Chapter 48: Forty-eight.

Colt and Nora were looking rather amazing in their top of the line, chic and one of a kind ensembles. That they happened to have pinned together out of spare linen bed sheets, earlier that day, and combined with so many hair braids they ran out if hair bands to tie them with.

They had the radio blasting music in the early afternoon, as they mixed together the ingredients for their chocolate and caramel brownies in the kitchen, making a complete mess everywhere. There was melted chocolate, flower and egg mixture all over the place, including on the bedsheets that doubled up nicely as aprons.

Elijah was watching them with a scowl etched across his face, barely managing to hold back his growls of resentment, from his seat at the breakfast bar.

Colt wasn't sure what had Elijah so bent out of shape, but she was determined to drag him out of the foul mood he had been in at lunch, when Zachary joined them, and thus, she was trying to force some of the frivolity onto him, by every so often flicking batter at him with a giggle. It wasn't working.

Once the batter was in the oven, and Nora was settled happily licking a spoon, she moved across to Sir Grouchy Pants, with a smile beaming from her face. But, Elijah didn't seem to happy to be there at all. Inbetween licks of her own spoon, she looked up at him and asked, "Are you going to cheer up at any point, Balto? Or are you going to insist on dragging the party down as much as possible?" She teased him playfully, while offering him a lick from her spoon.

Elijah clenched his jaw in annoyance, "Do not pretend you give a rat's ass about my state of mind, Colt!" He sneered back at her.

Colt stepped back in shock. He may as well have back handed her. Taking a deep breath to calm her rising anger, through gritted teeth she said "Fine. Be like that then." and turned around, plastering a smile to her face, rejoining Nora to finish baking and begin cleaning up.

Before the spoons were even finished being licked clean, Elijah got up and stormed off, slamming the front door in his wake as he left the building.

Colt looked down at a forlorn Nora, seeing the tell tale signs of tears in her eyes, and wrapped her arms about her in a warm hug. "It's alright, Sweetheart. He is just mad he didn't get his own way."

Nora smiled up at Colt, from within her embrace and the smile reminded her so much of Elijah, it was uncanny, she was almost like a little carbon copy of her elder brother. "He never used to be so grumpy." she said, with a sigh. "Back when I was younger, he would spend so much time with me. But now, I don't think he likes me very much anymore." Nora admitted sniffles escaping as she held on tight to Colt, and began to cry in ernest.

Colt carried Nora over to the couch in the sitting room and held her close, telling her how silly it was that she thought such a thing, and offering Nora any comfort she could. But, on the inside she was fuming, and Elijah, may as well have been a dead man walking, because she was going to kill him when she next saw him.

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It was several hours after Elijah and Nora's Mom had collected the young girl, when he finally returned home, to be faced with a fuming mate.

To say Colt was angry would have been an understatement, and she was no longer just angry at him on Nora's behalf, but on her own as well, because she just had to meet Elijah's Mom for the first time, and apologise on his behalf about his unknown where abouts and temper tantrums, as well as the fact he left a basic stranger to look after her daughter.

Elizabeth Lawrence, was amazing about the whole thing, and so grateful to Colt for making sure that not only was Nora alright, but that she had a great time. She was especially taken aback by Colt's kindness and generosity as Nora started gushing about the three toed orphan sloth, they adopted together. She was called Zara, and lived in a refuge sanctuary in South America. Nora could hardly wait to get her first monthly update about how she was getting on - currently she was learning how to poop by being helped to dance at the base of a tree, once a week.

Colt was just happy to see the young girl smiling, and less affected by her brother's callous behaviour.

But now, Colt didn't have to hide her emotions anymore. There was no child around to shield from the unpleasantness that came from two adults arguing. This was why, when Elijah entered the kitchen with a large bunch of stargazer lillies as an apology gesture, he had to duck in an effort to miss the hot cup of tea that Colt thrown as hard as she could, at his head.

"You complete and utter immature asshole!" Colt yelled by way of an opening line, the anger radiating off her in waves.

Elijah looked at the shattered mug, and the liquid stain on his wall with alarm. One dropped bunch of flowers wasn't going to cut it.

"I'm sorry, Little Bird..." He began, in an attempt to soothe Colt's temper.

But Colt interrupted him. "You're fucking sorry! Do you think that will cut it? Really? You are thirty-two years old, grow the fuck up and stop acting like a giant man-child. You jealous prick!" she screamed, storming passed him, and stepping on the flowers without care as she did so.

Elijah heard Colt slamming every door she went through behind her, as he followed after her through the house. He knew he had seriously messed up earlier, but he hadn't expected her to be this angry with him. He had no idea on how he was supposed to placate a volcano mid eruption.

"Colt! Wait." He called after her, trying all the same.

