Chapter 13 –
Zeva walked alongside Ryan and Cade as they went to pick the girls up from school. Ryan had called the girls and told them to wait for them because they got out of their school at the same time. Ryan was walking in the middle because she had refused to walk beside Cade, as always. She stole sideway glances at Cade when she thought he wasn't looking but he caught her every time. She tried to quench the urge as best she could but she couldn't help it. For this reason, she fixed a perpetual glare on her face and kept huffing angrily. It had become her routine now, to act angry towards Cade so he wouldn't pick up on her actual feelings.
Cade felt highly perplexed by Zeva's display of indifference towards him. She was glaring daggers at him. What was her problem anyway? He dared to glance at her again and was met by the same cold blue stare. He murmured a curse and then focused his attention back on Ryan who was telling them about an incident that happened when he went to get Joshua's paints with his Dad.
'…that asshole just stood there, mouth gaping like a fish. Seriously, he looked like he was gonna piss in his pants.' Ryan laughed out. However, his fit of laughter was short-lived as Zeva smacked him on the shoulder, looking disgusted at him. 'Ow…could everyone stop hitting me, for Mole's sake?' Ryan rubbed his shoulder, feeling annoyed.
That cracked Zeva up. She started laughing. It was the first time she had laughed openly since she had lost her ability to speak. The sound of her giggles shocked her as much as it shocked Ryan and Cade. They stopped and stood in front of her.
'You just laughed out loud. Does that mean you can talk now?' Ryan's eyes went wide as he whispered his question. 'Oh my god, I made you speak.' He said, his expression reflecting that he was in awe.
'Wait a minute. We shouldn't just assume, Ryan. Laughing is different from talking.' Cade tried to be the voice of reason. He hated to be the one to point out the facts to them. Knowing how much it would hurt her. But, he couldn't allow her to get her hopes up, only to have them crushed. He moved closer to her. Reaching out to touch her, he stopped short when she flinched away. He didn't want to upset her. 'Zeva, can you try talking for us?' He softly asked her. She didn't respond to him, just glared at him. He exchanged looks with Ryan who shrugged in nonchalance. 'Please?'
Zeva saw the look in Cade's pleading eyes and felt as if she was melting. But, no, she wasn't going to allow herself to melt. She wasn't going to surrender to his requests that easily. She wasn't like other girls. Who the hell does he think he is anyway? She stared him down. Then moving so that he wasn't in her path anymore, she started walking towards the girls' school. Damn, they were already late for them. What must the girls be thinking? At least, there wasn't any school for the next two days.
Later that evening, Zeva and Kyla were setting the table for dinner when Kyla asked her about the sleeping arrangement. Zeva shrugged and wrote I don't know on the notepad she now always carried around with her. She had tried talking when alone but to her extreme sadness, she still couldn't. The laughter had been just a one-off. In that moment, she had felt her hopes die a premature death. Not wanting to keep the boys in the dark for too long, she had told Ryan. The truth was she couldn't take the looks Cade had been giving her. He had almost looked as if he cared about her.
Kyla's question about the sleeping arrangement was soon answered when everyone sat down to eat.
'Cade, can you move Zeva's bed in our room. Then, all of us girls can sleep together.' Mila said, jumping in her seat excitedly as she winked at Zeva.
'No, Mila. Zeva's bed won't fit in there. And, anyway it's best if she sleeps where she feels comfortable.' Cade said, pretending to look thoughtful. Stabbing at his steak, ripping a chunk, he took a bite. His Dad's talk was still fresh on his mind. And, he was still dreaming up the various ways he would end up in her bedroom.
'Fine. Then, I guess Kyla can sleep with her.' Lima beamed at everyone. Everyone knew Lima loved her bed and found it hard to share it, despite the fact that she barely slept, thanks to her genes.
'No. Mom and Dad said to not let anyone other than pack sleep with her. One of you girls can share with her if you want or she can sleep alone like she always does.' Cade shrugged, feigning disinterest.
'Lyla and Kyla are family.' Lima argued, pushing her empty plate away and grabbing another for dessert.
