by Karen Ruth
“If you want you can sleep with me tonight.”
My cheeks flushed a dark shade of red. “Are you sure?” I asked him.
“Of course, I would love to sleep with you.” He said to me in an honest tone.
“Hmm alright then,” I said as I crawled back in bed and tucked myself in.
Lucas crawled in beside me and wrapped his arm around my waist.
“What about the lights?” I asked yawning.
Lucas clasped his hands together and they immediately shut off.
“Wait?! They do that!” I said amazed.
Lucas laughed and said, “I am amazed that you haven’t figured that out by now.”
“Hey! Where I am from, we manually shut the lights off.” I said defensively.
“Shh, Nina. Sleep.”
I didn’t need any more encouragement. Before I could even comprehend how tired I really was, I fell asleep in Lucas’s arms.
Chapter 17
I woke up and stretched my arms. This was the first night that I slept soundly all the way through. I rubbed my fresh eyes and looked over to my left where Lucas was once laying. To my surprise, he was no longer there. I sat up on the bed and looked around the room confused. How did I not wake up when he got off of the bed? Usually, I am a really light sleeper and wake up from the slightest bit of movement or sound.
“Lucas?” I called out.
“One-minute Nina!” I heard Lucas call out from the other room.
I tucked myself back into the warm blankets and waited for Lucas to arrive. In about a minute, he was walking into the room with a platter in his hand. He was already dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt that showed off the muscles in his arms. I gave him a questioning look, my head tilted sideways.
“What’s that?” I asked him confused referring to the plate he was carrying.
“Breakfast in bed,” Lucas answered casually.
“For me?” I asked him.
“No for the monster under the bed. Of course for you Nina.” Lucas said as he was handing the plate over to me.
My heart fluttered and I smiled up at him.
“Did you cook this?” I asked him.
“Yep, so if it doesn’t taste too good I apologize. I don’t have too much experience with this whole thing.”
“You know, nobody has ever done this for me before. Thank you.” I cooed to him.
He crawled up next to me and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “You are very welcome, now enjoy. We have some things we have to accomplish today.”
“Like what?” I asked curiously.
“I’ll explain once you are done. For now, enjoy your meal.” I nodded my head at him and began to eat the delicious food.
Once I was finished with my food, Lucas took the plate back into his kitchen.
“Thank you again, it was very good,” I said to him very gratefully.
“You’re welcome. Now come on we better get going.” He said as he stood next to the bed and extended his hand to me.
I took it as he helped me out of the bed. “Go where?” I asked him.
“Well first we gotta go bring you back to your room to change, then we are going out for a run.”
“Ooh sounds like fun,” I said to him as we exited the room.
Reed was right outside Lucas’s bedroom and when he saw the both of us his face lit up.
“Oooh, my boy has some explaining to do.” Reed’s face contained the biggest smile I have ever seen.
“Relax dude, we didn’t do anything,” Lucas said rolling his eyes.
“Uh-huh,” Reed said then looked over towards me causing me to blush. “Nina’s face says otherwise.”
“Her face always says otherwise, no offense.” Lucas gave me an apologetic expression.
“None taken.” I mumbled back to him and looked at the ground. “I couldn’t sleep last night so I went in Lucas’s room. That was it. Oh well, that and the breakfast Lucas made me this morning. Other than that, nothing happened.” I told Reed being honest.
“Hmm alright, I’ll believe you for now,” Reed said flashing us a smile.
“Oh, and by the way Reed?” Lucas said.
“Yes?” Reed answered.
“Meet us outside in twenty-minutes and tell the rest, would you please?”
“Hmm well, I suppose I don’t have much choice in the matter so yes, your highness.” Reed bowed in fake mockery.
“Thanks,” Lucas said clapping him on the back.
“Yeppers, see you soon. Oh and Nina?” Reed addressed me.
“Yes?” I responded.
“You look beautiful today.”
“Why thank you, Reed.”
“No problem,” he said as he walked away. Lucas yelled after him, “what the heck man, why you always trying to steal her from me!” I giggled and shook my head.
“Come on weirdo,” I said to Lucas and pulled his muscular arm.
After I got changed I made my way over to where Lucas said that he would be waiting for me. Once I got outside, I realized nobody was anywhere to be found. I checked my cellphone to see what time it was. It read 10:30 a.m. which meant that I was on time and not late.
“Guys?” I asked trying to figure out where they all went.
Nobody responded. I heard a twig snap behind me which caused me to tense up. Everything in my body went on overdrive. I turned around just in time to see a body of a wolf jump towards me. Barely having enough time to react, I jumped to the side as the wolf landed on its paws. Without thinking, I grabbed the nearest weapon to me. Thankfully they must have been doing landscaping around the house since the tool that I grabbed was a shovel. My heart pounding, I began to swing the shovel only to stop within a few inches of hitting the wolf on the head. My jaw dropped open when I realized who it was.
“Reed! What are you doing?! I could have hurt you.”
“Dang Nina! A shovel really? Don’t you think that is a little excessive?” He shook his head.
