Love and Submission

Chapter Fourteen

When she awoke it was to the most pleasant smell and a feeling of deep contentment and warmth. She stretched out and then settled back down with a happy smile. It wasn’t quite yet morning as she could hear the birds outside but no cars yet. She opened her eyes slowly and felt her smile widen when she saw Connor’s sleeping face. At some point in the night he had finally crawled under the covers and was now sprawled out beside her with his face turned her way. His hair looked even wilder carelessly strewn about the pillow. She was contemplating leaning down to kiss him awake when his eyes popped open and he grinned at her. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Hmm, she was still considering that whole kissing thing. He smelt absolutely divine and he just looked so completely relaxed. Why that was such a turn on was beyond her but she was willing to go with it. The feelings were pretty strong.

“So you got suspended?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. Talk about killing the mood. Leave it to Connor to be the only man who could sleep for who knows how long and pick the conversation right back up like it hadn’t stopped. She groaned and flopped back onto her own pillow causing him to rise up onto his elbow and stare down at her.

“Yes. For a week. I got into a fight during gym class and they suspended us both.”

“I thought I explained to you why you can’t be fighting.” Olivia sighed loudly.

“Yes you did. But it was Molly and she has been getting on my nerves ever since you showed up. Then in gym she had her she-man friend take Kitty out and I lost it.”

“She isn’t hurt is she?”

“Well her nose is probably broken.” Olivia admitted sullenly. She heard a snort and turned to glare at Connor only to find him barely maintaining his composure. “What?”

“Noah was right, you do have a temper.”

“She started it! And while we’re on the subject, tell me about Noah.” Connor stifled the giggles but his smile was still in place.

“Uh he’s older than me by like a year or two. He’s the son of my uncle Erik and his wife Ari.”

“His eyes are naturally like that?” Connor seemed to stiffen.

“Yeah about that. Noah really doesn’t like the f word so make sure not to say it around him.” Olivia’s eyes widened.

“He didn’t seem the squeamish type especially about swearing.” Connor looked confused and then his smile widened.

“No I meant the word ‘freak’. Sorry.”

“Why would I call him a freak?” He looked confused again so she tried to wait patiently.

“His eyes.”

“Well they’re unusual yes and slightly terrifying when he looks like he wants to eat you but not freakish. Just different.” Connor blinked several times. “You may not know this but gray eyes aren’t all that common either.”

“I guess he just intimidates a lot of people.”

“That I can see. It’s not his eyes though. He just radiates power and the whole vibe that he could kill you and not lose a wink of sleep over it.”

“Well Noah does tend to spend more time as a wolf than a person.” Connor mused thoughtfully.

“Really? Why?” Olivia propped herself on her elbow and turned towards him with rapt fascination. The idea that someone would prefer to live as an animal was entirely new.

“Well, he lost someone five years ago. Someone he loved very much and it was really hard on him.”

“His mate?” Connor frowned a bit.

“He thinks so.”

“But you don’t?”

“All I know is, he loved her very very much. Everyone could see it and we were all happy for him. But she died and he didn’t. Usually wolves don’t outlive their mates.” He turned solemn eyes to her with an intensity that made her breath stop in her throat. “I couldn’t live without you for example.” He said it softly. They were leaning in to each other, about to start what would no doubt be another round of intense hormones when footsteps echoed on the stairs to her room.

“Olivia! Are you up?” Her mother’s angry voice wafted in. They snapped away from each other but Connor was all smiles.

“Yes.”

“Get dressed you’re coming with me to the store.” Angry stomps went back upstairs and moved into the kitchen.

“I love how she asks me things.”

“She’s probably upset with the whole suspension thing love. Just ride it out.” Olivia c****d her eyebrow at him skeptically. “I’ll come back later.”

“You still needed to talk to me about something.”

“Trust me I remember.” He leaned in and pecked her on the cheek before darting out the window just as her mother shouted her name again.

“Coming Mother.” She said in annoyance. She could see how easy it would be to spend every day with Connor and not care about anything else in the world. Except apparently that if one of them died the other did too. Oh and she had to turn furry, get on all fours and howl at the moon once a month. That wasn’t a problem though in the grand scheme of things right? Riiiight.

The grocery store was packed that early in the morning. Everyone hoping to beat the later rush thus creating an earlier rush and not beating anything. Olivia frowned as a little old lady cut in front of them and took the last box of Captain Crunch Berries. She’d wanted that. “Stop that Olivia.” Her mother slapped her hand with enough sting to draw her attention.

