My Werewolf Guardian

The Past Pt 5: The Touch

=Niven=

My smile faded as soon as she came up the stairs. She wore a scowl that didn’t suit her at all. Those eyes looked down and I could tell she her interaction with her mother didn’t yield the results she would have liked. She moved right past me into her room leaving the door open as her silent invitation to let me inside. 

I never would have dreamed to enter her room before, the ledge was the closest I had ever come to getting inside. She turned back to me like it wasn’t such a momentous occasion. “You can come in Mr Niven.” 

Carefully I inspected her doorway, there was something forbidden about her space, something I would never dare to trespass. If I crossed this line, this forbidden line, what else was I going to cross? She wanted to learn why we had an aversion to her touch. If she didn’t find out with my help who knows who else she would seek out? 

“Niven?” She moved back toward me, “If you want to sit on your ledge you are welcome to.” 

I took the invitation rather quickly for her liking. I rushed outside through the downstairs service entrance making my way through the garden finally resting below her window where I was able to easily make the jump to sitting next to her window. 

She looked out at me with her arms crossed wearing a face that was displeased and annoyed with my actions, “Are you quite finished?” She didn’t wait for me to answer, she wasn’t looking for anything other than me to accept I was being unreasonable. “So am I just going to touch you?”

“You’re still on about that?” I had hoped with her mother’s attention she’d have forgotten about it. 

Her anger and annoyance seemed to magnify but rather than some kind of argument she just slammed the window shut followed by the curtains. Now I was faced with a dilemma. If I knocked and she didn’t want me to, I was being intrusive. If I left her alone and she wanted to talk I was being inconsiderate. Either way I wasn’t meant to get this involved emotionally. Some boundaries needed to be placed if I was going to continue to be a good guardian. 

I could hear her pacing back and forth, mumbling something to herself. She spent the next few hours shuffling papers, flipping through books, and arguing with herself in a way that can only be described as polite insults. 

“Oh of course you’re not going to talk to me. I don’t care to learn anything further about myself. It’s useless research anyway.” She slammed something down on her desk and next was the tapping on her pen. “I would certainly hate to be a bother, I know you do like the silence of the night.” So she was going to be petty.

“Is something troubling you little wolf?” I tapped on the glass hoping she'd allow me to join her conversation. 

She opened the window back up looking out with a stare that could stake a vampire, “No, Mr Niven. I am fine.”

By saying fine everything was wrong. I had seen her this upset before, but I knew there was nothing I could do to help her. If it was a threat I could extinguish it, this was an emotional turmoil that plagued her tonight. “You’ll feel better tomorrow.”

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” She shrugged, “Maybe I’ll lose interest in my research since it isn’t important.”

“Who told you that?” I knew it was important to her, didn’t that mean it was inherently important? 

“Everyone.” She threw up her hands turning away back into the depths of her room. 

I was physically hurt. Never had I treated her interests as unimportant. “Am I to assume I am also included in this everyone?”

“Ah yes,” She sighed, “Because you have helped me so much, thank you for not down playing anything at all.”

“I’m sensing some hostility.”

“Well you went back on our agreement.” 

“What makes you say that?”

“Are you still on about that?” She mimicked me with accuracy but amplified my deep voice to a hilarious degree. 

“Fair point.” I scowled but didn’t appreciate the unflattering impersonation. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“See!” She explained pointing her finger back in my face which caused me to move back slightly, “It’s something you can’t control about not wanting to touch me.”

She had a point. It was something deep down, looking at her she wasn’t dangerous, but my wolf knew there was something else. Something about her was unnatural. It was my job to protect her, but while my wolf honored that commitment he still controlled my reflexes enough to make sure I never touched her.

“Claudia,” I whispered hoping to quell her anger, “It’s nothing against you, I will protect you from any threat, but I cannot risk putting you in any danger.”

“So you admit something is wrong with children born with a supernatural parent?” It seemed that was all she was after. Validation brought a smile to her face. 

