by Vivian Wood
“So, bad TV huh?” he asked.
Aurelia gave him a small smile, appreciating his attempt to make things less awkward with a little conversation.
“Yeah. I was hoping that Bravo is running some awesome reality marathon today,” she admitted with a shrug.
Ben nodded, closing his laptop and sitting up. Aurelia noticed that he wore simple black jeans and a snug black tee that read “The Magnetic Fields”. A band that she liked, to boot!
“…can actually just change the channels from my phone,” he was explaining, waving his phone at the colossal TV. The machine flared to life, and soon Ben had Bravo on the screen.
“Hey, Millionaire Matchmaker is on,” he said, giving her a grin.
“You know what this show is?” Aurelia asked, trying not to gape.
“Sure. I like bad TV as much as anyone,” he shrugged. “I have to do something while my code’s compiling.”
“Right,” Aurelia said. When it came to wolves, males were usually 90% overblown masculine swagger. They were all about power and dominance and keeping up their barriers. She’d never met a male who would so easily admit to this kind of silly vice.
Silence stretched between them, and Aurelia realized that she should make more of an effort. Ben was nice, and cute, and it wouldn’t hurt to have an ally in the house besides Lucas.
“Do you want a cupcake?” she asked, offering him the plate. “I just made them.”
Ben’s face lit up immediately. With his longish hair and baby blue eyes, his excitement made him seem younger than Aurelia knew he must be. Her wolf sensed that he was in his early thirties, but just now he could have passed for late teens. It was kind of heart melting.
“Oh man, yeah. I’ve been smelling them for an hour, salivating. I didn’t want to impose,” he said.
“Wait, you knew I was down here?” she squeaked.
“Well, yeah. You were rocking out, and dancing around, and making delicious-smelling food. I’d be a shitty wolf if I missed all that somehow,” he said, grinning.
“Damn,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I was really hoping you’d at least missed my dancing.”
“We don’t get a lot of hot women running around in their panties here. Makes for a great place to work without distractions, but it’s not very lively. I’m glad you’re here,” he said, the teasing bleeding from his eyes at the last.
“It is kind of big and lonely and echo-ey here, isn’t it?” Aurelia asked, taking the other cupcake and peeling away the paper wrapper.
Ben nodded, mouth full of cake. They ate in silence for a minute, eyes drawn to the TV screen. The silence was easier now, though. More comfortable.
“So what are you working on?” Aurelia asked, her eyes catching on his laptop.
“Ehn… I’m starting a new software project. Web intelligence, sort of. I don’t know, it probably sounds boring.” Ben scratched his ear, uncomfortable.
“What kind of web intelligence? Like source collection, or data analysis?” Aurelia asked, her curiosity immediately piqued.
Ben blinked, surprised.
“Uh, both,” he said, shaking his head. “I want to develop a system that’s a one-stop shop. Something to generate mass surveillance data, but with a feature that completely anonymizes the sources. We could feasibly get the NSA to stop tapping everyone’s information flow if we had a better way for them to do their job.”
“Not to mention the profit you could see from that kind of citizen-friendly program,” Aurelia said, impressed.
“Yeah,” Ben said, giving her another look. “Yeah, exactly. Lucas thinks it could have a lot of potential.”
“Well, yeah, it’s a great idea. How are you mining data, though?”
“Every possible avenue. Web crawlers, mainly. Websites, social media pages, anything we can access. We’re running trillions of results a day through the system I’ve set up, basically pattern mining the results to look for anomalies. Behavior changes, the system takes note. When certain patterns are met, the system accrues a list of suspicions. We set the parameters and just let it work for us.”
“What makes it different than the current system, then?” Aurelia asked, challenging him. She liked the gleam in his eye when he talked about his work. It was definitely a good look for him, she decided.
“We’re stripping the identifying markers from the data as it comes into our system. We’re impartial, because the data is impartial,” he said, leaning back and propping his head on his hand. The dense muscle of his biceps bulged, distracting Aurelia again.