“I wanted those.”

“Honestly I have no idea what has gotten into you.” Olivia raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re habits have changed almost completely, you’re fighting at school, and now you’re bringing a boy home to dinner.” Her mother shook her head dramatically. “I just don’t know what to think anymore.”

“He’s my boyfriend mom.”

“And is all of this,” she waved a hand in the air “change about him?” Olivia smiled and thought how right her mother really was.

“Yeah but not in the way you think. I guess I don’t really know how to describe it. Connor looks at me so differently and he gives me another outside opinion to consider.” Olivia shrugged.

“The fighting?”

“That was a long time coming mom. Molly and I have been butting heads for years and then her behemoth friend hurt Kitty. I admit I lost my temper and that was an extremely inappropriate way to handle the situation.” Her mom was nodding and actually absorbing the information for once.

“So you’re not pregnant?” Olivia stifled the giggles and shook her head. “Not on drugs either?”

“High on love mom.” Her mom’s eyes widened.

“You love this boy?”

“I was kidding.” Mostly. Her mom was still staring at her so she rolled her eyes and snagged a box of high sugar cereal and tossed it in the cart. “We’ve only been dating for a little while. I think it’s early to be declaring love.”

“You’re bringing him home to meet us.” She frowned. When had her mother become so good at arguing?

“I didn’t say he didn’t mean something I just think it’s early to assign depth to the feeling.” Her mother nodded again and then sighed loudly after a few minutes.

“Alright. You are still very grounded but I accept what you’re saying. Tell me about the boy.” She sounded resigned as if Olivia had never ever dated before and she was losing her only daughter. Again it was work not to laugh at her mother’s attempts at martyrdom.

“Well, he’s a senior too. He just transferred in to the school. His parents decided they had enough of the city life and moved out to the suburbs.”

“What do they do? For work I mean.”

“Oh well, his dad is an architect and his mother is a teacher. I think she’s mostly into volunteer work and such these days though.”

“An architect?” Olivia sighed and bit the bullet. It wasn’t like it wasn’t going to come out at dinner anyway.

“Yea Darien Wahl. He builds the malls remember?” Her mother’s eyes popped again and she stared at Olivia.

“This Connor is his son?” Olivia nodded and then was abruptly confused when her mother smiled a genuine happy smile. “Well.” She seemed absurdly proud of herself at the moment so Olivia trailed behind watching her. If her mother had been a male, a sentence which had never come up before, she would have puffed out her chest and set her jaw or something. They made their way to the checkout in relative silence. Relative because while Olivia stared at her mother in amazement and confusion her mother kept muttering half sentences to herself that made absolutely no sense. Well except for the one about how Olivia was beautiful so of course a rich boy would notice her. She was tempted to tell her mother that it wasn’t her looks at all that had drawn Connor in. It was her smell. But that would start a conversation she didn’t want to have. Ever.

The line was slow moving and starting to wear on Olivia’s ever diminishing patience. That coupled with the incessant beeping noise as the items were scanned through had her grinding her teeth to keep from screaming at something. Yeah her temper was getting way way out of control. She made a mental note to discuss it with Connor later when she saw him. That thought calmed her down a bit. Maybe she could talk him into a run. Running always seemed to help her relax and burn off the energy. That would be fun. Running with Connor. Not that she had any illusions about being able to match his pace but still, the exercise would be good plus it might give them a little privacy. She was starting to get nervous about whatever it was he wanted to talk to her about. “Oh these are really good.” The clerk was saying something to her so she stopped spacing and focused on him as was polite.

The second their eyes met they both froze. His widened in a flash and then he smiled to cover the moment and went back to what he was doing. She wasn’t as quick about it. Her muscles were locked down and she had to focus all of her thoughts on not growling at the clerk. Why was she reacting to him like this? He just commented on the little snack packs her mother had picked out. It wasn’t like he’d issued a challenge or something. Or…maybe he had. In wolf terms maybe the steady eye contact was a threat? Man, more stuff she needed to talk to Connor about. If she could get her body to unclench and breathe that was. Her mother chattered away with the boy oblivious to the volatile daughter she had standing next to her. Olivia looked at the tabloid rack searching for something anything to clear her mind. She found it just not where she had intended. The hair on her arms were standing up. Surprise took the place of the fearage cocktail and brought her back to sanity somewhat. She was really keyed up.

