Hell Hound

Chapter Thirteen.

Chapter Thirteen.

Kiara and Nick lay together under the ruined blanket, bodies still entwined. Their love making had been gentle, sweet, and slow. Everything had changed. Kiara could feel a connection to Nick, like a warm vibration in her soul. It was weak and incomplete, but she could still feel it was him. Kiara knew that should have terrified her, but it didn’t. Neither did the scent of him that had seeped into her skin. No amount of scrubbing would remove it now. Kiara breathed in as she snuggled Nick, happily discovering that her scent now covered him as well. She had never snuggled after s*x before. Kiara was surprised to learn that she liked it. She could have happily stayed there all day. His fingers lightly stroked her hip. “How are you feeling?” He asked remembering Kiara’s injuries. She hadn’t complained once during their love making but he still wanted to make sure he hadn’t caused her any pain.

“I’m okay.” She reassured Nick. “My arm still hurts a bit, but the bruising is disappearing.” Broken bones usually took around a fortnight to fully heal, but the full moon often speeds up the process. Something about having your entire body ripped apart and put back together by a massive burst of moon enhanced energy just seemed to do the trick. Nick pulled Kiara in closer to him and nuzzled her hair.

They were both lightly snoozing when they heard the snick of a door opening and the not so gentle thud of it closing again. Kiara and Nick both sat bolt up-right just as Nick’s younger sister Annabelle came barging into the room. “What the hell happened here?” She asked taking in the mess. There were clothes and little white feathers everywhere. “Oh!” Her eyes went wide when she spotted Kiara in the bed next to her brother, blankets pulled up to her chin to cover her nakedness. Kiara blushed.

“Anna, knock!” Nick threw his pillow at her and she skipped out of the way.

“How was I supposed to know you had a girl up here?” She complained, leaving the bedroom, and closing the door behind her.

“By knocking!” He shouted after her. Sighing he put his face in his hands. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Kiara didn’t know what else to say. “Does she do that a lot?”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “Sisters.” Kiara wouldn’t know. She didn’t have any siblings and she wasn’t exactly close with the twins.

“Can you guys hurry up?” Came Annabelle’s voice through the door. “You promised to take me out for ice-cream!” Nick looked over his shoulder at Kiara.

“Do you want to go out for ice-cream?” It was such a simple thing to him, but for Kiara, being asked to go anywhere was a big deal. It just highlighted to her how empty her life before Nick had been. She nodded. Not trusting her voice not to give away the emotions she was feeling. Kiara was happy. For the first time in a long time, she felt accepted.

After a shower that took way to long thanks to Nick helping Kiara wash, they quickly dressed and found Annabelle waiting for them in the kitchen area. She had ordered them both bacon and egg rolls that they could eat on the move. “Finally!” Annabelle groaned when she saw Nick and Kiara leaving the bedroom. “Hi!” She excitedly bounced around the island bench to Kiara. “I’m Annabelle. This big i***t’s sister.” She motioned her head to Nick.

“Hi Annabelle. I’m Kiara.” She smiled, reacting to the wide grin Anna was giving her.

“I’d thank you for saving me yesterday, but I guess my brother already covered that.”

“Annabelle!” Nick scolded her.

“What? I just meant that you said thank you for saving your adorable little sister.” She gave her brother an adorably insolent look. Kiara wanted to laugh. “Now if you two are ready, we can get going.”

“Isn’t it a little too early for ice-cream?” Nick asked her, raising one eyebrow.

“That’s why I got you two breakfast.” She shoved the breakfast rolls at them. “Now let’s go.” It was also mid-morning by that point.

Nick drove them almost 40 minutes away from the hotel. Annabelle had insisted the place they were going to had the best rocky road ice-cream. They had stopped once to pick up Annabelle’s friends Jessica and May from school. The girls were sitting in the back chatting and Kiara sat silently in the front seat while Nick drove. “Kiara? Are you my brother’s girlfriend?” Annabelle suddenly asked. The question had caught Kiara by surprise. She scrambled to come up with an answer. Was she his girlfriend?

