Chapter 45: Forty-five.

Colt pulled into the driveway of Elijah's house and shut off her engine. The next ten minutes felt like a lifetime as she sat there mentally preparing herself to go and face Elijah, while listening to the rain storm battering off of the window.

It had taken longer than she thought to get a hold of some bacon and in the end all she could find was raw, so she planned on cooking it herself to apologise to Zachary. But the delay meant it was now fast approaching early evening, and between travelling to get here and everything else that had happened today, she was feeling as though the time she was so looking forward to spending with Elijah was close to becoming completely ruined. But she had to come here to be with him, she needed to see him before she left and this all needed sorting out. Yet still, she couldn't seem to make her legs move to propell her out of the car.

It had now been over half an hour which she had spent sat in the driveway with her eyes closed, feeling physically sick, when there was a gentle knock on the window. Warily she opened her eyes and was suprised to see not Elijah, but his little sister, Nora standing there. Smiling genuinely at the little girl she opened her door finally feeling unglued from the seat.

"Hi." Colt smiled warmly.

But Nora looked far from happy to see her, standing beneath her small red umbrella with her free hand on her hip.

"It's rude to just sit here you know." Came the young girl's terse reply. "You should announce yourself to the homeowners, and not just loiter in the yard. Ew, why are you so dirty?" Nora's telling off shifted to grossed out, by Colt's disheveled appearance, as she took her in fully and began to recoil at the sight.

"Nora, right?" Colt said, secretly loving the eight year old's moxy and her honest attitude. "I'm Colt. Elijah's mate." she added, finishing the introduction by holding out her hand formally.

But, Nora just disdainfully looked Colt from head to foot, the disapproval clearly shining out of her eyes. She refused Colt's hand and turned around running into the house without another word, forcing Colt to grab her grocery bags and quickly follow the petulant child back inside, in an attempt to dodge as much of the rain as possible.

Colt made it through the front door just in time to hear Nora screeching Elijah's name at the top of her very high pitched voice.

"I thought you said your mate was beautiful!" Nora added for good measure, as Colt just sighed and made her way to the kitchen shaking her head.

When she arrived there, she couldn't help but smile at the thought of getting to put the range cooker to use, as she put the groceries into the fridge and turned to clean her hands at the sink. Her stomach growled loudly, protesting at not having recieved any food since the cupcakes Colt ate this morning. Prompting her to groan at the thought of those little handfuls of caramel goodness.

"You came back." Elijah said, as soon as he bounded into the room, after getting clarification from Nora about what it was she was actually talking about.

"She should have stayed away." The young voice added beside him. "She's rude, and she smells funny."

"Nora! Watch your mouth," came Elijah's tense reply. He had definately had enough of temperamental women, and right now Nora was not his priority, nor was she helping anyone. "Go play." he growled.

"Fine." she huffed, "But she was rude! You don't just sit in your car in someone else's driveway. It's creepy."

"Nora!" Elijah barked, he was, in hindsight sorry for detroying her climbing unit outside, but after the promise of getting her a treehouse to replace it, as far as he was concerned the issue was done with.

Colt watched amused at the two of them. Elijah's authority clearly didn't stretch fully to his spoilt princess of a little sister. Colt liked it, someone who would stand up to him, even if in her effort to chastise Colt she didn't realise how rude she herself was being. But, she was only eight afterall.

After Nora stomped off, Elijah started approaching Colt before he paused just inside the kitchen doorway, feeling nervous all of a sudden. "Can I come in, Little Bird?" he asked hesitantly not sure how to handle the situation.

"It's your kitchen, Elijah." Colt said in way of an answer with a small shrug, as she stepped back and leant against the black countertop.

Stepping forward slowly like Colt may bolt at any minute, Elijah came further into the room, "It isn't just my kitchen Colt. As far as I'm concerned it's also yours. Damn it, Woman, it's all yours." He sighed. "I'm not sure what it is I did wrong. Then you left, you were just gone. You hung up on my call, and I thought..." he stopped, shaking his head without ending his sentence, without adding the words I'd lost you on to it.

Colt looked at Elijah and sighed. "I just needed to use it to make a call, I had to speak to someone who understood. You weren't interested Elijah." she shrugged, wrapping her own arms about herself, feeling cold in her damp sweater. "I had to get out of here and cool off, I was always coming back. Your my mate." She said quietly, raising her eyes to look at him.

