I wake up feeling warm. Ugh don't you just love those mornings when you're all snuggled up in your blanket and you're just so WARM! And you don't want to leave it! That's how I feel. I snuggle closet to the warmth. Wow the warmth feels so smooth, and rippled, and hard and...does warmth have pectorals? I open my eyes to find myself on top...and I literally mean, on top of Xander. One arms is under his head and the other is holding my back.

My eyes widen in total shock and I froze. Damn it Izzy! Why do you do this! I was trying to carefully remove myself from the greek god when I got distracted...very distracted.

It was so dark last night that I never really got a good look at him. But right now, in the sunlight, he looks so damn good when he's asleep. His hair is that sexy 'just woke up' look, he's got no shirt, just some black boxers. His plump and juicy lips look so...so...

"I kinda like feeling your eyes on me, sweetheart." He says.

I squeal in fright! I get such a big fright that I would've fallen off he bed if Xander didn't have a firm grip on me.

"I thought you were ASLEEP!" I exclaimed

"I was...until your creepy stare woke me up." His eyes were open and his voice was still ridden with sleep. He sits up, which then makes me sit up on his lap, "G'morning."

I cough awkwardly. I climb off of him and crawl away, "Good morning Xander."

He smirks at me before climbs out of bed. As he walks to the bathroom, I can't help but look at his ass. It's so perfect and round! Why do guys get all the best things about their body! For girls we have to work like 2 years or something to really get abs, but for a guy, it's about like 6 weeks. A guy has to force themselves to eat in order to get bigger muscles. Girls have to force themselves to not eat too much in order to get smaller! I mean! I think we all need to do a little switcheroo here!

When Xander comes out of the bathroom, he is only wearing a towel. His torso still has little drips running down his body. His broad shoulders compliment his broad chest. It's obvious that he works out. I mean, you can't get that ripped back without some hard work, right? And his arms, oh my life! His sexy large arms are the arms of a sex god! Ugh! And his height just makes everything way better. He is 6'5? And me, I am 5'5! He's a giant compared to me!

"You like what you see Sweetheart?"

I felt the crimson red paint my cheeks with embarrassment. I glare at him and fold my arms over my chest, "I was actually waiting to get into the shower! You took long enough!"

Xander walks to the other side of the room and grabbed my crutches and made his way to me and handed them to me, "It's all yours."

 I took them from his hands and quickly hobbled to the bathroom. I could still hear his sexy, deep chuckle from the other side of the door. I am so stupid! I was looking at him in awe! I mean his ego is  big enough! Like his head doesn't need to get any bigger!

Once I was cleaned and especially clothed, I crawl out of the bathroom wearing only a towel. I open the top drawer and was surprised to see a drawer filled with lingerie. Why would he...but my question was soon answer. I couldn't help a spike of jealousy that struck me. I lifted a lacy thing in the air, "Lana's I'm guessing?" I tried to say in a very nonchalant way, but it just ended up sounding strained. 

Xander looks over and he smirks. That asshole actually smirks. All the hope I had in his diminished almost immediately. 

"No, Izzy. They're not Lana's."

I turn around and throw them back int the drawer, "Oh so they belong some other whore?"

I felt heat on my back which indicated that he was right behind me. I gulped. I felt his breath on my ear which caused shivers to run down my spine, "You didn't notice that there are still tags on them."

I gulped again, "Meaning?"

"They're yours, sweetheart."

"The red ones are my favourite," He said in a low voice. 

I roll my eyes,"Well in that case," I grab my comfy, purple granny underwear with my cotton bra. I smirk at my mate and limp to the big walk in closet to grab my clothes.

He chuckles at my choice of underwear, "Not what I was going for sweetheart."

"Well tough luck Nightwalker. I want to be comfy. I only wear my pretty lace if it's a special occasion."

Any sign of playfulness left his face and replaced with cold exterior, "Has there been other occasions?"

I raised my brow, "I don't think that's any of your business." I snapped. 

Xander clenches his jaw, "I think it is where you're involved." He growls.

"No it's not," I argued with a growl, "That kind of information is reserved."

"For who?" Xander snarls. 

I step closer, "For my mate."

Xander steps closer and looks down at me, "I am your mate."

I look up at him for a moment and tilt my head, "Tsk tsk...I haven't decided yet."

Xander blinks away his rage and take a step back. He grips his hair and looks down, shame glistening in his eyes, "I'm Sorry, Elizabeth. I didn't mean to blow up." His eyes are staring at the wall above me. I can tell that it really is hard for him. His past is still haunting him. But I still feel like we need to build our relationship before we start to dabble into our pasts together.

He clears his throat and takes a deep breath,  "How're them legs going? Any discomfort?" He said trying to change the subject.

"Still not working very well. They have a little rehabilitation program at the hospital that I was thinking of doing."