“Yes.” Nick answered for her, almost immediately.

“Are you going to get married?” Jessica, a human girl, asked. Kiara’s instant thought was “no”, but Nick beat her to it.

“Wolves don’t get married the same way humans do.” Nick told her.

“Oh yeah, wolves mate. Are you going to do that?”

“We haven’t talked about it yet.” Kiara told them. To her surprise, the answer made her chest ache, just a little. Even she had to admit that they had begun to form a bond. But as much as she liked Nick, Kiara wasn’t ready to spend the rest of her life with him. Nick took her hand in his. He hadn’t liked her answer either, and was about to correct her, when he sensed how nervous she was. That’s when it finally dawned on him that Kiara had never been in a real relationship. His wolf glowed at the thought of getting to be the one and only male Kiara would ever love.

“My mum and dad are true mates.” May told them. “Dad said it was love at first sight. Did you love Kiara at first sight?”

“No.” Nick answered honestly. “But I liked her a lot.” Kiara looked at him in surprise. She hadn’t realised. Kiara started feeling a little guilty that she had barley noticed more than his good looks at first. And that she had tried to ignore him.

“What did you say to her when you met?” Annabelle asked eagerly.

“He pointed at me and said; You.” Kiara laughed.

“How romantic?” Anna said sarcastically rolling her eyes. “Way to be a total caveman.”

“Hey,” Nick protested. “It was during a training exercise. I was picking the teams.” His defence was quickly rebutted by Kiara.

“You picked me to be chased down by a pack of dominant shifters.” He was both shocked and amused by her cheeky comment.

“And you ran circles around all of them.” He said, giving her hand a little squeeze. Kiara smiled at him. She was feeling relaxed driving with him. Even with the pre-teen girls chattering in the back seat. It was all very surreal.

Annabelle had been right. The rocky road was amazing. Overwhelmed by the dozens of ice-cream flavours, Kiara had gone with Anna’s pick. Nick had chosen mint choc-chip. He was holding the cone in one hand and Kiara’s hand in the other as they walked along the beach. The moist sand shifted beneath their Bare feet as they walked. The girls had disappeared into an arcade, leaving them alone. It was a nice day and there were plenty of other people on the beach, but it felt to Nick and Kiara like they were the only two there.

“I would you know?” Nick started saying out of the blue.

“Would what?” She asked confused.

“Marry you. If we were human.” Kiara’s steps faulted and she nearly dropped her ice-cream. She started walking with him again and they melted back into a steady pace.

“If we were human.” She began. “We never would have met.”

“We would have met.” He interrupted gently.

“And, we wouldn’t have my wolf to worry about.”

“I’m not worried about your wolf Kiara.” She opened her mouth to argue but he held up his cone to stop her. “I’m not worried about your wolf because I trust you.”

“Why?” Her voice was so soft. Kiara was almost too afraid to hear the answer.

“You know why. I know you can feel it. Our bond.” He squeezed her hand gently.

“I just… I just don’t know how I feel about all this yet.”

“It’s okay.” He told her lifting their joint hands so that he could place a kiss on her knuckles. “I’m not going anywhere.” Kiara’s heart swelled. How had she been so lucky to find a mate like Nick. There was no use denying it. Even a wolf as stubborn as her had to admit the truth eventually. Nick was hers and no matter how scared she was, Kiara was his. “Come on!” Nick suddenly grabbed her and pulled them into the surf, half eaten ice-cream dropped and forgotten. She squealed and laughed as the cold water splashed around them. Nick released her hand to splash water at her. She gasped as the salty droplets splashed her face. Laughing, Kiara splashed him back. They played in the waves until they were both soaked and panting for breath. Nick caught her in his arms and pulled her in for a kiss. Their t-shirts clung to their bodies, and he could see every delicious curve of her body. He ran a finger along the edge of her bra and growled. “You have no idea how much I wish we were alone on this beach right now.” Kiara placed her hand on his abs.

“Trust me. I do.” Nick growled again and kissed her. Their tongues dancing while the waves continued crashing around their feet.