Elijah frowned and closed the rest of the distance between them, pulling Colt into his embrace as he couldn't physically watch her hug herself, in an attempt to find comfort any longer without joining in. Relief flooded him when instead of pulling away from him she sank softly into his arms. Needing his touch as much as he needed hers. He couldn't explain the warmth that travelled through his system as he held her close and she buried herself into his arms, that she needed him just as much as he needed her.

"I am interested Colt." he whispered, as he felt her quietly begin to sob. "In everything and all that you are. In everything you want to tell me and in everything you don't. But, that doesn't mean I can allow a threat to you to walk around, or to go unpunished. He had to die, they all did."

Colt froze in his arms. She had been right afterall. He did kill the other two as well, the only thing stopping her from moving away was the hope that he hadn't acted rashly. That he had thought everything through first.

"Did they give you any answers first?" she asked, her body still tense as she waited for an answer, fearing his response.

"Answers to what? " Elijah asked clueless, his grip tightening on her as she tried to pull away, not sure of what was making her begin to fight against him, this time.

Colt struggled in his grip to try and face Elijah, wanting to look him in the eye and getting frustrated at him as he wouldn't relent.

"Damn it Elijah! Let me go." she sighed, the annoyance clear in her voice as she tried on, in vein to wriggle her arms free.

"Never." he said, holding fast to her, like she would disappear altogether if he didn't. "I will never let you go, Colt."

"Oh for the love of..." she moaned, flopping her forehead against his chest. "I don't mean it like that, and you know it. Let me look at you. This is a serious converation and I need some bloody eye contact."

"You sound like your Mom, 'bloody eye contact' It's cute when your heritage comes out in you." he smirked, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of Colt writhing against his body.

Suddenly, Colt had moved her body just enough that she could feel exactly the type of kick Elijah was getting from this little game. A thick, long and very hard kick, that was pressing up against her. "I swear to all that is holy, Elijah, if you don't let me go, the only contact I will have with your member ever again will be as I stick my knee into it for a second time today." she threatened fiercely.

Remembering the pain from earlier was like a blast of ice cold water down his front and his grip instantly loosened. "Low blow, Little Bird." he remarked as he gave Colt enough room to step back and look at him without removing his arms from around her.

"Needs must!" she shrugged, trying to claw back a little more room. "This is important and your sex drive, isn't coming before it!"

"I could make it worth your while though." he offered with a wink, pulling her close again to nibble on her neck, tickling her with his stubble as he did so.

Colt started wiggling against him again, feeling her body begin to respond against her will. "Stop it Elijah!" she snapped getting pissed off as the scent of her arousal began to surround them.

"Really?" Elijah asked mocking her, "I dont think you are serious." He said, as his hands moved down towards her ass, grabbing her roughly. "I can smell you, Beautiful. I know you want me."

But this gave Colt enough room to get her own arms up between them as she pushed him away hard. "Yes, Elijah. Really. Now isn't the fucking time." she said angrily and stormed her way outside despite the rain which was hammering down heavily now. Elijah following hot on her tail feeling rather sheepish about how wrong he got it.

Colt stood in the rain in the back yard with her back to the house, puzzled by the leftovers of what earlier that day looked like a magnificent child's climbing frame, and now seemed to resemble an unlit bonfire. It all seemed so strange, and her annoyance was instantly replaced by curiosity.

Elijah walked up behind her and snaked his arms around her waist, stooping ever so slightly to rest his head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry." He offered. "I can't help it that your irresistible."

Colt laughed, shaking her head, as the water splashed off the loose tendrils of her hair. "Oh, you are cheesy, Elijah. But, you will have to tell me later what the heck happened to Nora's frame."

"It wasn't my finest moment, I'll admit." Elijah answered, squeezing her lightly.

"Elijah! What the hell did you do?" She blurted out, spinning around to face him.

"Don't worry, I will fix it." Elijah shrugged.

"Fix it? It's kindling Elijah. That's not fixable." Colt shouted, at him. "What on earth were you thinking?"

"Come on, there's a shed around the corner where we can talk properly." he said, shrugging off the conversation while leading her back and around towards the front of the house and out of the rain.

Right where he said it was, there was a small log cabin style she-shed. The doors were filled with little glass windows and adorned with pretty drapes and behind them, Colt could see some outdoor lounge furniture. The place didn't look very used, and smelled quite musty. But, maybe that was because it was tucked around out of sight, or maybe it was because it was a she-shed.

