Come Morning Light

No more fighting. No more arguing. No more trying to convince himself to beg for forgiveness even though he had done nothing wrong. If Addie had held out much longer Andre may have resorted to begging, but his dominant personality forced him to fight back first. For her he would eventually break and drop down to his knees if needed.

A sly grin crept on his tired face when she started pulling him towards the stairs and he obliged her and followed. On the drive home he had been looking forward to showering, eating, and sleeping, completely forgetting the most important thing: nailing his wife. How could he have thought of anything else? He followed her like cartoon after a fresh baked pie’s aroma and grabbed at her hips and butt while going up the stairs. “I’ve missed your cute butt, Addie Louvel.” The wolf teased and grabbed her again, then hopped up a stair closer and buried his head down in her neck to growl and bite at her playfully only to kiss and make it better. Why did they ever fight? The good was so much better and outweighed any bad that they could ever have.

There was the smallest sliver of Andre that missed the shy Addie, only for the expressions she would give him when he made her blush. So when she blushed like that now it roused the wolf in him and made him more eager to make her do it again. He grinned like a sly fox, then followed her blindly up the stairs like Pepe Le Pew as she ran away. Though he was a much, much more eager version of the skunk.

He leapt up the stairs after her and growled, chasing her around the bed and grabbing at her multiple times before letting her get out of his grasp. What was the fun if he caught her right away? After a few minutes of letting his little vixen wife slip away he finally grabbed her and tossed her onto the bed, following after her to tickle her sides and hips. The wolf then leaned down to bite at her neck and chest, only to turn his movements more romantic by switching to kissing her body rather than treating her like a play thing. His hands moved more seductively over her body and felt her petite frame rather than trying to make her giggle. A week had been far too long to be away from his wife.

It was strange for the wolf to have to wait so patiently to play with a woman. Addie had been a difficult shell to crack, but now Andre was allowed to reap the benefits of waiting for her. There were few things he loved more than to chase her around and be playful with her. Sure, any man could say they loved sex, but it was the intimate moments before and after that Andre found himself falling more in love with.

He pushed her up further on the bed once things had flipped into a more loving moment. His hands were a little more rough against her porcelain skin than normal, but he had been gone for a week! When she hiked up her legs he growled and kissed her neck but leaned back long enough to let his shirt slide over and off. It had been too long since he had been with his wife, and that night he would make sure she knew exactly how much he had missed her.

After a few rounds in bed (or standing next to the bed) Andre found himself panting and laying behind Adella. His body contorted against hers and he kissed her shoulder blade, his fingers running up and down her arm as he breathed her in. For a few minutes afterwards he was quiet and content to listen to her heart slow down as she caught her breath. Once that was satisfied he crawled over her and kissed her before heading to the shower, oblivious to the text messages and emails he had from his clients and business partners. A few asked when he would be back next week, and one from a woman he used to date asking things she shouldn’t have asked a married man.

It had been a long week, but the night made up for it entirely (after the fight, of course). Words couldn’t’ describe how happy Andre was to be at home with his wife in his bed, in his shower, and soon to be in his own kitchen. He couldn’t help his mind from wandering to what life would be like if he brought Adella to New Orleans with him. Would she adapt there? She could continue schooling. There were plenty of witches in New Orleans and he was sure they could find fae to help her grow in her powers. But how could he even ask?

After a long, hot, and relaxing shower, Andre stepped out in nothing but a towel. He ran his hands over his dark wet hair to slick it back and smiled at Addie sitting up in bed. He tilted his head to see the light of a cell phone illuminating her face, but it wasn’t until he reached the dresser that he realized it was his cell phone. Shit. There were emails and texts from business partners and clients… shit. The wolf froze, then proceeded to put a pair of black pajama pants on as he tried to find the best way to let her in on the possibility of moving.

“This isn’t how I wanted you to find out…”

What Andre expected the fight to be about was completely different from what Adella was crumbling over. He sighed and adjusted the string that held his black pants up, then ran his hands over his hair to keep it slicked back while it was wet. It should have been a pretty low key fight that he could sweeten her up to … or so he thought.

When the phone came flying passed him Andre dodged it and looked back as it hit the wall, shattering the screen and dying with a sad little bleep. All the wolf could do for a few seconds was stare at Addie aghast, mouth open and eyebrows raised. He raised his hands as if to calm her down but stayed where he stood. “Addie! Addie! Calm down! It’s just a move! I know it’s far but –“ Then she was yelling again. “Wait, what?!” Cheating? They already cleared the air on that!

