Chapter 62: Sixty-two.

Eleven Weeks Ago

"Elijah, Elijah, come on." Nora called from the doorway, frustrated she couldn't go closer to wake her brother up. "Get up Elijah! We have to go!"

"Whelp," Elijah grumbled, "I hope you have a good reason for waking me up. What time is it?" He moaned looking around.

"We are going to be late! Come on! It's time to get up" Nora whined, a hand on her hip, as she resisted the urge to stamp her feet.

Elijah heaved himself upright and looked at the clock, it read four-thirty am. "Nora, get your skinny butt back to bed, now!" He growled half heartedly. The truth was, he thought it was sweet to see how excited she was about today, and in a strange way Nora's excitement made him feel closer to Colt.

"But, I can't sleep. Plus if we get there early, I bet I'll get a good one." Nora complained, while simultaneously trying to justify her decision.

Elijah looked at her then, from head to toe, she was already kitted out. Her scrawny little legs were wearing the yellow breeches, she insisted he bought, the day he returned from Brazil. The same day she made him book her riding lessons.

He was so angry and depressed that day, but then Nora rocked up, his beautiful daughter, completely oblivious to his suffering, and she seemed to bring a bit of Colt back. Even if it was with just how obsessive she was becoming, at being like her. She dragged him out shopping for horse riding gear, and hadn't taken it off since, she had even been caught sleeping in a riding helmet.

Today, was the day Elijah had arranged to take her for her first lesson, and to say Nora was excited, would be the understatement of the millennium, she'd been counting down the minutes since it was confirmed about a week ago. Under duress, Nora reluctantly agreed to take her boots off, as well as her hat and crawled back into bed. But, less than hour had passed before Elijah was awoken again, by an excited little voice, standing in his doorway.

"Elijah. Elijah! Wake up, Dummy!" She shouted, this time banging on the wall in lieu of stamping her feet. "Can we go now?"

"What? Not even using manners this time, Whelp?" Elijah asked as he lifted his groggy head from the pillow, covered in a pillow case he stole from Brazil - the one Colt had slept on. He had to breathe pretty deep but if he did, he could just make out her lingering scent, or maybe he was just fooling himself and going insane. "Wait! For crying out loud Nora! It's not even half past five! It's still dark outside! Get back to bed, your lesson isn't even till after ten." He moaned.

"But..." Nora went to object, with her well structured and obviously eloquent argument, as to why Elijah should take her to the horse back riding centre now, when she was interrupted by a fierce growl.

"Now, Nora." Elijah scalded her.

Nora squeaked and ran off back to her room, that now had about just as many horse posters as it did sloth ones, and she didn't even live here full time.

-----

A while later, and Elijah opened Nora's door. His heart filled up at the sight infront of him. Nora, was curled on top of her bed sleeping. She was holding tight to the sloth teddy, that came through from her adopted creature, via Colt, while splayed around her were multiple different books, on multiple different types of horsemanship, from western riding, to traditional english saddles, then there was the Parelli books, and the Monty Robert's ones. She was so full of drive to be like Colt. It filled him with joy to see how much his daughter loved his mate. Even if they didn't know, the truth of Nora's existence.

Elijah quietly walked over to Nora's bed, lifting off the books and stacking them neatly on the bookshelf. They had two hours till they had to be there, and it was only a twenty minute drive, so Elijah estimated by the time he had woken her up and forced breakfast into her, rather that shooting straight out the door, they should likely arrive so early, that they would have at least an hour and a half to spare. Which would probably earn him points in the long run, and he could definitely use them. He knew more than anyone, just how much he had let his sister down.

In retrospect, he did the right thing, he was no where near of sound enough mind to raise Nora, and without Colt's presence, sometimes he still felt a bit wobbly. But, seeing how happy Nora was, as she emulated Colt while spending time with him. It helped, they had both fallen under her spell completely and Elijah took great comfort in the fact he wasn't alone.

-----

The drive was unsurprisingly, rowdy. There was no other word for it, Nora's excited babbling was non stop, she couldn't sit still and was almost bouncing on the car seat with glee. But, when they arrived, Elijah was shocked to discover, his little girl had gone completely quiet.

But, Nora was in awe.

The horses were so big, and they smelled. It wasn't bad, just different, and there were so many colours, deep reds, jet blacks, piebalds, skewbalds, and her favourite palaminos. This had to be what heaven looked like.

She quietly followed Elijah to get checked in, with her eyes on stalks, she was just absorbing everything. Then she noticed how most of the horses shied away from her big brother.

"Elijah? Why don't they like you?" Nora asked, confused.

Elijah stopped, and crouched down to Nora's level with a hidden laugh. "What do wolves eat?"

Nora scrunched her face up, not quite understanding what Elijah meant. "Real or shifter? Because that's two different answers. But, what's that got to do with it?"

Elijah couldn't contain the smirk that slipped out this time. "Right, let's try again. A wolf is a predator right?"

"Right." Nora nodded, thinking her brother had gone crazy.

"What's a horse?" He asked.

"Oh, I know. I read it this morning. The horse is a prey animal, who finds comfort from the bonds it develops as part of a group, also known as his herd." Nora spouted off, before her eyes opened wide. "Wait, do they think that you're going to eat them? Are you?" She asked, horrified. "Does that mean they wont like me?" She asked, crest fallen.

"No. I won't eat them, Colt would kill me." He winked, laughing away" But, I am an alpha, and an adult, who is capable, so they're wary, that's all. You will be fine, as long as you listen to your instructor." Elijah answered, scooping her up into a bear hug.

"Okay," Nora said, instantly relieved. "Can you put me down then, this is embarrassing."

Elijah barked with laughter, before dropping Nora to her own feet. "But, tell me, Whelp, did you read those books this morning or memorize them?"

Nora just frowned at him.

"Alright, never mind." Elijah said, shaking his head.

"You are so weird." Nora replied shaking her head, like she couldn't believe they were related, before trotting off to find a pony to pat, as Elijah tried to wrangle her back to the reception.