Howling loudly at the nightsky, our entire pack was excited and letting each other know by our howls. We were in a small clearing near the packhouse, just like she had wanted us to be. There were no human-forms, everyone had shifted, except of course Annabell, the doctor. The ones that didn’t know her all that well where in the back of the clearing, between the trees, but me and Eli next to her, Keeley that is. Wouter laying against her bare arm, while she whimpered in pain. She was covered with sheets, wearing a simple dress.
‘Calm down, you’ll be okay,’ Wouter tried, but she growled at him so he kept quiet.
I laid down next to her and she looked me in the eyes. I knew she was in great pain, but it would pass, she knew that. She closed her eyes and whimpered once more, but this time I heard crying beside me. I looked around and saw a beautiful baby boy. Annabelle put the baby on Keeley’s chest and cut the umbilical cord. It wasn’t over yet, because Keeley was having twins. Annabelle placed the baby on Wouter’s fur, so he could watch over him and Keeley started to push again.
A few hours later Wouter, Eli and myself were waiting in the infirmary for Keeley. She had been brought there after her second child had been born. You might think by now.. not nearly nine months had passed, but since we weren’t entirely human, we didn’t really work the same. We had the same cycle as wolves, which meant female wolves were only pregnant for a little over two months. Wouter was called in, he would have some time alone with his wife and two beautiful newborns. Eli put his arm around my shoulder and hugged me tight.
‘Let’s go home,’ he said, turning me to the stairs.
At home, Eli still had some homework to do. We sat at the table and I tried, with a lot of effort, to help him make his mathematics. Every few minutes he would tap my foot or ankle with his, he’d grab my hand or stroke my cheek when I didn’t expect him to.
‘Eli, Just do some work, I’ll take a bath, when I get back you better be finished.’
I left, without leaving him a chance to reply.
Eli’s POV.
I still hadn’t told Stella about Wouter’s decision. I didn’t want to tell her his answer yet, so I tried to keep her busy and thinking about other things. When she said she would go take a bath, I sighed with relief. I quickly made the few small assignments and tiptoed to the bedroom. I took out the candles and put some rose petals on the bed and towards the bedroom door. I put on some soft music and got some chocolates from the kitchen. I put the chocolates on Stella’s pillow and waited for her to come out of the bathtub. She didn’t like to bathe long, so I expected her back any minute. I sat down on the bed and tried to find intising positions, but of course, when you try, it seems impossible. She entered the room and smiled at me. She wasn’t wearing any clothes yet and was only covered in a towel.
Stella’s POV.
When I got out of the bathroom, my feet hit the first rose petals. I smiled gently, wrapped my towel around myself and walked over to the bedroom. During my bath I had realised, Eli hadn’t told me the decision of Wouter, whether or not we could go with Connor. I wanted to ask him right away, but to be perfectly honest, when I saw the rose petals, the question just slipped my mind. I knew what was going to happen and I loved it.
The next morning, at the sound of our alarm, we woke up in each others arms. Which strangely enough didn’t happen that often. Usually Eli would turn over first and came towards me with his back, I in turn loved to hug him, but most of the time I would wake up with my back to him as well, some parts would always touch. I looked at Eli, who was trying to ignore the ongoing alarm. I smiled and got up a little snoozing the alarm on Eli’s side.
‘I can’t sleep like this,’ I heard him say a little muffled.
His face had been covered by my bare chest, I pulled back and looked away from him.
‘Sorry,’ I mumbled.
‘Don’t be, it’s a magnificent way to wake up, but such a tease, since we don’t have time for any fun stuff,’ he replied smiling.
I kissed him on the lips and got out of bed, even though we were together for about two months, I still covered myself. I got some clothing from the closet and went to the bathroom to prepare myself for school. I washed my face and put my clothes on. I put on some mascara and tied my hair back. We went to get some breakfast and left to school. Mostly because I had too much energy, I had decided to run to school, Eli, for some reason, decided on the bus. It hardly ever happened that we had different means of transportation, but I was fine with it. I loved to run and if Eli wasn’t feeling like it, I wasn’t going to make him. Only now it hit me, Eli had tricked me. He still hadn’t told me if we could go with Connor on his quest. I had decided to ask him in person, so I could see what he really thought about it, but now he had made me decide otherwise.
‘Eli?’ I asked while running.
‘What is it darling?’ he replied.
‘What was Wouter’s reply to your question, you never said.’
‘Oh, I thought I did,’ he said.
‘Nope, not yet.’
‘He said we could go, but preferably in the holiday. So during easter.’
I didn’t reply him, I’d see him at school. I wasn’t really angry at him, but I was sure he had been misleading me ever since he knew, making us both too busy to think about it.
At school Eli wasn’t waiting for me at the changing place, so I went into the school by myself. I ran into Sean and Dean, they told me Eli had to catch the restroom before class. The next few hours I only saw Eli during the breaks and I got sick of it.
‘Eli? Where are you?’ I asked after my classes.
‘Waiting for the bus,’ he answered.
‘Is something up?’
‘No, why would there be?’
‘Well, you’re avoiding me,’ I said.
‘Shall we talk at home?’
‘Sure.’
I was getting very annoyed by this, usually he was like an open book in our conversations, today he had shut me out. I had actually felt alone all day.
When I got home, Eli was already waiting on the couch, he had put the television on. When I walked in he turned the tv off and turned to me.
‘Hi,’ I mumbled.
‘Hi, I’m sorry,’ he said, he sounded remorseful.
‘Why did you ignore me all day?’ I asked, I hadn’t wanted to accuse him, but I felt left behind.
‘I really am sorry. I.. I think I’m afraid that you would want to leave right away,’ he said, looking away.
‘It felt like you were pushing me away, I really felt alone today, because I hardly had any classes with my friends,’ I admitted.
‘I would never push you away, but I do think we should wait till easter to go on this quest.’
‘Well, if you had asked me, you would have found out that I agree, last time I only missed a week, but it took me a long time to get caught up again,’ I said.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
I was still standing by the door, Eli got up and walked over to me and he hugged me. It was okay now, the hug fixed everything.
As a nice gesture, a new friend made a nice cover for stella, thank you so much, here's your dedication!