The wolf reacted on first instinct and grabbed her arm when she came by him to the closet. He turned her and took ahold of her by her shoulders. “Stop! I didn’t cheat on you, Adella! Where is this coming from? I didn’t cheat! I didn’t cheat.” It was all he could do was repeat himself. The wolf let her go and grabbed her bag from her and fought against her by putting her things back where they belonged. “Why don’t you trust me? I’ve NEVER done anything to not have your trust!” By now Andre’s voice was raised in volume but lower in tone, and his wolf itched to get it’s two cents in on the argument.

This was why Andre had stayed single for so long. Women were crazy. Women looked for problems, and Andre had enough problems on the surface he didn’t need someone to delve in and find more. He was an asshole, a prick, a stone cold jerk off, but he wasn’t a liar and he wasn’t unfaithful. In fact, Andre was one of the most loyal men there was. He was loyal to his pack, and he was loyal above all else to his wife.

Even when she was acting crazy.

“No!” He yelled back, holding the bag back further away from her like a boy keeping a toy doll from the girl he liked. “I didn’t do anything! I didn’t do a fuckin’ thing!” Yelling caused yelling, and Andre’s deep voice was booming back at Addie.

Wait, what? He leaned back and tilted his head when she told him about the love message and racked his brain. Who the hell would have texted him that? No time to think – Addie was leaving. Andre dropped the bag and hurried after her, grabbing her arm as she went down the stairs. “Wait, wait, wait! WAIT a minute, cheri!” He quickly got in front of her and grabbed her shoulders to stop her. “I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!” He spoke the words loud and clear. “I swear on my family, and on our marriage that I didn’t do anything or anybody! Fuck, sugar! You gotta stop and listen to me! That message must have been talkin’ about somethin’ that happened in the past, because I haven’t had sex with no body but you in… in…” God, how long had it been? “I don’t even remember! I met a lot of old acquaintances in New Orleans and I don’ know if it stirred some old feelin’s, but you’re all I care about, mon cheri. You best believe that.”

To say that in any other instance Andre would have backed off was a lie. He was an Alpha. He was bold and brutish and got his way, and it was frustrating him to no end that Addie wouldn’t believe him or listen to him. What could he do to convince her besides shake her? Even that wouldn’t work. She would just wake up in a daze then go right back to yelling.

“No! I’m not gonna let you go until you calm down. You can’t be goin’ out all in a fit, Adella. It’s late and you’re irrational.” She was irrational and crazy. Was it coming to that time of the month? If he dared even bring it up she’d most likely rip out his tongue. “I didn’t do anythin’, I swear! Why won’t you believe me? I swore on my dead family and you still ain’t gonna believe in me.” The wolf held her still and shook his head.

“I’m not lettin’ you go until you talk to me like a sane person, Adella Louvel. Why on Earth would I tell you I love you if I had done cheated on ya? I don’t know who sent me that message because the phone is broken now, but I swear they’re talkin’ about the past. I wasn’t a good man before I met you, you know that.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m secretly cruel. I got you here just to trap you then cheat on you. You got it all figured out, sugar.” The wolf quipped angrily in sarcasm and tossed his hands up in the air. What had the message even said that had her so convinced? Some immense detail about what he did, or what had happened?

The last thing Andre expected was for Adella to turn on him like she did. When he felt himself pushed back and out of the way he went into shock and fought against it, only to stand still and watch her squeeze past. He turned and watched his angry wife run down the stairs and waited until she was out the door when he turned and punched the wall so hard that there was a hole in the wake of his fist.

Once Addie was gone Andre reacted. He had held his temper in while she was home and arguing with him, but after all the stress of the past week and then the bonus anxiety from the fight he let go. The young wolf threw the bar stools across the living room, shattered a lamp or two, and all around had a fit. In the end of it all the house was trashed and his knuckles were bleeding, and the wolf was left sitting on the kitchen floor behind the island. The bottle of whiskey half empty in his hand and his breathing slowly easing down.

After the blow out all Andre felt he could do was drink. He had ruined the house, ruined his marriage, and felt himself getting into a frenzy of feeling down and dramatic about the situation. Whiskey was his relaxation. It calmed the nerves and made him feel numb like he wanted. He drank, and drank, and drank.

