Wolfblood

Chapter 9

I shove the taller girl harder than I intended, but she makes no noise of complaint as I follow after her. Her hold on the lapels of my sweatshirt is so tight, I couldn't have resisted her tug if I wanted to.

I don't. I am a willing victim.

As her back hits against the wall, my lips are on hers a moment later, using my body to press her more firmly against it.

My entire body blazes as her warmth transfers to me, settling low in my stomach as one of her hands slides up and tries to clutch at my short hair.

Leah makes a small grunt as I rake my tongue against hers.

After a moment, she rips her mouth away with a small gasp. "W-wait, we should-" She trembles as I bite her neck. "We should-" she makes another delicious noise when I sooth the spot with my tongue a moment before biting her again a little harder.

"Be my girlfriend?" I ask confidently, pulling her into me by the hips.

Suddenly, I find our positions getting flipped, and my back slams against the wall with more force than I was expecting from a human. Then my mouth is being assaulted and my knees actually tremble a little as one of hers slides between them.

"I can't think straight when you are kissing me like that," she growls in my ear. I willingly bare my neck submissively. This position is okay too.

"I would hope you're not thinking straight," I gasp as she nips my jaw.

Her low chuckle makes my heart feel like it's trying to escape my chest. But then disappointment floods me as she draws back a few inches.

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend," I have trouble focusing on her grin, but I manage it after a few seconds of trying to shake off the haze her kisses have done to me. "But I think we should slow down a bit."

"But I like kissing you," I whine, still clutching at her hips and trying to draw her closer. She willingly falls against me, but I only get a short kiss.

"I like kissing you, too. A lot. But we should get to know each other more. Come meet my friends. We're having a cookout on the beach Saturday."

"That sounds like fun," I smile slightly. "Will there be meat?"

Leah scoffs. "There's always meat. I'll even pick you up."

"What are you doing?" suddenly comes loudly from across the room.

Leah jumps away from me like I've suddenly caught fire, and I just grin unabashedly at my younger brother. He stands frozen at the bottom of the stairs, a disgusted look on his face.

"Come now, Cub, I know mother gave you this talk years ago," I tease as Leah turns her normal flushing colors.

"We were not doing that!" She exclaims, glaring at me as she grows a new interesting shade darker.

"Unfortunately," I sigh wistfully while laughing manically on the inside. It's so fun to tease the easily flustered girl. "Now scram, I was having a moment with my girlfriend."

He raises a silent eyebrow at the new title before pouting.

"But I'm hungry," he whines. I wince as I look over at the clock to see the late time. I cover it up with a huff as I push off the wall and turn toward the fridge.

"I suppose I can feed you. What are you feeling? Burgers?"

"Burgers are good," Noah exclaims, coming further into the room to lean on the counters. Leah shuffles awkwardly for a moment before taking a barstool at the counter. She smiles nervously as I brush a kiss on her lips when I pass her. Noah scowls when I press one to his forehead, but I'm unbothered when her wipes it away with his sleeve.

I'm in too much of a good mood.

…

"Fancy ride," I compliment as I climb into the Volkswagen. It's an older model of a car but looks shiny new and in good shape.

"Thanks. I borrowed it from a friend," Leah smiles over the wheel at me as she pulls out of the gravel drive.

"One of the friends I'm going to meet tonight?" I ask curiously.

"Yup. The people that I work with are pretty much family to me," she smiles at me. "It's a lot smaller than it used to be, but those who are left are as close as ever. You get to meet my brother tonight."

"Seth, right?" I recall happily.

"Yup. My dad died years ago, and my mom moved in with Chief Swan once we were old enough to take care of ourselves, so it's just us in the old house now."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I soften quite a bit.

"I don't mind," she shrugs. "She still visits all the time. It's actually kind of annoying. You'll probably meet her soon, too. When do you think I'll get to meet your parents? I've never seen them around."

I grimace, knowing that I have to lie now. I wish I didn't have to lie to her, but the relationship is still very new.

"I don't really see my dad much;" or ever anymore, "his work makes him travel a lot." Noah and I chose just to claim to have one parent here because making excuses for one person never being seen is a lot easier than two.

"Oh, what does he do?" We pull up to a familiar strip of beach.

"He's a pilot," I say quickly before jumping out of the car. My stomach squirms guiltily as Leah comes around the front and takes my hand with an apologetic smile.

