Leonidas ✔️

Chapter 28 - Leonidas

"Are you sure you don't want the medicine, Leo?"

"For the last time I'm fine," I murmured, clutching my chest in a way that made my statement meaningless.

"Would you like some help with that? We have plenty of people that would be more than willing to help."

"Jackson, for the last damn time, I don't need help in any way, shape, or form. Understood?" I asked my brother as I turned to face him. He raised his hands in surrender, then dropped them in his lap.

"Do you expect to build this thing on your own? It's going to take decades!"

"It won't take me that long," I answered, throwing a large log into the pile that was forming a few yards away. I had started to chop down trees the day Councilman Harry and his entourage left, and was now trimming them into perfectly shaped logs to form my new home—a new home that would be as far away from Jackson and Ana as possible.

"We have more than twenty builders in the pack, and none of them are busy! Why can't just accept the help?" Jackson asked. I let a low growl escape my mouth, trying to get him to shut up.

"I would move much faster if you weren't around, Alpha, so I think you should leave." Jackson huffed at my statement but stood, stretching his arms to the sky. I winced as his spine cracked, and heard a small chuckle.

"You never change, do you?"

"I thought I'd asked you to leave, brother."

"You used to hate when I did that. The only person you tolerated it from was mom."

"That's enough!" I shouted. He had no right to bring up my mother.

"I find it funny how you can handle the breaking of bones, but not the cracking of them."

"I find it funny that I asked you to leave five minutes ago and you're still here, Jackson. Leave me the hell alone."

I didn't turn my back when he sighed, then turned and began to make the long walk back to the pack house. The crunch of leaves beneath his feet faded until I couldn't hear him any more, and I continued my work with a sigh.

Expecting to have this done within the next two months, I was going to be so busy I hopefully wouldn't have to see the new Alpha, or deal with any of the pack members. For just this time, I wanted to be alone.

I continued to shape the logs to perfection, and by the time I was finished, the sun had gone down and I was alone in the dark. It was growing cold so I grabbed the shirt I had been wearing this morning and slid it back on.

The pile of logs had grown to be taller than I was, and I stretched my arm across my chest to prepare for the night ahead of me. It would be the third I wasn't getting any sleep, but it hadn't fazed me at all. I was determined to get this finished sooner rather than later.

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"Leo?...Leo!"

"Dear Goddess, what, Jackson?" I asked as I turned to look at him as he walked through the trees.

"I apologize, I thought you hadn't heard me. I brought you some dinner, since you refuse to eat with the pack."

"Like we both don't have advanced hearing, brother. You can take the meal back to the house, I won't be needing it," I said, motioning to the stag carcass lying behind me. I'd taken it down about an hour ago, and hadn't had the time to eat it yet.

"I also brought the medication, Leo. I know you probably won't use it tonight, but I ask that you use it tomorrow morning. Eleanor wasn't willing to go through an entire day of pain just so you didn't take the medicine," Jackson muttered distastefully. He had seen first-hand how bad it had been last time, as had I, but I still wasn't planning on taking the damn medicine. I didn't need it.

Apparently Jackson was finished with the conversation—not that I was complaining—as I turned around and watched him walk away. The only thing on the ground was a small, green bottle, and I smirked in triumph. I wasn't going to have to return the plate at the pack house later.

Throughout the night, despite trying to focus completely on the precise measurements of the wood, the bottle taunted me from where it sat on the ground. The trees began to shake with an intense wind, and I swiftly turned around when a strange noise caught my attention.

The pill bottle had fallen over, rattling as it was knocked to the ground by the strong force of the winds. I bared my teeth at it, growled for a few seconds, then continued on with my work.

Just a few hours later I was managing to fit the logs into place, sliding on top of one another and clunking to a stop when the notches fit into place.

As I was carrying yet another large log towards the structure, I tripped in surprise when a loud crunch ripped through the silent night, and fell to my knees. I gritted my teeth when the log came down on my shoulder, all its weight pressing into a tendon that was causing a lot of pain in my shoulder and neck.

I winced, standing and rolling my shoulder several times to relieve the pain. Something small and white caught my attention, and when I looked down, my eyes widened in surprise when I noticed small white pills were spilling out of the green bottle Jackson had dropped off.

The pills!

I knelt once again, trying to enhance my eyesight in the darkness to locate the pills. After a few minutes I realized I'd only found five, and I furrowed my eyebrows in frustration. I combed my fingers through the grass, fumbling for anything that felt similar to the pill. A few feet away I noticed something shining, and upon further investigation, it was the lid of the pill bottle.

Unconsciously I found myself praying to the Goddess that the pill would be under here, and when I lifted it up, I was sadly disappointed. There was no pill lying in the soft, green grass. I sighed and began to stand, only to flip the lid over and realize it was caught in some of the crushed plastic.

I pulled the pill out, ignoring the small puncture in my finger, and tossed the pill in my mouth. My body, unbeknownst to me, slumped a little in relief, and I heard a chuckle come from the woods. My wolf and I were immediately ready to defend ourselves, and a very loud, annoyed growl came out of my mouth when Jackson stepped out of the woods.

"That was why I thought you hadn't heard me earlier, brother. You lost some of your enhanced senses when you temporarily lost your position. I'll take the rest of the pills back to the house to keep them safe, and I'll bring you one each morning," Jackson murmured with a small smile on his face.

I dropped the five pills into his hands and cursed him under my breath.

"By the way," Jackson spoke loudly, "you're making great progress, but you'll need sleep eventually. Let me know if you want breakfast."

I turned my body slightly, and sure enough, the sun was rising. He must have gotten out of bed in my room to come check on me. I growled. I didn't need to be checked up on.

Nonetheless, I continued making what would be my new home. Jackson kept insisting I take a break, but I would take a break when I could do so inside my own home. As I set a log on top of another yet again, I let my mind wander towards what might be happening with Eleanor. Was Harry being nice to her? He could really be an asshole sometimes.

A growl unwittingly left my mouth at the thought of Harry being disrespectful towards Eleanor, and I found myself having to reel in my wolf for the first time in a few days. I sat down on a pile of wood I had cut or chipped off of my logs, and wiped the sweat from my brow.

Jackson?

Yes, Leo?

I'd like some breakfast.

I'm on my way.