“Uhh no! Not when you’re coming at me like a crazy maniac.” I retorted defending myself.
“I could have seriously hurt you!” I said worried about what I had almost done. I dropped the shovel and ran over to him.
“Are you alright?” I asked checking to make sure he was okay.
He squirmed and said, “I’m alright Nina, gees.”
“Hmm alright. I’m so sorry.” I said again still worried.
“Relax Nina, he is okay.” I heard Lucas say from behind me.
I spun around to face him. Lucas along with the rest of the pack was walking towards me all holding a smirk on their faces, all clapping their hands together.
“You did pretty good Nina, although I would highly recommend using your nose. If you would have done that you would have smelt that it was just Reed, but I do give you credit. Sorry Reed, but I think she would have kicked your butt.”
“Nah, I don’t think so,” Reed responded shaking his head. “No offense Nina, but I can handle myself.” I quickly darted my head back and forth between the two.
“Wait, you saw what happened?” I asked him making sure that I was getting all the details correct.
“Of course I saw what happened. It was a test, I told Reed to do it.”
“You what!” I yelled angrily at him. “Why?” I asked crossing my arms over my chest and giving him a dirty look.
“Chill Nina. We had to see how you do under pressure. You did very well and you pass. I’m sorry we had to do it like this. Otherwise, we will never know what you’re capable of.” I furrowed my eyebrows in annoyance.
“Whatever,” I replied angrily.
Liam yelled out and put his hand in a diss motion. “Oh, she gave you the whatever man. You in the dog house.”
“Next time I’ll hit you guys with the shovel,” I said still giving Lucas the dirty look.
To my astonishment, he laughed.
“I do not doubt that you will," he chuckled
I bawled my hand in a fist. Lucas walked over to me with h
is arms spread out wide. As soon as he got close enough to me, I gently punched him in the chest.
“There, that is what you get,” I smirked at him not being able to stay mad at him for too long.
“Better?” He said returning the smirk and tilting his head.
“Ehh maybe.” I retorted. “I may need a little more convincing."
“Hmm, let’s see.” He said as he bent his head down towards me and gave me a soft kiss on the lips.
“Mmm better,” I said against his lips.
Somebody cleared their throat causing me to jump back in alarm. My hand flying to my lips.
Caleb spoke, “sorry guys. I’d prefer no PDA in front of me. Thank you.”
Lucas shook his head and rolled his golden eyes. “Let’s get going.” He said and walked out further into the woods leaving us scrambling after him.
“What are we going to do?” I called after him.
Being that he was so much taller than me, I had to jog to catch up. His strides were double if not triple the length of mine. He didn’t answer, the only sound evident was the crunching of the leaves on the soft forest floor.
“What’s he doing?” I turned to look behind me towards the rest of the group.
Eli shook his head and shrugged. “No idea.”
I looked at the rest of them giving them a questioning look. “Any of you guys know?”
They shook their heads.
“Reed?” He shook his big wolf head in a no position.
Unlike the rest of us, he was still in his wolf. As if Lucas read my mind, for all I know he probably did, he jumped over a log and transformed into his wolf. The clothes that he was wearing shredding into millions of pieces littering the forest floor. I halted and the rest ran into me. I stumbled trying to regain my footing while someone grabbed my arm from behind me. I looked back at my arm and towards the person who was helping me. Liam was holding my arm and looking at me.
“Thank you,” I said to him.
“You’re welcome, just be careful.” I nodded my head. “Are we supposed to do that?”
“Beats me.” He said.
I looked back to where Lucas was, except he wasn’t there. I transitioned my eyes to the distance. Sure enough, he was already a pretty far ways away.
“Wouldn’t hurt,” Caleb said as he immediately transformed padding after Lucas.
“Just so you know, I’m totally against destroying clothes for this but oh well.” I shrugged and transformed like the rest. “Bye-bye clothes,” I said glancing back at the shattered pieces on the floor.
Jerimiah, Dante, Eli, Reed, Darius, and I, all had to run to catch up to the group. I was confused by what was going on so I ran past Lucas and cut him off, standing in his way. Apparently, he didn’t even see me as he ran straight into me, his weight towering over mine almost causing me to stumble.
“Nina?” Lucas looked puzzled. “What are you doing?”
“I think the real question here is what are you doing?” I gave him a weird look. “Are you alright?” I asked him concerned.
“Yeah, what makes you think I’m not?” He said confused.
“Well I mean one; you didn’t even realize I was in front of you which, may I add, isn’t like you at all, and two; you haven’t told us what you’re doing.”
If I was in my human form I would have shown him my fingers just to emphasize my point, but since I didn’t really have fingers, that wasn’t an option. He huffed and sat on the floor. We all followed his lead. Lucas always had that commanding alpha aura to him, he didn’t even have to order us to do things. We did it automatically, not questioning him on anything. I really did admire how he had that natural presence to him. He did something you did with no questions asked.
“Sorry.” He said as he bent his head towards the floor.