Upon seeing Colt's questioning face, Elijah said, "My Mom bought it as birthday gift, one year when she was at a loss of what else to buy, she figured when I did find my mate, she would like it."

"Whatever, Dude. You totally have a she-shed!" Colt remarked before buckling over laughing at the absurdity of it. "I mean, wow! I was not expecting this! Elijah." She said gently punching his arm, "Is this where you keep your make-up, Baby?"

"You done?" Elijah asked, slightly irritated. "Or are you just jealous that, you dont have a shed as lovely as mine?"

"Sure, okay!" she laughed, as he pulled her forward and into the small building. "I would love a she-shed as pretty as yours."

Colt stepped inside, feeling like a drowned rat and probably looking not far off of one as well. But she was a happy drowned rat, the whole concept of her big, strong, Alpha male-wolf mate having a she-shed had made her day. Elijah ignoring Colt's reaction, chivalrously grabbed an old stale smelling blanket from the back of the building and wrapped her in it, noting with displeasure the dried blood that was loosening and running down her neck from the rain.

"So, I have to know, Colt." he began taking charge as he sensed her unease growing, "What exactly happened to Ross? The whole story please." he asked, guiding her to sit down and taking the seat opposite.

Colt sighed, pulling the musty old blanket about herself before she began. "When we left West Virginia, we moved to Tennessee. The pack there offered to allow us to join them, but after what had happened, Dad didn't want to be in another pack ever again. The Alpha was kind, he accepted this and allowed us to live on his territory anyway, as if we were any other shifter race. We were happy there for many years."

"But, Tennessee is within my territory. We claimed it, the very month Nora was born, when the old Alpha died. It was too close for us not to, and all the wolf shifters within the boundry were assimilated into the Lupus pack." Elijah said, stunned that Colt had been so close all those years ago. "How did I miss you?" he asked confused.

"When you're pack took over, all non official pack wolves were forced to leave. My Dad took my brothers away hoping to petition you later. Mom and I stayed behind as she didn't fall under the wolf bylaws and we figured since I couldn't shift I wouldn't either." Colt explained further, tears forming in her eyes at the memory.

"Why didn't I receive that petition Colt?" Elijah asked plainly, with a cold sense of dread filling his body.

"Because after Ross. We swore we would never ask you for anything." Colt answered, her voice hard as she struggled to tell Elijah what was going on. "The man from the clearing, and another pack mate turned up hammering on the door. They could smell Dad and the boys. We let them in, and they searched the place, they were angry at us. We didn't know why at first. Mom was pregnant and I was sixteen, I hadn't started training fully yet. Anyway, we soon discovered why they were so annoyed, they started mouthing off about the abominations that I and my brothers were, because we were born of two different species, they were calling my Mom a vile slut who didn't know her place. Elijah," Colt was stressed as she relayed this to him, her body physically shaking. "I was terrified, we both were."

Elijah moved instinctively to the seat beside Colt, wrapping her in his arms to try and comfort her. "What happened next?" he asked, although he was almost terrified of the answer he was about to hear.

Colt leant her head into Elijah's chest, struggling to talk at the pain of reliving this memory, because as she was talking it through, that pain was suffocating her. "One of them yanked me by the hair, smelling my neck as deeply as he could. He was trying to work out what I was, wildcat or wolf, but, I just felt so, so violated. The bastard even licked my neck." she shuddered. "Mom was screaming, but no one came to help. Then, they got bored I think, or frustrated maybe? I'm not sure." She said, scrunching her face up in confusion. "But they told us the new Alpha would not allow mixed breed freaks and their sympathisers on his territory. I was dragged out first by my hair and held in place, watching as the man you killed today, held my Mom's hands behind her back and threw her forward onto the ground, making sure she landed on her stomach. He joked that with luck there would be one less freak to take care of later now." Colt was full on sobbing now. "He deliberately murdered my unborn brother, Elijah, the very same month you welcomed Nora into the world."

Elijah was horrified. No wonder her family hated him. He doubted in their shoes he would have been so accepting of his child's mate. What they had went through was barbaric, and worse than that, it had been done in his name. "Colt, I had no idea about any of this. Baby, please believe me. I would never ever have condoned that, much less ordered it. Shit!" he said scrubbing his face in shock at what had happened. Everything he could have had and almost lost because of it. "Do you know who the other man was? the one who grabbed you?" he asked, vengeance strongly on his mind.

