by Sia Wales
“I’ll go and get another t-shirt,” he whispered, kissing her again and sucking her lower lip feverishly.
“They’re in the bedroom, in the second drawer…” murmured Stella, but before she could finish speaking, Vuk interrupted her boldly.
“I know,” he said, caressing her ear with his warm, husky voice and throwing her a sensual look that literally made her melt as he turned to climb the stairs.
Stella returned the dirty mugs to the kitchen. Looking out the window as she walked to the sink, she felt an icy shiver run up her spine as she suddenly saw Drake, Ian and Nathan watching her intently, leaning nonchalantly against her Corvette. They were biding their time, waiting for the right moment to attack.
Suddenly, Vuk burst into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her from behind. Stella gasped, startled, dropping the mug into the sink in fright, where it smashed into jagged pieces.
“Stella, what the hell?” he asked, worried, seeing a shadow of fear in her eyes.
“Nothing, Vuk, I’m fine. I just need to relax for a moment…” She looked back out the window but the figures had vanished.
“Stella, what did you see?”
“I might have seen something, out there…” she pointed, looking at the Corvette with dull eyes.
“It was Drake, wasn’t it?”
“Plus the other two werewolves from last night,” she confirmed, her words sending Vuk racing furiously out the back door on the attack. But finding no one in the vicinity, he went back into the house and, pinning Stella against the kitchen wall, his eyes blazing, he said, “Stella, don’t come back here alone after class, make sure I’m with you!” He refused to let her go until she agreed. Her gaze was still glued to the window.
“They were there, weren’t they?” he asked, tormented. She slowly nodded her head.
“Don’t worry, Stella, everything’ll work out fine.”
“I adore you when you say things like that.” She let herself melt into his arms, and felt his legs pushing her against the wall and his body pressing excitedly against hers.
Stella tried to free herself from his grip, but Vuk held her still, pulling her even closer to him. She felt the heat of his body through his shirt as his fingers probed over the waistband of her jeans. He lifted her by the buttocks and Stella felt her legs open under the weight of his body. His desire was pressing against her. She groaned and gripped his sides with her legs, throwing her arms around his neck and gripping his hair with her fingers. She moved her body up and down, rubbing against him.
“I want you, I want you desperately.” He sucked her bottom lip, his hands still under her butt. He bit her on the chin, tasting her skin, and then worked his way down her neck, stopping just above her breasts, one of his hands moving from her butt to her inner thigh. He felt her fingers fastening on his upper arm, her nipples swollen and her body tense with ecstasy.
Vuk’s eyes were shining, cunning and brazen. He was unable to tear his gaze from her mouth. His look was so intense that she felt herself losing control. A groan escaped her lips, and then he put his tongue in her mouth, pushing it all the way in and moving it around hers avidly. He moved slowly and sensually inside her. Stella felt him press his body closer to hers. Her thighs clenched against his body, her nails dug into his shoulders.
Suddenly her mobile started to ring on the kitchen table. Stella glanced at the display. It was her mother. She was filming in Alaska. The signal from there came and went, so she had to answer. She tried to rapidly get a grip on her senses. Vuk reluctantly tried to do that same. They stood still for an instant, their mouths touching. They heard only the ringtone of the mobile and their panting breaths. Vuk lifted her to the ground, holding her body tightly, and Stella leant her forehead against his with complicity. She slid slowly from his hold and answered the phone.
“Mom!”
“Darling, how are you?”
Stella hesitated for an instant.
“Well, I’m a little bit hot right now…”
She threw an ardent glance at Vuk.
“Were you out jogging?”
“Well, not quite… How are things in Alaska?” replied Stella, changing the subject.
“Just great, darling! Right now we’re a long way from Anchorage. We’re learning a lot of things about wolves’ temperaments.” Stella looked at Vuk again and remembered how he’d pressed her against the wall.
“Great! It’s a subject that sure as hell interests me…”
“Yes, I reckon I’d noticed recently.” Vuk heard the shrill voice of Stella’s mother over the phone and looked at her ironically.
“Tell me, are you enjoying your classes?”
“Oh, they’re great, I was just going off to the lesson with Vuk, he’s here with me now…” The boy swept his hair back with one hand and made a sign with the other for Stella to say hello to her mother for him.
“He says hi to you, by the way.”
“Hi to him from me… But tell me, darling, have I by any chance interrupted something?”
“Oh no, mom, not at all, really you haven’t.” But her voice betrayed her emotion.
“Mm, darling… I’m your mom and I know by now when something’s cooking, and I reckon something’s going on between you and your friend.”
“Well, maybe…” she mumbled hesitantly, and blushed as she glanced stealthily at the boy’s sturdy features.
“Stella, darling, I’ve got to go now. I’ve got to start shooting and they’re calling for me. I just phoned to let you know we’ll be out in the wilds for a few days and I won’t be able to get through except by satellite in an emergency, but I promise we’ll meet up in New York as soon as I’ve finished.”
“Fantastic, I can’t wait.” Stella twisted her lips into a smile.
“By the way, I’ve spoken to Jeff, he tells me he can get you an interview at Rooney Investments in New York for a training course.”
