by Sky Winters
A number of thin scars that stretched across his torso stood in marked contrast to the pale smoothness of his skin. When he turned, Savannah saw a large tattoo on his back, just under his neck. It was the image of a wolf howling at the moon, framed by several larger and more violent-looking scars, most of which looked very new. When Xander turned, he noticed her preoccupation.
Without a word, he pushed off his pants until he was standing in nothing but dark boxers. He came to the edge of the lake and stared down at Savannah, his grey eyes burning. “Do you like my tattoo?” he asked casually, as though it was completely inconsequential.
“It’s beautiful,” Savannah admitted honestly. “But I was focused more on the scars.”
Xander smiled. “I fall down a lot.”
Savannah glared at him. “That’s not funny.”
Xander shrugged. “I thought so.”
Without another word, he jumped into the lake beside her until he was completely submerged except for his head and shoulders. Droplets of water hung off his dark hair, making it look like he was wearing a crown of diamonds on his head. His eyes looked like silver amethysts dancing under the combined light of the sun reflecting against the water.
Savannah felt her pulse quicken, but she kept the distance that lay between them. “I came up here with you,” she reminded him. “I jumped into a freezing cold lake with you. The least you can do is tell me where you got those scars.”
Xander’s eyes grew serious, and he looked carefully at Savannah. “Haven’t you ever had a secret?” he asked.
“Not really,” Savannah said. “And even if I did, I’ve never had friends to share it with.”
Xander eyes warmed as she spoke, as though he appreciated her honesty. Savannah was too cold and too curious to be shy about the fact that she had little experience with friends, and even less experience with boys like Xander.
“I have a secret,” Xander said.
Savannah nodded. “I know.” She had sensed it from the moment she had seen him. The secret was in his strange and bright aura, and in those haunting grey eyes that said so little and so much all at the same time.
“Can you guess?” Xander asked.
“I don’t want to.”
“The reason I have these scars…is because of my father,” Xander said.
Savannah looked at him with wide eyes. “What?”
“He had a fiery temper,” Xander continued, “and I was usually the thing he took it out on.”
“You’re not a thing,” Savannah said in disbelief.
“He didn’t see it the same way,” Xander replied.
He swam closer toward her. Savannah knew that if she reached out a fraction she'd be able to touch him. She kept her hands wrapped around her body for warmth as the cold didn’t seem like it was going to lessen any time soon.
“You’re still cold,” Xander said. He reached out, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her to him, engulfing her with his entire body. Savannah felt an instantaneous heat hit her.
“How are you not cold?” Savannah asked.
“I’m used to it,” Xander replied.
“And the tattoo?” Savannah asked, trying to distract herself from how close his lips were to hers. “What does it symbolize?”
“My freedom,” Xander replied, “and my independence.”
“From what?”
“Everything that would threaten to keep me down or hold me back,” he answered.
“Does it have something to do with your father?” Savannah asked cautiously.
Xander nodded. “It does, but it’s so much more than that.”
It was so easy to be with him. Savannah realized this was the first time since her days in Africa she'd felt anything close too normal. There was a moment there when she had actually forgotten about her disability, and she was no longer the new, deaf girl who had just moved into town, she was just a girl spending time with a boy.
“Do you have any tattoos?” Xander asked.
Savannah laughed. “Me?”
“There’s no one else here.”
“I’m not the type of girl who gets tattoos,” Savannah replied, coloring slightly.
“What type is that?” Xander asked, raising his eyebrows.
“The safe type,” Savannah said, feeling self-conscious and very aware of how close their bodies were, pressed together in the water. “You know the kind: the boring type, the type who always follows the rules and does what she’s told."
Xander nodded. “Is that what you are?” he asked. “Or is that what you feel you have to be?”
“I…don’t know,” Savannah said honestly.
“Maybe you should figure it out,” Xander said, and there was an almost commanding note in his tone. “Because that’s certainly not what I see.”
“What do you see?” Savannah asked.
“I see a girl who feels trapped,” Xander said. “I see a girl who wants to break free and live her own life.”
Savannah looked at Xander carefully, trying to figure out how he had understood all this about her when she had barely begun to understand anything about him. “I'd like to believe that,” Savannah said. “But I’m not as brave as you might think.”
“You’re here, aren’t you?” he said. “You’re here with me.”
“I…yes.”
“So maybe you’re not as safe and boring as you think you are,” Xander suggested.
“Are you insinuating that you’re not a safe choice, then?” Savannah asked.
Xander smiled. “That’s up to you to decide.”
Savannah found herself getting lost in those eyes. She hadn’t been this close up against him before, and she was starting to realize his eyes held more than just grey. There were blues and greens, browns and reds; it was as though the colors of the forest were reflected in those cool, pearly eyes.
“I think you're dangerous,” Savannah said, mostly to herself. “Very dangerous.”
A slow smile spread across Xander’s face and Savannah thought she saw a flash of something streak across Xander’s eyes, making them seem almost beast-like. “Good,” he said, and then he leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.