'Yeah, I know. It's her animal instincts that won't allow her to be comfortable, once she's asleep.' Cade didn't dare look at Zeva. Instead, he looked at Ryan who was enthusiastically stuffing his mouth with food. He looked up from his plate when he felt Cade's eyes on him and wiggled his eyebrows knowingly. Cade got a weird feeling that Ryan knew of his plan. His bro was perceptive like that if he wanted to be. Cade smiled and peeled his eyes away from Ryan's.
It was movie night. So, Cade sent Ryan to get some movies from the Command. He instructed Ryan to get some horror movies. There were more chances of Zeva wanting to be close to him if she felt scared. Ryan didn't let him down, bringing back with him two really scary movies.
The five girls piled onto the couch, with Cade and Ryan sitting down on the floor at their feet, after grabbing junk food out of the cupboards.
After fifteen minutes of watching the film, Mila and Lyla went to bed. They said they didn't understand the film and would rather play before bedtime. Lima was soon to follow, using the excuse of being bored by the film. Cade took this opportunity to move to the couch. He knew that sitting on the couch would allow him to be closer to Zeva, even though she was now sitting at the other end as far as she could be. He just hoped she'd stay till the end of the film since she was the only girl still watching as Kyla had gone to bed too, having gotten scared.
Ryan had seen the film before. That was the reason why his attention was mainly on the couple sat above him on the couch. His eyes were on the screen but ears were on the back. The idiots were sat on opposite ends. Seriously, this couple could definitely win an award for UST or any other tension, and their stubbornness and resolve to live in the denial of the tension. He could feel it sitting here on the floor. He was about to voice his annoyance when his favourite part in the film came on. Oh Yes. If this didn't glue Zeva to Cade, then nothing would. Ryan didn't have to wait long for his theory to be proven correct.
When the killer in the film started hacking away at the people with a saw, Cade felt Zeva's shiver from where he sat and in the next moment she was plastered to his side. Cade placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer.
On the screen, the killer started up his saw and within minutes it turned to blood, organs, and screams amongst other scary things. Ryan felt Zeva and Cade shift. Knowing she had glued herself to his friend, he decided to depart. It was time to leave them alone. So he got up, making a show of being tired by stretching his muscles. 'Night, guys, I'm tired. I'm going to hit the sack.' He waved, leaving before they could respond.
Zeva stayed snuggled up to Cade's side. She felt warm and safe. A feeling she wanted to always feel. She was grateful he hadn't commented on her plastering herself to him. He had the perfect opportunity to mock her. After all, she was getting comforted by him whilst still trying to pretend he didn't even exist.
Getting the vibe that making a smart-assed remark about the way Zeva was wrapped around him wouldn't help him in fixing things with her, Cade didn't acknowledge their closeness.
As the time for bed approached, with the movie being in its last part, Zeva felt herself grow tense and nervous as always. She hated sleeping. Her nightmares never left her. Repeatedly feeling her world crash and burn before her eyes wasn't something she could look forward to. Sleeping made her feel horrible. If she could live without it, she would. She realised that being so close to Cade was making her sleepy. She tried to fight off her drowsiness because she knew she would get worse nightmares if she didn't watch the end of the movie. But by the time the film ended, Zeva had fallen asleep.
Cade was surprised when Zeva moved closer to him. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and wrapped an arm around his waist. Listening to her even breathing and cute purring, he became conscious of the fact that he now had a sleeping beauty in his arms. Shit. What was he supposed to do now?
He gently untangled her from him and lay her down on the couch. Then he got up to switch the movie off and clear up. After accomplishing the tasks, he came to stand in front of his sleeping pack member. He thought about waking her up so she could go to bed herself but soon that idea was dismissed. She didn't need to wake up as everyone had changed into their night clothes before sitting to watch the movie. Cade and Ryan had worn t-shirts on top of their boxer shorts for the sake of Zeva. But otherwise they had all been ready for bed.
Making his mind up, Cade carried Zeva, bridal-style, to her room. He gently placed her on the bed and covered her with her blankets. Switching the light off, he was about to leave when suddenly he was hit by the stench of fear. He back tracked into the room and looked at her. She gave a strangled pain-filled moan before tears started falling freely on her face.