“Wow, what a surprise! That’d be wonderful!” She saw Vuk, with a thoughtful look, trying to catch her eye.
“Darling, I love you.”
“Me too, mom, see you soon.”
Stella hung up, threw a glance at Vuk and smiled at him sweetly. She told him about the training course in New York while they drank a cup of hot coffee, then they left the house without mentioning what had happened before the phone call.
It was too difficult, too embarrassing to talk about it at that moment, Vuk knew that. But one thing was certain: neither of them could ignore the spark that had been ignited between them, that had burned in the very core of their bodies.
Stella got into her car and drove to the university with Vuk following closely in his pickup. She called her father from the car. Jeff was fine and the conversation was brief. He was at a vintage car auction at Barrett-Jackson’s in Vegas. He was trying to knock down a black Pontiac GTO from ’69 to just 81,000 dollars. She mentioned she might get an interview for a training course at Rooney Investments and that she would be leaving for Detroit. Parking the car, she strolled over with Vuk to the COM for their class. Suddenly, Stella caught sight of Drake watching her from a distance, a look of morbid obsession on his face, only to see him vanish as he slid behind a group of students. She didn’t even have time to point him out to Vuk.
“Stella, what is it, what did you see? You’ve got that look again! You ok?” He saw her looking around with the same dull terror in her eyes as before.
“Yes, of course, what look?” She smiled, wiping the fear off her face and recovering her composure, trying to pretend nothing was wrong. The last thing she wanted to do was worry Vuk more than she had already.
“I don’t know, it was like… Stella, was it them again?” he asked, puzzled, furrowing his brow.
“I’m just a little on edge, Vuk, that’s all,” she explained, confused.
Vuk didn’t press it, but couldn’t quite believe her so he surreptitiously scoped the area as he walked her to the classroom door. The lecture had already started but he hung back as Stel
la walked across the room to sit next to Jamie, who’d got them seats at the back of the large lecture hall near the window.
“Hey, Jamie, how’s it going?” She took her notes out of her bag and put them on the desk.
“The lecture started ten minutes ago and Professor Hallison’s already on the warpath.”
“Nothing like getting off to a good start, not.”
“So, did you find out what was up with Vuk yesterday?”
“No, not yet Jamie, but I think it’s something to do with the guy who came after us at the library yesterday afternoon. He turned up again last night, he was waiting for us as we came out of The Pats… And Vuk seemed to know him pretty well…”
“Are you serious?” exclaimed Jamie, unnerved.
“Yeah, he was with two other guys, and Vuk went on the defensive as soon as he saw them, like he wanted to protect me from them with his body. Jamie, I’ve seen him twice since then. The first time outside the kitchen window this morning, and then outside the building five minutes ago as I was coming in.”
“Oh shit, Stella! Who the hell are these guys?”
“I wish I knew…”
“Do you know what they want from you at least?”
“I think it’s actually me they’re after …”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“I wish. Apart from that, though, we had a cool evening. Just lazing in the back of his pickup, having a beer, holding each other. Then he slept over, but that’s not exactly a first…”
The girls didn’t see Vuk enter the classroom and sit in the seat behind Stella. Fascinated to hear they were talking about him, he couldn’t resist eavesdropping.
“And you’re telling me only now?” cried Jamie excitedly, surprised.
“No Jamie, not sleep in that way! He just slept next to me.”
Vuk’s face softened into a smile of sensuous contentment as he sensed her embarrassment.
“And nothing happened at all?” Jamie asked.
“Depends what you mean by nothing… Anyway, we’re both good about staying just friends.”
Vuk was hurt to hear this and turned his head morosely to look out the window, thinking that he felt just like the rain that started to pour heavily out of the pewter sky.
“That’s such a waste, I can’t imagine ever just staying friends with a hot guy like Vuk…” Jamie said.
“Really?” cried Stella, the corners of her mouth curling in a faint smile.
“Anyhow, I’m not so sure he’s of the same mind, like you say he is. Sometimes it’s like he’s about to grab you and smother you with kisses on the spot!”
“Oh cut it out, Jamie!”
“Girls, pardon me if I butt in,” Vuk interjected amused, “but I thought I’d better let you know I’m sitting behind you because, you know, I’d hate to cause you any more embarrassment…”
“Vuk, you’re such a sneak, we didn’t hear you,” Stella replied self-consciously as both she and Jamie spun round to look at him.
“I just wanted to check you’re ok, Stella. Listen, I need to shoot off to the library soon, but let’s meet for lunch. How does noon at Warren Towers sound? I don’t want to risk leaving you alone,” he said, gently ruffling her hair.
“Are you asking me on another date, Vuk?” she laughed, touched. Jamie discreetly turned away to listen to the lecture and give them some privacy.
“I wish, babe, but as Jamie’s coming with us, too, you can’t exactly call it a date…” He gave her an intense, meaningful look. Then he got up and went to sit in the empty seat in front but backwards so he could see her.
“Vuk, jeez, stop messing or Professor Hallison will roast you!” Stella exclaimed, thinking she saw the light of the full moon already reflected in his eyes.
