The Alpha's Moon

Waking Up (Aria)

My heart lept out of my chest as I realized a body was pressed up against mine. It felt sturdy, warm, right. Almost as if nothing last night was true, that only this feeling was what mattered and was the truth.

"You're up?" A low husky voice chimed. "Don't worry, you just didn't want to let go of me."

My face heated up as I met his stormy gaze and I sat up, almost too fast. My hand landed on his still clothed chest and he stared up at me with curious, yet sleepy eyes, a mischievous grin almost showing itself on his chiseled face. He was handsome, like a Greek God; a model straight from a Paris photoshoot. My eyes took in every crevice of his tanned olive face: a small scar on his left brow, messy raven hair that asked to be played with, and a cute dimple.... his bed head and morning voice could drop even a mans underwear! We kissed?!

"Thinking about something?"

His low voice vibrated in my head, making my legs prickly and weak.

"Aldric?" I whispered, he perked up to his name like a little boy getting candy. "W-what is this?"

"We're getting to know each other princess." He chuckled.

His laugh swirled around me before engraving itself into my skull. Deep and sweet, I could listen to it all day. And oh, how those grey eyes that raged like a stormy sea could make a girl weak. I could still faintly taste his sweetness on my lips. Soft and supple lips, unlike his hands that gently grabbed at my waist. Every touch and move he made brought about a cruel pain in my lower half, I ached for his touch and maybe... even more than just a touch.

Princess... his princess, it felt good to hear. My body was reacting to him in ways I never thought it could. My hand still placed on his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his lungs and a comforting heart. I felt myself leaning forward to the point that my eyes were almost over his. Cloudy eyes traced my visage. If I were to kiss him, would it feel better than last night?

"Only if you want to." His voice rung, he had said the same thing last night. Giving me a choice and me answering without thought.

"Can I?"

Aldric's hand made its way into my hair, before pulling me down to him. A slight worry in his eyes before he claimed what I wanted him to claim. It felt even better. We melted into each other; my body slowly fell onto his as his tongue explored my mouth, caressing the roof before he slipped it out and lightly bit on my lip. A moan fought its way out, my head clouded and everything became dizzy. Our hands roamed before entwining with each others fingers. And his musky scent, like a rainy forest with a fresh breeze enthralled me... I wanted to be covered in it.

As our tongues pushed and enticed each other like slippery dolphins whooing, my body felt as if it'd explode. It was too much, my senses felt as if they were on cloud nine - buzzing and screaming. Falling into the heat of the moment, my free hand mindlessly slid downwards.

He firmly gripped my hand that asked for trouble and held it up, pulling away from our heated exchange with a breath.

"Don't do something you can't handle." He growled, dropping my hand and gently rolling me off of him.

Without another word Aldric sat up and moved to the edge of the bed grabbing and lightly shaking his head. Staring at him in awe was all that was manageable... maybe he didn't want me? But, why do I even want him? Every action up to this point felt right, but now, all that filled my head were questions.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He softly spoke, taking a glance to watch the emotion on my face.

"No... I just-"

"I'm not Devin and I'm not some horny college kid. Take your time princess, we both need it."

Aldric was kind. Different. Mysterious. Weird. Yet so handsome that you couldn't help but throw him in a stereotypical box like the rest of the hot men who seemed to roam the campus. Taking my time... it was a foreign concept. Every relationship seemed to move at the pace of the man, everytime. s*x was what they wanted and if you didn't give it to them, they'd become aggressive, like Devin. Even though he said he'd wait after he heard my story. I don't want s*x, I can't have s*x, this, this... what's come over me?

My eyes felt hot and a look of concern flashed across his dark eyes. Aldric opened his mouth before slamming it shut again, pursing his lips deep in thought and turning away.

A second later, he cleared his throat before reaching his right hand out behind him. What did he want me to do? I stared at his giant hand, unsure. His outstretched palm face up, perhaps inviting me to place my hand onto his? Slowly, my fingers touched his, tracing up from his heart line to his fate line, then entwining my fingers with his wrist.

It was warm, yet soothing to the touch, something felt almost electrifying. He clasped his hand around mine, still looking away, just allowing me to feel our hands touch. Every part of me felt small and fragile next to him; my fingers barely wrapped around his wrist.

"This. Just this is enough." He muttered innocently.

A slight chuckle left my lips helplessly. The man who made out with me like a hungry beast so full of lust and exuded a s****l air wanted to simply hold my hand? And with reddening ears, tells me that it's enough? Cute. Cute was all that came to mind.

"Your hands are so big." I giggled.

"Yours are just tiny. You're tiny."

"Maybe you're just giant."

"Maybe you're just too tiny."

I let loose my grip and firmly pulled back on his shoulders, expecting him to lay on his back from the slight force so his face was in view, yet, he didn't budge. Instead a laugh slipped out and his body shook from the force. Palming my face due to the failed effort was all I wanted to do, yet his laugh soon infected me.

"Did you really think that would work?" He spoke between laughs, turning around to finally face me.

"It's not that funny! You're just stronger... by a lot."

Another laugh. I wanted to keep hearing it.

"And bigger by a lot. 6'4" vs 2'."

"5'3!" My face flushed at his teasing and relentless laughing. "You're big for no reason."

"Pouting? Would you prefer me shorter?"

He poked my cheek before outstetching his arms and lowering his back onto the bed. His right hand rested just inches away from me, a smile plastered on his face, putting his dimples on full display. How could he look so carefree and childlike? You'd be easier to kiss if you were shorter.