He crosses his arms over his chest and nods in thought, "That's good. That's good. I could show you some other exercises if you'd like? You know to ummm...help strengthen your legs." He asks hesitantly.

I can tell that he's just trying to go slow with me. Trying to not be overwhelming or anything like that.

I nod and offered a small grin, "That'd be good. I need all the help I can get, I guess."

A smile appears that brightens his whole face, "Good! Ummm I'll get Soul to bring you some healthy shit- I mean healthy food!"

I snickered, "Okay, that would be good thank you."

He nods awkwardly and rushes out of the bedroom while scratching the back of his neck.

XANDER'S POV

"Noah!" I shout.

He comes running across the the training ground, "What ya need Man?"

"I told Izzy that I would help her strengthen her legs, but I don't know shit about rehabilitation""

Noah crosses his arms and smirks, "Wow, never seen you so...panicked over a woman before."

I growl, "She's not just some woman! She's my mate!"

Noah smiles and takes a deep breathe, "Let's just take this time to witness the oh so bad and notorious Alpha, melting into a little puppy on a very long leash, held by a very short woman."

I shove him away, "Don't talk about her like that. She's more than that. She's your Luna and I just wanted some help to try and win my lady back!" I yell.

Noah sets all the teasing aside and holds his friends shoulders, "Okay okay. I got a piece of paper that's got some simple leg stretches for starters."

I exhale harshly, "Finally!"

IZZY'S POV

Xander is taking a while. I guess we won't be doing the exercises today. I kind of hoped that he would. I wanted my legs to get better as soon as possible. Suddenly the door bursts open, showing a very tired looking Xander.

"Okay! You ready? We're going to go do the exercises now."

A little smile sneaks it's way on my face. I nod, "Cool."

He carefully helps me down the stairs and into the woods, "Okay so you should do some stretches for a couple minutes." Xander instructs. He tells me to hold a tree for support and try to bend over and touch me left foot with my right hand while keeping my legs straight.

We are both in the woods and Xander is standing behind me, looking at my form.

He nods, "Okay that looks good, just a little more." I was bent over touching my toes.

I get a jolt of an electric like sensation when he touches my hips. He finger swipes the little bit of skin showing between my pants line and short hem.

"That's good." He mumbles quietly. I feel his finger go slightly under my shirt, making me get a little fright.

Xander clears his throat and walks around me until he is right in the middle of my vision.
"Okay now I want you to try and try some simple walking to the tree and back."

I do as he says. This isn't half bad. I feel the different muscles being used as I move between the two.

I do this for a minute when he instructs me to sit down on the ground.

"I want you to sit down like this," He demonstrates for me. Xander sits down with his legs kept together and straight and his back was up right and shoulder back, making your back muscles locking up in strength.

"Now this is very simple. I want you to touch your toes, but, hold for about 10 seconds. Then I want you to touch them 5 times and then hold for 10 seconds. You get it?"

"Yeah, 10 second holds and 5 touches. Cool."

He gives me his 100 watt smile, "Good. Now I want you to do this for about 3 minutes. It will get your legs more heat and there for more movement and strength building."

This was a bit harder. It sounded so simple, but it was actually easier said than done. I do it anyways though. I was sick of crawling, but I also didn't want to appear weak in front Xander the Alpha.

"Okay times up. How you feel?" He asks.

I smile a little and nod, "Good." I'm exhausted

"Awesome. Do you feel good in your legs?"

"Totally. There's a real difference." I say as I imagine myself watching Netflix.

Xander nods and smiles as if he's really proud of himself. "Okay we got two more exercises then we're done."

Oh great... By the way, that was sarcasm.

"I want you to do a wall sit, but with a tree okay?"

"Okay," I said hesitantly, "For how long?"

"As long as you can."

Shit. He's really hitting me hard with these strength training.

I lean against a tree in a sitting position. I feel every muscle in my body tensing up in support so than I won't fall down on my ass.

I close my eyes and try to think of something else than the burning sensation that's building up in my legs and back.

Xander seems to be making a quite an effort. I really want to trust him. I mean we're mates! My wolf would naturally trust him...but I don't. And because if that I feel...I guess, alone and insecure about my position. I really do hope that he can really convince me. If he makes me look past all the things he did to me, then I will know that I can trust him.

I feel the sweat building on my lower back and forehead. I've been doing this for about 15 minutes. Damn this hurts so bad!

I feel my legs start to shake. They're getting weak...I'm really pushing myself. But, I look up to Xander. He's staring at me with his eyebrows raised. He was impressed. I can't let him think that I'm weak. I don't want him to think I'll be a weak Luna. Wait...when did I want to start impressing him?

"Okay that's enough. Damn Izzy. You're pretty good. I'd like to see you do that when you're fully healthy again."

