In Spirit and Truth (In Spiritu Et Veritate Series)

by Reed, Zoe

  “Not only didn’t we sleep last night, but you’re the only interesting person in this whole town. Everyone is so boring the only thing to do during class is sleep.”

  I laughed as I nodded in agreement, nervously looking down at my hands. My boring, un-stimulating hands. “Well I’m glad you don’t think I’m a total bore.”

  “Not a total one,” Kyla teased with a wink. “But I ain’t even tired any more. So I was thinking,” she started, taking her foot off the console and tucking it beneath her as she turned to face me. “Have you ever been in love?”

  I thoughtfully played with my fingers as I tried to come up with the right answer. I had never been in love, but even after one day I was pretty sure that it was exactly what was happening with my feelings for Kyla. Of course I couldn’t tell her that, didn’t even want to really admit it to myself, so I settled for a simple, “Nope, how come?”

  “Well, last night we talked about my boyfriend and how I really feel about him. So, this morning I was thinking about love and if I really do love him or not, but I’ve never been in love before so I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like. I was hoping you could point me in the right direction.”

  I smiled as I took in a breath of the heavenly scent that filled the car. Without looking up from my hands I knew I could give Kyla a description of what I was feeling in that moment, and every moment I breathed that scent, or that she smiled at me. It was undoubtedly a physical attraction, but the more she talked to me the more it started growing into something more.

  “I think when you’re in love you’ll know it, and won’t need to think about it. It’s probably confusing, frustrating, irrational and irresistible. It’s one of those emotions that isn’t hard to distinguish I’d imagine.” That had sounded cheesier when I actually said it than it did in my head, but Kyla seemed satisfied.

  “Are you sure you’ve never been in love before?” she asked, laughing as I shrugged my shoulders.

  I stopped fiddling with my fingers, and when I looked up my heart skipped as Kyla’s enchanting green eyes met mine. The girl seemed to be in deep thought and unaware she was staring, but regardless, I began to feel weak. I’d have sworn those dark, striking eyes were unearthing every secret I worked so hard to keep, but still I couldn’t look away. The gentle pureness behind her eyes seduced me, kept me staring and craving to go deeper. An all-too-familiar itch in my fingertips started, and succeeded in tearing me away from Kyla’s gaze. I worriedly cleared my throat as I rubbed the itch out of my hand.

  I needed to start another conversation, to talk about anything that would distract me from the fact that I’d begun to lose control. I hadn’t lost control since I first started Changing. No way I could let it happen now. “Hey, sleepy head.” I waved my hand in front of Kyla’s face, breaking the girl’s stare. “How do you like this school so far? Besides all the boring people.”

  Kyla stretched her arms in front of her and with eyes half open laid the side of her head down on the back of the seat. “Sorry, I’ve been staring so much today. It’s not too bad yet, and it’s bigger than I thought it’d be for such a small town. By the way, what is there to do in town?”

  “Not much really,” I told her thoughtfully, secretly admiring the way her straight, chestnut hair framed her face and made it’s way down to fall lightly over her shoulders. “There’s food, ice cream, the movie theater, and that’s about it.”

  “Sounds like fun.” Kyla rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Do you want to go to the movies this weekend?”

  “Yeah, sure.” I smiled, though it wasn’t the movie I was happy about. I’d only been to a theater once in my life, and I hadn’t stayed for nearly half the film. Not only were movies usually the last thing on a werewolf’s mind, but they also couldn’t hold my attention near long enough. Even for a werewolf, I’d always been a bit restless. “But I’m going to warn you now that I get a little fidgety when I’m supposed to sit still.”

  Kyla laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll strap you down if I have to.” At that I raised an eyebrow, giving a look that made it obvious I was teasing about what could be taken as an innuendo. She caught on quick and didn’t miss a beat as she responded, mimicking the eyebrow raise and teasing right back, “Yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you?”

