Vanilla Moon: Awakening

by Airiel Hawkins

  Her hips moved with my hand and she moaned into my mouth. I couldn't hold myself back much longer, so I took my hand away and pulled back long enough to meet her eyes. "Do you believe in love at first sight?" I whispered.

  She stared at me for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah," she said. "But only as of today."

  I smiled. "Me too," I said before I kissed her again. Her hands moved to my belt buckle and opened it. She pushed my pants down, taking my boxers down with them. I ripped her tank top off her and she gasped with both surprise and arousal as I threw it across the room. I had my victory against that offensive shirt.

  "That was my favorite tank top," she protested.

  "I'll buy you a new one," I promised.

  There were more important things than tank tops here. She nodded and kissed me before I continued to undress her as I pushed her pants down and she slipped out of them. She took her bra off and tossed it aside and we took a moment just to look at each other. She was perfection. She was busty, she had wide, perfect hips, and she wasn't too skinny. I didn't feel like I was going to break her just by looking at her.

  Her face suggested I wasn't so bad myself, but she hadn't seen the bulk of my scars yet.

  I knelt in the bed and pulled her toward me. I kissed her again before I let my mouth wander across her body.

  I pushed myself inside of her and we stopped moving for just a moment. The intensity of the emotional and physical feelings I felt around her made my head spin. This was more than just two people joining together. This was two mates joining for the first time. The wolf inside of me wanted to be a part of this and I could feel the wolf inside of her begin to awaken. She stared up at me with those dark chocolate eyes and I lost myself in her gaze. "You're so beautiful," I whispered to her.

  She smiled up at me. "You're not so bad yourself," she whispered with a chuckle. It was the first coherent thing she had been able to say since the movie ended. I lowered my mouth to hers and kissed with slow and deliberate movements. I did everything slow because, in this moment, I just wanted to make it all last. Instinct wanted me to rush, but she was too perfect to rush. This was too perfect to rush.

  It was her first time in two years, but I wouldn't have known that if she hadn't told me. She was the perfect partner, which further solidified my instinctual knowledge that she was my true mate. She moved just the right way. She touched all the places that lit my soul on fire. The sound of her voice, crying out with every move, was intoxicating.

  Under normal circumstances, Lycans can control whether conception occurs or not. As for the only exception? Yeah. It's when we find our mates. The intensity of our emotions and the bond made us forget how to control that one thing. So, when I spilled inside of her, I didn't know, for the first time, if we would be parents in a year or not.

  The next two days were much of the same. We talked about everything. I kept only the secrets that I needed to keep, and she didn't seem to notice. We worshiped each other physically and mentally. By the time the snow stopped falling, I thought of Ceres as the one person in the world who knew me better than anyone else did.

  "You should stay here and marry me," I said as we fell asleep on that third night. She had curled her body up around mine, and the words came out of my mouth without me realizing that I'd said them.

  She looked at me and met my eyes. I realized that I was serious and didn't take the words back. I waited with bated breath to find out what her reaction would be. After a moment, she nodded. "I should," she agreed. I didn't dare breathe. I couldn't believe she was agreeing to marry me, a stranger in her world. She smiled. "I will."

  I grinned before I kissed her and started the process all over again. My inner wolf was finally starting to calm down enough that I could back off from her just a bit. We had sated my other half so many times in the last few days. It was now harder our bodies to continue to go through the craze of what our proximity could do to each other than it was to just remain calm.

  I wanted to stay in this motel room forever. I wanted to forget the outside world existed. Thank the gods for the snowstorm because, without it, I would have had to go back to a life I didn't want to see right now. A life where I would have to leave her alone so that I could work and be the Volsunga to my pack. I had responsibilities outside of this motel room and I didn't want any of them.

  I devoured everything she offered me. I consumed every ounce that she gave. I left her begging for more, just as she left me doing the same. She was putty in my hands and molded to my every whim with perfection. She would have let me do anything to her. She would have let me destroy her.

