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Ariel's POV

Raphie is gone the next morning when I wake up and for some reason I feel the need to be with him. After dinner and everything I just... I still want to have him close.

I link him. 'Raphie?'

'I can't right now Ariel. Something happened with our rival pack. But your mom called, she's coming for a visit with your brother since he and I are going to sign a treaty.' Raphael is quick and short and straight to the point.

'I want to see you.' I say, almost a whisper through the link.

'Come to my office at the pack house.' He says in a final tone.

I smile and get ready quickly. Parker is downstairs, sitting on his own.

"Parker? Where's Justin?"

"Guarding Brianne." He mumbles.

I smile softly. "Well, I'm going to see Raphie. Why don't you go find Justin?"

"Really?" Parker smiles and I nod in reply. He scrambles off the couch and links his arm through mine. "To Raphie then, my lady."

"Why thank you, my kind gentleman." I giggle.

We walk to Raphie's office and when I get there, Parker leaves to find Justin. I think he's just a little jealous of Brianne, I mean, she's stealing Justin away from him in a sense.

I walk into Raphie's office to see him at his desk. He looks... bad. Very stressed.

I walk over. "What happened...?"

"They came onto our territory." He says quietly, and suddenly he reaches his arms out. He's never really instigated the hug... I move to hug him back when I'm pulled into his lap and smushed against him.

"Raphie?"

"They threatened you, princess. That's the first time they've ever directly threatened you. Using your name a-and they threatened you." He whispers, holding me tightly.

"Oh... oh Raphie it's okay. I'm here. You know I won't let anyone come near me."

"I can't lose you Ariel. You're... you're..."

"Shh," I put a finger to his lips. "I know... You're that person for me too."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

I let Raphael hold me for a little while. He rubs my back and gives my head random kisses. I like this because for once, he needs me. It doesn't feel like I'm the one relying on him, he needs me. It makes my stomach erupt with butterflies.

After a while, Raphie decides to have an 'us' day... I'm not exactly sure how that's supposed to go. But I don't want him to keep stressing over work, so I rather the 'us' day. As he calls it anyway.

"What are we going to do?" I ask as we walk out of the building together.

"I was thinking we could start getting a pack event set up... for your introduction. You've been living here for months now, and you haven't met the pack. They are more curious about you then you could imagine."

I laugh. "Really?"

"Yes. They're very excited."

"And when is my mom coming?"

"They should arrive tonight, you'll probably be sleeping." Raphie almost smiles.

"I can stay up for them!"

"Darling," he snorts. The man just snorted, I can hardly believe it. "You can hardly get yourself through ten o'clock unless you have the motivation of food, a tv show or Parker and Justin have made you."

I smile sheepishly and walk inside. I collapse on the couch and stretch. "What are we gonna do besides plan?"

He shrugs and sits next to me, turning on the tv to the news. I scrunch up my nose, I mean come on, the news? Sitting through it is near impossible! It's so boring. But, I do anyway, for Raphael. Since he seems pretty engrossed in the crime bit.

Well, that's when I become interested too. And alarmed. When we see the screen flash to a blurry photo of a murder scene.

"-the police have not released an identity or-" I zone out for a moment as I watch the news lady speak, looking at the amateur photo. That's a werewolf murder. No doubt about it. Not only that, it happens to be right outside our territory.

I guess our us day isn't happening anymore...

***

I have never been on a real crime scene before. Raphael had some sort of connection with the human police and was allowed to cover the crime scene. And I was allowed along.

The person has already been covered up by a sheet, and I know it's human. The blood has been spattered everywhere. This person wants it to look as bad as the can. My throats builds up a bit of a bubble and I have wince. The smell is getting to me, it's so strong with werewolf enhanced scent. The smell of the blood stings my nose. Human blood. Human blood was the worst smelling of any animal since most animals smell pretty good while hunting.

Humans are so fragile... I walk away from the scene as Raphie and some others from the pack inspect the area. I wait in the car, my heart hurting for the family whose child this was. Maybe this guy had a beautiful girlfriend at home, waiting for him. And possibly a child. Maybe he had a dog or a cat waiting upon his return to have their lunch. This man was someone to somebody and then a werewolf came in and took it all away.

I growl and punch the dash of the car, leaving a dent. Shit. I groan and slump down, smacking my head against the back of the seat. Why this man! Why kill someone! Murder isn't right... It's just not right.

Raphael slides into the car. "I believe someone is trying to frame us."

"Okay," I whisper. If someone is, it's obvious who. Our so-called rival pack is now giving us more problems to take care of. More stress for my Raphie, he doesn't need this!

I clench my hands into fists again and I feel Raphael take my hands. I look over at him.

