Golden: A Paranormal Romance

by Ellis Marie

  Obviously, they aren’t used to having rules in the house and having to watch out for me. I get that, and I try to stay out of their way so that I don’t annoy them. However, all that seems to do is annoy Scarlette and cause her to drag me into every activity that they are doing. Whether it be playing sports outside or watching a film, the girl won’t let me ostracise myself in any way, shape, or form.

  Although I pretend to not want to join in, she sees right through me. I have to admit that the evenings spent with them all are the most fun I’ve had in years. I’m nervous to make my own friends and find somewhere new to fit in. I haven’t had the choice or freedom to do it since I dated Matt, and so I’m a little quiet around them at first, but they are so welcoming and lovely to me. I have a sneaking suspicion that it has to do with Trent and the fact that I’m now the luna, but I could still see how genuine and caring they all are.

  The evenings are incredibly fun, but the days are beginning to drag.

  While everyone else is attending school, I’m not allowed to go back yet. The news of the bomb has managed to be contained. I’m not entirely sure how Trent manages to do it, but Cole says something about how they have connections everywhere and a bit of a hold over some of the police, not only in the town, but also in the state. I suppose that’s how he also manages to get the school to agree to give me time off and send work home without needing my father’s permission.

  Note to self: never piss them off, they’re insanely powerful.

  So, although everyone doesn’t know the ins and outs of the event and I’m not being investigated for how I magically survived an explosion or if I planted it myself, it’s still pretty hard to hide the huge gaping hole in the side of my house and the neighbours witnessing it. People are talking, and I need to lay low until it blows over a little.

  So not only am I to wait for the hype of the bomb blast to die down so that I don’t get bombarded with questions as soon as I walk in the door, but Trent also doesn’t think it’s safe to go back yet.

  Apparently, he’s worried that the people who had attacked Cole and I are still trying to get us. Nobody has figured out who the actual target is, so keeping me safe is the highest priority. According to him, someone had to have known that I left school early and was back at the house; therefore, he feels like school is compromised.

  Not that he told me that himself because I’ve barely seen him since the night we had the barbecue.

  He’s been spending pretty much every single second of his time in school, his office, or out of the house. He’s up and out before I even wake up, and at night, there’s no sign of him apart from the occasional call he sends through for someone to go and see him.

  I’m starting to think he sleeps in his office, considering I haven’t heard his bedroom door open or close in at least four days.

  Not that I’m listening for it or anything. Of course not, that would be stalkerish. I just pass it on the way to the bathroom sometimes.

  So, I’m to stay in the house for my own safety. Luckily for me, Cole also has to stay at home for the week, for everybody else’s safety. Deli says that they need to test him to make sure that the wolfsbane won’t have any lasting effects on him, and he isn’t just going to suddenly flip out in the middle of the school corridor and turn into a wolf. It would be quite hard to cover up.

  “Do we want pizza, pizza, or . . .” Cole holds up the third box. “Pizza?”

  “Pizza?” I answer with a shrug. He nods in response, kicking the fridge closed behind him. “This is getting boring sitting in the house,” I sigh, picking up a barbecue chicken piece. “I can’t believe I’m saying that I actually miss school.”

  Cole snorts and digs into the food. “Tell me about it. I miss getting compliments on my rippling muscles and shining eyes.”

  I roll my eyes and throw a slice of the pizza at him while telling him to shut up, but he only laughs and moves out the way.

  “I have a favour to ask,” I say after we’ve eaten in silence for a couple of minutes.

  Cole shakes his head immediately and shoves a whole slice into his mouth, holding his hands up in defence as he backs away from me.

  “You don’t even know what I’m going to ask yet!” I whine. “That’s not fair.”

  “I know that you’re asking me because, whatever it is, Trent won’t like it,” he garbles through food, making my face scrunch up at the sight of it. “I am not getting murdered by him because you’re bored.”

