B008317UG0 EBOK

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B008317UG0 EBOK Page 13

by Amy McClung


  He took off running toward the edge and jumped in, he disappeared into the water for a minute and when he resurfaced he screamed out, “Gah!! That IS freezing!!” I was laughing, still fully dressed on the blanket. “Are you coming in here or not?” He asked. “Not!” I say loudly with a chuckle. He pulled himself up out of the water and ran over and grabbed me up in his arms soaking me and my clothes. Laughing and screaming at the same time, “You are so cold, put me down!” He was shaking his hair out all over me and I was trying to push him off, he started kissing me and we were still laughing and then it turned passionate. He was frantically helping me out of my clothes and then he lay me back on the blanket and we made love. It was like a moment in a movie, one that people imagine happening but never really seems to occur in reality. There was even music in my head appropriate for the moment, and No, it didn’t have the beat bow-chick-a-wow-wow. It was more like something by Sarah McLachlan, a love song with a backdrop of utter sadness. He wrapped me up in the blanket with him and we just laid there and listened to the sound of the waterfall.

  The silence was broken by Quinn, “You know, this is a special moon for us.” I gave him an odd look when he said that and he continued, “In stories of old, the full moon of each month is given a name, this is called the Hunter’s moon or the blood moon.” As he paused I snorted and said, “Did you just say stories of old?” He playfully smacked my shoulder, “I’m trying to be romantic here.” I apologized and he continued, “It sort of symbolizes us as a couple, the blood for me as a Vampire and the Moon for you as a werewolf. It’s like our special moon.” The thought of that made me smile, instead of looking at the full moon as a curse on my life I could look at it as what brought Quinn and me together. If I hadn’t been a werewolf, he might not have ever approached me at school. And this being our first full moon together and it being the blood moon was a sign that we were meant to be, at least I could hope that for a while, right. He kissed my head at that moment and I just leaned back against his chest and closed my eyes enjoying this time with him. This can’t be the last time we do this, life wouldn’t be that cruel. There were more of these moments to come and I had to convince myself to believe that.

  Quinn sighed and said, “We better get dressed.” My body didn’t even flinch because I wasn’t ready for this to end yet. Quinn pulled the blanket off and started to stand up to get clothed, I put my hand on his arm and I was shaking and I guess he could tell so he sat back down. He pulled me toward him and held me stroking my hair. “We are going to come back here in a few days and do this all over again. I promise you that…you believe me, right?” Quinn said in a voice that was so confident. “I am holding you to that promise.” I replied with as much confidence and strength as I could muster. He smiled, placed his hands on my face, looked into my eyes, pulled me in for a kiss and then he said, “Consider it a date, I am not about to give you up sweetheart.”

  *Sigh* Every time he says sweetheart my heart just melts. He ran his hand over mine and over the ring he gave me. “Oh, can you put this up for me and give it back to me after the shifting is over,” I asked him as I pulled the ring off and held it out toward him. He took it in his hand and raised his hand above his head, he grinned facetiously with one dimple appearing on his left cheek, adorable. “What are you doing?” I asked. Still grinning he replied, “Putting it up.” I smacked his chest and we both giggled. “You are so corny…nutball,” I kissed him one more time before we had to leave.

  Quinn carried everything to the car while I got dressed. This was the most beautiful spot in the world, it was officially my happy place now and I wanted to make sure it stayed that way. Sitting down on the ground, I took a deep breath and started to speak to the sky, God, whoever would listen. “Please let this plan work. Please keep Will and me safe while we hunt for this killer. But most of all, please keep Quinn safe. If I have to trade my life for his I will, I just can’t face losing him. Please watch over him.” There was a noise behind me and I turned around, it was Quinn and he had a distressing look on his face. Solemnly he said, “It’s time to go.” He helped me up and we walked hand and hand to the car, as leisurely as possible.

  We were both pretty quiet on the ride back. Pulling into the school parking lot, Quinn put the car in park and I started to open the door. He reached over to stop me. I turned a little surprised. “What’s wrong, it’s getting late,” I said. He leaned over and kissed me with such gentle grace and love and whispered, “I love you…I just wanted to do that without Will standing by watching.”

