Ghost Wolf (Wattys2014)

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: Space

After class on Friday I reluctantly headed back to my room to pack a weekend bag for my stay at Bruce’s. I didn’t want to leave. I was content to stay at Lady Ann’s and, I couldn’t believe I was even mentally admitting it, but I was enjoying my time here. Maybe Kaiden was helping the situation but I felt different—a feeling I had never experienced before. Not with Ryan, not with anyone. And that feeling I could thank Kaiden for.

With a sigh, I stuffed a jacket into my bag when I felt warm arms eased around my frame, causing my heart to stutter and leap. A scream was about to escape my throat when my mouth was concealed by a loving, tender kiss.

“Relax, it’s just me.” Kaiden chuckled with a smirk. “You left the door open.”

“You scared me,” I panted, turned and placed my hand over my thrumming chest.

“Sorry. What are you doing?”

Sighing, I turned back toward the bed and zipped the bag closed. “I made a deal with Mum to stay with Bruce every weekend—he’s lonely.” My eyes rolled. “She defiantly knows how to get her money talking. I don’t want to go though.”

“Oh, right.” Kaiden began rubbing the back of his neck again. He hadn’t done that in days.  “And, why’s that?” A smirk quivered over the side of his face.

“I’m happy here … and yes you may or may not have something to do with it.” I blushed.

His smirk grew into a grin. “Well it’s snowing out and I don’t want you driving in the dark or alone, so … can I drive you?”

“I’d love you to.”

“Thanks. I don’t exactly know you that well Harper, but since you’ve came here … your walls have come down. The first time you kissed me, you wanted to forget.”

My mouth opened in protest, but his index finger pressed against my lips and forced my words to stay secret. “I know you did. So don’t object. Can I do one thing before we leave? Please? Because I know the instant you walk through that door, those walls will rebuild themselves.”

He was right. I did put walls up to protect myself. But what I couldn’t believe was how well he knew me, how well he read me. Ryan had never figured out when I was least comfortable around him. The fluttering in my chest increased the more I thought about it. I felt understood for the first time in my life, like I didn’t have to explain every single detail of what I was thinking and feeling. Kaiden just got me—he understood.

I knew what he was asking as my eyes stared into his golden flecked orbs. My mouth pressed to his as his tongue parted my lips. His hands cupped my hips as my fingers twisted into his hair.

Scooting back, with my arms tightly wrapped around his shoulders I leaned against the wall as the fluffy baby-pink quilt flexed under my palms before they lifted and dipped below his shirt to caress his abs. The tips of my fingers traced the defined lines of each individual muscle. A content smile curved my lips hearing him take in a laboured breath.

Pulling away I stared up at Kaiden. The warmth of his thumb brushed along the skin of my cheek bone. A smile stretched across his lips.

I shook my head from side to side. “You make me feel like I’ve known you since I was little… Is it the wolf, or you that knows me so well?”

“Both,” he replied. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

“You know how corny that sounds?” I giggled, squirming under him.

Kaiden’s eyes rolled with a huffing chuckle as he stood up straight.  “Hmm, I’m no Romeo but I mean what I say, as corny as that, too sounds.” He smirked.

***

The snow lay thick on the roadside, covering the usual visible clumps of glass and ferns. The sheen of ice reflected across the road. It was only six o’clock but it was dark as midnight.

“Is there a difference between a mark and being changed?” I murmured out of the silence.

“A mark bonds the couple together but it can only happen on the full moon.”

“And the Ghost Wolf title would be passed on to the marked?” I peered at the side of his face illuminated in the headlights.

“No, that’d only happen if I bit someone on any other night besides the full moon. But it’s the first person I bite that gets the title. The full moon is reserved for couples—to give the mark or changed the marked. It’s complicated … Why?” Kaiden found my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Just… Todoka said a mark would grant forever with the wolf’s mate. Made me curious, that’s all.” I shrugged and looked out the side window. I didn’t know how to say it, let alone admit it out loud to Kaiden, but, I kind of longed for his mark on me. I shook my head. That sounded so naïve. I barely knew him and yet, I still felt like I’d known him forever.

That sensation—loyalty, comfort, protection, warmth—was still there whenever I was around him. I wondered if it was responsible for most of the feelings I had towards him. 

I let my mind wonder as a badger ran into the snow powdered bushes after spotting the Honda’s headlights. More snow slowly flaked to earth making a slight sound of crackling upon impact of the windscreen. A single vehicle passed during the entire drive.

I didn’t like the silence that had been cast over the car. It made me worry. We shouldn’t be going this long without speaking, should we?

“It felt like it was too soon,” I blurted out, catching Kaiden off guard.

“What did?”

“The kiss… I wanted to forget it because it felt too soon and mum always said to: ‘wait until you really know the guy before you kiss him otherwise you will screw things up by going too fast.’ She did everything too fast with my father and look at them now.”

He sighed. “I don’t really know what to say. I mean, we’ve kissed like five times … but … if you think we’re going too fast, its fine by me to slow down but it’ll never be that way for me Harper. I won’t leave you.” His hand retracted to the steering wheel while pulling up into the driveway.

I instantly missed his touch. I felt torn between doing what I knew and trusting what he promised.

Nodding, I sighed. “It’s what I want.”

I pushed the Honda’s door open and shivered when the icy night air hit my skin. Before my eyes my breath turned to fog. Out of nowhere Kaiden’s arms closed around my curvy frame in a comforting hold that held me so tight he felt like armouragainst the weather’s ice.

Like I hadn’t just spoken a word about space my arms wrapped around his—he was just too irresistible.

“I know I’m probably pushing it … especially after what you just said but can the slowing it down thing wait until midnight?” His heated breath tickled the skin of my neck as he whispered into my ear.

I giggled and leaned further back into his grip. “Okay, okay. God, you’re hard to say no to!”

Chuckling, Kaiden pecked my cheek. “Mm, so are you.”