Colt didn't want to fight, but she knew how provocative her next words would be, and she couldn't help it, her pain was raw and exposed, so despite knowing in her heart what he said was the truth, she just hadn't the full use of her verbal filter yet. "No, and today when you snapped that monster's neck. You silenced the only lead we had." her voice was laden with the accusation and annoyance, so much so she felt Elijah stiffen beside her.

"Don't." he warned, completely unhappy about the turn of conversation.

"Elijah, I'm not trying to pick a fight, I swear I'm not, but it's true. You had every chance to stop and listen. But, you didn't. You did what you wanted and to hell with anyone else, myself included. I get that you had the need to protect me, I really do, but you have to listen and think before you act that maybe there is more to something." Colt added softly.

"He threatened your life, Colt." Elijah growled defensively. "You said his friend threatened to rape you. His death warrant was signed right then. This is my pack, and you are my mate, I will not tolerate you being put in danger."

"But don't you get it? What he and his moronic friend said was nothing new." Colt said, and instantly regretted as she felt Elijah's grip tighten on her, causing a squirm of discomfort in her. "But the worst bit is, they are a few of many and because you acted rashly, now we cant find out who the others are!" she stressed. "So, rather than eliminate the threat, you will have exacerbated it, angering them and placing a bigger target on my back, than the one that was already there in the first place." Colt wriggled uncomfortably to grab Elijah's face and bring it to her own. "I know you acted out of love. Out of the need to keep me safe. But in failing to listen and think, you have effectively put me in more danger. This isn't my first rodeo, Elijah. You have to let me have a say in things that directly effect me, especially when I have more experience in dealing with them." she sighed. "It was a very specific choice I made to not kill the first two idiots." she added, hoping he would understand.

"Are you done?" Elijah said, unimpressed by what he considered to be Colt's ingratitude, and blatant disregard for her own immediate safety.

"No. I'm not." she said, and before he could react she pulled his face to hers and crashed his lips down upon her own.

Colt kissed Elijah with such a ferocity he had no choice but to give up his annoyance and meet her tongue stroke for stroke, taking over from her and leading the way as he shifted their bodies so she was pressed on the seat beneath him as her hands tugged lightly on his hair and his own hands wandered over the soft curves of her body making her moan into his mouth.

When they broke their kiss and pulled apart, both of them breathing heavily, Colt looked into Elijah's eyes, her voice ragged and said "I love you too."

Elijah couldn't help the sense of elation he felt at those words. He did love her, and not only did she know it, but she felt the same way. "Damn it, Woman, that isn't fair." He eventually said.

Colt smiled innocently up at him, "Maybe, but if I didn't kiss you, you would have only gone and put your foot in your mouth, Elijah." she added with a wink.

"You just can't be going around and making me forget what I was going to say like that." He smiled, his face lighting up as he did so, all traces of his annoyance vanished from existence.

"Okay." Colt said. "If you don't want anymore kisses, I can't make you." she shrugged, pushing at him to get off of her.

"Yeah, like I'm going anywhere, Beautiful." he laughed leaning down to nuzzle into her neck, and pausing at the traces of the other man's blood which were still there. "Actually, we are going somewhere. You are in desperate need of a shower, Little Bird."

Colt laughed full on from her belly at this. "That is very very true, and food. Although I bet it's too late for more of your Aunt Cathy's cupcakes right?"

"I should have known, you were at the bakery today! Damn it! I even stopped out front, and waved at Cathy. It was you she was talking to in the back wasn't it?" he asked incredulously.

Colt nodded with a sly wink. "Poor, Balto." she said in mock sympathy, rustling a bruised hand through his hair.

Elijah stood, pulling Colt to her feet in a swift motion. "First a shower. Then you have five minutes to eat."

"And then?" Colt said leaning into him, allowing herself to enjoy all the pleasure of being in contact with her mate provided.

"And then, Little Bird, I am going to make you come so many times, the thought of staying away from me that long, for fucking cupcakes no less, never enters your mind again." he growled promisingly at her.

"They were really, really good cupcakes, you know!" she said with a challenge.

"Move now!" Elijah barked, as he began to drag her out into the rain.

Colt welcomed her returning lust with an excited anticipation as she ran with Elijah back to his house, tonight looked like it was going to be fun afterall.