A/N: Hey look, after almost a year of nothing you get two chapters in one day! Thank you to those who have favorite and followed, but can someone please review! it is the only way that I can tell what you guys think of the story and if I should continue it or not. So please leave me a review with your honest opinion so I know what you guys like and don't like. Thank you.
They had been running almost none stop for the past three days in pursuit of Merry and Pippin, but Anra didn't mind. It gave her a reason to stay in her wolf form and not have to talk with her companions. She had not told them about what had happened in the forest with Boromir before the uruk hai attacked and she had no plans too; she saw no reason why she should taint their memory of their fallen friend.
Anra was still uncertain with her feelings, while part of her mourned the loss of the man she had come to respect and look at as a friend, another part of her felt, well not exactly relief that he was gone, but she knew that if he was still around she would never have been able to be truly trust him again. She knew that if it weren't for that damn ring then he never would have done anything like that to her or any woman. He was a respectable man who would never lay a hand of any female, but that didn't stop her mind form making up horrible nightmares about what might have happened if they hadn't been interrupted, it didn't stop her from shying away from her other male companions now whenever one came too close to her. She knew it was ridiculous, she knew that anyone of them would give their life to protect her without hesitation, but she also knew that Boromir would have too.
The third day was drawing to a close when Aragorn called for them to a stop, as much as they wanted to continue their chase they were all too wore down and need to rest. As they set up camp for the night Anra simply curled up in her wolf form a little ways away from the others content to stay in her wolf form for the night, when Aragorn said:
"Anra, come help me find a stream to refill our water skins."
She wanted to protest and say that he hardly need her help to do that seeing as how they had passed a stream not too far back, but the look her gave her quieted any objections she had. Climbing to her paws, Anra lopped off to the trees where the stream had been assuming that Aragorn would follow.
Once they were in the cover of the trees, Aragorn asked in a tired voice, "Are you going to shift or am I going to have to have a one-sided conversation?"
With a sigh Anra shifted back into her human form, she wrapped her arms around herself wishing that she had her cloak on to beat the night time chill. Frowning when he saw her shiver, Aragorn reach to wrap his arm around her shoulders in an attempt to warm her. She jumped away from him as if his touched burned her, all the sudden unable to get the memory of a rough hand running along her body out of her mind.
A look of hurt and confusion passed over Aragorn's face when he saw her flinch away from him, but he simply pulled his hand away from her and said nothing. After walking for a bit longer in silence, Aragorn broke it again saying, "There's something I need to ask you about."
"Hmm?"
"Well before Boromir died he said something to me that I didn't really understand."
Anra had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach as she picked up the pace wanting to get to the stream as soon as possible. "What was it?" she asked dreading his answer.
"He kept apologizing, saying that he was so sorry and he didn't mean to. At first I thought he was still talking about trying to take the Ring from Frodo, but then he started begging me to ask you for your forgiveness."
"Anra," he said softly coming to a stop and gently holding on to her wrist, "what was he talking about, what happened?"
Refusing to meet his probing gaze she pulled her wrist from his grasp and walked the last few yards to the stream saying, "It doesn't matter; he was not in control of himself. There's nothing for me to forgive." Her voice was flat and barely above a whisper when she said this.
Ignoring his demand for her to explain herself, Anra bent down to start refilling the water skins. Hear a sharp intake of breath from Aragorn, Anra snapped up right, scanning the forest for any threats. Before she could ask him what was wrong he had strode up to her and pulled the edge of her shirt up a little revealing the swirls of a large green and brown bruise, she realized that her shirt must have rode up a bit when she bent down to fill the skins. Anra hadn't been in her human form since Boromir had attacked her, so this was her first time seeing the damage he had done. A sort of morbid curiosity filled her as she slowly lifted her shirt further and examined the bruising that stretched from her hip bone up to her ribs and went partially across her stomach.
Aragorn lightly brushed his fingers over the bruising a look of horror on his face. As soon as she felt his touch she dropped her shirt and scrambled backwards, trying to get away. Seeing the she-wolf's distress he immediately ¬took a step back and held his hands out palms facing upwards to show that he meant her no harm.
"Anra, how did this happen?" he asked, his voice serious.
Anra gave a small shrug as she dropped into a crouch so she could fill the water skins without her shirt ridding up again. "I don't know," she said her voice quiet and dismissive, "it must have happened during the battle."
Aragorn pursed his lips, "You fight in your wolf form, how would you have gotten injured there?"
"Maybe I got kicked," she shot back, becoming defensive, but Aragorn was having none of it.
He slowly lowered himself so that he was sitting on the stream bank next to her, "Did Boromir do this to you?" She turned her face away from him, refusing to meet his eyes, giving him his answer. "So you approached him alone, as a human?" his tone was gently and he stayed still, making no further moves to get closer to her.
Setting the last water skin down on the bank, she nodded her head and slowly raised her eyes to meet his. She opened and closed her mouth several times before she was able to find her voice to speak, "He didn't seem angry or violent, just sad and confused, so I went to him to ask what was going on. We were just starting to get along so well, I didn't want to think anything bad of him." Her teeth had started to chatter, though she didn't think it was just because of the cold anymore, as she thought about the vacant look in Boromir's eyes.
Aragorn watched her with a pained expression, wishing he could take her in his arms and shield her from the world. He had known something was wrong when she had not shifted to her human form a single time over the past few days and it had been pretty easy to see that she had been trying to keep a small distance between herself and the rest of their group, he just hadn't known why. Now he sat as still as possible, not wanting to scare her away, but silently offering her his support.
Anra continued to gaze silently at him searching his face for any signs of anger or disgust, but when she could find none. Taking a deep shuddering breath she scooted over to where he was seated and leaned lightly against him, seeking both warmth and comfort. With slow, deliberate movements so she could tell what he was going to do, Aragorn wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him so she could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest.