  She lay, limp as a cooked noodle in the bed, chest heaving with every panting breath. I stared down at her and her wild hair for a moment while I committed everything about her to memory. She was my fiancé now, after only a few days. She was staying here in our small town. She would never leave my side. She would never be far from my company. She would never be more than a few minutes away from me. She was my true mate, and I had never felt like this before.

  I swooped down on her again, my mouth crushing hers. I was already hard again and I slipped into her welcoming body with ease. She moaned into my mouth and I swallowed the sound. Her legs wrapped around my waist and I pinned her arms down. I was in control and it drove her wild.

  I latched my mouth onto the left side of her neck and made my mark. I knew that when the time was right, I would be doing this again in a different way and for a different reason. On an instinctual level, I was displaying to the pack and the rest of the world that my intention was to keep her. I was telling everyone that I considered her my mate. I was making sure that no one would ever touch her again, whether they were Lycan, Witch, Vampire, or human.

  And when I found myself at the brink of the abyss, I spilled over into her and saw a flash of amber in her eyes. Her nails dug into my shoulders and I felt them pierce my skin. I groaned and felt the pain intensify everything else I felt.

  I kissed her, slow and lazy, as I sank down on her. Panting, I buried my face in her chest and closed my eyes. I felt her pounding heart and heard my own in my ears. This was too much. It was too intense. It was too sudden. Too powerful. What would it be like when we mated? What would it be like when she was an awakened wolf? Would I even have the strength for that? Would I be able to refuse?

  I flopped onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. The only light in the room came from the light in the parking lot not far from the window. There were bars of light across us and the rest of the room because of the vertical blinds.

  Ceres curled up around me. Her arm draped across my chest and her leg wrapped around and between mine. She kissed my chest before looking up and meeting my eyes in the darkness. I propped my head up on my arm so that I could look at her without straining my neck. "Thank you for making it worth leaving everything behind," she said in a tender voice.

  I smiled at her and brushed her hair back. I could only hope that she continued to feel that way when she knew what was coming our way. I knew that Alan would unleash hell when he found out about us. I knew that it would be the event that made me tell her what we are. I wasn't ready for it and I knew she wouldn't be either. "Thank you for bringing a little life into this town."

  Chapter 6 ~Ceres~

  I couldn't believe I had just agreed to marry a man I had known for only three days. I couldn't believe the mind-blowing, jelly-leg intimacy I felt with him either. I'd never felt that way with anyone. I'd never had that sort of connection with Todd. To tell the truth, the pull I felt to Wolfgang was irresistible and I felt like no one knew me better than he did. I loved every inch of him with every fiber of my being.

  He fell asleep before I did, and I studied him in the dim light coming in from outside. A bar of light moved across his face as the blinds moved in the air from the heater vent and I saw the scar on his cheek. It was faint and older, but no less apparent when you looked at him from this close of a distance. It was thin and almost looked like a knife had sliced th
e skin apart. I wondered how it got there and attributed it to the ATV accident he told me about. Scars crisscrossed his back and chest from that same incident. There was a jagged and thick one on his left ribcage. Of all the scars, that one seemed to be the worst. Some of the scars almost looked like brands and I wondered if the ATV had exploded and that was what made his injuries so severe. His arms and legs had scars running down them. I had kissed every single one of those scars.

  I despised Abigail for doing what she had. I despised her for seducing him only to turn around and leave him. No one should ever receive that kind of treatment. No one should ever feel so unimportant. No one should ever think that endangering themselves is better than the alternative of seeing their ex every day.

  Of course, hadn't I done something similar when I left Todd? Hadn't I disappeared from everything we had together? Hadn't I shied away from half of the town because it reminded me of him? Hadn't I risked it all to fly three-thousand miles away and never return?

  I sighed as I closed my eyes and laid my head down on his chest. I let the sound of his heartbeat lull me to sleep on the third night we shared together. Sleep didn't seem to want to come easy for me, despite how exhausted I was from all the love making, but I did get there soon enough. My dreams that night seemed so familiar to me that it was as if I'd had it every night of my life.

