Starry Nights With You.

"Earth to, Vee? Are you still with us?" Steph sn Chapter 3 Kendrick's POV A light push against the inside of my arms, stirs me awake. I remain still trying to sense if there's any danger around, sensing none I nuzzle into the bundle of softness in my arms. “I know you are awake, Drick. You've stopped snoring. And since you're awake, can you move your arms? I really need to pee.” Mara chuckles between words. I'm half tempted to start snoring just to hold her for a little while longer, instead I choose the defensive route. “I do not snore.” I tickle her sides, making her laugh a little louder than before. “Tell me, ‘I don't snore' or I won't stop tickling you.” “Okay, fine then, stop so I can catch my breath.” She hits my shoulders while laughing. I pause waiting for her to speak. She wipes her eyes while saying, “I don't snore or I won't stop tickling you.” “Hmm I see then, game on.” I resume tickling her again. “Okay, okay, you don’t snore.” She practical howls in laughter. “Much better. You see how easy things go when you tell the truth?” I ask her. “Yeah right. ‘Truth’ indeed.” She rolls her eyes in response. The sun rising above us makes her dark brown hair and her matching brown eyes glow. She gives me the same glazed look that made us sleep out here in the first place, since I couldn't wait to go back inside to take her over and over again. I lean down to kiss her and she moans into my mouth, her soft sounds making my blood heat up again– oh fvck me. Her toes brush against the front of my shorts and she murmurs against my mouth. “You are a menace, Kendrick.” “Only for you baby.” I manage to say before sealing my lips back on hers. “Hell no. We need to get up, we have so much to do and I still need to pee though.” She pulls her lips from mine but grips unto my shoulders instead of pushing me away. She's clearly trying to be the reasonable one between us but her resolve isn't strong enough– good for me. “Kendrick.” Someone says. I look around but no one is there. I turn back to focus on Mara and she's…gone. Noooo!!! I try screaming but nothing comes out. What's wrong with my voice. ***Flashback ends. “No!” I sit up in my bed breathing hard. The sweat on my body clinging to my body like an extra layer of skin. I grip onto the sheets to ground myself but my hands graze leather instead. Damn it, not this again. “Kendrick. Can you hear me?” Dr. Kraft says, from the chair beside me, unfazed by my reaction. Ever the levelheaded psychologist. “Mr. Kendrick, I know you are trying to wrap your mind around what just happened but you need to talk to me so I can help.” “Hypnotizing me, is your way of helping?” I glare at her, balling my hands into fists to hold myself back from tackling her to the ground. If she wasn't a female, I would have given into that thought, even with her reputation as not only one of the strongest but also one of the oldest werewolves I know. “I wouldn't have to do that if you will just open up and talk to me.” She sighs, scribbling on her book. “Even with the hypnosis, we aren't getting anywhere, Kendrick. We–” “It's Alpha Kendrick to you and this session is over.” I growl at her. Refusing to acknowledge the weakness in my body, I grab my phones and shove them in my pocket. She shakes her head at me, one of the very few signs of emotion she ever allows to show. “You can't move into your future with your past hot on your heels, ALPHA Kendrick.” She deliberately emphasises on the ‘Alpha' to show how decorative the title is to her. “Your past will find you and that future you so badly want to get to will be burnt to the ground, again.” She finishes, moving the chair she is sitting on back to its place at the white pristine wall of her office. She moves back to her seat behind her moderate sized office desk. I don't bother responding to her as I put on my jacket from the rack by the door. The only sign of the storm building beneath my skin is the sound of the door slamming shut behind me. I stalk out of the four storey building, stopping myself from shattering something due to my rage. I need to shift, before I do something stupid. The cold wind that blasts my face as I step out of the building, messes up my hair but doesn't help much in calming my nerves. I jog the rest of the way to my car two buildings down the road. Unlocking it and driving off is a blur. I avoid getting lost in my head, recalling the route to the park I always run at, whenever I visit Norway. Even with my run this morning the energy in my body is still a lot and I need to expend it somehow and the easiest way is by running. The alternative would have been the gym but I don't want to break any gym equipment as usual or worse, accidentally hurt someone like last time. I sign in at the gate of the park and one of the guards hand me my access card. I