Chapter 35

Raphael stood in the entryway, his thoughts a mess. 'Why had she gotten so angry? Why had I gotten so angry?' He asked himself, still standing there with conflicting emotions crossing his face. He wanted to go and console his mate, but she had said to leave her alone. He had a pain in his chest from fighting with her.

He put his hands in his pockets and walked back to the living room his head slumped on his shoulders.

He sat down with a huff.

Nathan, apparently less afraid of the clearly upset Beta, "So… what was that about?" Even though he had already heard everything.

"I don't know. I just simply told her that the Alpha doesn't like to be talked to that way, and she exploded!" It appeared that his mate was incredibly stubborn.

He clenched his fists and shut his eyes as his wolf began to surface. He began taking deep breaths.

"Okay, you gonna go an-"

Raphael didn't hear the rest of what he was going to say, because he ran out of the room and shifted. He slammed the front door open and continued to run, not breaking stride, through to the gates which opened for him. The guards were familiar with this.

He ran to the forest and to his favourite spot.

A small creek crept through a small arbutus grove, the ground was covered with soft spongy moss and little saplings that would probably die off this winter. He could see the lake from here and feel a slight breeze off of it. His wolf sat down and drank some water from the creek, or maybe it was a bubbling brook. Yes, he liked that.

He stayed here and tried to regain his thoughts and think straight. He watched as the sun made its way across the sky. Soon him and his wolf had calmed down enough to return. It began to rain so he began to run back to his house then shifted to open the front door.

"Woah! Man! Warn somebody before you do that, my eyes!" Nathan, who had apparently been walking through the entryway at the time, covered his eyes.

"Hahaha," Raph gave a stilted laugh, "How about you go get me a towel and some clothes then." Nathan did and returned with a towel, shirt and pants.

They were a little smaller than Raph was used to, but they still fit.

He checked the time and saw it was six-thirty.

"Has she come out? Has she eaten anything?"

Nathan shook his head no.

Raphael sighed, she was apparently very stubborn.

He just nodded, then headed to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and saw a pizza box, he opened it to find there was two cheese pizza slices and the other two smelled like a meat lovers.

-Who's pizza is this?- he asked the boys.

-Brooke's.- Mark answered.

"Brooke's." He muttered to himself.

He put them on a cookie sheet and heated them up in the oven. Then he went upstairs, with two plates in his hands.

He took a deep breath, then opened the door. He looked around for Brooke, her scent was everywhere. He took a deep breath and it instantly calmed him. He saw her sitting in the alcove. She was wearing a grey jacket with that red shirt that perfectly complimented her rosy cheeks, and a blue blanket over her legs. She was sitting looking at the rain falling outside.

"Rather dismal isn't it?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hmm, I actually love rain. It means I get to stay inside all day, and it also waters all of my plants for me. But my favourite thing about it is the smell." She said all of this very softly as if to the window, and not turning her head to look at him.

His shoulders sagged slightly, he had hoped she would at least look at him.

"I brought pizza, you wanna eat?" He asked tentatively.

She turned her head and saw the pizza. She got up from her sitting position and walked towards Raph, she tilted her head as if debating wether or not to accept it, but just then her stomach growled and she smiled sheepishly, "Okay." She was still speaking softly.

Her hood covered her hair so he pulled it down. She pulled it back up but so it revealed a little bit of her hair.

Raph sighed as he set the plates down on the coffee table. He sat down on the couch and she sat next to him, but a little further than he liked.

She reached for her pizza and began eating, she seemed to enjoy it.

"Brooke." He said to get her attention, but she didn't look at him, "So, is this how we're going to live? Every time we disagree on something you're going to run off and hide, or act like it didn't even happen. Because it did happen, wether you like it or not, it did." He made sure not to raise his voice, he didn't want to frighten her. He watched and waited for her reaction, it hurt him so bad that she wouldn't look at him. "Brooke, honey look at me."

It was the "honey" that finally moved her dark, brown eyes to meet his gold ones. She swallowed. He couldn't tell what emotions were on her face. Her eyes held conflicting and unsure feelings, he reached out and pulled her in, she didn't fight him, which he considered a good sign.

-You gonna talk?- He asked via mind link because she might be more comfortable that way.

-No.- Her voice sounded sad.

"Honey, you have to talk."

"I don't know what to say." Her voice was brittle, he looked at her face and she wasn't crying but he could tell she was about to. He started stroking her back, "Okay, how about we drop this subject. But the next time we fight, we have to talk about it," He lifted Brooke's chin so he could see her clearly, her eyes retained unshed tears. She nodded, "Okay." She whispered.

"Okay." He said back, then reached for his pizza.

Once they were finished eating he carried his mate to the bed.

"Raph! What're you doing?!" She had yelled quietly at him when he'd picked her up. He found it interesting that she spoke softly when she was upset.

"I'm gonna put you on the bed." Then I'm gonna change." He replied, also speaking in those soft tones.

"Why are you wearing Nathan's shirt?" She asked, a little bit of humour returned to her voice.

"Well, after our little debacle, I shifted and went outside to cool off, but I hadn't brought a chain with me so when I shifted back I was naked." He looked at her and heard her heart speed up and her swallow, then he saw a blush creep to her cheeks and her purse her lips. Her hood now covered most of her eyes. So once he set her down on the bed he pulled it back. Her dark, brown eyes truly were beautiful, and he just discovered that they could show quite an array of emotions: anger, confusion, sadness, embarrassment and happiness. But he liked that last one best.

He gave her a kiss on the forehead then said, "I'm gonna go change." With a smile on his face.