The howls came louder and louder, but they waited and sure enough, soon they faded out. The forest was silent again.
Hatori released her and she turned to look at him. "I could have killed you," she whispered. "The beast wanted out real bad."
He gave her a lop-sided grin and shrugged. "A risk I was willing to take." He pulled her into his arms and rested his head against her shoulder. "A risk worth taking."
She mumbled something incoherent against the sleeve of his shirt, and suddenly found herself wishing she could take it off him. Her arms tightened around him and she sighed, knowing she must take it slow with him.
He looked down at her and she met his burning gaze. It was shocking to see such fire in his eyes, when he usually looked so out of it. The constant frown was beginning to form into a smirk and the tired lines around his eyes were fading.
"What the hell are we doing?" she asked softly.
"Who knows," he answered back, lowering his head to press his lips against hers. It was soft and sweet, their lips barely touching. They stood in a moonlit embrace that was more cliché than anything else and both realized at the same time how cheesy their situation was.
She chuckled against his ear. "Do you want to take this somewhere else or should we call it quits for the night?"
But he didn't want to stop, not after the floodgates of lust and emotion had been broken. There was no stopping.
He swept her into his arms and dragged her off outside and around the house. She knew immediately where they were going.
"You did say the hot springs would be good for me," she smiled and he grinned in return. He set her down near the edge and pulled his shirt off.
Tarja nearly had to stop herself from drooling. That man was an Adonis. Every muscle in his body was sculpted to pure perfection, and his skin was smooth and pale. A light blush tinted his cheeks.
"Your turn," his deep voice sent sparks racing through her nervous system. She slipped out of the blue dress and untied the straps on her sandals. His eyes danced over her frame as she shimmied out of the dainty black underwear.
They stood in a silent face off. Tarja's eyes traveled over Hatori's lower half, not at all disappointed by what she found there. Figures he'd be perfect everywhere, she chuckled inwardly.
Hatori let his eyes scan every curve of Tarja's body as he watched her slip into the steaming water of the spring. He slowly joined her, not only to hide the embarrassment of being aroused so quickly.
Her arms wound around his neck and she pulled him closer to her. Their lips met again, in a more passionate dueling of tongues. Tarja ran her hand through his hair, pulling it away from his eyes, especially the one that didn't work very well.
He vaguely remembered that it was something she didn't know about him. But all thoughts left his mind as she pressed her body against his. It was an amazing sensation, to be so close and not transforming.
They made love slowly, hot breath against each other's necks. Tarja felt the wolf in her command her to bite Hatori, but she held back. That was a mating thing, only done between two werewolves.
They settled into the water afterward, completely wrapped up in each other's limbs. Hatori closed his eyes and let the warm feeling in his chest overtake him. He could deny it no longer. He loved her.
Akito moved restlessly in his bed. Images of wolves had been haunting his nightmares lately and he'd sworn he even saw one outside one night. Shigure had of course, suggest he'd been having a nightmare. After all, there were no wolves this close to civilization.
Shigure had been driving him crazy for the past few days, constantly hovering to see if he was all right. At least Hatori knew how to give him space. Akito moved to the window, where he stared out at the full moon.
Speaking of which, where the hell was Hatori? There was no way he'd been sick this long. Something else was going on and he knew. First thing in the morning, he would Shigure drive him up to the summer home.
Tarja looked up at the full moon and settled back against Hatori. They sat lazily on the veranda, both staring silently out at the night. Since it was the highest tide of the moon phases, Tarja felt the pull of it the strongest. The wolf was very restless.
She dropped out of all her wolf senses. There were different phases she could exist in. When she was fully human, all her extraordinary senses would disappear, as would the urge to change. But she stayed in the lowest level on most occasions. It allowed her to seek out others, using her sense of smell and vision.
A poof sounded behind her. She turned around and looked down at the pile of clothes at her feet. "Now what the hell?" she scratched her head. "Oh yeah! I guess that whole transforming thing still works when I'm full human. Sorry Hatori."
The little seahorse inside the white shirt squirmed. She picked him up. Grinning, she carried him off to the hot springs and tossed him in. Then she returned to the veranda to get his clothes.
When she returned, a very pissed Hatori was sitting in the spring, stark naked. "How did that happen exactly?" he asked. She shrugged.
"I guess when I'm fully human, you'll still transform," she speculated. "Normally I keep some of my wolf sense present, and that's what prevents the change." She gazed up into the sky. "Who ever thought there would be a day I'd thank the beast?"
She looked down at him and handed him his clothes. He pulled himself out of the water and started to get dressed. It was naturally the perfect time for Momiji to wonder where the hell they'd all disappeared off to.
"Hey, what are…" he stopped short upon seeing Hatori half naked, and Tarja drooling over his perfect abs.
They turned to look at the boy. "Nothing!" they answered in unison.