"Piss off!" Colt called back at him. "No, actually that sounds too much like my Mom, right? You might find it cute." She bit out sarcastically. "You can go to Hell, Elijah Lupus." she added as she entered the bathroom and locked the door.

Elijah frantically started banging on the door. "Unlock the door, Little Bird." he called, hating having a physical barrier between them.

"Screw you!" was the response he recieved, as he heard the taps turn on in the bath.

"Colt. Damn it, Woman, open the fucking door." He called out, his exasperation getting the better of him.

"Get lost, Elijah. You managed well enough earlier!" Colt remarked through the door, as she watched the bath fill up with hot water. "Just leave me alone."

"I can't do that." Elijah sighed, leaning his head against the door and rattling the handle.

"Whatever, I am having a bath and going to sleep. Alone." Colt threw out at him. "Don't worry, I picked a spare room, so I wouldn't offend your delicate Alpha's ego, which by the way, CLEARLY, means more to you than anything else! The feelings of your supposed loved ones included. You absolute dickhead!"

"You are doing no such fucking thing! You are my mate, your place is with me!" Elijah yelled back, his own temper beginning to fray.

"Like Hell it is!" she snorted back.

"Damn it, Colt. Open this door, before I break it down!" He threatened.

"Do what you want, Elijah. It's your house afterall." Colt spat back, emphasising the word 'your' with a sneer.

"I mean it!" He snarled, his need to exert his dominance shining through.

"Fine." Colt said, crossing her arms.

"Stand back." Elijah barked, lifting his leg to kick the door with all his might, while getting excited at the thought of taking Colt in his arms and maybe just screwing her bad mood out of her.

"No." Colt replied smugly.

Elijah froze. "What?"

"I said, no." Colt clarified calmly.

"Look, I dont want you getting hurt, Colt." Elijah argued, realising he couldn't move forward without her consent. "Get away from the door."

"And I, don't want you barging in. So, no I wont stand clear of the door, Elijah, because as far as I'm concerned you can fuck right off, to wherever the Hell you have been all afternoon, and leave me alone." Colt snapped back. "You want in here, you will have to risk me to do so!"

Elijah lowered his foot and sank to the floor defeated. As much as he wanted in the small room, he knew he couldn't risk hurting the stubborn woman. inside, on the other side of the door. "Damn it, Colt, I'm sorry, okay?"

Colt turned the taps off, noticing the sound of defeat in Elijah's voice. "Right now, Elijah I dont care. I have spent the afternoon, consoling a heartbroken little girl who thinks her big brother - whom she idolises, by the way - doesn't love her anymore." she said, opening the door to stare down distastefully at Elijah. "And, I am beginning to think, that I don't know you at all. Because surely, the man who I have been speaking to, who has been telling me about how important his family is to him, for the past seven weeks, would never, ever, cause such pain to his eight year old sister!" she emphasised, "I then had to apologise to your Mom, who doesn't know me from Adam, as to why I was looking after her daughter, as well as explain who I actually am, and that I didn't actually know where you were. So, that was fun." She said stepping over and away from him to head back to the kitchen, her desire for a bath forgotten.

"Nora thinks I dont like her?" He asked confused, as he scrambled up off the ground to follow her. "Why?"

"Oh, I don't know maybe because you never spend any time together, maybe because you never talk to her, except to tell her off. Maybe because you tell people she is a brat, while staring at her resentfully. Or, maybe because you throw temper tantrums like an over grown three year old, and destroy things that are important to her." Colt threw at him.

"But, I .."

"No, Elijah. No buts. I held that girl for an hour as she cried her heart out, about her big brother, who hates her. Buts don't even begin to cover this." Colt all but growled at him. "You are so out of line, Elijah. I just can't even look at you."

Pouring herself a glass of water. Colt went to march past him, but he blocked her way.

"Tell me how I fix this, Little Bird, please. What will make you forgive me?" He begged, grabbing her arm.

"Have you not been listening, Elijah? Or are you just too full of your own hot air to understand?" Colt sneered. "It isn't my forgiveness, you should be asking for. Now, let me go." She added pulling free of his grasp.

"This isn't over. Dont just walk away from me, Colt." Elijah barked.

"I'm going to bed, alone. I'm tired." Colt said without turning.

"I am your mate!" Elijah demanded, "You will listen to me."

"Why bother, Elijah? You clearly don't listen to me." she snapped back.

"What?" He asked, annoyed.

"Work it out." She said with a sigh, pausing before she walked away. "Oh, and if you need another example. I have told you on multiple occasions, I'm allergic to Lillies." Colt said, pointing to the crumpled bouquet on the floor. "But, yes you listen so well, Elijah." and with that she went to the spare guest bedroom she had allocated herself for the night, closing Elijah out till morning and allowing herself time to cool off.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading. There have been an influx of new readers in the past few days as well as an influx of new comments to let me know what you think. You have all been so kind and I so love hearing from you all. Stay safe, B x