Forbidden

Chapter 34

34

We sat alongside the river that flowed down the jagged rocks to the lake.

From here, we had the most excellent view of the vast expanse of gray water, the horde of leafless trees and the sun setting slowly behind them, casting orange and yellow hues across the sky, and the lake.

The water from the river rushed over our feet, as cold as ice, but did plenty to cool our hot skin.

Liam and I had run around the forest as wolves all afternoon, chasing each other through the dying undergrowth in a haphazard game of tag, which somehow evolved into a game of hide and seek—even though I kept winning because Liam was too big to hide anywhere. We’d rolled around on the slopes of dying grass, getting sticks and dirt in our fur as we clawed at one another playfully. And once again, because Liam was naturally a ginormous wolf, he had the upper hand in this game because I was smaller than him.

He was indeed the biggest wolf I’d ever laid eyes upon; none of the men in my Pack, not even my father could rival the size of his wolf. I found myself admiring his blue gray pelt, not as a difference, but as a characteristic, and his strange silver eyes were his best feature. And Liam exuded pure Alpha prowess over the simplest of things.

He was just perfect.

I’d never been happier in all of my life.

We had less squabbles over the past few days; there was no more bickering, no talk of over ambitious running away, no words about the future. We were content to spend our last few days together in content, memorable bliss.

My birthday was tomorrow, and in these last few hours, I would spend all my time in Liam’s arms. We’d met early in the mornings, had secret rendezvous in the forest during school hours and in the evenings we’d met at the Sacred Line, as usual. Sometimes Liam would talk to me on the phone, or grace my bedroom with his presence, but that wasn’t very often. Though we didn’t speak about our relationship as a secret anymore, it still was.

I splashed water on Liam’s outstretched leg and he scowled at me before he splashed me back, soaking my jeans in water. Instead of attacking him like usual, I only laughed halfheartedly and he draped an arm over my shoulders, lapsing into comfortable silence.

“How did you find this place?” he asked as his eyes appreciatively scoured the atmosphere.

“Remember when I told you I used to be a tomboy?” I asked him, becoming flustered when he got a knowing little smirk on his face. “Tegan and I used to explore every inch of this forest—well as far as we could go without the Line stopping us. We found this place by accident; we used to sit up here and spy on you guys.”

“Spy on us?” Liam echoed, furrowing his brow.

I laughed nervously and gave him a small nod, my cheeks flaming under his speculative gaze. “Tegan couldn’t believe Shadow wolves swam in the sun; I think she compared you to vampires, but maybe that was because she was into that stuff when we were little.”

“’Vampires’?” Liam echoed me.

I laughed nervously again and ignored his comment. “This was the first place I saw you.”

“Really?” he said softly. “I didn’t even know you until the first year of high school.”

That burnt a little bit, but I ignored his comment once again. “Well, I wasn’t much of a socialite.”

“How old were we anyway?” he asked, sounding distant.

“When I first saw you?” I asked him; he nodded. “Well, I was nine. Dad had gotten Hayden a pair of binoculars for his birthday, but he was being a wuss and didn’t want to try them out. Honestly, he was girlier than me when we were little.” I rolled my eyes and Liam laughed lightly. “So Tegan being Tegan, pinched them from the box in his room and made me use them out here; that’s when I saw you.”