In the morning when he woke up on the kitchen floor he sat up in a daze. It was early, the sun had hardly begun to rise and yet he already hated the light. The wolf squinted and groaned, then peeled himself off the beautifully tiled floor and splashed some cool water on his face from the sink. He groaned and leaned on the counter for a few minutes as his world came back to reality, and he began to hate himself for getting back into old habits. He was not the man that Evelyn had plucked out of a bar fight, down on his luck and depression. He wasn’t depressed. He wasn’t this mess of a man anymore, but look what he had done.

Soon the wolf began to clean up his mess. He threw what was left of the Whiskey away (but not before hurling some into the garbage can) and cleaned the broken glass and random things around the house. Thank God it was a small house, otherwise he would have really fucked things up. After a quick cold shower he got dressed and realized he couldn’t call Adella to make sure she was safe, so he swung by the closest store that would sell him a phone and laid down a few hundred to get a new one. He wanted to read the text, but the kid in the polo shirt at the store told him it was gone with his broken phone. Fortunately enough the woman had texted him again and it came through on his new iPhone. It was from Lauren, a woman he had a fling with back in the days when he hardly knew his name. He promptly set her straight.

Before nine thirty a.m he was at Michelle’s door. He ran his hand over his hair to push it back, a nervous trait of his, and knocked firmly. He should have brought flowers, or breakfast, but he remembered that last night a gift was what set the entire thing off and was doing his best to not seem like a cheating man.

With all the things that ran through his mind it was a surprise that Andre hadn’t thought of Michelle. He hadn’t even dreamed that she wouldn’t let him in or that she would tell him to go away, because it wasn’t any of her business. She didn’t know Andre. She didn’t know what he was or was not capable of. So when she hesitated to open the door (the wolf could hear her through it) and didn’t seem too eager to let him in his face didn’t hide his lack of amusement.

“I don’t care whether she wants to see me or not, sugar.” He spoke slowly, his Cajun accent a little stronger than normal thanks to being tired and hungover. “I need to talk to her.” Did she not understand how hard it had been to peel himself off the floor this morning? That alone deserved an award.

“I didn’t do it, Michelle. You should have faith in the goodness in people. Now let me in.”

In that moment Andre hated women. He hated how protective they were over each other, and how they seemed to band together so easily to hate men. Okay, so maybe he didn’t hate women, but it sucked to be on team testosterone at the moment. His unamused expression didn’t change even when she stepped out further into the hall and shut the door. He didn’t move at first, then slowly leaned back on his heels to give her space. The wolf was unaware that he was coming off as a dick, and quite frankly he didn’t care. He just wanted to see Addie.

You will get further with honey than with vinegar, the wise words he was told as a rowdy young wolf rang faintly in his head. Finally the wolf softened and sighed. He was still quite ridged around the edges, but there was hurt in his eyes that came out from within. “I just wanna talk to her.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders tensely. “I didn’ do it. You gotta believe me, sugar. I didn’t do anything. It was a misunderstandin’ and I can’t understand why she won’t believe me. What have I done? What did I do to break her trust? I don’t get where it’s comin’ from.”

Finally the wolf felt like he was getting somewhere. For the past ten hours he felt as though he was in a downward spiral and couldn't do anything to stop himself from falling. Now he had someone who was listening, someone who would be on his side. The wolf wasn't a man to complain about his wife or troubles to friends. He kept things like that in, so he wouldn't have had an ally's except Michelle. He was grateful.

"Tell her that." He grumbled the words gently then pinched his brow. "I don't know what I can do to make her listen. I tried everythin' last night, and she just took off!" The wolf shook his head. "No, it wasn't just the message. She thought I was different from the moment I came home." No, no. He wasn't a man to bitch about things like that. Andre ran his hands over his face to collect himself and exhaled a long, slow breath.

"What can I do to get her ears to perk up? She won't have anythin' I tell her, and if I try bringin' her a gift she'll assume it's 'cause I'm guilty." The complicated little minx.

Andre wasn’t a feelings type of man. He didn’t understand much besides happiness and anger, or at least that’s what he would tell himself. So he didn’t understand why Addie needed to come and vent to Michelle. To him she was just hiding from him, avoiding the fight and ultimately the resolution. He wanted to get it over and done with.

“No. I wasn’t actin’ differently.” He was never wrong. “I even brought her home a present or two, an’ she just accused me of cheatin’!” What else was a man supposed to do? Should he have bought her a bigger present, or just arrange to wear a chastity belt while he was away? They probably didn’t even make those for men.

“Fine.” Andre nodded slowly, still unhappy with the idea but he knew it was all he would get. The wolf crossed his arms over his chest and paced back and forth in the hall, running his hands over his head. What could he do to convince her that she was crazy?