  My shoulders sag with defeat as I slump over the counter, my mouth falling into a pout. Stupid alpha.

  “Oh, don’t make that face,” Cole pleads, wiping his hands on his shorts. “I can’t deal with sad girls, you know this.”

  I do know this.

  After watching quite a few romance films—which I swore to Cole I would never tell the rest of the pack about—I discover that Cole is a giant softie at heart. When I start to cry at one of the films, he almost falls over trying to comfort me.

  It’s extremely entertaining to watch, and I may or may not completely abuse this power by making him get me snacks and forcing him into doing a facemask with me.

  I’m also not allowed to tell anyone about that. I just have to pretend we are watching action movies all day and doing schoolwork, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t use my newfound secret to my advantage.

  “It’s fine,” I mumble, refusing to look at him. My voice sounds like that of a scolded child as I play with the crumbs on my plate. “I just wanted to exercise a little and learn some defence moves, and I heard you train everyone,” I sigh heavily. “But I know that it’s too much to ask, and I’d never want to get you in trouble.”

  “Don’t do that.”

  I stick my lip out further and drop my head to my arms so that I can cover the snigger that’s flickering across my lips.

  “It was silly of me to ask, I know.”

  Above me, I hear Cole groan and move to the other side of the counter while talking to himself. His body seems to crumble in defeat.

  As a large sigh leaves his mouth, I look up to see him staring at the ceiling and wagging a finger to whoever he thinks is looking down at him. I try not to laugh at the sight, but a noise escapes me and it brings his attention away from whatever he is doing.

  “Fine,” he complains. I spring to my feet in happiness, running to him and grabbing the side of his body in my arms. “But nothing major; I’m not losing my head for you getting a bruise.”

  “Of course not,” I reply, trying to not show just how excited I am. “I’ll go get changed and see you outside in ten.”

  Before Cole can so much as agree to my arrangement, I’m out the door and up the stairs, sprinting across the hall to my room.

  I quickly change into a pair of cropped leggings and a sports bra while I tie my hair up in a high ponytail, making sure to put on extra deodorant so that I don’t embarrass myself in the heat. I can’t help but glance over myself in the mirror as I pull on my trainers and scrutinise how I look.

  Stop it, you’re just working out with Cole.

  There’s no one else in the house, apart from someone’s mother who has come to take washing from a room, so I don’t worry about who I might bump into on the way back downstairs.

  When I find Cole, he’s outside in the garden. He’s pulling off the T-shirt that he’s wearing as he stretches his legs in the sun, rolling his head side to side.

  “Catch!” I shout, throwing a bottle of water at him. He grabs it with ease, barely even looking up to acknowledge me. “Show off.”

  “If you think that’s showing off, then you’re in for a hell of an afternoon,” Cole snorts, pushing himself off the ground. “I’m not going to let you off lightly.”

  “Good,” I reply, trying not to let my eyes skim over the way his muscles flex as they move, but I can’t exactly help it. “I don’t want special treatment.”

  “No special treatment. Got it.” The smirk he shoots me would probably bring most girls to their knees, but
it just makes me shake my head and roll my eyes as I stretch forward and loosen up my muscles.

  “I’m thinking we’ll go for a bit of a jog through the woods and down to the beach,” he explains. “Not too far though because I don’t want you to die.” I stick my tongue out at his jab. “And then we can do some workouts and some self-defence training. Sounds good?”

  I take a swig from my water before putting it down on the table and tightening my hair bobble.

  “I’m ready.”

  I’m so not ready. The exercise starts out brilliant at first; the sun makes it pleasant to be running in, the scenery is gorgeous, and I feel fit as a fiddle. However, by the time we loop around and are heading back up to the house, I’m sweating so badly that I might drown and my lungs are screaming at me to take a break.

  Cole, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to break a sweat.

  It’s not that I’m unhealthy; Matt has always been pretty clear with what he found attractive, and I made sure to work out so that I didn’t become ‘unattractive’ to him, but it seems like Cole may have come out the ass of Terminator with the stamina he possesses.