  Chapter Twelve

  We found Will sitting at the picnic tables behind the school. He had a couple of large duffel bags with him, how long did he think we were going to be there? Quinn snickered and said, “You pack like a girl, dude what is up with that?” Will rolled his eyes and said, “One bag is full of clothes, and the rest is food and supplies. We may be shifted for the two nights, but we will need things to help us get through the before and after until we get our ride home. Of course, I can leave the bag of clothes here if you don’t mind me being naked with Parker for two days.” Quinn lost his smile and sternly said, “Don’t be a douche Will, things are starting to be civil between us, don’t ruin that. “ Will apologized, sort of, he told Quinn to chillax and pick up a sense of humor while we were gone and I interjected this time, “I do think you over packed Will, I don’t usually bring this much for shifting days.” Will seemed embarrassed, “Sorry, guess I am still new at this, just wanted to be prepared for anything that could happen. It’s getting late, we better get to the cave before we shift, and Quinn needs to get far away from here.” Turning to face him, I hugged Quinn and whispered, “I love you, I will see you soon, and we will have a repeat of today.” Hugging me tightly he told me he loved me and to be safe and he would see me soon. He pulled away from me and walked off not looking back. It was like ripping off a band-aid, the quicker you did it, the less it hurt.

  Will and I got in the car and headed off to our destination. Leaving the car in a hidden spot we started our trek into the woods. The cave was far enough in that we couldn’t see the road and it was pretty well hidden. When we came to the entrance, Will went in first and as I followed I noticed that there were still signs of him living here. There were still empty food wrappers and even a pile of ripped clothes. That explains why he brought so many; he had to have a lot on hand when he was living there. The thing about shifting is that if you have clothes on when you did it, they will be shredded to nothing. During shifts by myself, I’ve always stripped down to wait for the change, not sure how it would work with Will here, I couldn’t exactly sit here completely naked with him. Although being a guy I am sure he wouldn’t complain if it came down to that, but it wasn’t happening if I could help it.

  We sat everything down and used our bags as chairs. It was starting to get dark and the change would be coming soon. Will put his hand on mine and asked, “You ok Parker?” I nodded and grasped his hand. Truth was, I missed Quinn and I was terrified, but it helped to be with Will. He reached beside himself and pulled an oil lamp out of his bag and stood up, took it across the room and stuck it on top of a jutted rock in the wall. “I always kept a light up here, it was high enough that I never reached it when I shifted,” he was saying as he lit up the room for us. Then he turned and started taking his shirt off. I shot up and yelled out, “What are you doing?” He continued to remove his shirt and I had forgotten how ripped he was, I had seen him with his shirt off once before, the morning after we met. Good grief, how did all these incredibly sexy men end up in Cascade Idaho, it was like an epidemic of hotness. Of course that is an infection I could really get used to. Geez Parker, chill with the hormones already. Oy vey, what is with me, one drop dead gorgeous man on my arm is enough to handle. “We are going to shift soon and I am not going to ruin my clothes, I brought sheets that we can sit in and then when it starts they will just fall off of us,” he replied as he held his hand out to me with a sheet in it. Wow, he really does think of everyth
ing.

  Feeling embarrassed at my outburst, I jerked the sheet out of his hand and went over to a corner that was a bit darker for more privacy. It was difficult to take my clothes off while trying to hold up the sheet, it slipped once and I grabbed it up and whipped around to see if Will saw anything but he was not looking toward me. The last time I was naked with a man was just a few hours ago with Quinn. This just felt so incredibly immoral to me. Once I was undressed, I made sure the sheet completely covered me, I sat back down on the bag and Will sat beside me again. He looked at me and took his hand and brushed a strand of hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear. He ran his hand along my face and told me I was beautiful, I shied away, “Will, stop.” He dropped his hand, “I am sorry Parker, I can’t help how I feel. I am worried about you though, I just don’t know if I can handle watching you shift when I know how much pain you will be in.” My eyes dropped to the ground, “it’s ok, I’ve gotten used to it for the most part. Don’t worry about me.” I kissed his cheek and as I did he turned his face towards me where our lips almost met but I jerked back from him before that happened and took his hand in mine.

