Chapter 95: The Realization
Rosalie:
The moment I stepped out of Mr. Wilson’s car in front of Eiden’s house, I knew something was different.
The peaceful front garden looked exactly the same as always, the morning mist still clung to the flowers, and the first rays of sunlight were only beginning to peek over the mountains, yet the familiar black SUV that usually belonged to Zaiden was nowhere to be seen.
Before I could wonder, Eiden walked out onto the porch already dressed in his usual training clothes and a water bottle in one hand. The warm smile he always greeted me with hadn’t disappeared, but there was a certain focus in his eyes that made me instinctively straighten my back.
"Zaiden isn’t joining us today as he has to attend to some important pack business, " he explained as we began walking toward the forest trail. "A dispute between two allied rogue territories needed his attention. It’ll only be the two of us today."
I nodded in understanding, though I couldn’t deny that I briefly missed the quiet Alpha’s steady presence. Somehow, over these past two months, seeing both of them every morning had become such a normal part of my routine that today felt strangely incomplete.
The run began without another word, but unlike the previous weeks, Eiden increased the pace almost immediately. Twenty minutes passed. Then thirty. The trail became steeper, forcing me to climb over rocks, leap across narrow streams, and weave between towering trees whose roots seemed determined to trip me.
Sweat soaked through my clothes long before he finally raised a hand, signaling me to stop. I bent over, breathing heavily while trying not to collapse right there on the forest floor. My lungs burned, my legs trembled, and my heartbeat thundered in my ears.
Meanwhile, Eiden looked as though he had merely taken a leisurely morning stroll. He handed me a bottle of water and waited until I had caught my breath before speaking. "Your wolf has become much more active since last week’s full moon," he said, his expression turning serious. "I can feel her almost constantly now. She’s getting impatient."
His words made my heart skip. I could feel her too. Though not fully awakened yet, but she’s also no longer silent. She lingered somewhere beneath my skin, alert and watchful, as though waiting for permission to step into the light.
Once I had recovered, the real training began. A part of me both feared and looked forward to this part of the training.
"Again," he said calmly before stepping into my space and repositioning my feet with gentle pressure from his own. "Your balance is too high." A moment later, his hands settled lightly on my shoulders, adjusting my posture. "Relax them."
When my elbow drifted too far outward during a strike, he caught my wrist before guiding the movement through the correct angle. Every correction was professional, precise, and completely focused on helping me improve. Yet no amount of reminding myself that this was simply training stopped my pulse from racing whenever he stepped close enough for me to catch the clean scent of cedar and herbs that always seemed to surround him.
Sometimes he would move behind me to demonstrate a defensive hold, his arms briefly surrounding mine as he guided the motion. Other times he would stop my punch with one hand before carefully rotating my wrist and showing me how to redirect an opponent’s strength instead of fighting against it. None of it lasted longer than necessary. And somehow... that only made it harder for my traitorous heart to behave.
After nearly an hour, he introduced grappling techniques. "If someone stronger grabs you," he explained, "don’t waste energy trying to overpower them. Use leverage."
Before I could even prepare myself, he had taken hold of my forearm and gently pulled me forward. My balance disappeared instantly, and before I knew it, I found myself pinned lightly against him while he explained exactly where my center of gravity had shifted.
"Feel that?" he asked softly.
I nodded because speaking suddenly seemed impossible. He released me immediately, only for us to repeat the movement again... and again... until I finally managed to reverse it successfully, sending him half a step backward.
Pride lit his face so openly that I couldn’t stop smiling despite how exhausted I was. "There," he said, genuine admiration warming his voice. "That’s exactly what I wanted." The praise alone somehow made all the bruises and aching muscles worthwhile.
As the session continued, my confidence slowly replaced my nervousness. I began anticipating his movements instead of merely reacting to them. I landed blocks that would have failed a week ago and managed to evade several attacks that previously would have sent me sprawling across the forest floor.
Every time I succeeded, Eiden’s smile grew just a little brighter. Every time I failed, he patiently explained what had gone wrong without a trace of frustration. Watching him, listening to him, spending nearly every morning beside him for the past two months... I finally admitted something to myself that I’d been carefully avoiding.
Even without the mate bond tying us together, I would have been drawn toward this man. His breathtaking appearance certainly caught attention, but that wasn’t what kept stealing my heart. It was his patience. His kindness. The way he never made me feel weak for not knowing something. The way he celebrated even my smallest victories as though they genuinely mattered. The way he always respected my pace, my boundaries, and my choices. The mate bond might have introduced us, but somewhere along the way... my own heart had quietly started making decisions without asking it.
And somehow... the same truth applied to Zaiden. He was nothing like Eiden, yet that didn’t matter. Beneath the cold expression, the commanding presence, and the frightening reputation lived a man who silently remembered every tiny detail about me. A man who had crossed pack borders just to retrieve my mother’s bracelet. A man who wore the inexpensive charm bracelet I had given him without a hint of embarrassment. A man who had spent his birthday simply wanting dinner with me. If there had never been a mate bond... I still thought I would have wanted to know both of them.
That realization should have terrified me. Instead, it filled me with a strange, quiet peace.
"Rosalie."
Eiden’s voice gently pulled me back to the present. I looked up just as he stepped closer again.
"One last exercise."
I nodded.
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