Cade sat beside her on her bed and shook her, trying to wake her up. What seemed like an eternity to him but was in reality a few minutes passed when she gasped and came awake. She sat up in her bed, confusion and fear marring her angelic face. 'Shhh, it's okay. You had a nightmare.' Cade didn't know what else to say. Was this how his parents comforted her every night? He saw her trembling as she put her arms around her own body, hugging herself. She was still crying but was trying to hide it from him by using her hair as a curtain.
He felt her pain, her loneliness and her need for comfort. Moving closer to her, he opened his arms. He wanted her to make the decision to take his offered comfort, rather than force her to take it. To his amazement, she climbed into his lap and nuzzled his neck. He returned the favour by nuzzling her neck before rubbing soothing circles on her back. It had been too long since he had any physical contact with her of their animal nature. He had craved it like a drug-addict craved drugs. This had only occurred to him when she had withdrawn the touch that he had taken for granted.
They stayed sat like that for a while, well past the time that would categorise the moment as comforting a pack member.
Once her initial fear and panic subsided, Zeva became aware of their intimate position. In her emotional state, she had failed to grasp what she was doing but now she became conscious of how little they both had on in terms of clothes and how she was sitting in his lap where she could feel his boy-bits digging into the back of her thighs. She swallowed hard, trying to rid her mind of the thoughts she didn't fully understand yet. Why did she feel so hot and needy?
Cade caught a whiff of sex pheromones coming off her as her fear subsided. He had a feeling that she didn't understand anything about sex and that the only reason she was producing the pheromones was because she had only just realised their intimate position and her body was reacting instinctively. The change in her triggered a response in his body. He felt himself go hard. It was time to get her off his lap. He couldn't possibly let her feel his erection. He had no intention of taking advantage of her.
He moved her out of his lap and then got up to leave. 'Go back to sleep. Nothing's going to hurt you. We're all here.' He reassured her gruffly.
Zeva felt the loss of warmth as she saw her safety blanket leave. Her pride didn't want her to stop him but her heart did. In the end, her pride won out the battle. She let him go. Forcing herself to stay awake was a hard task. She counted the stars she could see through the window. She tried to talk out loud. She tried to mentally go through the list of all the transgenics she didn't like. All were girls from their school. No matter what she tried to think of, her mind kept going back to the one transgenic who seemed to fill her thoughts all the time lately and who she didn't want to think about. And, that transgenic was her pack member and the world's biggest flirt, as far as she was concerned, Cade.
Three a.m. in the morning, Cade woke up with a start. Something was not right. He was sure of it. His instincts woke him up and they had never been wrong before. Operating on instincts, he looked over at Ryan who was out for the count, sleeping in a sleeping bag on a mattress on the floor. If it wasn't Ryan then it must've been the girls. Thinking this, he checked in the twins' room. However, all the girls were in a peaceful slumber. Feeling antsy and confused, he finally went to check on Zeva.
She was sat hunched in the middle of her bed, with her arms wrapped around her legs. What the fuck was she doing sat like that and not sleeping? Hell, this female was some piece of work. He switched the light on and walked further into her room expecting to smell tears or fear but he didn't smell either. This confused Cade even more.
She gave him a quick look before going back to hiding her face in her knees. He slowly made his way to the corner of the bed which was closer to her and sat down. Sighing, he asked. 'Zeva, what's up? Why aren't you sleeping?'
Zeva felt her heart-rate quicken when she heard Cade so close to her. Not knowing how to answer him, she stayed motionless. She basked in the warmth of his presence. It was enough for her. She didn't need anything else.
Moments passed and Zeva hadn't answered Cade's question. Increasingly, he became uneasy. His adrenaline was still pumping in him and his instinct to protect was still overwhelming. Getting sick of her stupid games, he growled angrily before moving onto the bed, closer to her silent and still form. He leant forward and caressed the back of her neck, hoping that she'd respond like she had done the first time his fingers had brushed her neck, back at the underwear shop.
Zeva felt him move closer to her body and touch her. Her eyes shut on their own accord. Some deep feelings within her awakened at the contact, making her moan in pleasure.