  Less light was coming into the cave which meant nightfall was nearing. Will and I sat holding hands, he was shaking. My hand kept going back and forth rhythmically over his, trying to soothe him. He jerked forward and tore his hand from mine as he started to scream out in anguish. It was starting. I held onto him and tried to talk him through it, which was a reckless thing to do. He jerked up and thrust his hands forward shoving me hard across the room, I slammed into a wall hitting my head and it instantly knocked me out. When I came to, I had shifted and Will was gone. When I tried to stand up my head was woozy. Standing on all fours my legs gave out beneath me. Laying there for few moments I tried to focus and get my head straight. Regaining my stability, I ran out of the cave in search of him, running through the woods trying to sniff him out. This is not good, Will is on the loose and there is a rogue vampire around here too. I have got to find him before the vampire does, he won’t know how to take care of it on his own.

  I ran through the woods for quite some time looking for him and don’t understand how I lost him so easily. How long was I out? Taking a paw I reached up and rubbed over my head, there was blood on my fur. My head was pounding, I guess though I should be happy I didn’t have to be awake for the pain of shifting like Will did. He was really violent as he shifted. I wonder if that is what happens to me, I’ve never been around anyone when it happened which I guess is a good thing. I’m really glad that Quinn, Mitchell and Jackie were far away from us, if he was able to knock me out than he could have killed Jackie. Placing my nose against the ground I started taking things a bit slower and really trying to sniff Will out, maybe find a trail to follow that would at least point me in the right direction. It was definitely true that my senses were heightened. Everything around me was so pungent, the trees, the leaves, the grass, everything around me. There was a slight wolf scent too. I know Will had come this way before.

  Leaves crunched behind me, I smelled vampire and felt the adrenaline begin to rush inside me. My teeth were bared; the smell was burning my nostrils making me angry and fearful at the same time. Slowly, I turned around growling and…what the hell? It was Quinn. No, he has to leave. He can’t be here! He was just standing there staring at me. Does he even know it’s me? The anger that had welled up inside me was dissipating. The smell still burned my nose but as I breathed deeper I could smell Quinn mixed in and it wasn’t as displeasing. I didn’t even feel the urge to attack him, which was a first for me encountering a vampire. Gradually I start toward him, he was still staring and as I got closer, he knelt down on the ground. Fear welled up inside me, I loved him and didn’t want to attack but was still scared to try and go much closer. Our eyes met and he smiled, he put his hand out. Instead of moving toward him, I began to back up. My back legs folded below me and I was on the ground cowering in fear to go closer to him. He was still kneeling with his hand extended toward me. All I wanted to do was run to him but I was terrified. “Sweetheart, its ok, please come to me, it will be fine.” His smile, his words, they ignited the feeling of comfort that washed over me and I walked over and rubbed against him. He patted me and said, “See, I told you that everything would be fine sweetheart, you and I could never hurt each other, curses or not.” I nuzzled against him and whimpered.

  He kept stroking me and then stood up all of a sudden. There was a growl behind me, I turned and it was Will. I maintained a protective stance in front of Quinn growling back at Will, baring my teeth. Will started toward us and I pounced at him and swiped his face with my paw. He jerked back snarling. Quinn put his hands up in surrender, “Will, if you can understand me man, I am on your side. Everything is ok.” Will whimpered and then walked over and nuzzled against me, I butted my head back against his. Quinn knelt down with us again and said, “Look, the vampire has been here I can smell it, we need to try and track it. Mitchell is in the woods too, but he is further away." I snarled at him because that was not part of the plan. “I know baby, Mitchell was supposed to stay with Jackie, but she is stubborn and wanted him to help protect you. Truthfully she is safer at home then we are here,” he said reassuringly.