“Uh…” she said, pulling her thoughts back on track, “How far along are you in this project, exactly?”
“I’ve actually made a small-scale system model. That’s what I’ve been working on for the last month. It’s basically done now, it just needs to run a ton of data so that I can check the filters and refine the parameter system. I’ve been watching it all night,” he finished sheepishly.
“I think… I think this is the project that Lucas brought me in to work on,” Aurelia said, excited.
“Wait, you’re an analyst?” Ben said, sounding unsure.
“You’re offending me a little with your continued surprise,” Aurelia said, giving him a hard look.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just, you know…” he trailed off.
“No, I don’t think I do. It’s just what?” she asked, her eyes narrowing further.
“Look at you. Females like you don’t usually hide behind a computer screen,” he said.
“Females like me,” she repeated. “What the fuck does that mean, Ben?”
She started to rise from the couch, intending to leave the room and its occupant behind.
Warmth caressed her elbow, and then Ben’s big hand locked around her wrist. Aurelia halted with a shiver. He stood, coming to his full height at her back. The fine hairs on her neck and arms raised, although she wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement.
“I was calling you beautiful,” he said. “Or trying to, and failing. I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear.”
Aurelia swallowed, feeling the heat radiating from his body and sinking into her bare skin. Her mouth was dry, face hot, breath shallow. Still, she didn’t pull away from Ben’s touch.
“Come see,” Ben urged softly, pulling her down to the couch where he’d been lying. He released her wrist, and she was relieved. A little disappointed, sure. But mostly relieved, she told herself.
Ben opened his laptop, and the first thing that caught Aurelia’s eye was a huge picture of a kitten. It was surrounded by text, the joke a bad pun. Despite herself, she laughed when Ben flushed.
“Who doesn’t like kitten memes?” he asked, dimples flashing.
“No one,” she sighed, shaking her head. At least the tension had broken.
“So my program…” Ben started, excited to show her his work. Aurelia relaxed a little more and allowed herself to be drawn into his explanation.
Hours later, Aurelia stretched and groaned. She and Ben had stayed up all night, talking about his project and passing ideas back and forth. Their minds were a perfect yin and yang; they both thought alike, but tackled issues differently, making them an amazing team. They’d been so blown away by one another that before they knew it, the sun was rising.
When Aurelia had yawned and stood up, ready to excuse herself and head to her room for a little sleep, Ben had stopped her with a simple touch.
“Stay,” he’d asked, his sweetly sleepy eyes irresistible. “I’m not asking for anything, I promise.”
Biting her lip to keep from grinning, Aurelia had melted into his arms. Ben had curled around her just so, and she’d burrowed into his arms without a moment of regret.
Aurelia stood now, looking down at Ben’s still-sleeping form. Her heart wrenched a little, looking at him. He looked so young like this, guileless and vulnerable. Her thoughts wandered to Lucas, a man who never looked anything but combat-ready. Even in sleep, Lucas was a proud, golden lion to Ben’s clever, dark c
anine.
Shaking her head at herself, Aurelia turned and headed back to her room. She’d only just found Lucas, only just opened her heart to him. Lucas fulfilled her on so many levels, she would be insane to ask for more. And yet, Ben…
Aurelia shut down that line of thinking. It was too early, and she was too tired to consider this insanity. She’d just been starved for affection and love for so long that anyone with half a brain and six pack abs could win her over in a matter of hours.
She scolded herself as she entered her room. Shook a mental finger at herself as she climbed into her bed. Groaned aloud at her stupidity as she willed her exhausted self back to sleep.
None of her efforts made a difference, it seemed, because it wasn’t until she admitted it aloud that she was able to relax.
“I really like Ben,” she whispered to herself. “Really, really, really like him.”
Like a magical spell, once the words were released Aurelia drifted right off to sleep.
A light knock on her bedroom door startled Aurelia into wakefulness. She sat up, blinking.
“Aurelia?” came Ben’s voice, muffled by the door.