Savannah felt instant heat spread through her body, yet it wasn’t an unpleasant heat. Rather, it was vibrant, passionate, and filled with unmistakable desire. Savannah felt her body melt into the hard stone of his, and for the first time since she'd met him, she felt truly scared.
His lips were gentle on hers at first, but then grew steadily more urgent. Savannah knew she should pull away, stop him before this went too far, but what she knew and what she wanted were two completely separate things. His arms were strong around her body and his heat radiated across her skin making her feel unbelievably warm in the cold lake water.
She sensed his aura, spitting and hissing like a feral animal, she tasted it in Xander’s lips, she felt it in his arms, smelled it on him. When he finally drew away from her, Savannah was breathless and light headed, her thoughts reeling with a thousand different theories, none of which made any sense to her.
Her eyes saw flashes of light that contained short images that seemed to tell a story, but she could not slow them down enough to understand or decipher them. She stared into Xander’s eyes and they were completely unfathomable.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” Savannah replied.
“You look a little…shaky,” he said slowly, as though he was trying to figure her out, too. That, at least, gave Savannah some measure of comfort. If he remained a mystery to her, then she hoped she would be as difficult to decipher.
“Come on,” Xander said as he led her from the pool onto the shady bank underneath a massive tree. The shade provided some measure of coverage, but it was still cold.
“Sit down,” Xander directed.
The moment Savannah sat down, Xander slipped into place behind her, and wrapped his arms around her like a human blanket. Again, Savannah felt that tickling sense of warmth t
hat was becoming familiar to her. It was a heat that seemed to radiate on her skin and inside her as well.
“We’ll be dry soon,” Xander assured her. “Then I can take you home.”
Savannah didn’t say anything. She didn’t mind sitting there a little longer. If she were being honest, she wouldn’t have minded spending the next few hours sitting beneath that tree with Xander’s arms wrapped around her, and her own senses rose to match the elated euphoria that surrounded her. She felt strangely exhilarated, as though she had jumped off a mountain and learnt she could fly.
“This place is perfect,” Savannah whispered. “People hike in this town, don’t they?”
Xander nodded. “They do.”
“Then how come no one has discovered this place apart from you?”
“There are marked hiking trails in the town,” Xander explained. “Hikers follow the trails; they don’t travel off course.”
“Never?”
“It’s happened once or twice,” Xander admitted. “But it’s a little dangerous to veer off the designated trail.”
“Why?”
“Because of the wolves.”
Savannah craned her neck back to glance at Xander. “I thought you said there were no wolves?”
“I said they hadn’t been seen in years,” Xander replied. “That doesn’t mean they’re not still around.”
Savannah felt a pinprick of fear in her gut. “Then should we be here at all?” she asked.
“Probably not,” Xander replied.
Savannah suppressed a smile. “You’re not one for following the rules, are you?”
Xander was looking out into the lake. He seemed far away, immersed in thought. “You’d be surprised,” he said vaguely.
“What does that mean?” Savannah asked.
“It means things are more complicated in this town than you would believe,” Xander replied. He got up, then pulled Savannah up to her feet. “We should get going. It’ll be dark soon, and we shouldn’t still be in the woods.”
“Okay,” Savannah said. She stood and started to put on her clothes. She hated the thought of leaving the clearing, but she sensed the shift in Xander’s temperament. He was a little quieter, a little more watchful. There was no indication of this in his manner, but Savannah sensed it from his aura. She wanted to ask him about it, but knew he'd only avoid the question.
They walked down the trail back to where Xander had left his motorcycle, and then took her home. It was almost dark when they reached the house, but the lights were all on, so Savannah knew both of her parents were home. She got off the bike and passed the spare helmet back to Xander.
“Thank you,” she said, “for taking me to the clearing today.”
His expression was calm and serious, but he nodded in response. “I can pick you up tomorrow for school,” he said.
“Okay,” Savannah said, without hesitation.
He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. Again that familiar sense of heat rushed through her body in a slow burn.
“Goodnight, Savannah,” he said, before he turned his bike around and disappeared in a fog of smoke and dust. Savannah watched until he disappeared from sight. She still didn't understand him. For the first time, her senses seemed to be either blocked or confused.
One thing she knew for certain--this was no normal town.
And Xander was no normal boy.
Chapter Six
Savannah woke up earlier than necessary the next morning. She washed, put on her favorite pair of blue jeans, and paired it with a white knit sweater. She let her earthy brown hair hang loose around her face so that her hearing aid was completely hidden from view, grabbed her bag, and headed downstairs.
“Savannah?” her mother called from the kitchen.
Savannah followed the direction of her voice. “Morning, Mum,” she said. She spotted her father at the coffee maker. “Morning, Dad.”
“Morning, buttercup,” her father said with a wide smile. “You’re up a little earlier than usual. I’ll be done with my coffee in five, then I can take you to school.”
“Umm…I’m getting a ride, actually,” Savannah said hesitantly.
