Chapter 73 - Had Enough?

Once more, Galen felt the cold splat of a snowball smashing into his face.

“Bell! What the hell–” Galen shouted, interrupted by yet another snowball. Luckily, he managed to turn his head just in time to avoid getting any snow in his mouth.

He growled and turned back to her. She stood smirking, holding another snowball, prepared to throw it at any moment.

“Don’t you dare,” he growled.

“Oh?” she cocked her head to the side with a sarcastic smile. “Now, you want to talk?”

Bell pulled back and launched the snowball at Galen. He dodged it only to find another already speeding towards him.

“Damn it!” he shouted as his attempt to dodge the second volley was thwarted, and he was left covered in more of the slush.

“Bell, can you please–” his words were cut off by the next snowball to hit his face. This time, his mouth was unfortunately opened.

He coughed out the dirt-covered slush.

“Ok, ok,” he said, putting a hand up toward Bell as he continued trying to spit out the last of the slush, “I’m sorry that I was being rude.”

“Is that all?” she asked.

Galen looked up at her, confused at what it was she expected from him. Instead, he found a look of sadness and anger staring back at him.

“What else?” he asked helplessly.

Bell let out an annoyed huff, drawing her arm back and yet again pelting him with more snowballs.

“Don’t! Make! Assumptions!!” she screamed with each new volley.

She threw so many at one time, Galen was overwhelmed, getting down on one knee to brace himself. When the attack suddenly stopped, he hesitated to look up. But when he did, he found her panting, exhausted from the energy she had used in her assault. Her face was flushed and upset.

“Do you know… what happens… when you assume?” she huffed out.

Galen furrowed his brows, not understanding.

“You make an ASS out of U,” she stated.

He remembered the saying now, ‘when you assume you make an ASS out of U and ME.’

“And me,” he offered.

“Exactly!” she shouted, hitting him with one more snowball. “You are an ass!”

The snowball hit him, and for the first time, it didn’t feel like a wet slushy mess crawling down his shirt. It didn’t feel like an icy bullet being shot at him with the intent to harm. No, this time, it felt like a message. A sad, hurt message from someone who cared.

He smiled.

“What the hell are you smiling about?!” Bell demanded, “Ok, I see, you haven’t had enough? Fine!”

Bell bent down, gathering a rather large mound of dirt and snow and rolling it together into a lumpy ball. Then, she lifted it up above her head.

“Now, you’ve asked fo–”

The cold hit her first, the slightly painful stabs of ice against her skin. Then it was the slushy wet feeling sliding down her face. Then, before she had a chance to fully react to the snowball Galen had thrown at her, her own messy ball held high above her head caved in and covered her in even more of the powdery snow.

Galen burst out into laughter. He couldn’t help it; the scene was simply too much to hold back from.

From this point, the inevitable was all that could happen. Once Galen’s laughter had been interrupted due to a counterattack from Bell. An all-out war broke out between the two.

For the next ten minutes, they lobbed snowballs at each other between fits of laughter. Then, running and ducking, dodging and diving.

Finally, Galen raised his arms in the air shouting for a truce. While he had plenty of ammo left, and the energy to keep going, the wound had started to ache, and he knew it was time to stop.

“Terms of surrender are as follows,” Bell said as she approached him. She still held a snowball at the ready, just in case. “One, you will agree to answer all of my questions. Two, you will come to the hospital this afternoon for a proper check-up on that wound.”

“Seriously, it’s not necessary,” Galen interrupted.

“Three! You will admit that I am right in all things and comply with my every whim,” Bell said with a bright smile.

Galen couldn’t help but smile at her.

‘You’re so damn cute,’ he whispered in his thoughts.

He bit his lower lip before saying, “All your whims, huh?”

Bell felt the heat rush through her.

‘She actually blushed,’ the thought excited him.

“And what if I only accept one of your demands or two,” he asked.

“Well then,” she replied, recovering from her moment of embarrassment, “the war continues.”

She raised the snowball high in the air, preparing to launch it.

“Guess I’ll just capture your General then!” Galen shouted as he reached forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her towards him.

They fell back into the snow together, tumbling down with tickling and laughter. It was the most fun either of them had had for as long as they could remember.

When they both grew tired, they agreed to call the war off. Galen decided to get his wound checked out, and Bell agreed to be the one to do it.

After the truce was agreed to, they continued to lay in the snow staring up at the sky above, holding hands, pretending not to realize it.

“So…. Now that we have both ‘cooled off,’” Bell began, drawing a light chuckle from Galen, “are you going to tell me what you think you know or saw, or imagined about Axel?”

Galen sighed.

“You knew I was going to ask; you should have been preparing for this the whole time,” she said playfully.

“How was I supposed to know I needed to prepare; I was busy winning a war.”

“Uh, you didn’t win. I allowed for your surrender.”

“I captured you.”

“Do you want to start this again, or are you going to answer my question?” she asked with a laugh.

“I’m pretty sure that if I get any more snow down my shirt or pants, I will die of hypothermia,” Galen replied with a sigh, “So I guess I will answer.”

“Good choice.”

He took a deep breath to prepare himself.

“I came by the alpha’s house like you told me to. When I arrived, I saw you upset. I tried to run to you, but I wasn’t the first one there,” he sighed.

“Oh…I see,” Bell replied.

“Yea,” Galen said, “I know I have no right, but seeing the closeness between you. The way he could comfort you. I didn’t like it.”

Bell didn’t respond. Galen began to feel uncomfortable. He started to move to get up when she suddenly turned herself onto his body, laying her head against his chest.

“What are yo–”

“Axel and I are friends,” she began, “we have been for years. So I do feel close to him. I trust him, and he knows things about my past that most people don’t.”

Galen was hurt by the words, knowing that there were even more ways that Axel was closer to her than Galen could be. But the tone in her voice made him want to hold her. To give her comfort however he could. So he wrapped his arms around her.

“I can’t say that I will never make you uncomfortable again. I can’t promise I will stay away from Axel because I won’t,” Bell stated, “But, what I can say,”

Bell lifted her chin to rest on his chest so she could look up at his face.

“Is that I like you. A lot.” she smiled. He smiled back.

Galen loosened his hold on her as she moved her body up closer to his face.. Bell looked down into his eyes as she brought the warmth of her lips to his.