"You dented the dash." He noticed, damn it.

"I'm sorry..."

He hugs me and kisses my forehead before driving off, one hand on the wheel, the other holding mine. Every once and a while he'd squeeze it to reassure me or something.

We get back home and without meaning tears start streaming down my face. "It's not fair!"

"Ariel..." Raphie comes around and picks me up. "I know it's not fair, what this pack is doing is not right. It goes against werewolf law. It is wrong, so we will have to stop it."

I cry into his chest for the dead man. The wolves who did this will pay! I'll make them pay. I'll make them feel the pain that this poor mans family must feel when they find out their son was brutally murdered!

I scream into Raphie's shirt. I had no idea the death of someone else had such an effect on me. Raphael in response holds me tightly and whispers these sweet nothings in my ears.

He seems desperate honestly. He can feel my pain and he hates it. I can feel his stress and pain and worry in response. It's different to the stress and worry of the murder. It's all directed at me.

"Please stop crying Ariel." He finally whispers. "I hate seeing you cry." His own face seems broken.

I have to be strong. For Raphie. I sniffle, and try wiping my tears with the palms of my hands. Raphael helps wipe the tears away, and they slowly stop. It's a bit shaky, I feel like the wrong thing could send me over the edge again, but for now...

"Before all this," Raphael says, running a hand through my hair. "For our us day... Well, the pack doctor, our therapist... she's quite worried about you. She thinks you need more people... I was thinking maybe you'd like a dog." He's so nervous to say it, I can tell. It's because the therapist thing is pretty shaky with me. Since last time he brought the woman in I yelled at him.

"How does she know about me?" I ask softly.

"I talk to her about you. All the time."

"She's your therapist?"

Raphie slowly nods. "You're the only one besides her who knows now..."

"I won't tell." I whisper. I think about it for a while, a dog. Maybe that'll be nice. What kind of dog? A big one? A little one? I guess I'll get to choose! This dog can be my outlet. My distraction from all this mess. When I need it, I can play with the dog and love him... I like the idea. "I want a dog."

"Then after the situation at hand has settled a little, we can take whoever you want and we can go pick out a puppy." Raphael smiles. "I think a dog will help both of us."

Yeah... A dog will help both of us.

"I wanna shower," I say to Raphie, rubbing my eyes. "And then we can cuddle in bed and watch a movie or something?" It's a weird suggestion, I don't normally suggest this sort of thing. It's so... couple-ish to say it, we just normally do it without a previous confirmation.

"Do you want to shower before or after me?" Raphie asks, starting to walk us to our room.

I'm about to say together, but I don't think either of us can handle that right now. I think we should wait a bit. "After."

He nods and sets me on the bathroom counter where I always sit while he showers and we have our talks. He undresses and gets in and we talk.

These innocent chats are one of my favourite things. Something to distract me right now from everything else. The chats are about the stupid and little things in life. Like, what kind of chocolate is the best? And what's better, tea coffee or hot chocolate—hot chocolate of course! Raphael is wrong when he says coffee, that stuff is nasty.

When he's done, I get in and relax under the warm water. Raphael goes to get the room ready, saying he's going to bring up snacks. Oh I do love my food, I'm glad he thought of that.

I wash my hair and body which is extremely relaxing with the warm water. Then I step out and dry myself off before putting on the big fluffy robe I got as a gift during my heat. I walk out to see Raphie already ready for me.

"Come sit." He pats the bed. I climb up and he sits me in between his legs where he starts brushing my hair. It surprises the hell out of me. I sit in shock for a moment. Raphael, my big bad alpha, is brushing my hair?

"What are you doing?" I ask slowly.

"Brushing your hair... Actually, a little beta told me you'd like if I did." Raphie says, gently brushing my hair. I smile and relax, he's so sweet. He tries so hard and he's actually starting to get somewhere. I love this man. I love him so much.

Moon Goddess, I sincerely apologize for hating your original decision. I see now that Raphael and I really do need each other. We are both hurting, we both will fix each other... And now we're totally gonna raise a puppy together! Thanks... If you heard me up there.

When Raphael finishes, he braids my hair. It honestly, is terrible. But I can't take it out because I love that he tried. I peck his lips before cuddling up beside him.

He puts the bowl of popcorn on our laps and turns the tv on to Netflix. We argue a little over what to watch but we settle on, my favourite, Sherlock. This show is just amazing! I wish I were even just half a normal person smart. Like I'm as dumb as a baby duck.

I eat happily as we sit together. This is nice. This is what couples do. Not go investigate werewolf murders. At the end of the day, we're only... well, two werewolves who need to relax.