Great. Now she'll think I have daddy issues. My dad was an amazing and very attentive father. Dying was his only big mistake.

We slowly come upon a small group of people, and I immediately recognize Quil and Claire within the group. I'm surprised to see the girl here, because she's the only child present. Everyone else seems to be in their early twenties or their final years of high school.

"Leah!" One of the boys call, leaping up excitedly from one of the fallen logs and rushing over. There are five logs in all, arranged in a misshapen pentagon, and a boy crouches in the center.

"Seth," my girlfriend grins, and I turn my full attention to the young man standing before me. This is her brother. The way she talked about him, I pictured him looking a lot younger even though she told me she was only three years older.

They look the same age.

"Seth, this is my girlfriend, Ryan."

I take the boy's hand and it's as warm as his sister's. When he smiles, his excitement and earnestness make him look years younger.

"It's really great to meet you. I have to say, when Leah said that you were a girl we were all super surprised."

So, I am the first girl she's dated. A smirk blooms across my face at this confirmation.

"I hope that's not a problem," I laugh, already knowing that it's not. His enthusiasm and my invitation tonight is telling enough.

"Of course not. You're one of us now. Come meet the others!"

Leah sighs as her brother practically drags us over to the circle.

"This is Embry, Quil, Claire, Conner, Brady, Jake, and Renesme," he lists off so quickly, I have a hard time keeping track of who is who.

"Most people call me Nessy," my eyes are drawn to the one other person who doesn't look to belong with this group. Her skin is very pale, and her hair isn't the traditional black, but a strange cooper color.

"It'll be nice having another girl around," she comments with a welcoming smile that I can't help returning. Her voice is shockingly beautiful, and I realize I recognize the girl. She's a senior in school.

"Cullen, right?" I recall some of the rumors I've heard. She's very popular at school.

As I inhale, her strange scent once again wafts over me. She's one of those humans that my instincts go all wonky around.

"You've heard of me." She sounds pleased, if a little amused.

"Everyone's heard of you," I laugh.

"I could say the same about you," she grins. "Getting into a fist fight with Bronson on your first day? You're legend."

I shrug sheepishly, but unrepentant all the same.

"Oh, I wish I could have seen that," the crouching boy, Embry, moans without glancing over his shoulder before suddenly giving an excited shout. "Finally!" he exclaims, leaping to his feet as a soft orange flame licks to life in the center of the circle, quickly getting bigger as bigger branches spontaneously catch.

I gasp at the fire, all of my attention and a millennia of instincts shoving all human thoughts away as I quickly back away from the living, breathing, heat.

"Ryan?" Leah questions concernedly, following as I trip backward over a log. My attention is entirely consumed by the growing crackling light, my heart pounding painfully in my ears.

"Ryan?" Leah asks again, more urgently, moving in front of me to block my view. "What's wrong?" I quickly close my eyes, taking deep breaths as I will my eyes to go back to normal and force back my transformation.

I can still smell the smoke of the fire, but I can also smell Leah, and her wild scent calms me more than I expected. When I'm sure that my eyes won't be yellow, and I can unclench my straining fists, I open them slowly.

My girlfriend is patiently stroking my cheeks with both hands, wearing an expression of complete worry. Everyone else is staring, and for the first time in a while, I find myself blushing in embarrassment.

"Sorry," I mumble. "Fire is… a phobia of mine. I wasn't really expecting it, I'm sorry."

"It's alright," she tells me, petting my short hair. "There's nothing for you to apologize for. Are you okay now?"

I dart my eyes over her shoulder toward the bonfire that had tripled in size and quickly look away again before I can get sucked back into the instinctual fear.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I smile nervously as her. "Really," I speak to everyone else over her shoulder.

Slowly, everyone wanders off to do their own thing, with their own conversations, and thoughtfully give me and Leah the illusion of privacy.

"Are you sure you are okay?" She asks again, hand moving from my hair to hold both of my hands. "We can leave. We can do this another time."

"I'm alright; I promise," I insist, squeezing her fingers a little bit and tilting my head up to kiss her shortly. "I was just surprised."

"If you're sure…" She sighs, letting it go for now.

Still, I steer clear far away from the fire, always staying on the very outer part of the circle even when burgers and hotdogs start to get passed around. Fortunately, no one says anything about my odd phobia.

A/N: So a little more about wolfbloods here. All of them have an instinctual fear of fire that normally makes them loose pretty much all human thought.

Please review!

~Silver