All I can do is nod. I'm too weak to say anything. I feel like if I say something it will use the last bit of energy I had left.

"Now let's try a little jog. I'll do this one with you."

As soon as I heard him say jog...everything in me wanted to just collapse. "Okay," I whisper. NO! He'll be watching me even closer if he comes too!

We start on our jog. The first minute was hard. But after 5 minutes I'm practically dying. I have such conflicting thoughts running through my mind.

It's so easy to stop right now. I could just simply sit down and take a breather. No! I can't let him think I'm weak. I'm not weak!

My vision starts to shake with my dizziness. My legs are so weak that they're not even lifting up properly. I trip over. Before impact, Xander's arms come around me.

"Woah there. Izzy? Are you okay?"There was a trace of worry held in his voice.

I lay my head on his chest. I feel my wolf finally coming back with joy, triggered by the scent of my mate.I was too tired to fight my wolf right now. I feel myself submitting to my wolf.

I rub my face on his chest. Wanting more of his smell. Ugh! His smell is divine! I circle my arms around his neck.

"Shit!" He mumbles to himself.

Xander lifts me fully in his arms, it kind of gave me permission to totally go limp.

His chest was so broad. I loved it! More room for my face to rub. Being surrounded my his scent gave me more comfort than just total exhaustion.

I keep trying to move closer to him, wanting more. I feel his arms around me tighten bringing our bodies flush against each other.

"I'm sorry, Izzy. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard. I was trying to help, but it seems I just-"

"You wanted to help, and you did. I just feel like I got hit by a truck is all." I whisper.

"Whatever I do to try to convince you to trust me...IT NEVER WORKS!" He whispers loudly.

"You're not doing terribly" I whisper.

Xander scoffs, but then he frowns, "wait," he whispers, "Why're we whispering?

I smirked, "So than no one will listen."

He frowns, "But there's no one around."

"You jut ruined it!" I say loudly.

"Ruined what?" He questioned

I chuckled, "Can't you just pretend to be a kid for once?"

"Do you do this often?" He said mockingly, "Pretend to be a kid?"

I shrug, "Sometimes when I'm feeling playful enough." I tilt my head and stare at him, "You don't remember what it's like to be a kid?"

Xander shifted me in his arms, almost like he was uncomfortable, "I've forgotten what it felt like to be a kid to be honest."

"Why do you say that?" I questioned curiously.

He smirks, "Sorry. That kind of information is reserved for my mate."

I glare at him and cross my arms, "Whatever."

He chuckles, "So you can give it but you can't take it."

I pout, "Shut up."

He smirks, "I think if I'm trying to win you over, I have to be honest with you," I was surprised by how...mature he sounded. He seemed to think very carefully about things. His pace was a little slower when he began to speak, "With everything I've been through. I've never felt like a child. I look at you, Izzy and I feel so old.  I've been through too much and," He looks at me and I see pain and regret in them, "I've done too much to have a luxury such as a clear conscience anymore."

Xander looked very uncomfortable. I could tell he probably never talks like this. He is known to be a ruthless Alpha. But as I look at Xander, I see the vulnerability in his eyes. He probably very rarely let's his guard down.  And yet, he's trying...for me. He's trying to start to build my trust on a foundation of honesty. 

My wolf inside whines in agreement. She yearns to comfort our mate, which I let happen since...well there really is no reason. To not touch him is to go against my naturally mate instincts. It's something that I can't resist forever. And right now I am fucking exhausted. Everything feels like jelly!

I sit up a little more in his arms so than out faces are level with each other.

I look up at the trees and said, "I think you are a strong alpha who has went through too much, but knows the deeper understanding of life."

He shakes his head in a strong disagreement, "Doesn't matter anymore. It's all in the past." And there's a the hard mask again.

But I still wanted to say something to him. I wanted to at least give some kind of a word of encouragement. If he was willing to be vulnerable, I have to be willing to do the same, "I think that maybe the moon goddess gave you this life because she knew you were strong enough to handle it. There is always a reason. And you never know, sometimes you have to go through some hard stuff to get something good."

Xander looks at me and said, "That's true...I got you."

I gulped and stared back at Xander. I awkwardly cough into my hand, "Yeah well...Who knows, if you didn't go through everything that you did, maybe we would have never met."

Xander tilts his head to the side and shook his head, "That is where you are wrong, Sweetheart. I would have found you," He looks at me, his eyes searching deeply into mine, "I will always find you, wherever you are, I will do everything to have you safe...with me." He said with a certain voice, a voice that held a promise.

I lay my head back on his broad and muscles chest. I close my eyes and release a sigh that relaxes my whole body.

"I have no doubt."

At that point I am so tired that I feel like I'm high as a kite.I let my mind go and fall into a deep sleep.