For the last two hours former Gamma Krane has been making me lie down on the forest floor and look up to the trees, doing nothing more than breathing and listening... and I'm kinda getting bored.

I slowly tilt my head to the left where Cole is lying next to me a few feet away. His eyes are closed, his body is relaxed, he's seriously got this meditation thing down already. His dad is nearby somewhere, but from where I'm lay down, I can't see him. I slide my hand over towards Cole's hand and brush my fingers tips down it to try and get his attention.

"Cole." I whisper.

Cole slowly opens his eyes and turns to look at me with a raised eyebrow. Just this small action alone takes my breath away, he's so good looking it should be a crime.

"How long are we gonna to be doing this for?" I whisper.

"Until you can calm your mind." Cole replies quietly.

"Well, shit." I scoff and I get my first smirk from Cole before he turns away to look back up to the forest roof then closes his eyes once more falling straight back into meditating.

Cole's been a little stand offish with me since our chat in the kitchen, I was hoping he'd say no, that he wanted something more, but all I got was him agreeing to us being a one-night deal. I was kidding myself that he'd want more, it was a gamble to call his bluff earlier. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.

I'm about to say something more when Cole threads his fingers through mine and holds my hand.

"Just relax and breathe." He murmurs.

I stare at our intertwined fingers for a good minute, his hand is so much bigger than mine. Something about Cole just makes me feel safe. This little of gesture of support makes me smile at him.

"Cole." I whisper once more, when suddenly a bucket of water is thrown over me and I bolt upright.

"What the hell?" I squeal as I look up to see Cole's dad with an empty bucket in hand and a scowl on his face,

From behind me I hear Cole laughing.

"Quit yapping. You're supposed to be calming your mind and making peace with your wolf." Krane growls.

"I have, for the last two hours! I am at peace with her...this is just... this is just stupid!" I growl back as I jump to my feet.

"Told you to just relax and breathe!" Cole chuckles from behind me and I look over my shoulder to see that he's now sat up. I roll my eyes at him then look back at Krane.

"Tell me what happened the last time you ran at your true speed. Were you happy? Angry? What emotion was it that made you run like the wind?" Barks Krane.

I pace about the clearing and run a hand through my damp locks. "I was angry, more than angry. It was rage fuelled with sadness and betrayal. It's not something I want to feel again." I grit out.

"And what made you stop, what calmed your wolf?" Krane questions whilst he points his cane at me.

I stop pacing and look at Gamma Cole for a moment. His deep blue eyes watching me intently. I chew on my lower lip before I look to Krane. "I just kind of passed out."

"...and there was nobody else before that, someone your wolf calls too perhaps." Krane interrogates.

Heat starts to creep up my neck. The only person my wolf calls to and can be calmed by seems to be Gamma Cole.

"Dad, maybe let's leave it for this morning..." Cole begins, but his dad shoots him a deadly stare.

"Is that how I trained you? When the going gets tough take a break and just give up? No, we push through, we get results." snarls Krane to Cole.

This is mortifying.

"The smell of the pine forest after rainfall mixed with the earth seems to have a calming effect on my wolf." I say quietly, avoiding looking at Cole at all costs.

Krane repeats what I've just said to himself, before something clicks, and he raises an eyebrow in understanding and looks over to Cole than back to me. "Ahh, I see."

I look at my trainers, then kick the dirt as I hear Cole get to his feet with a sigh. "Alice... I..." Cole begins and I see him scratching the back of his neck.

"It's fine. It's not me, it's my wolf. I can't control how she reacts to you." I mumble out.

"Bullshit. You are your wolf. That's the problem, you think you're two different beings, but you're not. You're your wolf, your wolf is you. If your wolf has feelings for Cole, then so do..." Krane starts to rant.

"Shut it dad!" Snarls Cole, obviously embarrassed about this conversation just as much as me.

"You're a damn fool. You've gotta a good thing right in front of ya and you just too scared to see where it goes. Not taking a mate, my arse! It's the biggest failure of my life not getting you to see that a mate is the best thing to happen to you, they're not a weakness, they'd be your greatest strength."

Cole has his hands on hips, he gives a dark chuckle but there's no humour to it. "I stupidly came here to get Alice some help. I thought we could put our differences aside just this once and you'd not make this about me and how I'm a disappointment to you. But here we are all over again. This was a fucking mistake." Cole growls before he storms away off into the forest leaving me alone with his dad.

Well, if this shit wasn't awkward before, it well and truly is now.

The silence between us seems to last for ever. I'm just about to turn and head back to the lodge when Krane starts to speak, and I dare not move.

"My son, he's the finest Gamma this pack has ever seen. Better than me even, but he can be a real dumb shit at times." sighs Krane as he watches his son stride away.

