfish reasons."

Elijah's mouth dropped open at the threat Isla explained. He wasnt used to people openly threatening him, and on the rare occasion it had happened in the past it was laughable. But, right now he wasn't so unaffected. There was something serious underlying in the words from Colt's Mom, and he found himself rather affected by the thought of angering her father to the point he refused to come.

"Now, as you have clearly marked one another. You need to understand something about Colt. In an ideal world she would discuss this with you herself. But as the time for that has passed, so I will tell you what is going on." She stated with clear intent.

"Mom, are you sure?" Harris asked, worried about discussing his sister with the man he held responsible for so much already.

"Yes, he needs to understand. Keeping him in the dark won't do Colt any good." she nodded, patting her son on the shoulder.

"Thank you" Elijah sighed, relieved.

"Dont thank me yet. You may not like what I have to say." Isla warned him.

Elijah shifted uncomfortably at her warning, but said nothing all the same.

"As you know, I am a wildcat shifter, and my mate is a wolf. My sons you can tell take after their father, but Colt, has both traits. Wolf and Wildcat. She is a rare shifter type, and a bit of an anomaly. More so, and in this case more importantly, because she cannot actually shift into either animal." Isla began.

"I know all of that, but how is it relevant?" Elijah barked frustrated.

"Do not be rude to me, Elijah." Isla hissed, annoyed at the interruption. "Now when a shifter is worked up, and they become overly emotional. What happens?" she asked him expecting him to actively partake in the revelation she was delivering now.

Gulping, as he worked out whether this was a rhetorical question or not, Elijah decided to hazard an answer, "The hormone build up, in conjunction with the adrenaline forces us to shift, it's the primal response our bodies go through when they sense a threat in the vicinity. But as they only go off of the physical internal levels, and have no context as to why, it often means we shift without an actual physical threat being present. "

"Exactly, and Colt goes through the same exact process, like all shifters. Only with one difference..." Isla paused.

"She can't actually shift." Elijah finished, comprehension beginning to dawn on him.

"No, so instead, her body goes into shock, and mentally she shuts down for a little while. Then, she sleeps till her adrenal system has regulated itself, and homeostasis is restored in her body. The best thing for her is sleep and rest with no stress, to trigger a repeat incident." Isla said folding her arms.

"Alright, I can manage that. Thank you Mrs. Merrier." Elijah nodded, relief temporarily flooding his system, Colt was okay.

"Good, I'm glad we have an understanding Mr. Lupus." she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked confusion permeating his features.

"You are going to leave, this resort right now, and not return until Colt herself asks you to." Isla said emotionless, as Elijah felt the bottom of his world fall away.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading everyone. I wonder what Elijah will do next, don't you?

Stay safe out there. B x.