James wasn’t expecting the night to be easy, but he wasn’t expecting that either. He had an agreement with Kara that they’d update each other whenever needed, hourly if possible about their whereabouts and in her side, about Maya as well. If their child was safe and in bed, sleeping, having more dreams than nightmares as she deserved. Now, he wondered how he’d tell his ex-wife that he had encountered a werewolf on his way.
“Of course, we keep some chains at the storage room. Come on in,” after everything he had been through believing someone so openly perhaps was the mayor still being naive. But, thankfully, he had met Valentina once, months ago during an event and there was nothing about the young woman that made him perceive her as someone he should be wary of. “The full moons lately haven’t been anyone’s best friend. Let me know if there’s anything else that I can be helpful aside from chaining you up.” He found a joke in there, he kept it to himself. Maybe it was his nervousness trying to make a joke out of everything, that’s usually how he reacted while under pressure, while his anxiety would make his heart beat faster and he didn’t know how to fill up an awkward silence.
Locking the door behind them, since he was the only one inside the city hall anyway, aside from security, he motioned towards the storage room, grabbing a box of chains. “I can take you to the council chamber, it’s a wide room, and I can stay with you in there until you tell me you should no longer have company. The room is big enough that it’d take you awhile to try to get to me if you ended up setting yourself free.” He exchanged those words already hoping none of that would happen.
Valentina pulled her lip between her teeth, using the pain of it to keep her grounded for the moment. She hated asking for help. It was getting easier with Santiago and Naomi and Zoey there offering help when she felt she needed it but every once in a while there was that nagging voice that reminded her of her mother telling her that she was being a burden on everyone. That she should be self-sufficient by now. After giving James a small nod, she followed him inside, her arms wrapped around herself. When he spoke it seemed to break her out of her own thoughts and she gave a half-hearted huff of a laugh. “No, you can say that again. I’m lucky to have an Alpha who is amazing and makes sure we’re alright. Though I can’t get through to him, which is strange. You’re already doing so much for me. You don’t really have to do more.”
The click of the lock made her heart leap in nervousness but she knew it was necessary. In a moment she had calmed herself back down but now the pull and stress of the change grew ever closer. “Sure. yeah. Whatever you think is the best. I...” She let herself trail off for a moment. Did she trust herself to be able to know? Maybe she would just have to. Since she had become a part of the Bodden pack, the thought of shifting alone wasn’t one she wanted to think about. Even if he wasn’t pack, he was someone to keep her from letting her thoughts make everything worse. “I don’t want to put you into an uncomfortable position but company until it gets to close would be really nice. I’ll tell you when I’m uncomfortable but if you want to leave at anytime, please do.” Val gave him a sad smile and waited to follow him.
