018: Can You Keep a Secret?
1854 Words
[Axel]
“NOW!” Conner demands. “She wants this.”
I need to get my wolf under control.
But isn’t going to happen in this car, not with her rose, jasmine and sage scent blending with the equally powerful aromas of desire and fear, sending tingles down my spine as I fight the urge to hunt. Images of me chasing her as prey, satisfying my needs to rut and fill her with my seed as I mark her sends electric tingles to all of my limbs. My vision is blinking red as I feel the points of my canines extending.
I’ve been so careful not to touch her, to keep my distance. Even with my mate, the pull was never this strong.
“Axel, I…” Her voice breaks my spell. Closing my eyes, I open the truck door and step out.
“Let’s take a walk,” I laugh, trying to ease some of the tension. “I don’t know about you, but I need to stretch my legs.”
She blinks at me, confused.
“Can I ask you an honest question,” Rosalynd turns to me, keeping herself just a few steps away.
“Anything,” I nod. “We are friends aren’t we?”
“That’s the thing,” she falters, “I don’t know what we are. Are we friends? Or are we something else? I…” she pauses. “I need to know where I stand with you.”
“She thinks we do not want her.” Conner explains. “We cannot keep rejecting her. She deserves to know the truth.”
“But what if she cannot handle it?” I challenge him. “What if she leaves?”
“You do not give our mate enough credit for her strength.” I can hear the wisdom in his words. “You are letting your heartbreak keep you from finding our happiness. She is our true mate. She craves this bond as much as we do.”
“I want to be whatever you need me to be,” I respond honestly. “I said that before and I still mean it. I’m here to be whatever you want me to be.”
“That doesn’t seem entirely fair,” her arms rest on her hips. “What do you need me to be?”
“What?!”
“You heard me,” she huffs.
“I…I…”
“That’s what I thought,” she crosses her arms, looking ready to cry. “Why should you be any different? I thought…well I was hoping you might actually like me as much as I like you. I don’t understand why but…damn it…how do I..?” She covers her face with her hands, rubbing her palms into her eyes. “I just…”
I come around the car and close the gap between us. Wrapping her in my arms, I hold her tightly as she cries. She tries to push away, punching my chest, but I keep a firm hold. Kissing the top of her head I whisper…”I am so, so sorry.”
She gulps, sniffing into my shirt, her fists grasping it tightly between her fingers.
“I haven’t been fair to you at all. I have never just wanted to be friends,” I confess. “You… Great Moon Goddess above I’ve wanted you from the moment I first caught your scent on the wind.”
“I don’t understand.” She pulls away just enough for me to see her tear streaked face.
“I know.” I wipe her hair from her face, taking some of her tears with me. “I have so much I need to explain. Can we take a walk? I have some things I’d like to share with you.”
She lets me take her hand and guide her into Founder’s Grove.
We walk for a few moments in silence. It’s still early, so there isn’t anyone else around. I place a hand on a large fallen redwood, its trunk wider than I am tall. “When this tree fell,” I explained, “It was over 100 years old.”
“It’s beautiful,” she places a hand on the mossy bark.
“Let me show you one of my other favorite spots in these woods.” I don’t wait for her to reply, pulling her along a path that would be invisible to most tourists, created by my own paws as my pack roam these woods by moonlight. Even as a man, I feel the pull of my wolf to run faster, feel the wind wrap around me as I leap and dodge.
“Where are you taking me?” She queries, worried. “This isn’t part of the path.”
“It is if you know where to look,” I assure her. “My ancestors have roamed these woods for millennia. There is no tree here that I do not know as a friend.”
I pull her into a large cathedral of trees, moving her to the exact center. These trees have grown together to form a natural room, blocking us from the sight of others. She gasps. Wrapping my arms around her from behind, she leans her head against my chest as we wonder together at the miracle of this earth.
