Noah knew he was doing at least two of the things Elann listed well. She always made sure he was fed and fed well and he never sought to intentionally irritate his stitches. All there was now was he be active but he didn’t like walking around because of how annoying it was to walk at the slow pace. He could be patient with everything but recovery, it seemed, because he yearned to just be free and to fly again, not shuffle around until he was healed. Being grounded was more than annoying and frustrating for him, and the fact they were in the wild only made it worse to deal with. He thought he would be able to enjoy the total freedom of the wilds, to fly and show Elann what it meant to him to be out here in the openness. The fates were stacked against him though and he was to do no such thing.

Noah watched her hesitate to lie down until the fullness of the topic was broached by him. It seemed the emotions she felt weighed her down, forced her to lie in full before sighing out. She questioned him, biting her lip. Noah didn’t know what to tell her. He had been away for three years and could only hope his siblings and father remained the same like Aimee did to a point. Aimee didn’t treat him any differently despite knowing Elann more than any of their other siblings, and he knew he wouldn’t be outcast for his relation with Elann, that was not their way. He hoped since Elann was his bondmate they would be more forgiving but the future remained uncertain.

“I don’t know,” he said truthfully. “Don’t take it personally, okay? They are going to treat you how they treat every person, how they’ll even treat me.”

Going back, Noah knew he was going to be facing a hard time as well. He had been away for so long that if he was going to stay long term he was going to have to reestablish himself in the family’s hierarchy. Because he wanted to be close to his family, even if he had his own home, he would have to deal with the walls put up by Ryon. Donavan was out of the picture, his own place essentially being forfeited and leaving Ryon with a lot of power under their father who only served to rein people in when they were getting out of place. That said, he still didn’t know how it was going to be, all of it up in the air and in the hands of assumptions and fortune.