The Last Crescent

Chapter 23

Greyson

Today, I'm just wandering around.
My head seems to be going a million miles per hour, and I don't know how to stop it.

We head back to everyday life with the rest of the pack tomorrow; that should be interesting. It'll be Neoma's first time at our high school. I wonder if she's scared or has gone through this enough times to be numb to it. Instead of asking myself, I should ask her...

I head back to our room; the house is empty since everyone left for work or school about an hour ago. I walk into the room and find my beautiful mate writing in a journal peacefully on the balcony with headphones in her ear.

I admire her momentarily as she hums the song's melody, occasionally singing a word so beautifully it leaves me wanting to hear more. "You have a nice voice." she jumps up and shuts the book.

"Jeez, you scared the shit out of me," I chuckle. "Sorry, I didn't mean to." I sit in the chair parallel to her.

"Where were you?" I look at her, her intense emerald eyes staring back at me. "I went to see your brother."

She raises her eyebrow. "you... what? Please tell you guys didn't have another one of your who's ego is bigger talk again."

I shake my head. "no, nothing like that; we talked about working together ... even though we might not care for each other."

"Really? Wow," I smirk. "you sound surprised, my love."

"No offense, but I thought your egotistical attitude superseded logical thinking." Geez, that was harsh. "I get it; I've shown my ass a little the last few days. I deserved that," she starts to laugh. "A little? I think you mean a lot," the goddess's smile was intoxicating. I will do anything to keep that smile on her face.

"I wanna show you something," she raises her eyebrow. "trust me, I think you'll like it." I get up and hold out my hand. She takes a moment to decide.

"Fine." I help her up and guide her out of the house.

Neoma

He strolls through the Forrest, holding on to my hand usually; this type of intimacy repulses me, but the spark I feel when we touch ... it's addictive, to say the least." where exactly are we going?" He smiles at me. "to my secret escape, it's a tree house my father and I built when I was little. My dad, Curtis, and I are the only people who know about it. It's a little bit of a hike to get there, though, but it's completely worth it." he climbs on over a fallen tree, holding out his hand to help me up.

"Since it's a hike," I bend down, slipping  out of my boots and taking off my sock. "much better," he looks at me confused. "what?" I ask

"Why did you... take off your shoes?" I shrug. "I like feeling the ground beneath my feet, especially in human form. It's like in one with the earth." I wiggle my toes in the dirt. "it's weird, I know," he bends down and unties his timberland boots, taking them off. "don't knock it till you try it, right?" That was a cute gesture. I can't lie. It's like he gets more appealing as the days go by. He grabs my hand, and we continue to stroll through the forest.

He looks down at me, making me feel like I'm 5 feet tall, but considering he's 6,4, I might as well be compared to his tower ass. "So what made you try this in the first place?"

"Well .... most of my childhood was spent hiding in plain sight or the woods. When I was eight, we spent nine months in our wolves somewhere along the border of Canada. It wasn't until hunters found us and spread across town of the huge beast in the forest that we had to shift back. We didn't shift again for a year. I think that's when I started walking around barefoot." he doesn't say much, but I strangely couldn't feel his heartache for me.