“I wanted to share this with you.” I smile into her hair. “This is one of my favorite places. I found it myself when I was just a child myself, only a few years older than Rafe.” She feels so good in my arms, I feel a rumble in my chest as Conner begins to purr in satisfaction. “You are the first person I have ever taken here.”
“Not even..”
“No,” I interrupt her, not wanting to talk about my ex right now. “Not even her.”
I feel her relax, which makes it so much harder for me to say what I have to say next. “But this isn’t the only reason I wanted to bring you here. I also wanted to share something with you that is very private, and very important. But…” I pause. “Once I tell you, there is no going back.”
“What do you mean?” She turns around to look me directly in the eye. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“I’m trying to say,” I swallow, “that I’d like to have a real relationship with you.”
She looks at me, her eyes wide. “I want that as well.”
“I told you so,” Conner gloats.
“Damn you, not now!” I glower.
He chuckles in response, clearly amused.
Her smile wilts. “Why do I feel like that isn’t the secret you needed to share?”
“Because it isn’t,” I admit. “I…this secret doesn’t just belong to me, it belongs to my whole community. If I tell you, I need you to promise you will not tell anyone else. Ever. Not even if something were to happen and we were to break up. Telling others would cause more pain and heartache than you could ever imagine.”
“O…kay…” she replies. “So this is a very big secret.”
“Yes.”
“And you need before we can,” she waves her arms in the air, “take any of this further.”
“Exactly.”
She takes a deep breath. “And you’re sure that this is something you want to do…with me?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Okay,” she agrees.
“Okay?” I confirm.
“Yes,” she answers. “But first, I need to tell you something about me before you reveal such a big secret. I wouldn’t want you to…” she hesitates. “Change your mind when you hear what I have to say.”
“Don’t worry,” I smile. “Nothing you say can change my mind.”
“Even if it sounds crazy?”
“Yes,” I laugh. “Although I think I already know what you are going to say.”
“Really?” she raises an eyebrow. “You’ll probably think I’m crazy.”
I laugh. “Not a chance. Nothing you can say will make me think you’re crazy.”
“Okay then,” she tries to sound tough, but I can hear her fear. “Here goes…Axel, I recently found out that…well…I’m a witch.”
“I know.” My voice is flat. “I’ve known since yesterday afternoon.”
“WHAAAT?” she shouts. “HOW?! I didn’t even know yet!”
“Shhhh….” I try to comfort her, but she pulls away.
“How did you know? And WHY, why didn’t you tell me,” she looks hurt, betrayed.
I shrugged. “To be honest, I thought you already knew.”
She stares at me with her mouth open.
“I didn’t know when I first met you,” I reassure her. “I would have mentioned it if I had. But you just smelled, well, human. From the time I said goodbye to you at the mechanic shop to the time I said hello to you at lunch, something had changed about your scent. You smelled so strongly of witch that I couldn’t not know.”
“You keep mentioning how I smell,” she adds. “Why? What is this obsession with my smell? Do I smell bad?”
“Oh heavens no,” I pull her into another tight hug. “You smell amazing. The most amazing smell I have ever scented.”
“You said I smelled human,” her words are muffled by my shirts her face rests on my chest. “You say that as if you are not.”
“I am not.”
“What are you then?”
“Well that,” I pull away. “Is better shown than said but….I need to know” I pause. “Do you think that, no matter what I say, you might still want to be with me?”
“Yes.” She doesn’t hesitate. “I don’t know why but…I feel very strongly connected to you.”
“Same.”
“Then what’s the problem?” She demands. “You know my secret, now show me yours.”
“Yes Ma’am,” I kiss her. She melts into me.
"Axel," She holds me tighter. "No matter what you need to show me, I will still want you. Please," her eyes plead, "you can trust me."
I take a step back and begin to unbutton my shirt. She stares at me, bemused until she sees me unbuckling my pants.
"What...what are you doing?" her face goes red.
"I'll need to take off my clothes first," I reply. "I'd hate to ruin these jeans, they're new."
And before she could say anything else, I showed her exactly why I needed to be naked.
- Writer