“You are?” her mother asked, setting down the newspaper in her hands. “You made some new friends?”
Savannah rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to sound so excited, Mum,” she said. “And I haven’t made friends, I made a friend, as in singular.”
“What’s her name?” her father asked. He was sitting at the breakfast table, coffee in hand.
“It’s a he,” Savannah replied, bracing herself for their reaction. “And his name is Xander.”
“Oh?” her mother said with renewed interest.
Her father’s smile grew wider and more teasing. “Xander, huh?” her father said. “He sounds like a hoodlum.”
She shot her father a glare and he chuckled in response. “I’m only teasing,” he said. “Sit down and have some breakfast before he gets here.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Eat something anyway,” her mother said, using her stern voice.
Savannah glanced at the time, but she sat down anyway, and took an apple from the fruit bowl sitting in the center of the table. Even without her heightened intuitiveness, Savannah would have been able to tell how curious her parents were. She knew they were trying to be calm and cool for her benefit, but she also sensed sense how surprised and happy they were that she had met someone.
Savannah wondered if their enthusiasm would falter if they knew about Xander’s motorbike. She decided she didn’t want to test them, so she took a bite of the apple to appease her mother, and rose from the table.
“You know what? I think I’ll wait for him outside.”
“Someone’s excited,” her mother said with a knowing smile.
“She is, isn’t she?” her father piped in. “Even her eyes seem a little bluer today.”
Savannah groaned at their easy back and forth.
“I noticed,” her mother said. She turned to Savannah. “Is he good looking?”
“Mum!” Savannah said. “I’m not excited. I just don’t want you guys embarrassing me, okay? I’ll see you guys after school.”
She left her parents in the kitchen and walked outside. She knew it was a little early, but she figured that if she walked down the road and waited a little, she'd see Xander coming on his bike. She was standing at the side of the road for five minutes when Xander showed up. He was wearing jeans, too, with a jacket thrown over a dark hoodie. He looked so carelessly handsome that Savannah had to remind herself to be calm.
“Hi,” he greeted, removing his helmet.
“Hi,” Savannah replied.
“Why are you standing all the way over there?”
“I thought this would be a good place to wait for you,” Savannah said.
Xander smiled. “You didn’t want your parents seeing me, did you?”
Savannah sighed. She should have known he’d see through her tory in an instant. “It was more that I didn’t want them seeing the bike.”
“Not motorbike enthusiasts then?”
“Not when their daughter is riding one,” Savannah said. She put on the spare helmet and climbed into place behind Xander.
They sped through the lonely streets of Grey Mountain, and Savannah closed her eyes, enjoying the wind blasting into her face. There was a sense of freedom in riding that you simply could not get any other way, and she understood why people loved bikes so much. It was possibly the closest thing to flying a person could get on land.
They arrived outside Grey Mountain High faster than Savannah would have liked. She hopped off the bike and passed her helmet over to Xander.
“You enjoyed that didn’t you?” Xander asked.
“I did.”
“More than yesterday,” Xander stated.
“How can you tell?” Savannah asked.
“It’s in your eyes,” he said simply. “You’re letting go a little--it’s a good thing. It means y
ou’ll enjoy things more.”
Savannah was about to say something when a hit of hostility flew in her direction and she was suddenly aware of a number of eyes at her back. Apparently Xander had noticed something, too, because his back straightened tensely and his eyes narrowed infinitesimally. Savannah glanced around and noticed that Marissa was on the other side of the grounds with the same group of girls that had surrounded her the previous day.
She was not looking directly at Savannah or Xander, but Savannah knew they had been spotted, and that no one was happy about the fact they'd shown up at school together. She turned back to Xander. “I met Marissa yesterday,” she said, trying to sound casual. “Is she a friend of yours?”
Xander nodded. “She is.” “We’ve known each other for a very long time.”
“How long are we talking?” Savannah asked.
“Our parents were friends growing up,” Xander replied.
Savannah raised her eyebrows and glanced back at Marissa again. She had her back turned to them and all Savannah was able to see was the glossy, bright sheen of her blonde hair, combined with the brightness of her flaming aura.
“You aren’t…related to her, are you?” Savannah asked.
“No,” Xander said wrinkling his brows together. “What makes you think we are?”
“Nothing, really,” Savannah said. “It’s just that you guys seem to have certain…similarities. I don’t mean just you and Marissa, I mean the group of friends you have, too.”
Xander’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You think we’re all…alike?”
“Not alike,” Savannah hastened to clarify. “Just that you all seem to be very…similar.”
“In what way?” he pressed.
“I…I can’t describe it,” Savannah said, just as the first bell sounded off. She turned back to Xander. “My first class is history.”
“I have chemistry.”
“Okay, then…I guess I’ll see you afterwards?”
Xander nodded distractedly, as though he wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying even though he was looking directly at her.
“Thank you for the ride here,” Savannah said, trying to figure out what was on his mind. She sensed the doubt in his aura and she wondered where it was coming from.