The sounds of labored breathing, hitching here and there with the soft brush of skin on skin, the sweep of tingles and the shuddering twitch of muscles that followed. Fingers drifted lightly across arms, shoulders, chest, stomach and legs, barely more than a brushing flutter over the surface but sending each nerve ending into overdrive. Arousal heightened, flushing skin and quickening the rush of blood to already sensitive body parts that practically screamed for attention. Breath teased and tickled down silky flesh, chilling over a thin coating of fresh sweat, ripping a gasp past parted lips. A tongue darted out momentarily, wetting those full lips with a shine of moisture as heavy lids slide closed over ice blue irises. Just as things took a turn for the very best and started heating up even further, a shrill screeching stopped it all dead.
Kindle grumbled and slapped at the alarm clock on her bedside table, growling at the damned thing for cutting off the best dream she'd had in weeks. Ever since her last secret meeting with a member of the neighboring pack she'd been sneaking around with for the last two years, she'd been plagued by dreams that never quite got where she hoped they would. Their meeting had been cut short when her father's scouts had ventured a little closer to their meeting place than they normally did. She hadn't managed to find the time for another rendezvous since then and that had been over six weeks ago. That fact was painfully obvious just then as she rolled over, threw off the covers and instantly felt the need for a very cold shower.
She huffed to herself, rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands and then sat up and stretched her arms over her head before she slid out of her bed. Her bare feet hit the bare wood of the floor, cold from being exposed to the northern November air all night. She shuddered a little bit and then smiled as the chill spread over her entire body, helping to ease the heat the rather realistic dream had left in its wake. She sighed heavily, shook her head and then made her way across the room to her bathroom, her bare feet making no sound on the smooth, polished floor. She stepped in and flipped on the light as she swung the door closed, sealing off the small room to keep whatever heat might build up in the space trapped.
She turned the shower on, actually electing for her usual warm wash thanks to the chilled air having relieved most of the ache in her lower body. After adjusting the knobs a little, she turned to look in the mirror over the sink and made a face at herself. Her strawberry blond hair was a mess, looking very much like she had actually engaged in the carnal acts that had slipped into her dream. She let out a low growl at her reflection, letting her nose wrinkle a little and pulling the left side of her upper lip up just slightly, despite the fact that it wasn't a very attractive gesture. Steam started to rise from the shower behind her, catching her attention and letting her expression fall back into a more flat overtone. She turned away from the mirror, stripped off her tank top and shorts and stepped into the shower, wincing slightly as the water hit her cooler skin for the first time. Maybe she had let it get a little hotter than she'd been meaning too. Oh well, she would get used to it after a couple minutes, no use messing with it any further.
She washed up, shut off the water and grabbed a towel, drying herself off as she left the bathroom, a spattering of goose bumps rippling over her body the instant she hit the colder air of her bedroom. She smiled at the delightful change in temperature and let the wet towel fall to the floor as she made her way over to her dresser. After digging through a couple drawers, she settled on a matching set of underwear, black with a shock of teal edging to it. Fighting the stubborn bra on took a minute but once it was in place, she stepped over to the closet and grabbed a pair of black jeans. After wiggling into the near skin tight pants, she tugged on a baby blue tank top, a pair of socks and some pale blue converse sneakers. She topped off the ensemble with a black denim jacket, much too thin to be of any help against the Montana winter but she didn't care.
She slipped down the stairs and out the front door as silently as she could, actually managing to sneak past both of her parents and all four of her older brothers without being noticed. That was a rare thing and when she realized roughly ten seconds later that she had walked out without her car keys; she rolled her eyes and just kept walking. There was no way in hell she was going back in there to get them and risking the onslaught of her family just for those damn keys. Instead, she tugged her cell phone out of her pocket as she reached the corner, unlocked the screen and dialed her best friend Abbey. She stood there, phone to her ear and a rather impatient look on her face, right foot tapping slightly as she waited for the other girl to answer her phone.
"'Sup?" The short yet somehow very happy syllable from her best friend made her smile and shake her head a little, the girl was always in such a good mood.
"Hey, Abs. Can you pick me up?"
"Of course, girl. Where? And why don't you have your car?"
"The west corner and honestly, I managed to get out without being stopped this morning but…"
Abbey cut her off with a sharp giggle and she could just imagine the other girl shaking her head on the other end of the phone, "But you walked out without your keys? Yeah, honey, with your family, I wouldn't go back for them either. I'll be there in five." She didn't bother to thank Abbey before they hung up, she would do that when the other girl showed up to get her. She shoved the phone back into her pocket and took a slow, deep breath of the cool, clean, crisp morning air. It was a perfect morning, most of them were this time of year and the sun only just beginning to peek over the tree tops in the east made it that much better.