"Why won't he take a mate?" I ask curiously.

"He thinks that if he falls in love, it will make him weak. He can't stand the idea of losing another person he cares about. He's worried he can't protect them." Krane sighs before he sits on a stump, and I lean against a tree.

"I'm sorry about your mate. My mum told me she was truly wonderful Gamma female." I say to Krane honestly. Krane gives me a sad smile and nods.

"Thank you. Cole won't speak about my Sophie. I think it's one of the main reasons why we butt heads so much." Krane sighs as he clutches on his cane with one hand and rubs another hand over his deeply clawed face.

"She was my soul mate, I nearly died trying to protect her even though I knew the odds were low when the rogues stormed our cabin. She'd locked Cole in the basement to keep him safe, he was thirteen at the time when they came for me but found only her home alone. Apparently, I'd been rounding up rogues too efficiently and a group of them wanted some pay back. By the time I got home, I was too late to save her and was torn into until the elite squad arrived. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the heeler's facility hooked up to every machine going. They told me that when they'd found Cole, his knuckles were broken, bruised and bleeding from where he'd tried to punch his way out of the cellar to try help protect his mother. Even though I was the one that was ripped apart, it was Cole that was never the same again after that day." Krane says quietly before looking at me.

"I think we're all a little broken." I sigh sadly.

"I think you're good for him. You've lost people close to you too. Whether he wants to admit it or not you're special to him, he's certainly never brought anyone home to me before." Krane smiles at me.

"Oh, I don't know about that. Cole was just doing his duty as a Gamma. Did he tell you everything that happened?"

"The category three shit? Yeah, fucking disgraceful. Ezra was always a bit of a weasel when he was still Beta, pity his son has turned out the same...and your dad...well grief makes good people do stupid things that's for damn sure. I think this is what's blocking your abilities, for years you've been led to believe that your wolf is wild and can't be trusted. I'm not surprised you're not communicating right." Krane explains to me.

If I'm honest a lot of what he's saying makes sense.

"So, what now?" I ask.

"Now we make you angry. I wanna see how fast you go" He smirks at me.

I push myself off the tree and hold my hand out to him to help him up. At first, he looks at my outstretched hand and I'm worried I've disrespected him by offering him a hand up, these old wolfs are proud and stubborn after all. However, I'm relieved when he takes it and I help him to his feet. He looks at me for a moment before turning away mumbling to himself. "So like her mother."

-------------

It's late afternoon by the time I arrive back to the Cole's lodge, it's been at least five hours since I'd last seen him and I was starting to get concerned he'd gone back south to the complex and left me behind. However, as I approach the bottom step I couldn't help but smile when I hear faint jazz music playing from inside. Climbing the steps to the top, I slowly open the lodge door and find Cole slumped in a chair drinking whiskey listening to his records.

I close the door and rest my back against it and watch him for a moment as he watches me before he breaks first.

"How did you get on?' Cole asks quietly before swigging back a big chug of whiskey.

"Good, I umm... I ran my top speed about an hour ago. Although your dads' methods are seriously fucking weird." I say with a soft smile.

Cole scoffs. "Of course, he got your running right from day one." He mutters before throwing the rest of his drink down his throat and repouring another. I walk towards where he's sat and stand over him, his eyes slowly move up my body until they fix on my face. He's drunk, but not totally shit faced by the looks of him.

"You've had enough." I say firmly before I take the drink from his hand and throw the whole of it back in one down my throat. I cough a little as that stuff burns like a bitch before I look at Cole defiantly then put his glass down on a side table.

Cole studies my face for minute with a look in his eye I can't quite register, as if trying to work something out. "What do you see when you look at my dad? I only see a broken shell." He asks so low; I can barely hear him.

I stroke a strand of hair from Coles face out of pure instinct and watch Coles eyes droop close for a moment as if enjoying my touch before they blink open once more.

"I see a badass wolf. His scars tell a story, it's a sad story, but I certainly don't see a broken shell. I see a man who gave everything he could." I answer honestly. "I see bravery."

Cole rubs a hand over his face, trying to hide his emotions from me, but I can see what I've said has hit a chord with him. Before I know what's happening, he suddenly loops his large muscular arm around my waist and scoops me up, so I'm sat on his lap. His arms firmly clamp around my waist so my head rests against his chest as he leans back and closes his eyes. "Stay and listen to some music with me. It's the blues, it reminds me of you." He murmurs.

Smiling, I wind my arms around Cole and nuzzle into his neck to get comfortable. Cole growls softly with satisfaction, the little vibrations leaving tingles down my body. We stay like this for what seems like hours until sleep finally takes me whilst being held in Cole's strong arms.