  We started patrolling the woods and I smelled another vampire and took off toward the scent. Quinn was yelling my name but I couldn’t stop myself. As the smell got stronger a man came into site and I immediately pounced on him. Before I could think twice I opened my mouth, turned him over ready to attack and it was Mitchell, I jumped backwards and yelped. He stood up and exclaimed, “Parker, geez, you scared the crap out of me!” I snarled and he looked scared, Quinn reassured him that it was a nice snarl, not an ‘I’m going to kill you now’ snarl. “I tried to stop her man, but she was a woman on a mission,” he chuckled. Mitchell just gave him an annoyed look. “I’m glad it’s funny for you. I was on her trail a minute ago, I saw her and then picked up the werewolf scent and it distracted me for a minute and she was gone,” Mitchell stated. Quinn look stunned, “her? So it’s a female vampire? Did you get a good look at her face?” Mitchell shook his head no and said, “She had long somewhat dark hair, that’s about all I could tell.” Quinn turned and looked at Will and I, we were both sitting on the ground panting in exhaustion. “I think it’s time to call it a night, or day whatever. It’s almost sunrise and Parker and Will need to get back to the cave and you and I need to check on Jackie. Let’s get going and get some sleep and we can start again this evening,” Quinn stated.

  We walked back to the cave together, Will went inside and Quinn knelt down and kissed my head and told me he loved me. He left and I headed into the cave to sit with Will. He whimpered at me and started licking my head where the blood was. He remembered that he did that to me and felt terrible about it; it was obvious from his actions and the sadness radiating from his eyes. We snuggled up against each other and fell asleep.

  The next morning I woke up covered in a sheet and alone in the cave again. A few minutes later Will entered the cave and when he saw me his head went down in a look of shame. “I’m ok Will, it is not your fault, you didn’t mean to hurt me,” I told him as I sat myself upright careful to bring the sheet up with me and stay covered. “I feel terrible Parker, I can’t believe I was so out of control like that,” he replied. “Where did you go after you changed? I just remember waking up and you weren’t here and I remember bits and pieces about Quinn and Mitchell, Do you remember anything? ” I asked. He shook his head, “no I don’t remember, I have vague memories like you of Quinn and Mitchell, that’s it. Man, it’s lucky neither of us killed them. They took a big chance coming around us.”

  It felt a little odd sitting here in just a sheet but it would be shifting time before we knew it, since we slept most of the day. We heard a noise outside the cave and Will jumped in front of me in protective mode, Quinn came into the cave. He looked a little stunned at the site of us. Will had jeans on and no shirt and he was standing in front of me w
ith his arms behind him holding me in place and I was wearing nothing but a sheet. Fighting with him over Will is the last thing I want to do right now, I started to say something and then he smiled at me. My heart swelled and I felt a huge smile came across my face and I ran over and hugged him, he wrapped his arms around me and snuggled his head into the curve of my neck. Will cleared his throat and said, “I am going to leave you two alone for a minute.” As he was leaving he turned and looked at me and I mouthed 'thank you' silently to him.

  Quinn brushed my hair aside and we were gazing at each other. “Didn’t I tell you that there was nothing to worry about,” he asked. I pushed him away for a minute and said, “I am still mad that you took such a risk, what if I had killed you? How did you even know it was me?” He smiled, “I know your scent and then when I looked in your eyes, I knew there was no mistake. I am proud of you…,” he paused as he noticed the dried blood on my forehead, “what happened to your head?” I told him the truth; I felt it was best not to lie. He became very angry and started calling Will’s name. Placing my hands on his chest I begged, “Stop please…Stop! He feels bad enough as it is, he was shifting and he couldn’t control himself.” He was starting to calm a bit but I was hopeful that Will would stay away a little while longer so that he would be safe. He let out a yell of frustration and hit the wall of the cave. I grabbed his hand to check it but of course it was fine, I think the rock was more hurt. Quinn let out a sigh, “I’m sorry, I just wish I had been here to protect you.” I took his hand and put it on my heart, “see still beating, everything is fine, nothing to worry about here.” Smiling at him demurely he sighed and kissed me.

 

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