  There are definitely times throughout the run where I want to smack him and his smart mouth for the cocky comments that he’s shouting back at me, but I also notice that whenever I’m really struggling, he suddenly stops and says that he thinks he hears someone and that we should wait for a minute or two, in case it’s dangerous.

  I don’t mention that he’s actually giving me special treatment.

  “You did good!” Cole exclaims as he leans over me, his head blocking out the sun that seems to be blistering my skin with its rays. “I didn’t think you’d make the whole run, so kudos to you.”

  A fake laugh leaves my body, but my chest quickly contracts again with short breaths as I try to regulate my breathing and slow down my heart rate so that I can actually stand again.

  “I’m dying,” I groan, covering my face with my hands while revelling in the feeling of the cold grass against my skin. “I don’t know how people do marathons. I literally could just sink into the ground right now and be content with never moving another muscle in my life.”

  Cole chuckles and hands me my bottle of water, drinking his own in the process. “I’m going to do some strengthening exercises while you cool off for a couple of minutes and then we can do some self-defence, alright?”

  I nod, and again, I’m thankful for him ignoring the fact that I’m meant to also partake in this.

  Cole doesn’t leave me sitting for long, just enough time to do about fifty push-ups and other exercises with ease before he drags me to my feet and over to a flat and soft spot of grass.

  “You know, I actually hate you a little bit,” I grouch. “I feel like, even without your supernatural handicap, you’d still have managed that easily.”

  Cole smiles but doesn’t reply to my snarky comment. Instead, he motions for me to stretch out again. I comply, grumbling about his strict regiment and how I didn’t sign up for a bootcamp.

  “Okay, we’re just going to do some nice and easy ones to start with. We can do others another time.”

  I nod in response and copy his stance, watching the way his feet plant firmly into the ground, and I do the same.

  “Right, so what I’m going to do is try to grab you from the front, and I want you to put a hand on either side of my arm.” He holds my arm out and shows me the points he means to explain. “Then I want you to push with this hand, so that the arm kind of bends the wrong way and then your other one holds it the other way and the person is forced to move their body to stop it from getting hurt.”

  I do as he says. I apply slight pressure to his arm so that he reacts to it naturally, and I watch as his body tilt in response.

  “Perfect.” He grins reassuringly. I can’t stop myself from grinning back at him. “Now, with my body unbalanced, my legs are my weaker spot to go for. You need to take your leg closest to me, so you still have your weight on your other side. That’s it! Okay, now, I want you to either kick the back of my legs or just try to wipe them out from underneath me with one sweep, got it?”

  I nod and gently kick his leg with my own. He rolls his eyes at the weak response.

  “Great, now, do it properly.”

  I nervously take my stance again, my heart rate picking up as a nagging fear creeps into the back of my mind.

  “Come on, no pathetic attempts.”

  He’s not actually going to hurt you, Elle. It’s Cole.

  Cole steps towards me as I take a deep breath. As soon as I see his hand rise, I raise my own and grab onto it.

  One side, other side, push.

  Cole’s body bends. I swipe my leg under him, watching as his body falls and my own stumbles a little with the weight of him going down, but I manage to correct my feet and stay standing.

  I did it.

  “You did it!” he shouts, jumping to his feet and wrapping his arms around me, lifting me off the ground as I squeal. “That was brilliant!”

  The two of us yell and laugh and completely overreact to the moment but I don’t care. For the first time in my life, I have been able to overpower someone and feel like I protected myself. Sure, he really isn’t using a lot of force and he won’t actually hurt me, but my stomach still tightens when he steps forward and fear still flits through me.

  “Okay, again,” I order out of breath as he puts me down. He nods in agreement, standing back again into our positions.

  We continue to do this a couple of times over, and Cole shows me some other moves and techniques to try and deflect someone’s advances, as well as how to get out of tight holds.