Cade smiled victoriously to himself when he heard her moan. He felt his own body responding to the contact after a moment and inwardly cursed. Trying to get his mind off of his sexual fantasies, he tried to focus on the problem. He wanted to hurry up and get out of there so he asked again. 'Zeva, will you just fucking tell me what's wrong so I can sort out your damn problem. I am tired. I wanna go to bed.'
Zeva shuddered at his harsh tone. Why was he always so mean to her? She felt her eyes sting. Damn it, she wasn't going to cry in front of him, especially after what he just said.
Cade saw the tears glinting in her eyes when she looked up at him with a shocked face. He replayed what he had said to her and mentally kicked himself, realizing he had acted like a nasty son of a bitch to her. 'I…I'm…erm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. It's just I'm tired.' He shrugged. She was still looking at him with hurt big blue eyes. 'Why aren't you sleeping?' He asked, this time softly.
Zeva let out a shuddering deep breath and then sighed. She quickly grabbed her pen and notepad from the side table and wrote down her answer. She ripped the paper and gave it to Cade to read. She saw the different emotions pass over his face.
Cade was glad at least she was talking to him and wasn't pretending he didn't exist anymore. 'So, what you're saying is you can't sleep because you feel a different emotion or feeling you don't understand.' Cade raised an eyebrow, questioningly. She nodded. 'You can't stop thinking about this feeling. You feel restless and scared.' She nodded again. 'What can I do to make this feeling go away?' He finally asked. She shrugged. She looked so innocent when she moved over in her bed and lay down. She motioned for him to sleep beside her. 'You want me to sleep here?' She nodded. He noticed she was embarrassed and blushing.
Zeva didn't want to ask him to stay but she had no choice. Either that or no sleep. Tonight, she had found out that her instincts wanted him near her when she slept. She didn't feel right otherwise. She needed his scent to surround her. Initially, she had panicked. How was she supposed to get him to sleep with her everyday? She couldn't. Then, she had resolved to try to sleep without his scent. Unsuccessful in her attempts, she had sat on her bed waiting for the morning to dawn. But, now that he was here. Would it be so bad to ask for his help when he was the only one who could actually help? He was her pack. It was his duty to look after her.
Cade saw the hopeful look in her eyes and decided to put her out of her misery. He switched the light off and got in bed beside her. He could see everything despite the dark. She moved in the middle of the bed and faced the other way so that her back was to him. Her whole body was tense and she looked uncomfortable. For minutes, he debated whether he should move closer to her or not. He let his instincts win out in the end. He moved closer to her and wrapped her in his arms, snuggling. She immediately relaxed.
The next day Cade was in a bad mood. He felt angry as hell. What had annoyed him was that in the morning he woke up to an empty bed. And, if that wasn't enough, Zeva was back to pretending he didn't exist.
'Where were you? You weren't in bed when I woke up.' Ryan asked Cade, feigning ignorance. He knew full well where his best friend had been sleeping. He saw Cade's angry expression and heard him huff.
'Zeva wanted me to sleep with her so I just stayed there.' Cade said through gritted teeth and shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. He shifted the weight of the dumb bell to his other arm and started another round of tricep curls.
It was late afternoon, the boys and the girls were all on the same level of the building. Ryan and Cade were working out in the gym and the girls were playing in the swimming pool. The girls had wanted to go out but the boys had stopped them with the excuse that the weather was awful. It hadn't been such a hard feat. After all, the weather was bad. There was rain, thunder and lightning. A disadvantage to living near the ocean was the constant storms that threatened Deania in the wet season. Usually that didn't stop the boys from doing whatever they wanted to do but they were aware it was Zeva's first time experiencing such weather in their nation. For all they knew, there probably weren't any storms where she came from. She had genuinely looked scared at the prospect of going out.
Ryan stopped jogging on the treadmill and stood still. 'You slept with her?' He tried to sound shocked. 'Dude, what the fuck? You can't just treat her like you do other girls. You can't leave her after fucking her. She's still your pack.' He pointed out, wide eyed.
'Shut up bitch. Who the fuck said I did that with her? That's never gonna happen. I just helped her out. She was scared, man. She wanted to feel safe so she could sleep.' Cade couldn't bring himself to use the term fuck in relation to her. It was such a crude term. Anything that included her would be beautiful not something so meaningless. He dropped his dumb bell and moved onto the treadmill beside Ryan's. 'That's never gonna happen.' He said again, trying hard to mask his disappointed tone.