  The brunette’s unrestrained wit made me snort with laughter, and I couldn’t deny I was pleased with how comfortable she was with it. I wanted to indulge in it further, but couldn’t be sure how far was too far. So, for fear that I possibly could make Kyla uncomfortable, I changed the subject. “What would you want to see?”

  “I don’t know what’s out,” she answered with a shrug. “I’ll check it out later and let you know.” Kyla stretched her legs over the tops of my thighs and leaned her head back against the door. “I’m ready for nap time now.”

  “Good night,” I barely managed to say, as her stretching out started a small flurry in my stomach.

  I don’t know if it was because I liked her, or because I rarely had any kind of physical contact with humans, but either way I wasn’t sure how to react. Should I throw my arms over her legs like it didn’t make me nervous and was no big deal? That could run the risk of making her think I was flirtatious. Or should I ignore it, act like I didn’t even notice? Which might make her think it made me uncomfortable. I knew something like this really shouldn’t be so thought provoking, so I told myself to get over it. As I decided to rest my arms comfortably over Kyla’s legs I laid my own head back, and when she didn’t so much as flinch at it I was able to relax and fall asleep.

  About thirty minutes later I faintly recognized the sound of the bell calling for the end of lunch. Without lifting my head I half-opened my eyes and lightly tapped Kyla’s legs. “Hey, lunch is over.”

  She took a deep breath like she was waking up, and then as though she was getting ready to leave, sat up. Only, instead of getting up she turned around to lie on her back and put her head in my lap. “Yeah, okay,” she mumbled and fell right back asleep, if she’d really even woken up at all.

  I smiled, and even though Kyla lying in my lap had put a fresh hurricane of nerve in my stomach, I was already halfway back to sleep myself. I gently stretched my legs out over the center console between the two front seats. Through the fog of exhaustion I wanted to settle my arm across Kyla’s stomach, but felt that might be on a separate level from doing it over her legs. So instead I stretched an arm over the back seat and immediately fell back into a deep sleep.

  What seemed like five minutes later I felt Kyla sit up and stretch. “Oh crap, we slept through fifth and sixth period,” she grumbled after checking the time on her cell phone. Still grumbling she fell back down into my lap, and the unexpectedness of her lying down once again sent butterflies bolting through me. One thing was certain, Kyla definitely wasn’t shy, and wasn’t lying about her comfort with my orientation. She didn’t seem to care one bit.

  The way she looked up at me while waiting for a response made it hard for me to focus, and even harder to form a response. I just wanted to stare. To savor the warmth of Kyla’s body, to brush her hair away from her face. Feeling so strongly after so short a time was slightly alarming, especially because I had hardly felt more than a physical attraction to any girl before, but I didn’t feel like there was anything I could do about it.

  Once the erratic fluttering settled enough for me to form a coherent sentence, I shrugged, “Eh, it’s only the second day of school. I’m starving though. Do you want to get some food?”

  “We can go to my house if you want. I’ve got to feed the horses so I have to go home first anyway,” Kyla told me, sitting up and stretching once more.

  I didn’t mind going to her house. I’d spend all day there and even help with whatever chores I could if it meant being able to spend time with her.

  “Yeah, that sounds fine,” I nodded while we each got out of the back seat to get into the front of the truck. “How’d you sleep?”

  Kyla yawned tiredly, supplyin
g an answer to my question before she could even speak. “Like a baby. I could’ve lain there all day.”

  I rested my head on the window with a contented grin. Kyla could have lain there all day. Was it possible that before I met her I’d been unhappy, maybe even lonely? Barely getting by on the belief that my siblings were all I needed for companionship. On the belief that if I worked hard enough all day and didn’t leave too much time for dwelling, then I’d never notice. I couldn’t be sure exactly what was happening with my feelings for the girl. That, or I didn’t want to believe it was happening so quickly. I barely even knew Kyla. But she made my heart do backflips. She filled it with so much bliss that the only thing I could do was sit there and grin the entire fifteen-minute car ride. As we reached the Walters’ farm, I wanted to reach over and hug her, to let her know that she made me feel this indescribable way for the first time in my life. If only I could make her feel it too.

