The Alpha and his Mate

Chapter Ninteen

Annabelle's PoV

I woke up with a smile on my face and the feeling of sore muscles all over my body from yesterday's run. I wasn't used to doing that much physical exercise yet, that and the fact that I had never used certain muscles before in my life. I can't believe that I had actually managed to shift yesterday. On one hand it felt so abnormal running on all fours around the wood, but at the same time it felt like one of the most natural things in the world.
 
I smiled as I tried to stretch out all the soreness before sitting up to find the other side of the bed empty and the room dark due to the closed black out blind. How long had I been asleep for?
 
"Jax?" I whispered into the room, hoping he could hear me.
 
A few seconds later the door opened slightly and I saw Jax step into the darkness of his room with a smile.
 
"Hey there sleepy head, did you have a good sleep"' He whispered as he took a seat on his bed in front of me.

I smiled and nodded my head, still a little groggy, "yeah I did thanks, what time is it?" I managed to mutter out through a yawn.

He smiled as he reached out to tuck a strand of knotted hair behind me ear. "It's about 1:30 in the afternoon, you slept for a long time. Not surprising though considering you went through the shift and then had quite a long run after. How are you feeling by the way? You're not feeling nauseous or dizzy or anything like that are you?" He questioned.

I mentally assessed myself before shaking my head with a smile, I honestly felt fine. The best I had felt in a long time.

He let out a little sigh in relief before holding his hand out for me to take. "Come on then, you have an appointment in two days with Dr Tessler and I want to make sure that you've put on enough weight to satisfy her".

I rolled my eyes at him as he pulled me up and out of my sitting position, groaning as my sore muscles yelled at me for making them move.

When we got downstairs I sat at my usual spot on the kitchen counter and as I watched Jax fix me my usual bowl of soup I thought about everything that had happened over the last twenty four hours. Not only had I shifted into my wolf for the first time, well the first time that I could remember anyway, I had also been reunited with the man that had ripped my childhood away from me and forced me to never shift with the Alpha Command Jax had told me about. What didn't make sense to me was why that man would even want to ruin my life like that? Why would he put so much effort into taking me away from my parents and making sure that I never shifted just to place me in a fake foster home? What had I ever done to him to deserve something that cruel?

"Are you okay little mate?" Jax asked with a concerned note to his voice. I looked up from my fingers that were still fiddling in my lap to find that he had stopped pouring out the two bowls of potato and leek soup and was now standing in front of me with a concerned look on his face.

I tried to smile and nod my head, not wanting him to panic after everything that he had done for me over the last few days, but I could tell that he wasn't buying it from the stern look that he gave me.

"I just don't...understand" I sighed and looked down, wanting to avoid eye contact with him.

"Understand what beautiful?"

"Why?"

"Why what?" He asked as he lent on the counter next to me, his arms folded across his chest and his bare feet crossed at his ankles.

"Why would Alpha Parker want to do something like that to me?" I whispered as I wrapped my arms around myself to try and ease the strong sense of loneliness that had suddenly overwhelmed me.

Jax sighed and wrapped his arm around my shoulder and brought me into his chest. "It's not your fault Annabelle. Alpha Parker is the scum of our kind, we knew that long before you came into our lives, this just solidifies it for us. Don't worry, him and anyone else that helped him will get what they deserve" he mumbled.