  I ran through a snow-covered forest. I'd been here before, just in a different form. Things looked clearer to me, sharper in a way that I couldn't describe. I knew exactly where I was going because I could smell the way. The air was crisp, frigid, and cut into my lungs. My paws propelled me forward along the frozen ground with so much power that I wondered if whatever was chasing me could catch up with me. I wanted to doubt it. I wanted to believe that nothing could ever catch me.

  All the sudden, he was in front of me and I wondered how he had gotten passed me. The wind was blowing at me. There was no way he had passed me without my knowing. Yet there he was.

  I skid to a stop, desperate to make my legs go in the other direction. Dirt, bark, rocks, grasses, and snow flew out around me and I had to sit in order to stop in time. The air turned acrid, like something toxic and rotten was nearby. I could smell the herbs and wax. I could sense the magic in the air building in intensity.

  I wanted to turn around and run the other way, but I knew he would follow me again. He had followed me this far. He would follow me farther.

  The moonlight silhouetted the man standing before me. I couldn't see his face or any of his features, but I knew that I knew this man. I knew that he was as familiar to me as my own face.

  He held up a hand. A ball of crackling blue light formed in his palm. It sparked and arcs inched up his fingers until they dissipated above his hand. It glowed bright with its intensity and I was afraid of what I knew it could do to me. My heart began to beat fast within my ribcage, and I backed up. The ball of lightning lit up his face and I saw his features. What I saw horrified me.

  "I will not suffer a Lycan to live," he said before he threw the ball of lightning at me.

  It exploded the ground at my side, sending me flying in the opposite direction. The man followed my movements and stepped up to me with a glinting silver dagger. He held it high above his head and I knew that if that knife came down, my life would end.

  From behind me, a black wolf leaped over me and tackled the man, sending them both to the ground. They struggled and I saw the dagger fly away, forgotten in the tussle. I stood and knew that the explosion had injured me. My left foreleg sent a searing pain through my body every time I put any weight on it. I wanted to be safe so that I could let my instincts and body heal me. I wanted to be away from the man who had tried to kill me. I wanted to be alone with the wolf that had saved me so that I could show him how grateful I was for his assistance. The only word I could think when I saw him was "mate”.

  The man who was able to command lightning at a whim threw the black wolf away. They both stood, facing each other. Out of the trees came four other wolves. They formed a line between that man and me, all at the black wolf's side. They were shoulder to shoulder, snout to snout, and the man knew that we outnumbered him. If he didn't leave now, he would die.

  He stood with balls of lightning in each of his hands. "Come get me," he said before he threw the balls and the five other wolves attacked.

  I woke up with a scream and started struggling at the blanket and arms trying to keep me from flailing around. "Ceres!" Wolfgang cried.

  I stopped struggling against him and stared up at his face. I was gasping for breath and on the edge of hyperventilating. He stared at me with frightened amber eyes. They reminded me of my dream, and I had to keep myself from screaming again. I fought to calm my breathing before I broke down in sobs. Wolfgang didn't say anything. He wrapped his arms around me and cradled me close to his chest. He rocked me back and forth until I calmed down. When I stopped crying, he kissed my forehead.

  "What happened?" he asked as he brushed my tears away and smoothed my hair back.

  I told him about what happened and how real my dream seemed. The most terrifying part of it was that Alan... Alan was the one trying to kill me. What did it all mean?

  Who were the other wolves?

  A knock on the door pulled me away from him. We stared at the door for a moment before he sighed and kissed me. "I'm going to go to the bathroom," he said.

  "No," I replied, holding his hand. I met his blue eyes. "I don't care what he thinks. I was serious last night. I will marry you and he should know that it's coming even if we don't tell him."

  Wolfgang smiled before he kissed me. "This will not end well," he warned.

  I shrugged. "He's not important," I said as the knock sounded again. "There is a family we're born into and a family we choose. Alan was not the family I chose. I would rather have him walk away from me right here and now as long as you're still here, than find myself alone and wondering what will happen when the debris falls." I slipped out of bed and started hunting for the clothes we hadn't touched in days. I tossed Wolfgang his boxers. "Put those on though," I said. "Just in case."

