Fortis

Fortis | Novem

            After getting necessity items that Fortis found fit—which included three tubs of various ice cream flavors—he had to get one last thing.

Standing by his side as his icy eyes skimmed over the ingredients of the shampoo and conditioner, my foot tapped impatiently. I scanned my eyes around the body care section of the store, one majorly important thing caught my attention, reminding me of the nearing end of the month.

Glancing back over to the dark haired boy, whose eyebrows were drawn together rather adorably, I slowly stared making my way over to the metal shelves. But my small movement didn’t go unnoticed.

Fortis snapped his gaze to my dirty shoes. His eyes narrowed. “Where do you think you’re going?”

I cleared my throat. “I, uh, I got to get some things.”

“What things?” He placed the items into the basket. “I’m coming with yo—”

“No!” I said to quickly, holding my hands out to stop him. His eyes flicked down to my hands and I instantly dropped them. I coughed awkwardly. “I mean, no.” My urgency wasn’t as frantic.

“And why the hell not?”

“Because. Can’t you just let me get this one little thing by myself,” I groaned.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes like a child. “’Cause the last time I let you out of my sight went splendid, right? Nope, no can do, little girl. I’m comin’ with you.”

“Fortis!” My head tossed back, a groan escaping me again. “I need to go myself, trust me.”

“Fine.” Crossing his arms over his strong chest, his gaze pierced me and I found breathing to become a difficult task. “But only if you tell me where you’re going and what you’re getting.”

My hand wiped down my face and I sighed, exasperated. “I can’t.”

A single, dark eyebrow lifted.

“Fine, fine.” I looked up to the ceiling, wondering why out of all people I had to get stuck with the most stubborn lycan in the world. “I have to get pads,” I mumbled lowly, almost incoherent even to a lycan’s sensitive hearing.

“What?” Fortis asked, face scrunching into confusion. The skin between his eyebrows creased.

I huffed. “I said”—my voice was louder, then dropped back to being a mere whisper, “I have to get pads.”

“What have to get what?” He leaned his ear closer to my mouth. “Little girl, you gotta speak up.”

“Ugh! I said I have to get pads!”

He recoiled from my voice, looking clueless. But as seconds passed, realization washed over his face. “Oh—Oh. Why couldn’t you just say that? Go and get your woman-y things.” He waved a hand at me.

I sighed, relieved. Upon turning, I noticed a few curious stares from the residents and my cheeks heated. Ducking my head, I retrieved my items and quickly placed them in the basket, covering the box with other various foods.  

After paying for our groceries, Fortis pushed the basket to the truck. Helping him place the white plastic bags into the bed, he noticed that one of the bags were missing. The bag with the ice cream.

He looked to the store, slightly making a move towards it, then his body jerked back. His eyes narrowed at me and his finger pointed to the ground. “Stay here.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” I mocked saluted him. Rolling my eyes as he rushed back into the store, I tried opening the truck only to find it locked. I sighed.

Leaning my hip against the vehicle, four boys loitering around a sleek, black car met my sight. I hadn’t noticed that I was staring until one boy connected eyes with my own. I mentally cursed at myself and quickly looked away to the entrance of the store, hoping for Fortis to have a speedy return.

Out of my peripheral vision, I noticed one of the boys pushing another in my direction. They laughed but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Wasn’t my super sensitive hearing supposed to whet in? Why wasn’t it working? Anxiety built in my chest the more the boys laughed and looked to me. Were they talking about me? How ugly my clothes were? How knotty my hair seemed? I inconspicuously glanced at my reflection the truck's paint offered.

Nearly jumping for joy when Fortis appeared holding the bag, his sight instantly went to the rowdy boys—that were whispering something between each other—and his eyes narrowed. When he was approaching the truck, one of the boys gained the confidence to strut over to me, clearly not seeing the mysterious, intimidating, six-foot-something male making his way over.

“Hey—” was all the boy could say before Fortis unlocked the truck and yanked open the passenger side door for me, all the while glaring deeply at the boy.

“Get in the truck, Mercy,” he growled lowly, not taking his stare off the boy, who was now frozen in his spot. Without hesitation, I climb into the vehicle with little struggle. He slammed the door shut behind me.

When Fortis situated himself behind the wheel and whipped out of the parking lot, his grip on the steering wheel left his knuckles turning white.

“Uh,” I sputtered, trying to diverge his attention away from his anger so he wouldn’t break the wheel, “I’m glad you got your ice cream.

“Mhm,” he hummed. His grip lessened.

“Could you hear what they were saying?” My curiosity gnawing at me.

He let out a bitter laugh. “’Course I could hear what they were saying. It doesn’t take a fucking genius to know what teenage boys talk about when there’s an attractive female in close proximity. They think with the heads in their pants instead of the one on their shoulders.”

I had stopped listening after “attractive female.” It was all my brain could process. Was Fortis saying I was attractive? Or was there a woman behind me that was the beautiful one? I let the sentence go, someone as naturally handsome as Fortis would never think a plain girl like me was attractive. It was against nature.

“How’d you hear what they were saying and I couldn’t?” I pointed to myself, looking at his profile confusingly.

He glanced at me, then back to the road. “Your new senses don’t just appear, you gotta learn on honing them in.”

“And how the heck do I do that?”

A smile twitched at his lips, and he discreetly pointed to the car stopped next to us. A woman talking on the phone. “Focus on her mouth, concentrate on trying to hear the words she’s saying. If you do it right, you’ll hear her even through the surrounding noise and the glass windows.”

I fixed Fortis with a look. “This is stu—”

“Just do it.”

Huffing and tearing my glare from him, I focused my attention onto the woman. At first, I could only hear the truck’s rumbling engine and could only see the woman talking animatedly. Growing frustrated, I laid down all my concentration. I could start to hear a faint whisper of her words, then it was like I was sitting in the car with her.

“John, I told you a thousand times that Ethan needed to be picked up from school! I left a note on the fridge, too. How could you possibly forget? He’s probably waiting outside on the steps, freezing all becau—”

Her voice faded into the back of my mind when Fortis pressed on the gas. I leaned back into my seat, a smile forcing its way onto my face.

“Wasn’t so hard, was it?” he asked upon seeing my smile, his own smile twisting onto his full lips. 

I shook my head. Maybe this lycan thing was actually pretty cool; if I didn’t die in the next two days.