“What’s the matter?” I asked as I walked closer to him, lifting his heavy head to look at me with my small paws.
He hesitated, “It’s nothing.” He settled for.
“Lucas please tell me,” I said worried and concerned.
He huffed and then looked back to face the others who sat there quietly.
Personally, I almost forgot they were there but apparently Lucas didn’t. “Could you guys give us a moment?” Lucas asked them.
Liam nodded his head and turned around to walk away from us. Eli, Jerimiah, and Dante followed him without a word.
“You realize that we can still hear you in our minds right dude? I don’t think going away will help that at all.” Reed said being his usual self.
Lucas and I both gave him a death look.
“What?” Reed said confused.
“Oh, come on idiot,” Caleb said and pushed him away towards the others.
“We will be back soon,” Caleb said to us.
Darius padded after them making sure Reed doesn’t try to turn around. I nodded my head and focused my attention back on Lucas.
“Now what’s the matter?” I asked Lucas concerned once more.
He hesitated obviously not wanting to look weak. “I,” he began but I cut him off.
“Shh,” you don’t have to worry about looking weak in front of me, you know that right?” I said looking him in the eyes.
He flashed me a small smile. “I’m just worried about you.” He said to me. “I’m worried that you will try to save your sister and go back to Seth. I don’t know what I’ll do if you try that.”
I exhaled loudly and sat next to him. “I can’t promise that I won’t go, it’s not me to just sit here when she is in danger. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet, but I can’t do anything. That’s not who I am.” I said to him in a hushed tone.
“I know it’s not. Just please promise me something.”
“What?” I asked him.
“Promise me that you won’t go alone.” I hesitated not wanting anyone else to get involved. I couldn’t stand anyone else getting hurt because of me.
“Please?” Lucas prompted me further.
I hesitated but reluctantly agreed.
“Thank you.” He said to me and stood up to press his head against mine. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
I jumped as a voice yelled inside my head.
“ARE YOU GUYS DONE YET!” I heard Reed yell.
My heart raced as I looked around for him spooked, not yet used to the whole talking in the head thing.
“Dude, shut up!” Caleb yelled back to him.
Lucas laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, we are done. You guys can head back over here if you want.”
Reed ran back over to us while the others took their time. Reed came to a grinding halt right in front of us.
“Dude, I swear you’re like a child,” I said to him.
“Thank you! I take that as a compliment.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“I wouldn’t,” I said jokingly at him.
Before I knew what he was doing he ran into me and knocked me over, jumping on top of me. I struggled under his massive weight.
“Dude, you need to lay low on the calories,” I said squinting and squirming.
He laughed and got off me.
“You better watch your back because I am gonna kick your butt one of these days when you least expect it.” I threatened him.
“You wouldn’t hurt a fly.” He said to me.
“I almost hurt you earlier,” I said reminding him of the incident. I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. “I would just be careful if I were you.”
I faced the others as they were approaching. “Reed do you always have to be such an idiot?” Caleb asked rolling his eyes.
“Of course. You have to keep life interesting.” Caleb just shook his head but said nothing.
“But do you have to pick on Nina?” Darius asked him.
Caleb looked at me and I stuck my tongue out and squinted my eyes in a mocking gesture. “Yes, because she is the easiest one to mess with.”
“Hey!” I yelled at him offended. “I’m not easy to mess wi
th!” I stomped my paw on the ground in a childish manner.
“See! So easy!” I just shook my head and walked away from him.
“I’ll show you easy,” I muttered under my breath.
“Hey, Nina?” I heard a quiet male voice say and put his tail on my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was since I still haven’t memorized everyone’s voices yet.
“Oh hey, Eli, what’s up?” I asked him.
“I just wanted to tell you that I am very sorry for what happened yesterday with your sister. I know it must be hard on you.”
“Oh, thank you,” I said back to him while redirecting my attention towards the floor.
I appreciated the effort that he was doing but I doubted that he could understand how I felt right now.
“I’m serious,” he said. He hesitated for a minute then looked at me with a deep sorrow from within. “I don’t know if you know this but a few years ago, my family went missing. My younger brother, mother, and father. I searched for days on end not finding a trace of them anywhere.” He took a deep breath then continued, “it turns out that they were killed by what we can only guess was a group of rogue wolves. I still feel the pain of it today.” He looked at the ground avoiding eye contact.
I was stunned, I had no idea what to say. “Say something Nina!” I said in my head frustrated with myself. He told me something that has to be very hard on him and he barely even knows me.
“I’m so sorry Eli!” I ran over to him and hugged him, well the hug I could muster in my wolf form at least. It consisted of putting my head next to his and putting my tail over his back. By the way, his eyes pretty much bugged out of his head, I knew that he wasn’t expecting me to do that. I was surprised myself, I wasn’t the type of girl to give a lot of hugs.
“It’s alright, it was a few years ago.” He tried to give me his best fake smile.
“It’s not alright. Nobody should have to go through that pain. Thank you for telling me.” I said to him sincerely.