The Wolves Of Twilight

Chapter 9: The Talk

["Imprinted? What the fuck does that even mean? Don't only ducklings do that after they've hatched or something?"]

~Casey~

Those eyes. Those deep brown eyes made every inch of me feel like I was floating. Yet, at the same time, they were the very gravity that kept me on the ground.

I couldn't turn away; I couldn't. He had my full attention. The emptiness I once felt dissipated as Embry filled the vast valley carved into my soul. I didn't have the strength to move, to look.

I stopped breathing, or maybe my heart stopped beating because my brain felt like it was losing oxygen. I was weightless--a sugary high on the sweet pools of honey shining in the spotlight of the sun. The sensation of dopamine fueling my body was overpowering and made my head spin wonderfully.

It was like that day on the beach all over again. When I fell on top of him, and we were both left frozen for a moment. It was like that exact moment amplified to a million. And he was giving me that look again, the one I couldn't quite decipher. It was entrancing.

I wanted to embrace him. To feel him, to understand what it would be like to press my skin to his and be drunk on each other's touch. Intimacy was something I'd always been afraid of, but now I craved it deeply. I couldn't hope to ever understand how he had this strong of a hold over me.

Visions filled my head: smiles, the beach, ebony eyes, intertwined hands. The spoils of war, forever seen as a delectable treat in the privacy of one another.

The emotions of unforeseen memories kept building and building until suddenly it all stopped. Reality smacked me in the face as Embry's eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

The horror of the sight pushed me out of whatever trance I was in. With those eyes finally closed, the tight grip they had on me loosened, allowing me to breathe again. I inhaled loudly and looked down at my hands, which at some point had clamped onto the picnic table. The distinct sound of wood cracking could be heard.

"Casey? Casey!?" Jared and Paul had been saying my name this whole time, yet I couldn't hear them. All I could focus on was my own heartbeat in my ears.

"I-I-I . . ." I couldn't even speak. I was unable to fathom what had just happened.

"Hey kid, look at me. Just breathe." Paul worried. My body began to shiver, and my speech continued to slur.

"I think he's gonna shift." Jared's eyes went wide.

"Then we need to get him out of here." Paul decided. "Bring him to the woods?"

"Bring him to the woods." Jared agreed.

"I-I-I d-don't . . ." My words continued to fail me. My body pulled towards Embry as if it needed his presence to survive. It very well could have. "E-Embry . . ." I breathed his name. He was the only thing on my mind. Just him and no one else.