Urquia

Chapter 13: The Not Date part 3

*Nathan's POV*

I put my long-sleeve shirt back on, and she hands me some gloves, goggles, and a mask. She starts taking out all kinds of powders, dried herbs, and smelly stuff. I put on the mask quickly because my enhanced sense of smell is killing me.

-"Can I have another mask? I don't think this one is working so much," I ask while she looks at me, confused.

Then, like something clicks in her head, she nods. She goes to a closet on the right and gives me a weird-looking mask. It looks like a gas mask. Well, that's better. She starts teaching me the basics. She's excited, teaching me all the different things and how to combine them. I can't stop staring at her beauty and the twinkles in her eyes when she speaks.

We make honey and rosemary soaps and wrap olive and argan oil shampoo bars with recycled paper they make. I can see she's enjoying teaching me stuff, so I ask her about anything just so I can hear her melodic voice.

-"Sorry, I must be boring you. I tend to obsess over my hobbies. I bet when you thought about a date, this wasn't in your mind," she says shyly, looking down.

I raise her chin for her to look at me as I get closer.

-"Hey, why are you apologizing for? The whole purpose of a date is to get to know you better. This is the best way you could've thought to let me know you. This is the real you. You're passionate about your work, and that's something difficult to find. You care about nature but are also kind to people. Look at all the people you've helped. Look at all the lives you've changed for good. I think you're awesome. You're even teaching me a whole new world. If that isn't exciting to know, I don't know what is," I say from the bottom of my heart. Her eyes water a bit, but she doesn't cry. She looks down and smiles sadly.

-"You're the first person who thinks like that other than my family. What is your passion?" she asks.

-'You,' my wolf answers.

-"Umm... my family, I guess. It's a really big one. I'm in charge of a lot of people, I take care of their needs and safety. I'm the head of my family and even my community." She looks like she understands me.

-"I will show you someday. You have to meet my family. You already know Leo; he's like my brother. The guys with us at the club—Tom and Ramirez—are just as much family, and so are their wives. We all grew up together and even live together."

-"I grew up with a lot of people, too, so I get what you say. Family Don't End in Blood, boy," she says with a weird voice. I chuckle.

Her eyes go wide and her heart beats faster when she realizes we are really close. She moves around me awkwardly and takes a box out of the table. Then she starts cleaning and putting things back. We take our masks off.

-"Tell me about your kids. You said you had three?" I change the subject a bit.

She turns and leans on the table. She sighs.

-"Yep, two boys and a princess." She takes out her phone and shows me her screen.

"The three of them are copies of you," I say. She smiles widely.

-"Damian, my firstborn. He's the man of the house now, and he's very protective of us. He had to grow up too fast, but his heart is still pure," she says with sadness.

-"Diana, my princess, is a warrior. She's very confident, and she'll speak her mind when she wants to. Also very stubborn. That, she got from me." Then she looks down and takes a few deep, steadying breaths.

-"Baby Samuel wasn't in my plans. We were a few years separated already. I took my sister and kids to Germany to start a new life. We were getting settled there, but then he... he found us." Her face darkens, and you can see conflicted emotions rolling over it: fear, anger, desperation, acceptance, realization.

-"What happened?" I ask. I'm afraid my assumptions are right, but I have to know.

-"He... well, he..." she swallows hard and closes her eyes. She chuckles. -"I haven't talked about it, like ever."

-"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it right now," I say. She takes a deep breath.

-"It's not like I'm ashamed, I'm not. He is to be ashamed, not me. But I can't get this guilt off, you know? Like, I was stupid for not being prepared." Another deep breath, and I hold mine.

-"He... he had us chained in separate rooms. He threatened my sister and kids if I didn't give him what he wanted. He said he was going to r**e them and sell them afterward." She stops, looking at her hands.

-"I know you won't believe me." She shakes her head and turns her back on me.

-"Try me," I say, assuring her it's okay.

She turns again. -"It's like I made them not touch them. Like I protected my kids and Cris."

-"Who's 'them'?"

-"He came with three more of his men," she whispers, looking down.