  It’s great, but the whole time, Cole is so gentle and careful with me, making sure to not as much as mark me, let alone knock over or actually push me.

  “Cole, you know you can actually be a bit rough with me, don’t you? I am trying to learn it for real.”

  He scratches the back of his neck and pulls a face, his green eyes full worry.

  “Do it for real, Cole,” a voice suddenly shouts from the back door. “She can handle it. Don’t baby her.”

  I throw Scarlette a huge grin as she walks over to us, a couple of guys coming out behind her who are milling about the garden and throwing a ball around.

  “You guys are back already? Wow, how long have we been doing this? It must be hours,” I comment, throwing Cole a look of surprise. He mirrors it, shrugging.

  “We should probably stop before you hurt yourself,” Cole states, bending over to pick up his T-shirt. I frown at his comment, which he notices as he straightens back up. “I didn’t mean that offensively—”

  “Cole, she’s not going to hurt herself,” Scarlette interjects, scowling at him. “Once more, properly. Don’t treat her like a child.”

  Warmth fills me. I smile at the redhead standing to my right who winks in response before I look at Cole. My eyes are basically begging him to listen to her. He groans and shakes his head before whispering something under his breath and putting his belongings back down.

  “Fine, but if you can’t get out the hold in ten seconds, then I’m letting you go,” he tells me and can sense that there’s no room for disagreement.

  “Deal,” I agree and smile before shaking out my limbs and taking a breath. I squat slightly as Cole watches me, his eyes focused. It’s as if I can see cogs turning in his head and the worry that’s filling them as he debates on how to hurt me the least.

  Adrenaline tingles in my fingertips.

  “Right, we’ll do the arm one and then I’ll knock you down—”

  “Cole,” I say firmly. “Don’t tell me, just do it.”

  Before I can say anything else, he moves towards me and throws his arm forward, going for my neck. I quickly repeat the moves that he taught me, knocking it away and then kicking his feet out from under him.

  “Woo!” Scarlette calls. “Go, Elle!”

  I smile and try to look up at her, but that’s obviously a mistake and takes my attentio
n away from Cole who rolls his body as his leg effortlessly takes me out. I fall to the ground with a thud.

  The breath gets whacked out of my lungs. I gasp as I push myself up, anger filling me as I scold myself for not focusing.

  You’re useless, Elle.

  “Oh god, Elle, are you—”

  I yell and launch myself at Cole as he reaches for me, knocking him to his back. Straddling him, I grab his hands and lock them in the grass. My skin goes white at the pressure. My chest heaves as I look down at him, my fingers like vices and his eyes narrow at me.

  “Stop it!” I shout. “Do it properly!”

  How can I learn to defend myself if I’m being treated like glass?

  Cole’s eyes darken and his nostrils flare as he easily pulls his hands out from my grasp and wraps his leg around my own, flipping me onto my back so quickly that my head spins. As I land, he climbs on top. His hands are now the ones stopping me from moving.

  My lungs feel like they stop working. All I can feel is his weight on me. All I can see is the angry look in his eyes as I struggle to get out his grip.

  “Come on then, Elle,” he growls. “Get out of it.”

  At first, I try to do the move that he’s taught me as I attempt to lift my legs to free them, but it’s clear straight away that his weight is too much. My body begins to twist in panic, a cold sweat creeping up my neck.

  “You wanted the real thing, so do it!” he orders. As his hot breath hits my face, fear swallows me.

  The pressure of his hands reminds me of my father’s tight grip. A scream of frustration leaves me as I try to yank them away but they cling on.

  The warmth of him pressing into me feels like Carter’s body holding me to a wall. I can smell his repulsive scent flowing over me as I close my eyes and try to get the words out. I choke on them and tears fill as my heart pounds in my ears. His weight moves as he readjusts and puts both my hands in one of his. I manage to turn myself over in an attempt to get away from him, but it only makes his body fall onto my back.