For the rest of the journey, all is quiet apart from Alex's heavy breathing. There isn't a sound from within the car. Jackson knows better than to talk too loudly and to wake Alex up... He'd learned that lesson the hard way. Alex wakes up just as the car is pulling up the long road towards the huge house-like castle that the top pack members live in, although Alex is King of all werewolves, he has his own pack, which is the inner circle that he trusts above all else.
Alex looks down beside him and can't help but let the smile tugging at his lips win, Isabelle is sleeping soundly, curled up into a ball beside him. Even in her sleep, she looked completely adorable. Alex could only think about how lucky he was to have her as his own, he would protect her and make her happy at all costs... at that thought, Bulkoso makes a small meow as he stretches out his legs. Alex stares at him with disgust written all over his face.
Noticing Alex was awake, Jackson turned around in his seat and noticed the look on Alex's face - it really was a good job, Isabelle was asleep, so she didn't see it.
"Now do you understand?" Jackson smirks with an 'I told you so' look on his smug face. Alex drags his eyes away from his sleeping mate to look at his best friend, making sure his hand never leaves Isabelle's back where he was making comforting circles with his finger.
"I really do" Alex sighs happily, his smile faltering for a moment
"What's wrong buddy? The cat really isn't that big of a problem" Jackson teases trying to put a smile back on Alex's face, it was such a rare thing that Jackson wanted to savour it, it works but then as quickly as the repeat smile came, it disappeared again along with another sigh
"I don't know how, I never understood the mating pull, but I already know I love her and yet I also know she is keeping something from me, it's like an itch that I can't get to. I know it is something to do with that pack, I just know it is.... Not to mention it scares the hell out of me that before I met her my full attention was on the pack and now I'm thinking to hell with the pack, I need to protect her" Alex explains knowing that his trust in Jackson was a secure one, Alex could tell Jackson anything in confidence and know it would never go further than the two of them
"You just found her, you've never known what it was like to love something or someone with your whole body, I'm sure it's normal that while you're getting adjusted to this huge change things are going to feel strange and take some getting used too but soon enough your wolf will balance things out including your love for Isabelle and your commitment to the pack" Jackson shrugs with an empathetic smile "When did you get so smart?"
Alex grins reaching over to punch Jackson softly on the arm
"What was that?" Jackson laughs but stops when he sees the look on Alex's face "Okay! Okay! It's just that I've been waiting to hear that leave your mouth for ages... we're talking years here pal"
The car finally comes to a stop, and Alex jumps out of his side of the car, eager to show Isabelle around her new home. He waits for his sinking feet to get adjusted to the pebble driveway before walking around to Isabelle's side of the car.
Alex opens the door, ready to catch her if she falls, which she starts to do, but he simply scoops her up in his arms, not even waking her up, despite it not waking Isabelle up The move startles Bulkoso, who jumps from Isabelle's lap and runs off in the direction of the dark woods.
Alex curses under his breath, and he holds Isabelle closer to his chest. He looks around to notice everyone waiting for his and his mate's arrival is standing around, not doing anything, with awkward looks on their face. Cats don't mean anything to werewolves so they don't think that bulkoso was important but he was important to Isabelle meaning he was important to their Queen
"Go after him, bring him back safely!" Alex finally yells knowing they weren't going to do anything without direction from him.
All but one person scurries off towards the forest to go and look for bulkoso. Alex notices one man from the lower end of the pack with his feet firmly placed on the floor, with no plan to move. Alex could almost feel the anger making his blood boil, how dare this nobody disrespect his orders?
"You knew that meant you too, go!" Alex growls, trying to control his anger, so he stays quiet for a still sleeping Isabelle.
"I'm not going to chase a cat that doesn't matter to me" he smirks cockily not moving an inch even when Alex squares up to him, if Alex hadn't been holding Isabelle he would've been in front of the man in an instant with one of his hands wrapped around this insolent fool's throat
"It matters to me, your Alpha and your future Luna, so suggest you get running, little bo,y", Alex yells, in a quick second before anyone can even see what is happening, Alex kicks his leg out powerfully against the man's knee, sending him tumbling to the floor with a whimper.
"I suggest you go now," Alex says in a scarily quiet voice, the man nods his now white, shaken face before limping off in search of bulkoso with the others.
Decided there were people on the job, Alex doesn't wake Isabelle to tell her about bulkoso, he simply carries her to his bedroom this would now be, of course, their joint bedroom. Alex lays Isabelle down, and she instantly relaxes as she curls up into the soft duvet. Sitting down at the desk across the room, Alex starts to catch up on some work, but not without regularly looking up to make sure Isabelle is okay.
When Isabelle stirs from her refreshing sleep, Alex is almost instantly by her side, smiling comfortingly, but with a nervous look on his face, which she picks up straight away. Despite not knowing what is wrong, Isabelle finds herself looking around the room she has never been in before. It takes a couple of minutes, but she quickly sees what is wrong with this picture she is finding herself in.
"Where is bulkoso?" Isabelle asks, trying to sound calm, but her voice is wavering slightly. Isabelle jumps out of the bed and gets to her knees to look under the bed, where he liked to sometimes hide at home, but he isn't there, which makes the ball of anxiety in Isabella's stomach grow even bigger.
"When I picked you up from the car when we got here he got scared and ran off" Alex explains biting his lip which Isabelle finds incredibly attractive but is so blind sighted by the fact that he lost bulkoso and didn't wake her to tell her the horrible news makes he momentarily looks like the ugliest man in the world
"Why didn't you wake me?" she yells scrunching up her fists angrily
"You were so sound asleep and well
I have a big team out looking for him, you or I couldn't do any better than what is already being done" he shrugs with a smug smile on his face, feeling proud of himself for even doing that. Isabelle understood that he could not totally understand that this was Isabelle's best friend and that she needed him but she still felt hurt, Alex might not have known the extent of their
Friendship but he knew that Tobias
It was incredibly important to Isabelle. "He won't come out for strangers," she says softening only slightly looking past Alex's shoulder out of the large window that faces the forest and the now very dark sky "He'll be so scared"
Isabelle heads towards the oak door of the bedroom but Alex grabs a hold of her hand and pulls her back
"Where are you going? I already told you there were people already out looking for him" he questions raising his eyebrows
"To look for bulkoso," Isabelle says like Alex is stupid while she wriggles out of his grasp quite easily because Alex was too scared to hurt her by holding tight
"No, it is too dark!" Alex explains walking over to the curtains that he closed to show the dead of night even though she had already seen it
"I don't care and don't follow me!"
She yells going back to being angry at him again as she flings out the door to walk out of it hoping that her senses would kick in and lead her towards a door out of this maze-like place
'Our first fight, and it's about that stupid cat', Alex thinks to himself with a sigh. Isabelle didn't even have any shoes on, so Alex quickly packs a backpack with shoes and a jacket for Isabelle, then quickly runs downstairs to get food and hot drinks, as it could be a long night searching. No matter what Isabelle said about not following he was always going to.