Dangerous Beauty

Chapter 8: Tension

                When I came back around I was back home in my room tucked safely away in my bed. I slowly sat up in bed and looked around the room unsure of how I had gotten here. Carefully I climbed out of bed and made my way downstairs and to the kitchen finding Aiden asleep on the couch on my way. He must have carried me home. As I walked into the kitchen and turned on the light I almost had a heart attack when I spotted a pair of emerald green eyes looking in through the window at me.

                “Relax,” said Aiden’s tired voice from behind me, “It’s just Cade he’s one of the pack members we assigned to keep an eye on you,” he said around a yawn.

                I turned and looked at Aiden in surprise as Cade’s eyes turned away from me and back out across the field and into the woods behind my house, “He scared the crap out of me!”

                “He says he’s sorry,” he says leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, “How are you feeling?”

                “Oh I’m just peachy,” I said sarcastically, “It’s not like some distant relative of mine is out to get me or anything.”

                Aiden smiled lightly, “Don’t worry I won’t let anything happen to you, not if I can help it.”

                I could feel as my cheeks flushed, “Thank you,” I said softly as I got myself a glass of water and sat down at the table.

                “How are you feeling?” Aiden asked as he sat across from me.

                “Honestly, I’m scared shitless,” I said putting my face in my hands and letting my shoulders slump.           

                Aiden put his hand on my shoulder “Hey, it’s going to be okay, you’ll get through this,” he said.

                With a sigh I lifted my head from my hands and looked up at him with a small soft smile and he smiled back.

                “So what do we do now?” I asked.

                “Well first you need to get some rest you look exhausted,” he said puling his hand away and crossing his arms on the table.

                “Right,” I said getting up, “Are you staying here?” I asked.

                “If you’d like me to,” he said with a smile.

                “Yes,” I said without thinking causing him to smile even more.

                “I’ll be on the couch,” he said getting up from the table and following me out of the kitchen turning the light off behind him.

                As I made my way upstairs I glanced back over my shoulder to see Aiden settling back in on the couch and smiled slightly to myself before continuing up the stairs to my room, feeling at ease as I slid back into bed and curled up beneath my comforter and drifted off to sleep.

                I sat up in bed after what felt like only a few hours later and starred into the darkness of my room. Without thinking I threw my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, heading for the door and opened it to the dark hallway. I quietly padded down the hall and down the stairs into the living room where Aiden stood waiting for me.

                “You’re awake,” he said smiling softly.

                I responded by nodding and returning the smile.

                He grinned devilishly and took my hand and lead me outside and into the light of the full moon.

                “Are you ready?” he asked.

                “Yes.”

                Slowly he led me into the shadows of the forest and slid his arm around my waist sending chills up my spine and raising goosebumps on my arms. We walked in silence deeper and deeper into the forest until we came upon the clearing by the lake. With a glance at me and another flash of that devilish smile he pulled away from me and waked into the clearing. I stop motionless, watching as he pulled off his shirt and stepped back into the shadows from which he reemerged as a large reddish brown wolf with electric blue eyes. I smile softly to myself and step into the shadows to undress before I too shift taking the form of a large white wolf with a black patch of fur on my chest. When I step out of the shadows Aiden’s eyes light up and I watched as he walked toward me and nudged the side of my face with his nose. I turned and nuzzled his neck before following him back into the woods where we took off at a run through the trees. Side by side we ran for what felt like hours bumping into each other playfully as if playing a game of tag. Once again we come into a clearing, this one small, stretching only about 8 feet wide. As we came into the clearing and pounced on him pinning him on his back in the tall grass where we both shifted back and, without thought or hesitation, I pressed my lips to his.

                I woke up to the sun shining dimly around the edges of my curtains and sat up in bed. Without thinking I touched the tips of my fingers to my lips. The feeling of the dream kiss still tingling on my lips. I felt as my cheeks flushed and I shook my head banishing the dream from my mind as I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth before getting dressed for the day and heading downstairs. When I entered the living room the first thing I noticed was Aiden missing from the couch where I had left him the night before. With I disappointed sigh I turned and walked into the kitchen where, to my surprise, Aiden sat at the table drinking a cup of coffee.

                “Good morning,” he grinned almost knowingly.

                “Morning,” I said breathlessly my cheeks flushing again.

                Something about the look on his face made me feel like he knew what I had been dreaming about. I quickly snapped out of it and went to make myself a cup of coffee. There’s no way he knew.

                “Quite an adventure we had last night,” he said suddenly causing me to almost drop my coffee cup. He definitely knew, which means, it couldn’t have been a dream.

                “W-what do you mean?” I asked deciding to play dumb.

                “I’m pretty sure you know what I mean,” he replied.

                My cheeks flushed again as I filled my cup with coffee, “Do I? I’m not so sure,” I said composing myself before turning around to face him with a straight face, “Refresh my memory,” I challenged.

                “Well,” he began as he got up to stand only a few feet in front of me, leaning back against the sink, “around one this morning you came downstairs as I was about to head out for a short run, though you were the other version of yourself,” he said as he searched my face for any sign that might give away the fact that I knew what he was talking about, but found nothing, “so I took you with me,” he continued, “we played quite the game of tag for a bit before you tackled me,” he said smirking.

                “And?” I asked my voice wavering a little as I continued to try and play clueless.

                “You kissed me,” he said setting his cup down on the counter behind him and crossing his arms.

                “Did I?” I asked.