“Just a sec,” Aurelia grumbled, frowning. Glancing at the soft light filtering through her curtained windows, she guessed it was probably late afternoon by now. Staying up all night with Ben had totally thrown her off schedule.
Rolling out of her bed, she grabbed the oversized sleep shirt she’d abandoned earlier and pulled it over her head. No time for panties, much less pants.
Opening the door partway, she squinted out at Ben.
“What’s up?” she asked, grimacing as she pictured how messy she probably looked right now.
Ben’s eyes widened as he took in her skimpy attire, and his nostrils flared just before his eyes dropped straight to her bare thighs. Aurelia blushed; it’d been so long since she’d spent time around other wolves that she’d forgotten how fine their sense of smell could be. Ben could easily tell that she was totally bare.
Ben’s eyes snapped back up to her face, and he cleared his throat. He was being a total gentleman.
“Ben?” she prompted, trying not to be grumpy with him for disturbing her sleep.
It helped that Ben’s dark curls were a complete mess, showing that he’d probably just rolled out of bed too. Coupled with his huge grin, he was too cute for Aurelia to be mad.
“I, uh… I have a surprise for you. I thought you might be hungry,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and shrugging his shoulders. His hesitancy melted a small, frigid corner of Aurelia’s heart.
“Starved, actually,” Aurelia admitted, giving him a smile.
“Cool! I didn’t bring it up here, obviously. Like I said, it’s a surprise. You’ll have to come downstairs,” Ben said, his gaze burning into hers. His nostrils flared again, and Aurelia sensed his struggle to keep calm. Single wolves threw off crazy pheromones to one another, and Aurelia’s scent was obviously tormenting Ben right now. She needed to put some clothes on pronto, just to be kind.
“Okay. I’ll be right there,” Aurelia said, giving him a nod before closing her door.
“Wear shoes,” Ben added from behind the door. “Comfortable shoes!”
Pursing her lips, Aurelia opened her closet. Comfortable. Right. She chose a pair of lightweight cotton leggings in mint green, a tight-fitting dark grey racerback tank over a cotton bralette, and her new cross country trainers. Out of respect for Ben, she put on a pair of black boy short panties before she dressed. She grabbed a waist-clip satchel, similar to a fanny pack worn on the hip, and stuffed a couple of emergency items in it.
When she got downstairs, she found Ben standing in front of the kitchen’s big French doors. He was outfitted to hike in grey shorts and a blue t-shirt, complete with trail shoes and a large backpack.
“Hey!” he said, beaming when he saw her. He sounded faintly surprised, as if she might have changed her mind and simply not ever come downstairs. It made Aurelia wonder about the quality of the females he usually hung around.
“Hey yourself,” she said. “I’m guessing we’re hiking?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind,” he said, the question plain on his face.
“Absolutely. I love to hike,” Aurelia said, waving a hand. “If anything, I’ve been cooped up too much in the last few months. Before I got here, I didn’t even leave my flat to explore the cities I was living in, much less get to hike.”
“Really?” Ben asked, grabbing two big re-usable squeeze bottles of water from the kitchen counter. Handing one over, he opened the door to usher Aurelia outside.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I don’t know how much Lucas has told you about my situation, but it was getting pretty dire. I was being hunted, and the people looking for me were growing more and more sophisticated in their operation methods. I was basically a hermit by the time I got to India.”
Aurelia noticed that the water bottle had a carabiner clip, and she attached it to the back strap of her hip pouch, letting the bottle dangle.
“I knew that’s where Lucas had you scooped up,” Ben said, leading her out of the back yard and into the tree line.
“Is that what he’s calling it?” Aurelia snorted, shaking her head. “He straight up abducted me. Not that I’m sorry to be here, but at the time it was terrifying.”
Ben frowned, but didn’t reply. Aurelia sensed that he didn’t want to speak against Lucas, which was a good thing as far as she was concerned. Loyalty was a rare trait, especially in their kind.
They walked through the light part of the forest close to the house, then turned up a well-worn path that Aurelia hadn’t explored before. The path immediately inclined, and they started a light climb as they talked.
