Chapter 4: Revealing Her Past

                                    

                                          
Serena had stood in front of the kitchen window, staring outside. James' deadline was over, but there was no sign of him yet.
She had come out of James' room around noon, back to her normal self. The only difference was the fact she did her best to not look at Ajax or go anywhere near him.
After lunch, she had spent long hours watching outside of the window into the stormy weather, looking for any sign of a giant brown wolf.
But it was afternoon and there was still no sign of him anywhere. Worry lines weren't leaving her face and her lips had become chapped from the number of times she had bitten them or picked at their skin.
"Please be safe." she mumbled under her breath, hugging herself. "Don't be stupid. I'm safe. Please don't rush home in this weather. Take shelter and wait until it passes away."
But what if he was hurt? 
What if the same group of rouges and hunters that had attacked her ex-packmates had attacked him too?? 
What if ...
Shaking her head to get rid of the stressful thoughts she went to the cabinet containing her heart potion and took it out. Her frown only intensified when she took the vial outside. It only contained enough potion for one or two gulps. 
Clenching her jaw, she leaned her hands on the edge of the cabinet. Why should she have a defective heart? It was only because of this weakness of hers that James was out there between all of those dangers. 
It was the start of spring. Why such a storm was happening that time of the year for that long?
The silly orgon chose that second to ache even worse. A tear slid down her eye which she wiped angrily while taking a small sip of her potion.
Closing the vial, she put it back in the cabinet and quickly rushed to the front door, ignoring all of the concerned eyes that were fixed on her from the living room. 
The best way to keep her mind off of bad thoughts was to busy herself with the work around the house that she had neglected for days.
"Come on, Puppy." she called her small fluff ball while wearing her thick cloak.
Standing out of the cottage she took a deep breath in the crips cold air. The storm had subsided for an hour and the clouds didn't seem that thick. So the afternoon light was good.
She smiled when she saw her sweet dog barked happily and jumped into the thick pile of snow in front of the porch and immediately sank in.
"Careful, Puppy." chuckled Serena. She picked Puppy out of the hole she had created and giggled at her happy face.
At least someone was happy around the house
She then walked to the barn at the back of the house with Puppy tucked under her arm and then she began to clean the chickens' house and order their storage that had become messy in the past days.
She then walked outside and cleaned the snow from around the trunk of a tree that James used to chop wood. She grabbed the axe and a few large wood pieces. They were running out of wood for the stove and the fireplace.
Putting the first piece on the thick trunk, she raised the axe and brought it down with all of her might, putting all of her frustration in it. Five more strikes and the piece of wood finally broke into two pieces.
Panting hard, she watched the pieces falling to the ground with satisfaction. Her muscles were aching. A small smile stretched on her lips as she remembered a memory and a tear ran on her face.