Despite the intimacy of their position, Anra easily relaxed into his familiar hold, taking in his comforting scent. He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head as he ran his hands up and down her arms trying to warm her. He more of felt than heard a small whimper when his hand brushed over her left bicep, pulling slightly away from her so she had to raise her head from where it had been resting against his chest, he asked in a soft voice, "Is your arm alright?"
Feeling much calmer with him now, she responded, "Yeah, it's just a bruise."
"May I see it?" he asked hesitantly, she bit her lip nervously for a moment before nodding.
Pushing her curls over her other shoulder to get them out of the way, she cautiously pulled the collar of her tunic to the side and then down her shoulder exposing her flesh to the cool night air. Doing his best to ignore her bare shoulder, Aragorn sucked a breath of air through his teeth as he looked that the large purple hand print on her delicate arm. Anger swept through him at the sight of it, 'How could I have let this happen to her? I shouldn't have let her go after Boromir alone.'
He pulled her shirt back up in place, careful to not actually let his fingers touch her, not wanting to take advantage of her in her vulnerable state. "May I check your side? I want to make sure there's no internal damage," he didn't want to push his luck, but when he had seen it earlier it had looked really bad and he wanted to check for any cracked ribs.
Not really even debating it this time she grabbed the bottom hem of her shirt and drew it up until it was bunched up under her breasts. She watched as his eyebrows drew together and he started to reach his fingers out to her stomach before he stopped himself for a moment to say, "I'm going to have to feel along your ribs to make sure none of them are cracked, are you alright with that?"
"I trust you Aragorn," she said simply.
He would be lying if he said his heart didn't leap at her words with happiness, but he tried to keep his face neutral as he gently started to run his fingers along her rib cage, occasionally lightly pressing in some places to check for damage. Relief flooded through him when he didn't feel any breaks, he allowed his fingers to skim down her stomach and side making sure everything felt alright.
Anra sat very still, trying to keep her breathing even and regular as the ranger ran his fingers over her stomach and ribs as gentle as a feather. She could feel goose bumps breaking out on her skin under his fingers and she knew for a fact that they were not from the cold this time. In fact, at the moment she felt like she was practically overheating.
As soon as his hands left her skin she missed the contact, but she quickly pulled her shirt back into place and told herself to suck it up. With a sigh Anra climbed off his lap and pushed herself to her feet.
"We should probably start heading back now before Legolas and Gimli think we've been captured."
Aragorn nodded his head in agreement as he slowly climbed to his feet, grabbing the water skins and following after her. They two of them left side by side in a much more companionable silence than they had on the way there, their shoulders brushing together as they walked.
The next morning Anra woke early, the moon and stars were still out, but she knew it was pointless to go back to sleep since they'd probably be leaving in less than an hour. She made no move to get up though, feeling quit comfortable where she was, snuggled deep in her bedroll with her head pillowed by one of Aragorn's arms. She could feel him pressed close against her back, and his other arm was wrapped protectively around her waist keeping her from rolling away from him in her sleep.
She knew she was walking a dangerous line, not only was Aragorn a human, but he was also the rightful king of Gondor and she was a Nightstalker, the future alpha of her pack. There was no scenario that she could think of where a relationship between the two of them would end well. They were meant to rule over two entirely different kingdoms of two entirely different species, two species that did not trust each other in the slightest.
And that was without even thinking about the visions she had seen in the basin when they had been staying with the elves. She thought about how Lady Galadriel had said that one choice could change all of those horrible versions, she wondered if choosing to be with Aragorn or not could be that pivotal choice. Feeling safe in Aragorn's embrace she allowed herself to mull over the different scenes she had seen. Thinking about the ones with Eron and her pack mates made her want to cry, even with Eron mad at her for leaving the safety of the pack to go on this journey she couldn't imagine anything ever causing him to attack her like that. They had been best friends since they were pups, him and Isla were like litter mates to her.
Thinking about the next set of visions that involved members of the Fellowship made her uncertain. While she wondered why they all seemed so upset with her, they showed Merry and Pippin alive and well which gave her hope for the rescue mission they were on now. Then of course came the one where she was stuck bleeding in a dungeon, she had no idea what that was about. The dungeon could have been from any kingdom, but she could hardly believe that the keepers would leave their prisoner bleeding out, it just didn't make sense. Not to mention the fact that she was all alone, she refused to accept that any of her companions would leave her to rot in a dungeon.
That left her with the very last vision. Carefully wiggling around she was able to turn herself in Aragorn's arms so that she was now facing him. In the fading moonlight, she could just barely make out his facial features. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, just like he had in her vision. Only in her vision he had been in a grand bed and he had had a well-kept beard. She gently laid her hand on his chest right over his heart, taking comfort in its steady thrumming. The more she thought about that particular scene, the stranger it became. All of the other ones, they had been events happening to her, whereas in this one, she was the one controlling the outcome. She took comfort in this, because she knew that she would never ever be able to hurt this man, so as strange of a vision as it was, it didn't matter because it would never come true.
Just as her eyes began to drop again, Aragorn opened his brilliant grey ones. A smile broke out across his face when he saw her lying next to him. "Good morning Princess," he whispered. She rolled her eyes at the nickname but couldn't stop herself from mimicking his smile.
Leaning in he pressed a quick kiss to the tip of her nose causing her to wrinkle it in surprise. Chuckling lightly at her expression he released his hold on her and climbed to his feet to wake the others and start packing up camp so they could be on their way. She stayed lying down for several more moments thinking.
Maybe it was wrong for her to have feelings for Aragorn, but truthfully at the moment she didn't really care. He made her feel safe and happy and by the Valar why shouldn't she be allowed to feel these things, it was her life.