Isabel's Choice

Chapter 34 - Isabel

When I step into the cozy old kitchen Luna Alejandra greets me with the broadest smile, in the same way she did the day we arrived, and in the same way she did every morning since we are here.

I note again how stunningly beautiful she is, with her flawless caramel skin - no freckles, no tiny mole at the corner of her left eye like me. She wears her dark brown hair tightly and carefully braided, two raid rings peeking behind her ear.

***

She welcomed me in her house as if we would have known each other forever. We dropped the polite Luna-speak after the first handshake and she sent Lars to look for Sven somewhere on the slopes. My Alpha looked at me with puppy eyes, asking if I would be comfortable on my own for the afternoon. I said yes, because his voice was shaking with an anticipation whimper, and I was gratified with the broadest excited smile before he ran away with wolf speed to gear up.

Alejandra then gave me a tour of the house and she showed me the room I was going to stay in - with a single bed. She did so matter-of-factly, as if it were a normal thing for lead couples to sleep in separate quarters.

Things almost went a bit south when we visited her small sewing room. She is an avid and talented seamstress, and she admitted shyly that the flamboyant-colored frilly dress I admired on the day of Sven's ceremony was her creation. The same goes for her thick winter coats, which, for an additional touch of badassery - are lined with the fur of her own kills.

She does all this in her free time, but her free time as Luna is limited. As such that space we were looking at had been overtaken by fabric pieces, half-finished projects, random spools, and implements.

I mindlessly asked her to allow me to organize it - as a personal favor to me -  because I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep for one minute under the same roof as that chaos. I instantly regretted my impertinence, but Ale shrugged and told me to knock myself out. 

It took me two mornings, but when I finished and invited her to check my work, she teared up and declared me her den sister.

***

The afternoons were spent learning to snowboard with my Alpha. He is a considerate and patient teacher, yet I fell from the T-bar countless times and I twisted my legs in ways I had no idea they could be twisted without breaking. But yesterday my descent - slow and careful as it may have been - was fall-free and I started to understand a bit the high my Waverider gets from it.

That is why I granted him this morning alone time, so that he can move with the speed his heart desires. I plan to ride the little slope in my snail rhythm with Alejandra and her future Beta Elsa.

„So coffee and then snowboarding?" I ask Ale, only to see her smile fading.

„I am sorry, Isa, I won't be able to join you today. Elsa is on strike and I feel bad to saddle her mom again with the whole dinner prep."

"I didn't invite him so I am not feeding him!" A muffled voice screams from the pantry.

Through the half-open door Elsa's thin frame is barely identifiable. She's between the shelves and holds her knees together, arms hidden under an unbrushed golden mane.

"Elsa, you need to speak to Gian sooner or later," Alejandra responds calmly, but her fists are clenched and slightly shaking at her sides.

"Later! Always choose later!" the Beta protests and the Luna's skin turns a shade darker, as she's blushing in anger for being challenged so impolitely in front of a guest.

The fact that Alejandra doesn't even enter Elsa's safe space is a testimony of the deep friendship they hold, which goes beyond their hierarchical relationship. Indeed, Ale takes several deep breaths and continues to speak through the crack in the door.