-"I protected them. They couldn't touch my sister or my kids. They couldn't even go near them. Like they were repulsed by them, or scared. I kept them safe."

-"What about you?" I say through gritted teeth. I don't want to hear it, but I need to know.

-"I... I..." She's shaking, with desperation in her beautiful but sad eyes.

-"I didn't sleep. I couldn't. I had to protect them. They would beat me up so bad, trying to make me unconscious, but I wouldn't. They just would get tired and leave me there. They tortured me, whipped me, cut me, and burned cigarettes off me..." She stops and closes her eyes. Her face is emotionless. I swallow.

-"They r***d me, over and over. They would take turns or even r**e me at the same time..." her voice fades, lost in her thoughts. She swallows hard.

My wolf is clawing me from inside to get out. I'm trembling, my hands turn into fists, almost shifting with rage, my claws are out, digging at my hands. And my gums are bleeding from my elongated canines.

-"I will kill them," me and my wolf whisper as a promise, but she hears us.

She opens her eyes. They are narrowed, with hatred and disgust and... pride? clearly showing. With a really scary, wicked smile that surprises me, she raises her chin up.

-"I didn't react to any of it, you know? I didn't even flinch, as if none of it could touch me." she chuckles bitterly.

She isn't even looking at me.

-"My sister, she got loose of her chains somehow, and she got us out of there after knocking down one of them who was guarding us." she says with her head held high.

She is leaning on the table behind her, and I'm not even conscious that I've walked to where she is. I'm in front of her, so angry I almost lose it right there. She looks at me like she just noticed, surprised.

She looks at my eyes, her hand reaching my face. Her palm on my cheek makes me immediately relax. I close my eyes with delight at her touch. I feel the sparks where our skin makes contact. I hold her hand with mine, and my lips move to her wrist. She gasps at the feeling but doesn't move.

-"I'm sorry you had to go through all that, princess. You're a survivor," I say while kissing her hands and looking at her.

She looks down, blushing deeply. She clears her throat.

-"I don't know why I'm telling you all this. I don't want your pity—I'm not the victim type—and this is definitely not first-date material," she says, chuckling bitterly.

-"Anyways, we came to America and traveled a lot to get here. We met good and bad people on our way. We healed and became strong for and with my kids. I gave birth almost on the road, and we ended up here," she says with a chuckle, scratching her head.

Now that I'm close to her, I really look at her face. Since I saw her, her eyes were so captivating I couldn't look away from them, but now I notice the little scars she has. On her brows, she has a few, another one below her left eye, and another one crossing her both plump lips. Still, she looks so stunning she takes my breath away.

-"And I'm so grateful you did. I now have the opportunity to be part of your life." I say, looking at her eyes.

Our breaths mingle together. I'm so close I could kiss her right now. But I don't. I don't want to frighten her, doing something without her permission. She looks into my eyes, like she can read me.

-"Can I kiss you?" I finally ask, and she looks down at my mouth, biting her lip. She nods, and I lean just a bit. She gets closer, too. Our lips touch, and she closes her eyes, and I do the same. It feels like the sparkles burst like fireworks. Her lips are so soft I melt into them.

I kiss her gently, with no rush, savoring every second, and we lose track of time. I have her face cupped in my hands, and she slides her fingers through my hair. Our mouths move in sync like it was meant to be. I pour all my feelings into that kiss. All the love, the admiration I have for her. And I promise I'll do anything to make her mine, to make her happy.

A "bing" on her phone breaks the trance we are in. We are panting, gasping for air. I don't know how long we were kissing, I don't care, either. Her chest is rising and falling against mine. I rest my forehead on hers.

-"You should get that. Your family might be worried," I say with my eyes closed.

-"I've never been kissed like that in my whole life," she says, out of breath.

I open my eyes to meet hers. She's flushed, her mouth a bit open with her lips red and swollen, and her eyes full of lust, matching mine.

-"And I intend on kissing you like that for the rest of my life," I smile at her, and she returns the smile.

I give her space, not because I want to, but because if I don't, I'll end up marking her and making her mine right here on this table.

She calls someone on the phone and signals with her hand to hold on for a minute.