Wolf

Chapter 3: ⓜⓐⓡⓘⓝⓐ

Chapter 3: Marina

     I woke up suddenly. The first thing I noticed was a masculine smell. The second thing I noticed was pins-and-needles in my leg. I twisted my head to find mine and Holland's limbs tangled up. This is bad, I thought. Then I remembered what I had promised to do yesterday and stayed where I was, breathing in Holland's smell. I even snuggled closer to him, though my body and heart were both screaming out 'no.'

     Holland chuckled. "Good morning to you too." I froze. I hadn't realised he was awake. Holland pulled me closer and buried his face in my hair. He planted small kisses on my head and down my neck. "This shoulder is awfully bare. Don't you think we should do something about that?" he said.

     "Holland Osprey, don't you even dare," I said seriously, only resulting in making Holland laugh.

     "Your wish is my command." I sighed in my head. This wasn't real. I was acting. Pretending.

     "As much as I'd love to lounge around in bed all day with you, my parents are coming round for lunch," Holland said casually. That woke me up properly. I bolted upright.

     "What?!" I said. "What time is it now?"

     "Oh relax, it's only..." Holland mumbled the last few words.

     "Excuse me?" I said.

     "It's ten-thirty," he repeated. I instantly panicked. It wasn't that I'd never met Holland's parents before, but now it was impressing them as their son's future mate.

     "Don't we have to prepare food? What do they like to drink?" I went into hyper mode, trying to organise the scrambled thoughts in my brain.

     "Relax, Mum insisted on bringing lunch and we have a bottle of wine in the kitchen," he said.

     "You're letting your mother bring the food? You're such a bad host," I chided.

     "Well you're a bad hostess, Miss I-wake-up-at-ten-thirty," Holland teased. There was a small knock on the door and I let out a little shriek. "Better get dressed," Holland said and smirked. I started running round the room, trying to remember where I left my vest, when Holland called my name.

     "Oh crap," I muttered to myself. The door opened slowly and Rayne walked in.

     "Marina!" she exclaimed and hugged me tightly.

     "Rayne? What are you doing here?" I was shocked in a pleased way.

     "I thought I'd drop in, see how you were...getting on," she finished shyly.

     I thought for a minute whilst brushing my long hair, before shortly saying, "I'll live." Rayne smiled. However, I couldn't help but notice she kept glancing at my shoulder. "Rayne," I said seriously.

     "It's bare." She blushed. "I'm sorry."

     Holland walked in, didn't so much as look at Rayne before saying, "They're here," in a sing-song way.

     "Sorry Rayne. Holland's parents are here for lunch," I said apologetically.

     "Where's the girl, Holland?" I heard a plummy, upper-class English voice float from the doorway.

     "Duty calls," Rayne said cheerfully. "Bye. I'll go out the back door."

     I nodded, smoothed out my skirt self-consciously and walked to the hallway, looking up to find all three Ospreys eyeing me in different ways. One was with a smirk, one was emotionless and one was judging.