It warmed my heart to see her happy again, and if I was better at self control I would have stopped there. That human part of me wanted to see her even more happy. My wolf was content with the level she was at and wanted me to back away. What would my alpha think if he knew the thoughts that were circling my head? “Okay fine.” I sighed not fully believing the words coming out of my mouth. Why was I ready to just toss safety and certainty out the window over the way her mouth stretched? 

“Wait, are you being serious?” 

I nodded since for some reason I wasn’t wanting to go back on my promise. The windowsill’s threshold was even more intimidating than her door. She stepped back giving me complete access to enter. My foot hit the floor and her scent wafted all around me. I could feel my heart racing as my wolf jumped frantically telling me to back away. The howling and barking intensified when her hand came right for my face. I ducked backward, falling halfway out the window ever thankful that the ledge was there to catch me. 

“What was that?” She yelped as I shuffled around her 

“Reflexes.” I huffed thinking back about my near death experience, “Sorry.” 

“Well it doesn’t work if you dodge me.” Her hands grabbed her hips waiting for me to calm down. 

“You can’t just come right for my face like that.” What was she thinking being so forward?

“Okay, I’ll start with your hand then?” She held out her own but I had lost control over my own body. My hand wouldn’t raise to meet her’s. It was an odd feeling, one that I only ever felt before the full moon shift. “Are you okay?” 

If she could see the fear on my face, I didn’t care. It wasn’t my own fear, it was my wolf’s. We were alone, but he never felt this way before. I was surrendering to her, there was no cell keeping her away from me, there was nothing between us stopping her from advancing. 

“Close your eyes.” She whispered as I obeyed her command. 

I backed up as far as I could before a wall stopped me. I didn’t know where her hand was headed but my entire body tensed at the thought of her landing anywhere. It was my wrist that one hand tightened around. She raised it up while another hand entangled her fingers in my own. 

I could feel my wolf calm down, or at least I thought it was calm. He wasn’t speaking to me at all. The howling that peaked as I felt her draw closer silenced quickly at her touch. I opened my eyes and when we met her gaze I convulsed kneeling to the floor. It felt like something was being ripped out of my body, something that was a part of me, something that was trying its hardest to stay inside. 

“Niven?” I could hear her voice through the pain. My eyes clenched shut as my grip tightened around her hand trying desperately not to call out.

=Claudia=

As soon as I touched his hand I felt something inside him. His mind was like a forest at night concealing every danger imaginable. I called out to him but knew my voice wasn’t reaching anyone. 

“Prey knows better than to make noise in the night little wolf.” that grumbling voice wasn’t Niven’s. I looked around trying to see where it came from. In the darkness of the forest I could see a white figure coming toward me. His massive form towered over me, his large snout breathing down my neck as he circled me. “I tried to warn you.”

“Niven.” I stuttered hoping he knew who I was. If he recognized me he’d know he couldn’t hurt me. “It’s me Claudia.”

“Don’t patronize me.” he spat the growl growing, “I know who you are.” 

“Then you know you can’t harm me.” My body knew better than to move, but my hand could feel something tightening around it. “Niven you’d never forgive yourself.” 

“Don’t call me by that pathetic boy’s name.” A bark caused me to jump and I looked down to see Niven cowering on the ground, his hand gripping me tightly. “Do you understand now little wolf?” the large white wolf growled.

“What’s happening?” He expected me to understand, but the last thing I remembered was being back in my room.

“You’re unnatural Claudia.” He growled resting in front of me.

“I’m more than aware!” I spat back, my confidence was growing the longer I looked at him. 

“That feeling.” his mouth stretched into a smile that wanted to tear me to pieces. “You know this isn’t right.” He looked past me. Something else was here, something behind me was growing stronger as well as I felt a breath on the back of my neck. 

“Leave her alone.” the growl behind me gave me strength warning the white beast to back down or else. This voice was familiar to me, I felt like I had known her all my life.

“She’s not the one I’m after.” He responded.