jog the rest of the way to one of the trails. I plug in my iPod allowing random songs to play as I continue down the path. With every step, the weight of my thoughts keep pressing down on me. As much as I try to shove back memories of Mara, little bits of those memories slip through that barrier, clouding my mind. “You couldn't save me.” Mara's crying face flashes in my head, as she shoves me. “You couldn't save us.” I recall giving her feeble responses and promises of ‘I’m so sorry' and ‘I'll make it right’ which I never got to live up to. Which I will never get to live up to because Mara is dead. I keep running, ignoring the burning in my leg muscles, I push myself to go faster but no matter how fast I run, I still can't leave my memories behind. I always wish I can forget all my mistakes for only a day, to have a little bit of peace– even if I don't deserve it. My quick movements suddenly halts as my feet stumbles over something and I find myself crashing face first into the ground, my p 0 0 out to brace myself from falling face first into the thorny rose bush beside the path. Luckily for me, my jacket is thick enough to protect me from the pricks of the thorns. After a bit of struggle I’m able to stand up. The tip of the rose's thorns rooted in my jacket and my right palm. I turn back to see what tripped me and it's a tree root that pushed up through the soil. I unplug my earpiece to taking my surroundings. I’m still within the park but I must have diverted from my usual route. My heart is still pounding wildly but I feel better. I turn back to the path I followed to this point. The walk back is surprisingly longer than I anticipated. Close to the end of the clearing a couple of kids are playing around. I move calmly through the playground aiming for the gates, to drop my access card. After dropping my card, I walk back to my car. The drive back to my place feels long with the rush in my head cleared up. The sound of my phone ringing fills the car. I look to my phone holder and Travis' name flashes on the screen. I tap a but on on my steering and it answers the call. “Finally, I've been trying to reach you. Where have you been? Kraft said you left her office a while ago…” His voice rambles on with his usual, “Iwas expecting you to call me back.” “And Good morning to you too, Travis. How have you been, dear Beta of mine.” I respond, waiting for the red light to change. “I am great, no thanks to you.” The sound of him rustling through some papers filters along with his voice. “When are you going to be back?” “Weekend maybe. Why?” I ask, taking a left to my driveway. “You’re supposed to be at the annual ball, Kendrick. Did you forget?” He says between more rustling. My silence makes him pause and he swears under his breathe before blowing up quietly. “What the actual fvck, Kendrick?” “It wasn't deliberate, I swear. I'll book my flight ticket tonight.” I respond as seriously as I can, trying not to laugh at the picture of him in my head, tugging his hair in frustration. “Alright then, that aside, some weird stuff is going on. People are turning up dead.” His words almost make my heart stop. “What do you mean people are turning up dead?” I ask picking up my things and walking into my house. “In so many packs close to ours. We haven’t experienced it until yesterday, one of our pups that went missing some days ago was found dead. He was fully drained of his blood and the only unusual sign on his body are the bite marks on his neck.” His voice keeps sounding strained till he finished with his narration. “I have a feeling that we're dealing with vampires. I have other haunches too but I am not certain of them yet.” “Thank you, Travis. I'll be back as soon as possible.” I respond. We finish with our goodbyes and he hangs up. ***** Later that night the flight from Norway to the USA takes longer than expected. Since I didn't want any of my pack members here to escort me to the airport (for reasons best known to me), I couldn’t drive my car to the airport, hence, the reason I settled for a cab. The cab option was going great until it started raining and EVERY FVCKING CAB happened to NOT be going my way. The ride I booked, cancelled on me. Last minute too. I was lucky to get a cab when I was on my way to the nearest bus stop. On getting to the airport, I missed my flight. I had to pay extra to reschedule my flight for the next plane departing tonight. The airline delayed the departure of my rescheduled flight by a whole fvcking hour, without any proper explanation and Travis isn’t picking up my calls. Initially he was ignoring it and later it just kept going to his voicemail. Is it just my mind or everything around me is just in sync to piss me off? Squeezing my fists is all I can do to stop myself from walking to any of the staff and giving them a piece of my mind. is