Exactly five minutes later, right on time as usual, Abbey pulled up and popped the door locks on her truck so Kindle could hop in. She shut the door and slipped on her seatbelt, clicked it into place and then turned to grin at her best friend. Within seconds they were underway and Abbey was already on a roll about Tucker, the guy she'd been crushing on for the last couple years but had never had the guts to approach. Kindle just chuckled and shook her head a little, wondering for a moment how the perky, and very attractive, blond sitting beside her could possibly have issue approaching anyone. Abbey was easily one of the best looking girls in their pack and if she would just own that, well, there was no doubt that she could have anyone she looked at. Abbey, however, seemed to have no clue how cute she was and despite Kindle's attempts at telling her over the years, the other girl just assumed that she was being a good friend.
Kindle quirked one thin eyebrow and took a few moments to study her best friend, something she did sometimes just because she could do it and get away with it. Abbey was her height, five foot five, but the two friends were built nothing alike, and didn't even look remotely alike for that matter. While Kindle herself was rather solid for her height, weighing in at about a hundred and forty-five pounds or so, Abbey rarely hit an even hundred and twenty. Kindle was evenly built, well-proportioned and looked every bit the tomboy she had always been, meanwhile, the other girl was much more feminine, legs for miles. Kindle tended to keep her strawberry blond hair about four to five inches past her shoulders and had it almost permanently in a ponytail. Abbey, in contrast, kept her naturally pale blond hair almost to her waist and very rarely pulled it up, letting it flow in soft curls over her shoulders.
Abbey had the more classically beautiful face, all smooth, clear skin, angled cheekbones and perfect lines with a light feathering of pale eyebrows and full lips. Meanwhile, Kindle had the softer 'Girl Next Door' look to her, a more rounded face, less defined features and more likely to be called 'cute' than 'stunning', 'beautiful', 'gorgeous' or even 'sexy'. All of those words had been used to define Abbey at some point or another during their friendship, some even slipping from her own mouth once or twice. Their eyes were the only place where the girls shared anything at all in common, both sporting pale but stunning ice blue eyes that grabbed, and often held, the attention of anyone that looked into them. She was perfectly fine with that being all they shared, while she knew that she wasn't as gorgeous as her best friend, she knew that she wasn't exactly hard on the eyes either.
The sound of Abbey clearing her throat made Kindle jump a little, honestly not sure how long she had been lost in thought and staring at the other woman. How embarrassing. Abbey gave her an expectant look, both eyebrows raised, then nodded out the front window, indicating that they had stopped at the fork in the road that signaled the edge of the Clipper Packs territory and she needed to know where the hell she was going. The pair didn't have much planned now that she actually thought about it for a moment; they had just decided that they needed a day out, away from the pack. It wasn't often that a wolf needed some alone time, they were social pack animals after all, but every now and then the human part of them won out and just needed a little space, and some silence. She glanced between the two forks for a moment, her face showing clearly that she was thinking far too hard about the choice.
Abbey made the decision for her by rolling her eyes and turning down the right fork, steering her truck toward the city. Most of the pack lived out in the farming area that the Clippers had called home for more than seven generations but a few that managed to pull off blending in with humans lived in nearby Billings. She and Abbey often went into the city for movies, shopping, dining and anything else they didn't have out in the middle of nowhere on the farms, which was pretty much everything. Kindle just gave a shrug and settled into her seat, knowing that if Abbey had decided on her own that she wanted to go into Billings, she had a reason for it and they would manage to find something to entertain them. Abbey turned on the radio and tuned it to the only station that came in properly so far out, a single country station which was actually fine by both of them. They spent the rest of the drive into the city with the windows rolled down, the stereo cranked up and singing along at the tops of their lungs, badly.
After a day of shopping and goofing off in a brand new arcade they happened across completely by accident, the two friends headed back toward home. The sun was just beginning to dip lower in the sky and they knew that dinner would be waiting for them when they finally made it back. They spent the drive back into pack territory chatting about their shopping trip and the games that they had played that afternoon. They were always in great moods after a day out together and even as the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in, their smiles didn't fade. The promise of a winter storm actually had them both buzzing excitedly, their wolves shivering in anticipation of getting to run through fresh snow the next day. That would be perfectly fine by them both since they each considered winter the favored of all the seasons.
By the time they arrived back at Kindle's house a light, feathery snow had started to fall and was already beginning to cling to the bed of Abbey's truck. They chatted and laughed as they slid out of the truck and made their way into the house, met immediately by Kindle's parents and a rather familiar looking man seated in the living room. As the stranger turned to face the pair, he smiled and Kindle realized that he wasn't such a stranger after all, though what the hell he was doing in her living room, she really had no idea. She glanced over to Abbey, unable to return the man's smile, and then looked back to him before she shot quick looks to each of her parents. Her father spoke up after a few moments of extremely awkward silence. "Abbey, you should probably head home, we have some family business to attend to. Kindle, come in and sit down, we need to talk…"