“It must have been hard, leaving your pack behind,” Ben said, glancing over at her.
Again, Aurelia shook her head.
“I’m very close with my brother Edgar, but he’s all I’ve got. The pack we grew up in wasn’t very healthy. A lot of drinking, a lot of violence. Normal redneck stuff, I guess.”
“Did you and your brother leave together, then?” Ben asked.
“Yes and no. We both left around the same time, but for different reasons. I’d been pulling a lot of small-time hacks, getting my name out there. I got an invite to a black-hat circle, and it promised a lot of money. What seemed like a lot of money to me then, anyway. The guys I was working with warned me that I’d have to distance myself from my brother, because we were going up against a government agency known for aggressive payback tactics. If they caught you, they’d hurt you any way they could. Anyway, right after I left Edgar left, following a girl he liked to her home pack.”
“Oh yeah?” Ben asked. “Girl crazy, huh?”
“Edgar took one look at that girl and fell for her. They’ve been together ever since. Just had their first pup, actually,” Aurelia said, grinning at the thought of her niece.
“Boy or girl,” Ben asked. Aurelia gave him a sharp glance, surprised at his curiosity. A hint of paranoia floated through her mind, but looking at Ben’s face quickly allayed her fears. He was cheerful, engaged. Genuinely curious about her story.
“Girl. Magdalena. Maggie,” Aurelia said.
“Cool. I love kids. I would love to have nieces or nephews,” Ben said, longing evident in his voice. Another little piece of ice melted in Aurelia’s heart. If she weren’t careful, she’d end up sodden and mushy inside.
“Do you have brothers or sisters?” Aurelia asked, turning it back to Ben.
“Wait a sec,” he said, putting out a hand to stop her. “Quiet.”
Aurelia waited, listening to the sounds of their breathing. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, or sense any danger. Her wolf was completely at peace.
“There,” Ben said, pointing up into the branches of an adjacent tree.
A gorgeous crimson Cardinal was perched high up, chirping happily to it’s plainer female counterpart.
“Pretty,” Aurelia said, smiling at Ben’s en
thusiasm.
“So, we’re headed to one of my favorite spots. From here, we have two choices,” Ben said.
“Let’s hear them,” Aurelia said.
“Easy path, not much steeper than this, probably an hour’s walk straight up this trail,” he said.
“And the alternative?” Aurelia asked.
Ben pointed straight into the woods. Aurelia followed his line of sight, picking out a steep, rocky incline. She wouldn’t even call it a path, really. A normal person would scoff, and head for the nice, clear-cut trail.
Good thing Aurelia had never been normal.
“Straight up,” she said, a gleam in her eyes. Ben had winked at her, and then led the way.
It wasn’t until they’d made it quite a ways further up the trail before she realized that he’d neatly deflected her question. He was deft, she’d give him that. Luckily Aurelia was too distracted to call him out, content to watch the tightly toned muscles in Ben’s legs, ass, and back as he forged ahead.
Forty minutes later, they were both breathing heavily as they neared the top of the ridge. There was one last huge step, half a boulder blocking their path. Aurelia watched in awe as Ben scaled it without pause, then turned around and reached out a hand to hoist her up. She hesitated, worried that her weight might pull him back down. She was trim but solid, and Ben was no giant like Walker.
The second she slipped her hand into Ben’s, he lifted her up onto the boulder as if she were weightless. Aurelia felt silly for doubting him. It seemed she was doing that quite a lot, and always feeling foolish afterward.
Aurelia pushed up with her legs, and between her movement and Ben’s strength she ending up pitching forward into his arms. They both tilted back for a moment before Ben steadied her; he held her for several heartbeats, too long to claim as a simple helping hand. Aurelia didn’t stop him, just savored his warmth and sweet male scent.
“Ah,” Ben said, stepping back at last. “We’re just this way.”
Aurelia stepped onto the trail that they’d left earlier, following Ben a few yards across the ridge. There, a small clearing lay on a smooth rock outcrop. The trees fell away just so, giving a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains.