A/N: Ahhhhhhhhh, sorry guys! Here is the correct chapter. So sorry for the mixup!

Wolfblood

Chapter 16

I'm not surprised at all to find Leah in my house when I climbed the stairs from the den the next morning. Her scent permeates from every corner of the house, so I just follow it into the living room to find her lounging on the chesterfield.

Noah comes up the stairs right behind me, takes one look at our guest, and goes up to his room after stealing my phone.

Leah looks a lot calmer than she had last night as she stares passively up at the ceiling with arms crossed behind her head. When she finally notices me and looks over, I offer a sheepish smile.

She blinks at me, eyes darting to the front door that had not been opened, before seeming to let go of that discrepancy and turning back to me. She sits up and scoots back to lean against the arm.

"So, you're a werewolf," she says, no inflection in her voice to give me any hints to how she feels about that fact. It actually makes me feel kind of nervous. I never considered that she might not be okay with it.

"Wolfblood actually," I clear my throat awkwardly. "Though, technically you are right. Werewolf myths did originate from my kind."

"And based on what you said last night, you know what I am?" She asks. I wonder if she slept at all, or if she just spent all night thinking about our interactions, every single hint since we met.

"I spotted you my second full moon here," I agree, slowly lowering myself onto the chesterfield to sit directly across from her. I pull my feet up to cross under my butt. "A giant wolf with your scent. I understood more once I heard your people's stories."

Leah's face melts into a deeply weary expression as she lowers her face into her hands with a long sigh. "This is not the way I pictured this conversation going at all."

"Sorry," I give a short laugh that Leah doesn't appreciate at all judging by the look she shoots me. "Didn't mean to steal your thunder."

She gives another tired sound sigh, leaning back into the arm rest once more, before her face melts into something undeniably affectionate as she gazes at me.

The expression stirs a reciprocal feeling in my chest that I don't hesitate to act on as I crawl forward until I hover just over her. She doesn't hesitate to return my kiss.

When I reluctantly pull back, her eyes trail over my body, eyes taking in my rumpled clothes as she absently fingers the lapel of my dense jacket.

"These are the same clothes as yesterday," she comments, surprise presenting itself into her voice. "They didn't get destroyed when you shifted?"

"No, they 'shift' with me." I raise an eyebrow slightly at the query before something occurs to me. "Why, do your clothes get destroyed when you wolf out?"

Familiar twin colors pool in her cheeks. "Yes. I have to take all my clothes off before I shift. That's why I wear so little sometimes."

"And here I thought you just did that for my benefit," I tease, tracing a finger affectionately over one of her flushed cheeks.

"I love you," she breathes out suddenly, as if the words just got away from her, and my heart is suddenly pounding painfully against my ribcage like the first time she said this to me.

When I don't immediately reply, she ducks her head and nervously rambles a change of subject.

"So, uh, how'd you become a werewolf, or, I mean, a wolf blood you called it? Did you get bit?"

"No," I say after I manage to swallow around my dry tongue. "Wolfbloods are born. We are like a different species of human. Our genes themselves are half wolf DNA, half human. There is an entire culture."

I settle myself into a more comfortable position in her lap so that I don't have to keep awkwardly hovering above her.

"And, Leah," I catch her chin with my fingers and tug it up so that she's forced to meet my eyes. "I… I love you too."

Her entire face seems to morph into something more beautiful than I've ever seen. Pure joy transforms her entirely, making it hard to breathe just being in her presence. My stomach swoops before something is let loose in it like a live nest of wasps.

She tugs me by the front of my jacket into another kiss that only angers the wasp nest, but I can't help becoming quickly addicted to the feeling. It's… the most intense thing I've ever felt. Even being with my best friend didn't feel like this.

She didn't smell like this. I inhale deeply as Leah pulls away only to attach her lips to my neck instead and I positively keen as her teeth scrape against my skin. Her scent is suddenly a lot heavier in the air, but slightly different with a thicker quality that fogs my mind.

Feeling impatient, I twist my head to once again capture her lips as she tugs my jacket from my shoulders.

"I should probably tell you-" she tries to mumble in between kisses, but I quickly cut her off.

"Shut up," I growl, yanking her overshirt open. A shower of buttons scatter across the rug and between cushions.

"Your brother. Maybe we should-" she tries again, half-heartedly, and I impatiently yank her to her feet. She follows me without protest as I lead her up the stairs and into my room for privacy from curious brothers.

I half expect her to pull back or suggest slowing down again, but Leah is the one that reaches past me to lock the door before grabbing my waist and backing me up until I tumble backwards onto my bed.

I readily submit to her affections, getting lost in her touch and smell and taste as she uses her entire body to press me farther into the mattress.

….

"You never told me how old you actually are," I hum absently as I trace my fingers along Leah's collarbone, watching in fascination as little bumps of goose flesh spring up wherever I touch.

She shivers slightly at my exploration, but remains completely boneless as I trail my finger farther, down between her naked breasts and tracing along her abdominal muscles. They twitch slightly beneath my attention, and I mindlessly wet my lips.

Her scent still hangs heavy in the air.

"Physically, I'm nineteen, because shifters kind of stop aging once they shift for the first time. But I'm actually 28 this year."

"Wow," I chuckle, tilting my head back against her shoulder to meet her eyes. They are darker than normal, her hair wilder. "You really are a cradle robber. How dare you corrupt poor innocent me."

She scowls slightly, but her arms tighten around me, pulling me closer, so I know she's not too offended.

I laugh, pressing several long kisses into her exposed skin until she's sighing and cradling the back of my head.

I pull back slightly when something else occurs to me.

"So you don't age anymore?" I ask, worry creeping into voice enough to draw her full attention again.

She takes several moments to put together what she deems a suitable response. "When a shifter finds their true mate, they can chose to stop shifting. Once we stop shifting, our wolf genes become dormant and we start aging again."

I can't help drawing back in horror, and when I do, Leah sits up with me, quick, panic sparking in her eyes. I can't imagine having to make that choice. To give up my wolf is unthinkable. The wolf literally is me- it's part of my DNA- who I am; they aren't separate entities.

"You are my true mate," Leah rambles, seeming to misunderstand my horror. "See, shifters do this thing called imprinting, which has us recognize our true mate. I am going to give it up for you. I'll probably wait a few years for you to get older, but probably sometime after you graduate, I'll stop shifting."

"I don't want you to give it up," I interrupt, feeling offended by the suggestion that I would expect her to. Even feeling offended, I don't cringe away from the warm hands that reach out to cradle my face. "It's a part of you- I would never ask that of you."

Her expression softens, and she tugs me back down on the bed to settle us into our previous position.

"I don't think me being a shifter, and you being a wolfblood, is the same thing to each of us," she says slowly, stroking her fingers down my back.

Despite the serious topic, pleasure stirs in my abdomen and raises gooseflesh.

"See, for most of us," she explains, seeming indifferent to my body's reactions, "we didn't grow up knowing what we would one day be. We heard stories when we were young, sure, but it was never real before it was suddenly thrust on us, along with a lifetime of responsibilities of being a tribe protector. All of our dreams, our entire future, gets stolen the moment we shift. I'd gladly give it up to live a single lifetime with you."

I still can't imagine it, but her words soothe me more than I thought possible. It might also have something to do with her hand suddenly caressing my butt.

I thought she was ignorant to my reactions, but when I glance up, that assumption quickly changes. A wicked smirk, that has my pulse suddenly presenting itself between my legs, twists her lips. I gasp when her hand then dips lower to investigate.


A/N: Here you go, Leah's reaction. And I do believe we are getting closer toward the end.

~Silver