G H O S T R U N N E R

< F I V E >

© Amber Kalkes 2014

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< F I V E >

Arden doesn’t let go of Sam’s hand. She doesn’t want to cut of the stream of tingles flowing through her hand and the purring of her usually snarling wolf in her mind. She likes the soothing balm he is on her soul and the feel of his manly scent in her lungs. She inhales deeply again, peppermint and chocolate invades her senses before spreading through her body.

She feels any tension in her body disappear and smiles up at him. His gray eyes seem a bit dazed as they look back down at her before they move back towards the road before them. She likes the reluctance to look away she sees in his gaze and she likes that he seems to be as drawn to her as she is to him. It’s a relief really.

A mate should always be open to their mate’s embrace.

Though Arden hadn’t been around her pack in a long time she still remembered how it had been with the mated couples she had seen before being taken into the darkness. Her parents had been mates. Her mother had been a normal pack member but thought of as a beauty due to the golden tone of her wolf’s coat and the untamed blonde beauty in human form. She was sought after by many male wolves but wanted to wait for her mate, Arden’s father. Her father had been a rogue, a wolf without a pack when he stumbled on Arden’s mother in the woods.

The love, as it usually is, was instant between the two. Her father instantly marked her mother after her acceptance and because Arden’s grandfather was a defender of high esteem her father was accepted into the pack. She was born shortly after their mating and until the age of thirteen she was treated like any one else.

Then Arden shifted for the first time and thing changed.

Quickly shaking the thought from her head she looks over at Sam who has a small smile on his face. She doesn’t know why it’s there but she likes to see it all the same. Pulling his hand into her lap she traces the bumps of his knuckles lightly watching goosebumps rise on the tanned skin of his arm with fascination.

She’s sure she’ll never get used to this, the effect she has on him.

It makes her heartbeat quicken and her mind wander to other possibilities.

Sam clears his throat and his brows furrow, “Arden, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Why are you so comfortable with me?”

Arden feels the early signs of panic. She doesn’t want to lie. She thinks it may be impossible for her to lie to him at all but she can’t exactly tell him the truth either. Arden knows Sam is a smart man but that doesn’t mean he’ll accept the truth of the situation given what she is. To people who haven’t grown up in the world Arden grew up in her life would seem the thing of horror and in a way it was.

She’s just not sure how understanding Sam would be of her gift.

Taking a deep breath she concentrates on the feel of his knuckles on the tip of her forefinger and the tingles it sparks, “I feel drawn to you, Sam. You make me feel safe and so I can relax around you. My life has been filled with darkness but with you I feel…bathed in light. I like it. I like you.”

There, she thinks proudly, she didn’t lie.

“You like me?” Sam asks with shock.

Arden frowns at him, “Of course I do. Haven’t I been obvious?”