“A risk I’m willing to take,” he said, his eyes radiating a warm glow that deepened to fiery gold.
“Have you completely lost your mind, Vuk?”
“If I have, it’s because of you, Stella,” he replied, feeling a searing heat rush through his veins and ignite his body.
“Vuk, I think Professor Hallison has seen you.” She glanced at the far end of the class where the professor was standing next to the lectern.
“Stella, I don’t give a damn, the only thing I care about is you, don’t you get it?” He took hold of her hands impulsively and squeezed them in his.
“Well, sure, put like that…” she said, feeling herself tremble in his grip.
“God, Stella, I love to watch your face as you listen to the lecture.”
“And I like to shut everything else out and just gaze at you, too, especially when you look out for me and I feel how much you care.” She gazed intently at him, nibbling her lower lip.
Suddenly Vuk hugged her boldly, making Stella flush with embarrassment as she felt the eyes of Jamie and some other students swivel round to stare at them.
“If I’d known you liked it that much, I would have done it every day…” His lips caressed her ear, then he sat back down, twisting his body round and leaning toward her.
“No, really?” she murmured uneasily, breathing in Vuk’s usual earthy aroma mixed in with the minty smell of his chewing gum.
“I want to try to see how it goes tomorrow night, Stella. I want to try to spend the night of the full moon with you…” He pulled away from her slightly, turned around and let himself fall back, so his head was on her desk. “It’s not quite full moon yet but I can already feel my instincts start to dominate me,” he continued earnestly. “The fact is that I no longer seem to have the strength to stay away from you, Stella.”
“Vuk…” she tried to warn him not to come any closer, but he pretended not to hear her and, leaning closer to her, he put his fingers lightly to her lips which closed sensually around them. He could feel the warmth of her breath; he kissed each lip with a burning desire. She blushed, trying to hold back a groan of pleasure. Then Vuk quickly stood up and returned to the seat behind her.
A the end of the first hour of class, Vuk slipped silently out of the room, unnoticed by an oblivious Stella, who was looking out the window at the pouring rain, thinking of what had happened between them in the kitchen. All at once, however, it was as if Jason had broken into her intimate thoughts, imposing himself in her mind and chasing away any other thought of any other person from her brain.
At that moment, Jason was attending a meeting in Boston at the famous commercial bank he worked for. He too was watching the drops of rain chase each other down the window. His thoughts were concentrated so hard on Stella that he had managed to open a powerful connection, which broke suddenly, though, when Stella felt a hand behind her lightly touch a lock of her hair.
Initially thinking it was Vuk, she started to turn with a smile on her lips, but jerked to a halt the instant she saw Ian staring at her from outside the window with an evil sneer. She turned and was paralyzed with terror when she saw Drake, with his usual leather jacket, leering at her from Vuk’s vacated seat. Jamie, still bent over her notes, hadn’t noticed a thing. Stella turned again towards the seat with a tense, circumspect expression.
“No, this can’t be happening to me, not again…” Stella said in a thread of voice as she sensed him slowly move his face toward her neck.
“But it is, and even more so than you think, Stella, as you’ll discover soon enough…” he whispered forebodingly in her ear.
“Drake, what the hell do you want?” she exhaled tensely. In prey to her fear, she was unable to think clearly.
“You, Stella, I want you, of course.”
She closed her eyes in terror as Drake extended his tongue, touching the tip of her chin with his piercing.
She was so frightened that tears were welling in her eyes. She opened her eyes and looked over toward the window. Ian was no longer there. When she swiveled back round to check on Drake, she saw only the classroom door as it swung shut behind him.
Jason, whose tormented thoughts had again returned to Stella, remembered the kiss he had s
een her and Donn exchange a few nights earlier; throwing his colleague and friend Aaron Dale a meaningful look, he excused himself from the meeting to go call her. He was overcome with the urge to hear her voice, he needed her to tell him what was really going on.
Stella felt her cell phone vibrate and was astonished to see it was Jason calling. She hurried out of the classroom to take his call, still shaken to the core by her latest encounter with Drake.
“Hi, Jason.”
“Hi…” he replied tenderly.
“I’m sorry about the other night, but I had to hang up.”
“Stella, I’m not upset about that, but that you never told me about him.”
He sensed her discomfort. “Stella, what’s wrong?”
“Jason, I’m so confused about what I really want but, apart from that, I have so many other things on my mind at the moment…”
Jason paused pensively. He noted something odd in her voice.
“Has something happened, Stella?”
“Jason, you still worry about me!” she smiled, surprised.
“I never stopped, Stella. I always worry about you. But now, please, tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing, Jason.”
“I can tell you’re not being honest with me, Stella, so tell me what’s up, otherwise how can I help you?” he asked, troubled.
“I wish I could trust my feelings as much as you do.”
“Is it the man I heard you with the other night? If so, I’ll have a really good reason to get mad at him this time,” he continued protectively.
“No, Jason, it’s not him”.
Jason did not insist. He would stop by in order to understand what was going on.
“Where are you right now?”
“At BU. I just came out of class to talk to you for a second.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Lunch with a friend at Warren Towers.”
“With Vuk, I guess…” Jason surmised.