Aella's POV

Aella quietly left the room after Logan fell into another sleep. She realised that she needed a bit of fresh air after her cuddle with him. Being his mate and sharing in his emotions had taken a huge toll on her own emotions. It was an automatic thing, almost unavoidable. If Logan was feeling pain, she would feel it too. She'd had to set aside her own burdens and carry his own. Now that he was asleep, she was free to organise her thoughts again.

She walked downstairs to the foyer while looking around warily. Since her tattoo had been discovered by that buck-toothed maid, she had been extra careful and wary, carefully watching and guarding herself against danger. And so far, she hadn't heard or seen anything that could point to her tattoo becoming public news.

But it seemed today was going to be a different story, because as she came down the staircase into the large glossy foyer, she saw some maids moping the floor and discussing amongst themselves. Her alert wolf ears caught snippets of what they were saying. She heard words like "...scandalous", "...the very same tattoo". ".... couldn't have expected any less". She stopped and looked back at them and they stopped talking when they notice she was looking at them. 

In the middle of the maids was the buck-toothed girl she had bumped into in the kitchen only yesterday. "You really don't expect me to keep shut about your tattoo, do you, Miss Aella? It was just too juicy a gossip to ignore." She said with mockery in her voice and continued mopping the floor.

Aella felt rage and gritted her teeth at the maids in anger. She could not exactly take out her anger on them, but she felt so betrayed and angry. But then, what did you expect from a girl who was so ready to trade gossip? Her inner wolf asked.

She decided there and then that it would be safest to watch her back wherever she went. She could not exactly run away from the pack at this point because of Logan. This was the moment that he needed her the most because he was at an emotional low. If she left now it would put an even bigger physical and emotional strain on him and she wasn't sure he would survive it. She would put aside the persistent urge in her to run and take care of him first. Her mate before anything else.

Aella walked outside to the bright sunshine and sighed, letting it spread over her and push away the anger that she had felt towards the maid. This was her most favourite time of the year: late spring. She loved the bright hues of the season: the attractive flowers in the hedges, the lush-green grass, the cool breeze that swayed the trees at twilight. Everything stood out in beautiful shades of yellow and green and orange. She could run around in the grass and feel the dew soak into her feet, the wind carrying her hair and blow it around like a black emblem.

She usually enjoyed sitting outside or looking through the balcony in her's and Logan's room in the evening. The bright shift in light towards evening, from a flowery yellow to an appealing orange, was calming. It was one of the few things in the pack asides the presence of her mate that calmed her spirit.

Suddenly she realised that she had been in Logan's pack for about six months. She had arrived at his border in December, the dead of winter if she remembered correctly, and now it was late May. How time flies when you're happy, she thought.

But are you really happy? Her wolf spoke up in her ear and began to remind her of every emotion she had felt since she came to the pack. For the first few weeks after she had gotten over her desire to escape from the pack, she had been filled with anger. Anger at Logan, at herself, at the frustrating situation that her mating with the alpha had put her into. She had been so sexually frustrated that there had been no space to be happy. 

Then after Louve's wedding and their first sex, she had felt happy. In fact, happiness wasn't a big enough emotion to explain what she had felt during those few days. She had felt fulfilled: a different kind of fulfilled. The one you feel after a long day of tireless work. Her whole life had been that long day, and being with Logan had been the rest afterward.

Then Logan had begun to withdraw from her. She'd sensed it more than seen it. The sudden inability to look into her eyes when he was speaking to her. The distance, both physical and emotional. The block in their mind link. She had lived in agony during those periods, not being able to explain why he was acting that way towards her.

And now, what she felt was fear. Her secret had been exposed, and it was only a matter of time before the whole pack knew.

If they didn't know already.

She was snapped out of her reverie by the happy noise of little kids playing. Something soared past her ear and she looked behind her to see what it was. It was a red frisbee, which was lodged in the hedges behind her. She walked towards it and detached the frisbee from the hedges, then turned back. A little boy of about seven was standing in front of her, his hand outstretched.

"That's mine." He murmured, his light blue eyes looking up into hers.

Aella smiled at the boy and handed him the frisbee. "Here you go." She said.

"Jasper, Jasper!" A woman called from a short distance and Aella looked up. The woman was gesturing to the boy to come back to her. "Come on now." She said. "Leave the woman alone."

Leave the woman alone.

The sheer tone with which the woman had said that statement made a shiver run down Aella's back like a cold hand had touched her. She looked up at the woman and the woman returned her stare, her eyes full of hatred and fear. She knew what it meant.

The woman also knew about her tattoo.

Aella looked around and saw that the people that were on the pack house lawn were looking at her and conversing in hushed whispers, their eyes full of accusations. She turned away from them with an ashy taste in her mouth and walked towards the gardens.

When she entered the pack gardens, she tried to immerse herself in the bright colours and tried to calm her spirit but she couldn't. Her mind kept re-living that moment when the woman had stared right at her with fear and hatred. Who knew that the combination of the two emotions would have such an impact on her?

Suddenly she heard the snap of a twig behind her. She gasped and turned abruptly, her wolf senses at alert for any further noise. When she didn't hear any further noise, she turned and continued walking among the flowers.

Before Aella could react, she heard footsteps behind her and she turned to see a hooded man coming towards her with two knives in both hands. She instinctively crouched and raised her arms to block the impact. The person was resilient though, and she felt her arms starting to give in. She groaned loudly and managed to push the person off, then stood up and faced him head on. The hooded man yelled and charged at her with both knives raised but before he could do any permanent damage, Aella hit him with the palm of her hand.

The blow was so powerful that the man was lifted in the air and he hit a nearby tree, then slid to the ground unconscious. She had put so much force into that one blow. Without waiting to check who the man was, she turned and ran towards the pack house like the devil was on her heels.

She was no longer safe here.