Claim me.

Wrapped in Piano Strings-DEVENDRA BANHART by iwannabecocoso

Song: Wrapped in Piano Strings~ Devendra Banhart

The familiar crash of a beer bottle being broken downstairs could be heard. It was a few minutes past two o'clock in the morning, meaning the only light that lit the hallway was that of a few stray lamps, and my toes made small creaks of protest leave the floorboards as they tried to press as softly as possible against the old wood.

His scent was utterly unbearable now, when considering, firstly, how I'd had to endure its coming unknown stranger all day and, secondly, how comforting it seemed now the sounds of my father's anger were apparent down in the living room. He was most certainly staring at my late mother's photograph as per usual, not quite having the courage to smash the picture itself and so settling for one of his many bottles of ale.

God knows how he had managed to find a lodger to fill up one of our many empty rooms. We owned the town and so lived in a manor house that had rested there for centuries, but my father... well, he was slightly... backwards. Ever since my mother died, that is. We'd had a lot of money, but he started to spend more and more of it on alcohol and just completely useless things, like key chains from shopping channels and a rather random motorcycle that he had taught me to ride. That would have been fine for us financially if he had just left it at that. Instead, he leaked the rest of our expenses into a bank account I would have access to as soon as I left home. But, since I had become a legal adult three months ago, I hadn't had the courage or lack of guilt to leave my father. And now we had a lodger; I couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't afraid of our manor like most were.

I was still trying to be as quiet as possible as I made my way down the hall, following that scent that drove me wild. My inhuman qualities meant I was naturally light on my feet, but it was about as useful as a human's agility right now as my father countered it with progressed hearing. My heart was beating fast in my ribcage, both from the fear of being caught and the excitement of going to visit the stranger. I didn't know where my courage had come from, but I just knew I couldn't spend the night alone listening to my father's outbursts with such a soothing presence only rooms away.

I winced when my toe pressed a little too deeply against the floor, that particular panel of wood groaning in protest, and shot out a hand to steady myself against the wall. I stayed still for a few moments, trying to decipher whether or not my father had heard me, and when there was no obvious change in the noise level downstairs I continued with my quest. Slowly, I made progress across the hall, trying not to shiver when the cold night air blew across my legs, which were bare due to the thin, beige top that I wore. My dark brown hair was still damp from my shower a few hours ago, so thick it took ages to dry, which I carelessly ran a hand through to get out of my eyes- my pale green eyes, which looked around my surroundings with an exhilarated alertness.

Finally, I reached the door of the stranger with the alluring scent, and my eagerness to see him was so great that even the nerves floating around in my stomach couldn't stop me. My hand curled the rusted, gold doorknob of the guest bedroom's door and, slowly, turned. I didn't knock, just opened the door and timidly stepped inside, for some reason still balancing on my tiptoes.

Despite my efforts to be quiet, he had to of heard, which was why I wasn't surprised when I found the man sitting straight up in bed, already looking at me with his dark eyes before I looked at him. His handsome features were lit with a kind of relief, one I couldn't find reason for, and when I stepped closer to him a small smile graced his full lips. He was very tall, his head reaching far higher than mine would have sitting in the bed, with a sculpted, muscled body to rival a Greek God. He wasn't overly muscular, though, but more lean, as though built for speed. He, like my father, was a wolf.

When I reached the foot of his bed, he moved forwards so that he was knelt in front of me. Then, hesitantly meeting my eyes, he wrapped his hands around my small waist before dragging me onto the mattress with him. I wished he was going to lay me flush against him, against that tanned body that looked so warm and inviting, but instead I was laid on my side, though still so incredibly close that his scent was wrapping around me like a blanket.