Of Blood and Sinew (Moon Born #1)

Chapter 13 - Contentment [ Editing ]

11/29 Edit Notes:  - I forgot to spell check last night, sorry.

The morning was cold and crisp, snow settling heavy on the ground before Christmas time.  Sunshine sat in a window over looking outside towards the front of the house.  Sunshine had discovered that she could make this area her own by pulling herself up from the staircase railing.  The pack would smell her, but hardly notice her.  She had settled into the spot, making it her own, with a comforter and pillows to prop up behind her.  Various pencils and erasers were littered around her besides a laptop as she sketched furiously, her brow furrowed with a serious look on her face.  Thankfully there was also a wall outlet which made the spot perfect, that Sunshine could plug in the mp3 player to charge it up, or her laptop.

The sketchpad fell out of her hands and down at the bottom of the stairs as Sunshine went to grab her tea.  Sunshine stared over the edge for a moment, heaved a heavy sigh, before throwing back the rest of her tea.  She swallowed the warm liquid, letting it warm her insides. Certainly now that she had the benefit of being a werewolf, she was no longer as cold as she used to be.  Sunshine made her way to the edge of the little nook and worked her way carefully not wanting to fall and hurt herself.  She grabbed the teacup she had carefully set on the edge and made her way down stairs grabbing the sketchpad from where it had fallen. 

Grinning Sunshine began to run down the wooden hallways before stopping and sliding on the floor in her socks, passing the kitchen by.  She walked into the kitchen and set about searched the cupboard for her tea.  Sunshine was not one to go about boiling water in a tea kettle, but the kind that was simply to impatient to do anything but microwave the water in a mug with the tea bag already in it.  All in all with less than a minute to fill the mug, put the tea bad in, two minutes to microwave the water, and one to let it stand, it was a process she hated and was always bored waiting during two minutes.  It created a sense of longing in Sunshine for when she had lived at home with her parents and would have sat watching the TV on, or at least had the background of the radio talk show her grandmother always had on.

Sunshine placed the mug in the microwave and set the time for two minutes. She leaned up against the counter waiting for it to ding while flipping through her sketchbook. The microwave beeped and Sunshine took out the tea and blew on it.  Micah's strong scent of male cologne, pine, and ink filled her nostrils and she glanced over at the doorway with a smile as he entered.  Micah gave her a smile in response.

"So where have you been hiding all day?"

"Around," Sunshine said simply and blew on the tea on more time before taking a sip.  Micah crossed the kitchen and went for her sketchbook.

'Shit,' Sunshine thought and slammed the mug on the counter down, running around the island to get at the sketchbook.  Micah snatched it up and dodged her grabbing motions while laughing.  He held the sketchbook high above her head.

"Let me look at it," Micah said with a grin as Sunshine continued to jump to reach her sketchbook.

"It isn't any good," Sunshine whined.

"Let me decide for myself.  I mean you told me you do art and I have always been so curious how good you are," Micah said.  Sunshine sighed defeated knowing that Micah would not give up.  It was one factor she had learned in her so called strange relationship with the Alpha of the West Colorado Pack, he never ever gave up.  It was a determination that she found catching herself onto.  It reminded her of fantasy characters, of the heroes who were filled with such hope that it caused others to hope.

"I guess, but I am not that great..." Sunshine muttered.

"I'll see about that, though I admit I am no art critic," Micah said teasingly.  He settled the sketchpad in his arms.  Sunshine waited with baited breath, for him to tell her that it was horrible.  She never really showed people her art.  Of course she uploaded it to popular art sites, but no one really noticed her.  She didn't have a specific amazing water color style, or technique like certain artists she admired.  Sunshine would only admit to it mentally that she had improved since she was a ten year old, trying to copy off her favorite cartoon shows.  Sunshine grew more and more antsy as Micah would flick through the pages, stopping every now and then.  He finally stopped at one page, the seconds ticking away as he stared at it.