Her mother clearing her throat snapped Olivia’s head back to her direction and she immediately apologized. The groceries were all bagged and back in the cart so they were waiting on her. She took the few steps to the cart and started pushing it towards the door with only one backward glance at the cashier. He was staring right at her with something between hatred and shock on his face. She felt the fear start to kick back into high gear so she wrenched her gaze forward and forced herself to walk out of the store without looking again. Her mother launched into a bonding speech the entire way home which Olivia tuned out. She didn’t feel like they were bonding just finally talking and listening. Olivia doing the talking her mother doing the listening. She was concerned. Her body and mind were acting up at the slightest provocation and she felt like she had no idea what was going on or what would happen next. She was entirely dependent on Connor and she didn’t enjoy the feeling.

Olivia helped unload and pack the groceries and then mentioned the possibility of a run later to which her mother reluctantly agreed. Though she had to take her cell phone with her this time and had a curfew. It wasn’t unreasonable so she acquiesced. When she hit the bottom stair to the basement she found Connor stretched out on her bed smirking at her. “So we’re going for a run?” Olivia smirked at him and crossed her arms.

“Absolutely. Right after we talk, or you talk rather cause I talked earlier.” He grimaced theatrically but nodded.

“Okay well see thing is my sister kind of brought something to my attention that she felt I should tell you about.”

“Okay.” Connor fidgeted around and made a couple false starts before Olivia finally snapped at him. “Spit it out Connor seriously.” He sighed and slumped his shoulders.

“Werewolves go through fertility cycles. Kind of like cats.” Olivia eyes went about as round as physically possible.

“Oh.” Connor flushed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Yeah apparently it’s really um intense. It happens like once or twice a year but for someone who was bitten; it’ll take a year or two for that to even out.”

“Even out?” She swallowed reflexively to try and replace the moisture in her suddenly arid mouth.

“Yeah it’ll be more frequent until it does. It’s like going into heat or so it was explained to me. But you can ask either of my sisters or my mom if you like to get all the info.” His cheeks were still burning.

“Okay. While we’re on this fact sharing subject is my temper getting out of control normal?” He nodded. “What about getting worked up over a random cashier clerk at a*****e?” He froze and his eyes flashed yellow.

“Worked up?”

“Yeah I was scared and royally pissed all at once. The hair on my arms was standing up Connor.” She pointed to the arm so he could visualize it. He seemed to relax and then shook his head. “What?”

“I thought you meant you were like attracted to him or something.” He said quietly. She scoffed at him and moved to stand closer.

“Nope. He said something about the food and then we looked at each other and I went all…well weird.”

“That sounds more like a territorial instinct but I have no idea why a random store clerk set it off. You sure you didn’t know him?”

“Positive.” He reached out and snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Close enough so he could wrap the other one around her too thoroughly ensnaring her in his grasp. He pressed his face into her abdomen and nuzzled her through her shirt. “Connor.”

“Mmm.” She giggled as he responded without actually moving.

“My parents are upstairs.”

“You’re the one making noise.” She got as a muffled response. She sighed happily when his fingers began kneading her back and she felt his hot breath tickle her stomach.

“We were going to run.” He growled in response but it stopped him. He tilted his head back after a minute and looked up into her eyes. His had bled into gold again. “Why do your eyes do that?” She asked softly playing with the ends of his hair. It wasn’t like she was going to be able to move until he let her anyway.

“The wolf gets excited and starts to take over. Does it bother you?” She shook her head.

“Just curious. So what makes the wolf excited?” She asked playfully. He grinned up at her.

“Violence, his mate, running, hunting, or any combination of those things.”

“Violence excites the wolf?” She asked. He eyed her warily but the effect was somewhat lost by the perpetual grin and the hands that were still caressing her.

“We’re predators Livie; it’s just how it works.” She nodded and decided to put that away for later contemplation.

“So running with your mate is definitely something you’d be interested in then?” The smile threatened to break off his face if it got any wider. He nodded vigorously in addition not that she needed it. “Well then I’m going to go up and tell mom I’m going I’ll meet you outside in ten at the least.” He released her enough to grab her wrist and pull her down into an intense lip lock.

“Make it five.” He breathed against her lips and it was her turn to nod.