"We don't even know eachother." I finally uttered, breaking the soothing silence.

"No, we don't." A slight bitterness to his words. "Want to get to know me? I'm not just a great kisser."

"I never said your kiss was great."

"Yet you kept coming back and wanting more, touching more. Moaning." His eyes flashed open to look at me.

I held my head up with my hands as we stared at each other in silence. Who is Aldric?

"We can slowly get to know each other. I'm not going anywhere soon princess."

"Why do you want to get to know me?"

"Well... think of it as fate. Maybe our red strings are tied together."

I stared at him in disbelief. Fate. There was no such thing, but also no way to explain our new situation. Was he just a short phase? Maybe after today we would never speak to each other again. Just a momentary attraction. If he finds friends or just gets tired of me, this, whatever THIS is could completely change. Could simply dissolve into thin air, as if we never existed in each others lives.

"Can you learn to trust me?"

"I just met you."

"That's why I said can you learn to." He said matter-of-factly. "Can you?"

"Eventually."

"Good. We can start easy, let me know when your classes are."

We were soon exchanging schedules to see what days to meet up on and what days were completely impossible. Aldric was free most days, his classes seemed to be online and despite what people might guess, he was graduating early in his program. We went from topic to topic, mainly me guiding the conversation as he just answered. Favorite subject, color, smell, age, dream job - I guess he didn't mind icebreakers.

Aldric Vanders

Age: 25

Favorite color: amber

Favorite smell: summer breeze

Favorite subject: math

Since he was forthcoming with all of his information so far, I was tempted to ask him more personal questions, but honestly, I doubt he'd ever answer for some reason.

Time quickly passed by as we conversed on the bed. My hands found their way into his raven hair, playing with their length and twirling the strands on my fingers. With each word that left our mouths, we seemed to slide closer together, touching each other more and laughing to ourselves; never even questioning where I was or why for that matter, just simply enjoying the company.

His eyes closed as my fingers explored his face. Touching his scar and then following his bridge before landing right above his kissable lips. Not wanting to ruin the calm moment, I didn't linger, instead, I ran down the side of his cheek to his sharp jawline before lifting my hand. His eyes now on me, scanning my face and looking for something. It felt like a lifetime had passed before he finally turned away, no longer searching my face.

"What are you looking for when you look at me like that?"

"Anything and everything." He sighed, still looking away.

"What's anything and everything?"

"A face, especially the eyes can say a lot. Whether you're curious, scared, angry. I want to make sure you're not scared or regretting anything."

Fear? Regret? Was there something to be scared of? Again, I felt the urge to ask him personal questions, but the lump that formed in my throat wouldn't dissipate. My hands found their way to eachother and I could feel the nerves rushing out as my fingers picked at the fragile skin around my nails. Whatever he wasn't telling me... maybe he wasn't telling me for a good reason, like protecting me or something.

"Don't do that." He huffed, taking my hands into his.

I wanted to shake him and make him answer these stupid questions that bubbled up inside of me like an overflowing pot, but I couldn't. We weren't that close and we both hardly trusted each other. Not lovers, not friends, we didn't have a defined relationship, no, we've only kissed and answered basic questions about ourselves. He didn't owe me anything and neither did I.

"I want to leave."

Aldric looked up at me, surprise or maybe even disbelief seemed to fill his gaze before he quickly sat up and muttered an unenthusiastic 'ok.' It felt as if his heart slightly cracked. He wore a darker expression, hardly talking, simply watching as I fixed up my hair and straightened out my clothes before giving him an awkward thumbs up to notify him that I was ready. He led me out of the room, down some wooden stairs and finally outside. During the entire walk down, he seemed to avoid both my touch and any conversation that I tried to start. The only way to explain him would be hot and cold; making out and touching one second to only be ignored the next.

The car ride wasn't much better, aside from asking for directions, he was quiet. Even mentioning his car had zero affect! His silence was frustrating and angering. If he knew everything that pushed its way through my head, he'd feel as if he was being shot by a dozen rifles... but of course, he was spared from that image as I clenched my jaw waiting to see a familiar sign on the side of the black road.

"Here." I quickly shot out.

His gaze was on me, as he slowly pulled into the short driveway. The apartment complex was small, yet homely. Most of the cars that parked in the lot were gone for the day, I couldn't help but be relieved that none of my neighbors were here to see me getting out of a foreign vehicle. They knew the usual people that came to see me, and Aldric, he definitely wasn't one of them.

I could feel his gaze on me as I looked down at my hands. Should I say something? Will he say something? Thankfully, there wasn't anything aside from myself that needed to exit his car-my car keys were in the apartment and a 4-digit code was all I needed to get inside of it.

"Thanks for the r-"

"I'm sorry. Aria... there's a lot I want to tell you I just don't know how to yet." He blurted. "We don't know each other, but I'd like for you to stay next to me and get to know me."

His brows furrowed as he sat in the driver's seat deep in thought. What should my answer be..? My heart ached for him as much as my body did. I didn't understand everything that had taken place, but I knew that being mad, that staying away from him wasn't an option. Aldric faced me, biting the corner of his lip with anticipation.

"I'd like that. We have a lot to tell each other, so let's take our time."

His face lit up at my words, his lips curled up into a kid-ish toothy grin and he thanked me. Slow and steady seemed like the right choice, thought we've skipped steps, now we can start from the beginning and move forward with whatever this relationship may be.