  When we pulled into the driveway in front of the large stone house, I watched the heads of two large Gordon Setters pop curiously up on the porch. I let out a sigh as I reluctantly got out of the truck, knowing exactly what was coming next.

  “I didn’t know you had dogs?” I asked as the canines greeted Kyla with wagging tails and while I stayed on the other side, waiting for them to go back to the house.

  “I didn’t either,” Kyla giggled, pushing them off of her so she could make her way to me.

  Despite my efforts, one of the dogs followed her over and caught wind of my scent, and I sighed helplessly again as they stood a cautious distance away and began their ceaseless barking. Even though it was relentless and extremely annoying, I couldn’t blame them. Their noses and instincts told them I was canine, just like them, but their eyes offered human. The confusion disturbed most animals more than it frightened them, but I wished they wouldn’t make me stand out.

  I could growl. A throaty threat the dogs would understand perfectly. One that would rid the confusion and instill them with a fear that made them shut up. Though the terrified silence would be less conspicuous, I couldn’t exactly growl without Kyla hearing. And that would be hard to explain. So I did my best to ignore the yapping.

  Kyla’s uncle came hurriedly out of the house to check on the commotion, and when he noticed the dogs barking at me he quickened his pace. “Blue! Brandy! Get over here!” He whistled and then yelled loud enough for the dogs to hear him over their noise, and they begrudgingly made their way into the house to watch me from the safety of the kitchen window. “Camille Zade. I haven’t seen you in quite a while! Heard you were keeping busy in the fields this summer. Too busy to come help me out?” Rob came over excitedly once he was satisfied that the Setters wouldn’t be any more trouble.

  I saw Kyla lean patiently against the truck’s front bumper as I shook hands with Rob. His dark blue shirt had faint wet outlines around his neck and chest, and his face glistened with sweat like he’d been outside working moments before going into the house.

  I laughed at his teasing, and as he clasped my hand I shook my head. “Never too busy for you Mr. Walters, but old man Carter needed the extra hands.”

  He nodded understandingly. “How’re the folks?”

  “They’re doing good, just busy taking care of the farm. You know how it is,” I told him while I leaned back against the truck next to Kyla. Then I pointed toward the kitchen. “Sorry about your dogs, by the way.”

  “Oh it’s not your fault.” He waved it off with a laugh and turned to follow my gaze to the dogs, which were still staring at me from inside the house. “It’s been so long since we had visitors they’ve forgotten their manners.”

  “Where’d they come from anyway?” Kyla asked curiously.

  “Oh, I got them a few months ago. They were at the vet’s down the road getting groomed yesterday. I wanted them nice and clean for when you got here. Well, I’ll let you girls get back to what you were doing. It was good to see you again, Camille.” I stood and waved at him as he made his way back to the house and then turned to face Kyla, waiting to be led to wherever we needed to go.

  She looked up at me, and when she noticed the dogs still watching from the house she chuckled apologetically. “Crazy dogs. I’m sorry, I don’t know why they’re acting like that.” She stuck out her hand for me to pull her up.

  I lifted the girl onto her feet and followed as she began to walk toward the barn. “It’s not just them. Most animals don’t like me much.” I shrugged. “Speaking of which, I’d love to help, but I’m not good with horses. So I’ll wait for you out here.” I stopped at the barn doors, already able to sense the horses tense from my proximity.

  Kyla shrugged her shoulders indifferently as she made her way into the barn, grabbing a large bucket on her way in. I watched her fill the bucket with feed and come back out with it, motioning for me to follow her to a large fenced area behind the building. There was an amused smirk on my face as her delicate, feminine body tensed to lift the bucket so she could pour the contents into a trough. Even before a werewolf’s first Phase, things like strength, smell and hearing are in our genes. So small tasks like these had hardly been a challenge. It was kind of… cute. The way Kyla struggled even to lift the bucket.

