Heart of Stone (Parts I & II)

II. Chapter 21 | Part 2 - Stone

Smiling hazel eyes over rosy cheeks greeted him as Aubree bit down on her bottom lip. That plump, red cherry.

He tore his gaze away as he struggled to swallow. The desire to kiss her flared up through him.

She cleared her throat. "So, how do I do this?"

Gulping air into his lungs, he turned his attention to the task at hand. "Marigolds are great for borders, so we'll plant them along the edges of the garden."

"Okay."

Picking up a gardening trowel, he showed her how deep to dig the hole for the young plant before he showed her how to pull it from the plastic tray without harming it. Then, he placed it gently into the hole and pushed the soil back into the hole and patted the earth around the base of the stem.

"Your turn," he whispered into her ear.

He felt the electricity jump from his lips as they almost brushed against her ear, making her shiver. She caught his gaze as she pursed her lips.

If the others weren't around, their eyes glancing back and forth between him and Aubree, he would have gazed into her eyes longer. They pulled him toward her, luring him in deeper. Instead, he handed her the trowel, wrapping his fingers over hers before releasing her as her heart rate sped up.

There was a slight pout on her face before she turned her attention back to the garden. Following his instructions, she dug a small hole in the earth.

Handing her the tray of flowers, he put his hand over hers and applied the necessary pressure against her thumb and first two fingers before easing the plant out of the tray together. He knew that was the hardest part for her, and he nuzzled her neck when she did it without struggle. "It's as easy as that."

His voice was low with the desire to kiss her neck. He wanted to do more than that. Perhaps it was her soul, but he felt as though a shadow of Adelaide was there with him, only it was reversed. Instead of his soulmate showing him how to handle the plants without crushing them, he was showing her.

"Right?" She smiled with newfound confidence, placing the root entangled soil of the flower into the ground and covering it with earth.

Stone kneeled next to her as she became comfortable with the task before he shifted over a few inches to work on his own plot. He focused his muscles on transforming his left hand halfway, like the others had done, and used his elongated claws to dig up the soil with a few quick swipes.

As they all worked together to transfer the various annual and perennial flowers, Aubree eventually noticed that she was the only one using a trowel to dig.

She paused and he felt her eyes on his left claw-like hand when he was scooping out the last bit of soil from his hole. He raised his eyes to her face and watched the color in her face drain away. Her hazel eyes were glued to his hand in the ground and he swallowed.

[Show her,] Gunner urged Stone in his mind.

There was a chorus of agreements from the others in his head before they withdrew and continued to work in silence.

"It's only half transformed," he mumbled. "It makes it easier to dig."

Hesitantly, he withdrew his hand from the ground and held it out to her, palm-up. He watched her face as she studied the growth of fur that now covered his arm. Thin, almost invisible at the elbow, then thickening as it spread down his arm to his hands and wrists in a light brown color. The fur was only half as thick as it normally was in his wolf form, but it was noticeable the closer it got to his wrist. His hand had increased in size, his fingers thickened and his nails elongated into razor-sharp pointed claws.