                “You did,” he replied not missing a beat.

                “You must have been dreaming because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

                His smirked turned into the devilish grin from my dream as he uncrossed his arms and took a few steps toward me backing me against the counter and placing one hand on the counter on each side of me, “See I think you do,” he said lowering his head to meet my gaze.

                My breath caught in my chest as I looked up at him. He was close enough that I could feel the heat coming off of him, “N-no clue,” I managed to stutter out.

                “Are you sure?” he asked leaning in toward me, his eyes flickering to my lips then once again meeting my gaze.

                I starred at him in silence having forgotten how to speak as his blue eyes burned into mine. My breathing turned shallow and I blushed as I watched him examine the expression on my face, his eyes drifting back to my lips before he slowly leaned in stopping just mere inches away as he hesitated for a moment. My breath caught and I froze in place waiting to see what he would do next; electricity charged the air around us. After a moment of us standing frozen in place he finally seemed to make up his mind and softly pressed his lips to mine. I felt as my heart began to beat rapidly in my chest as he kissed me gently and after a moment of shock, I began to kiss him back. And just as quickly as the kiss had began it ended and he pulled away from me and looked me in the eye.

                “Did that refresh your memory?” he teased.

                My cheeks heated and I was sure that my face was as red as a tomato with embarrassment. Lost for words I nodded.

                “Thought so,” he said grinning and moved away from me.

                I hadn’t realized how tense I was until my body suddenly relaxed and the fog cleared from my mind. What had just happened? I watched as Aiden picked up his coffee and returned to his seat at the table.

                “Wait,” I began shaking my head trying to clear it further, “what just happened?” I asked starring at him in disbelief.

                “I believe what happened is I just kissed you,” he said looking back at me grinning, “and unless I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure you enjoyed it just as much as I did,” he said.

                I opened my mouth to speak then immediately closed it as a knock sounded on my front door.

                “We’re going to talk about this later,” I said breathlessly as I started to walk out of the kitchen.

                “Yes ma’am,” he chuckled.

                With a quick glance out the window I spotted Claudia’s car in the driveway and opened the door to find her and Fallon standing on my front porch.

                “Morning!” Fallon said cheerfully as she stepped into the living room with Claudia on her heels.

                “Morning,” I said closing the door behind them, “what’s up? Ya’ll are here pretty early.”

                “Early?” Claudia asked surprised, “You do realize it’s eleven thirty right?” she asked looking at me.

                “Is it really?” I asked pulling my phone out of my pocket and checking the time. She was right.

                “I had such a weird dream last night!” Fallon called over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen only to stop in the doorway with a surprised expression on her face, “Oh hey Aiden!” she said cheerfully, “I didn’t know you were here.”

                “Good morning Fallon,” Aiden said as Claudia and I followed her into the kitchen.

                “Aiden? What are you doing here?” Claudia asked glancing back at me.

                “I stayed here with Lilith last night to keep an eye on her,” he admitted casually earning me a smirk from Fallon and an unreadable expression on Claudia’s face.

                “Really?” she asked her voice monotone.

                The air was suddenly thick with unexplained tension. You could almost cut it with a knife.

                Quickly becoming uncomfortable I angled my way into the kitchen and picked up my coffee, “Um anyway,” I began watching as Claudia took a seat next to Aiden a sour look on her face, “What did you dream about Fallon?” I asked turning my gaze toward her.

                “I dreamt I was one of you,” she said excitedly joining Aiden and Claudia at the table, “I was running with you guys through the woods we were moving so fast it was incredible,” she said her expression reflecting the excitement in her voice.

                “Really?” Aiden asked interested, “Tell me more,” he said crossing his arms on the table and leaning slightly forward.

                Claudia stood and walked toward me, “Can I talk to you?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

                “Yeah,” I replied softly following her out on to the front porch leaving Fallon chattering away with Aiden.

                “Are you sleeping with Aiden?” Claudia snapped as I closed the door.

                “What? No!” I said surprised by her question.

                “Really? Because it certainly seems like something is going on between the two of you. I mean he spent the night here last night,” she fired back.

                “Yeah he did he slept on the couch what does it matter?” I asked.

                “It matters because I’m into him!” she snapped once again.

                “Are you fuckin kidding me?” I asked in frustrated disbelief, “What about you and Spencer? Also what about what’s going on with you and Easton? Now you’re telling me you’re also trying to start something with Aiden!? Are you insane!?” I asked raising my voice slightly.

                “I’m not happy with Spencer and Easton has a girlfriend!”

                “So what, you were just planning on leaving Spencer for Easton until he decided he wasn’t into you anymore so you decided to go after Aiden instead?”

                “No!”

                “No what?”

                “No I’m not going to leave Spencer!” she spat.

                “So you were just going to cheat on him?”

                “No!”

                “So then what’s your point!?” I snapped.

                “I’ve always liked Aiden and I don’t think it’s cool for you to be doing anything with him,” She said in a matter-of-fact way, crossing her arms over her chest.

                “So let me get this straight, you don’t want Aiden and I to do anything because you like him?” I asked incredulously.

                “Yes.”

“But you have no intention of being with him in anyway because you are staying with Spencer?” I asked, “What are you going to do string him along as a back-up plan to make you feel better because you’re bored with Spencer and Easton lost interest in you!?”

Her face instantly hardened, if looks could kill I would have been dead as a door nail.

“What the f**k ever Claudia,” I said dismissively and walked back inside.