  Kyla walked back toward the barn after emptying the bucket, and she must have seen the look on my face because she playfully bumped me with her hip, mumbling the word ‘lazy’ with a teasing smile. The only thing the playful friendliness succeeded in doing, aside from making me grin and roll my eyes, was to draw my attention to her hips, my eyes following their sway as she made her way into the barn.

  As I waited near the fence, Kyla came out the back door of the barn a few seconds later with the first horse. The second the animal caught sight of me it froze, its dark eyes widening in fear. If I could predict muscle tension in the slightest I’d say it was about to rear up, and it did take a few tentative steps backward. Luckily, Kyla had enough experience to be able to keep control of the frightened animal, and with a tight grip on the lead she led it past me and into the corral. Knowing this would happen with each of the horses, I took it as my cue and walked away from both fence and barn until Kyla had finished the process.

  With the last horse in the field, Kyla waved me over and led me back into the empty barn. “It’s weird how freaked out the horses are right now.”

  “I told you animals didn’t like me much.” I reached for the shovel she was holding to offer some help, and she gladly handed it to me.

  “Yeah but, they haven’t all been tense like–” Kyla stopped before finishing her sentence and began busily shoveling the stall she was in. “Never mind.”

  She didn’t have to finish her thought for me to know exactly what she was thinking. Whether or not she knew exactly what it was, inherently she had figured out that I was different. There were only so many pieces needed to solve the puzzle. The question was, did I want her to solve it?

  Through the silence that followed as we cleaned out each of the stalls I could sense Kyla’s mind turning. I couldn’t help but look over at her every so often to reassure myself that she was still there. Even if she’d already started having suspicions about me, she hadn’t gone anywhere. Or maybe she just didn’t think it had to do with me at all.

  After finishing the shoveling and putting the tools away, I hopped up to sit on the side of one of the stalls while Kyla dragged in a hose from the outside. As she began to spray the dirt on the cement floor toward the door, she finally stopped thinking to herself and picked up conversation again. “You worked on farms over the summer?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded even though Kyla wasn’t looking at me. “Summers are usually pretty boring for me.” And I get restless. “I figured I might as well do something productive.”

  “What do your siblings do?”

  I laughed and shrugged. “Nothing, they’re lazy.”

  With a chuckle, Kyla exited the barn to put away the hose and came back in a few seconds later. She then leaned a thirty-foot wooden ladder up to the high
loft of the barn a few feet away. Never having dealt with horses before I watched curiously, wondering what was up there, when a moment after she disappeared over the top a bale of hay came tumbling down, landing on the cement with a soft thud.

  Her eyes scanned me as it hit the floor, and noting the curious look on my face she explained while kicking over another one. “This goes out in the field too. Then when the floor’s dry we spread some in the stalls.”

  I mouthed the word ‘oh’ with an understanding nod. After a couple more bales, Kyla turned around to come back down the ladder. Her foot searched for the first step, and once she found it she began to lean her weight on it to descend. But the smooth wood was wet from the hose, and instead of staying where it should have, her foot slipped off. My heart dropped, and I felt the blood leave my face as I saw her begin to fall backward, and she hit her chin on the edge of the loft. Knowing she was going to hit the ground I jumped off my perch and rushed forward without thinking or batting an eye, and I was beneath the ladder to catch her before she reached the floor.

  Catching her was easy, but with the image of her hitting her chin in my mind I was now nearing frantic, worried she might have a concussion or something. I set her down on the damp cement as smoothly as I could with how alarmed I still was, and leaned her back against the wall.

  “Kyla are you okay?” I worriedly brushed her hair behind her ear, and resisted the urge to tilt her chin up with my hand because of the cut underneath. “Kyla?”

  With shocking speed Kyla lurched forward and threw her arms tight around my neck, and I wrapped my own arms around her waist to return the hug. Her shoulders were shaking and I thought she might be crying, but when I pulled away I found that she was laughing.