Yeah right. Ryan believed Cade as much as he believed he was going to become the first transgenic UN president which was unbelievable. Ryan rolled his eyes at Cade's insistent declaration. 'Whatever jerk. I just wanted to ask if she's on your girls you'd like to fuck list.' He smirked, thinking of how many were on his own list.
'Can you stop saying that?' Cade said agitated.
'What?' Ryan was confused. Setting the treadmill to the same speed as Cade, he started jogging again.
'The word fuck. Can't you use something better?' Cade squirmed under his friends disbelieving stare. He felt himself go red.
'You're the one who taught me the word. Anyway, why do you want me to use something better?' Ryan scoffed.
'You were talking about Zeva.' Cade managed out in a meek voice.
'So? What do you want me to say? Have sex with, bang, ride...or maybe...make love to?' When he said the last one, Ryan saw Cade's eyes widen.
'No. I didn't say that…I…' Cade blanched and shook his head vigorously in denial. No way was he gonna call it making love. He didn't love her. What he felt for her was lust not love. No, not even lust. He just felt different, and confused, and like an addict, and infuriated, and a jumbled mess of emotions.
Ryan saw Cade's expression and burst out laughing. Seriously, Cade was whipped and he didn't even seem to know it. Ryan affectionately smacked his self-proclaimed brother on the arm and winked at him.
That night, Cade couldn't sleep. He felt restless. His instincts were telling him to go and check on Zeva. She had been reluctant to go to bed. Kyla had told him and Ryan that Zeva was scared of storms. He was worried about her. Knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep until he checked if she was sleeping okay, he left his bedroom and went to hers.
Cade found Zeva sitting on her bed trembling as she looked out of her window. She looked at him and glared before going back to looking outside. He moved closer to her bed and sat down. Looking for any signs of her desire for his absence, he relaxed when she didn't acknowledge his closeness. She was looking the other way. She didn't even seem to care, he was there.
Lightning struck, which made Zeva gasp and move closer to him. She had been facing the opposite way. She turned around and came face-to-face with him. Their lips were mere inches apart. Their eyes met, he looked at her and then moved closer and kissed her. The kiss was magical. She felt herself melt against him. Moaning in pleasure, she wrapped her arms around his neck and willingly let him pull her closer to his hard body. He kissed her passionately, moving from her lips to her neck. Sucking on the corner where her neck met her shoulder, he moved his hand under her small night-dress. He caressed her stomach and thighs. She moaned and arched her back, wanting him to touch her more but he quickly withdrew his hand, cursing.
Cade gently pushed her so she lay down on her bed. He got in beside her and pulled her underneath him. 'I've missed you so much. I've wanted to touch you and exchange scents for so long. But you pretend I don't even exist. Why are you mad at me?' Cade asked her looking down at her. He leaned down and kissed her again. Breaking the kiss, he whispered brokenly. 'Please, don't be mad at me. If you're mad cause of the kissing then I really don't know what's happening to me. I've never lost control around a girl before. You make me feel different. I…I'm confused.'
Zeva felt Cade's vulnerability. She saw his emotional walls come down to let her in. He looked away and fell back on her bed beside her. She heard his shuddered sigh and decided she was done punishing him. She turned on her side so her back was to him and moved back flush against his body. She reached for his arm and guided it around her waist. She felt the tension in his body leave him when he realised what she was doing.
Cade felt her trying to drag his body around hers and recognized the act for what it really meant. She had forgiven him and was trying to tell him that she didn't mind being held by him. Wasting no time, he turned on his side and spooned his body with hers. He kissed her on her head and smiled. 'Good night. Sweet dreams.' In response, she aligned her arm next to his around her waist and linked her fingers with his.
That night, they both fell into a deep sleep with a smile on their face and with the secret personal resolve to not acknowledge what had happened between them this stormy night.
A/N; i only got 2 reviews *pouts*...seriously, was last chapter that bad?...well, i will be bringing in Dean and Sam in the story from nxt chapter and if you guys wanna read it soon then you better press the review button, don't ya?