  He chuckled and slipped them on under the blanket. I found my sweater and my jeans. I finished getting dressed before I opened the door and found myself surprised by an unfamiliar face. He looked like Wolfgang in that they-could-be-brothers-if-I-didn't-know-better kind of way. They had the same blue eyes and I wondered if his changed colors too. He had the same black hair, also pulled back into a ponytail I could see the curls in. They could have been brothers.

  "Hi," he said as he held out his hand. "My name is Riley, I'm Wolfgang's cousin. I was wondering if he was here. We haven't heard from him in a few days."

  "Yeah," I said. I gestured toward the bed. "He's over there," I informed him.

  Wolfgang appeared behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist. "Hey, man," he said. "What's up?"

  "Just checking to make sure you're still alive," Riley replied. "You haven't answered your phone in a few days. Mom's worried. Dad's quiet. Mira says to get your butt home now. Apartment's been feeling pretty empty without you there to brighten it up with your angsty ways." The three of us chuckled.

  "Battery died," Wolfgang replied. "Did something happen?" he asked.

  Riley shook his head. "Nah," he replied. "It's just like I said: it worried us when we didn't hear from you."

  Wolfgang nodded. "I'm fine," he said. I could feel tension in his body, but I wasn't sure what the cause of it was. He seemed more rigid. Every muscle was tense, as if he was waiting for something to happen that he needed to prepare for.

  Riley nodded. "Alright," he said with an amicable tone. "I'll see you later then. Dad's closed the diner for a few more days until we can figure out how to get rid of some of the snow. Some of the guys are down there shoveling and the plow is making its way through town, but it's slow going. You guys have enough food?" he asked. I nodded. "Okay," he said. "Like I said, the plow is moving slow, so the roads are still pretty impassable right
now. Keep that in mind if you decide to go somewhere. The news was reporting that they think it might come down again in a few more days."

  Wolfgang nodded. "Okay," he said. "I'll find my charger for my phone and give Dad a quick call," he said. "Tell him I'm still alive."

  Riley nodded. "Sure thing," he said. They did the manly hand-grab-shoulder-bump man-hug thing before Riley walked away.

  Wolfgang shut the door and I shivered in the cold air. The snow stopped, and the temperature dropped. Remnants of my dream still plagued me, and it frightened me all over again. I felt the chill of the cold air in my dream and the frozen earth beneath my paws.... It was so surreal, and I was glad to be inside with a heater that kicked on because of the cold.

  "Sorry, I didn't think they'd come looking for me," he said with a chuckle. We kissed before he started looking at our dwindling selection of cans. "We're getting a little bit low on food, so if you want, I can take you to my place before the next storm hits. Or I can take you to Alan's."

  I stared at him in horror. "Alan's?" I asked. "After the dream I just had about him?" Wolfgang gave me an 'I'm sorry' look. I sighed. "Trust me, I don't want to go to Alan's," I said. "But I'm not quite ready to leave yet, either..."

  Wolfgang walked up to me with that wolfish grin of his. He held my face in his hands and looked down at me before his lips came down on mine again. "I don't want to go back yet either," he almost whispered.

  I pulled him down toward me and let his kisses chase the chill of my dream away. He warmed me up from the inside out and I adored his every touch, kiss, and smell. His hands slid down my back to squeeze my ass and he growled in my ear. "You're mine," he whispered. "Forever." The possessiveness sent a chill down my back.

  I nodded, feeling the familiar dizziness that his nearness caused in me. To be honest, knowing that he was so loyal in his relationships, I had to admit that it felt good to finally know that someone wanted me. I could say with complete honesty that I'd never felt that way before. Wolfgang made me feel like a better person. He made me feel like it mattered that I was in his life. I wasn't just someone he kept around for his own amusement or enjoyment. He was far more interested in my happiness and pleasure than he was in his own. Although, I had to admit that I wasn't prepared for his sexual appetite after my two-year dry spell.