Wolfblood
Chapter 17
I'm jolted out of sleep by the sound of my door banging open and my girlfriend's shriek. Then the cold air is slapping at my naked body because Leah accidentally yanks the blankets off me as she tries to cover her breasts.
"Hey," my brother says from the doorway when I lazily turn over to face him, unashamed. I don't bother covering myself. "I haven't heard any noises for a while, so I figured you two were done."
"What's up?" I ask, as Leah realizes that she had exposed me in her haste, and quickly tries to readjust the blankets to lie overtop me.
"I'm going over to Claire's house. You mind if I stay the night?"
"If her aunt is okay with it," I shrug.
"Thanks, Sis. See you later. Bye Leah."
Leah groans lowly once the door closes, and I quickly turn over to face her.
"Why doesn't your brother knock? And didn't I lock that?"
"It's an old house," I shrug. "Besides, we weren't doing anything," I grin, tugging at the blanket to uncover her face. It's a bright red, and she glares up at me balefully behind dark lashes.
"We were still naked."
"So?" I ask, unconcerned.
She sighs. "You guys are so weird."
"Speaking of weird, now that you mention it," I venture, "why was Claire at the bonfire? From what I could tell, it was mostly your pack that was there, with a few others that seemed to be in the know. How does she fit into all this?"
"Well," Leah says slowly, "That's a bit complicated."
"How so?" I ask, sitting up to fully face her. I ignore her lingering gaze, in favor of actually listening. We won't ever leave the bed if we keep letting ourselves get distracted. Then again, that wouldn't be such a bad thing.
"Okay, so you remember how I was talking about an imprint?"
I do vaguely. I was a bit distracted by other events. "The true mate thing."
"Exactly. So, a shifter doesn't really control it. The bond doesn't happen only after they reach a certain age, it happens as soon as the shifter meets their imprint."
"So, Claire is a shifter's mate? Quil?" I guess, unable to help disgust from twisting my face and coloring my voice.
"It's… not like that," Leah says weakly, and a bit defensively as she moves to sit up as well. "See, since she was so young when they met, it's never been anything romantic. That probably won't change for another several years, if it does at all."
"What about what Claire wants?" I ask, offended on her account but trying to hide it and remain unbiased.
"The whole imprint thing is about what she wants or needs. A brother, a friend, a protector. One day if she wants Quil as a lover, the imprint will shift to encompass that as well."
When I first spotted the two on the beach, I had thought they were siblings. Every time I've been around them, I've never once gotten the impression of a perverted kind of love. Just deep affection for another being.
"So, if she my brother ended up developing feelings for one another…" I test.
"Then Quil will happily be the best man at their wedding."
"Fine," I relent, feeling satisfied with her answers. I reach out to take my girlfriends hand in mine and tug her close enough for me to plant a kiss against her lips without ever having to bend over. "But just so we are clear, I want you as my lover."
Leah laughs as she pulls back, amusement twisting her lips. "I kind of figured that out. Now come on," she stands up and, to my disgruntlement, starts searching for her clothes.
"Where are we going?" I whine. "How about we stay here? Your imprint wants you as a love slave now."
"Nice try," she snorts, tossing my shirt at me that lands perfectly on my head. "It doesn't work that way though."
"Drats," I sigh dramatically as I smoothly slip my arms through the shirt sleeves. Then I climb out of bed to start searching for some pants. "But, really, where are we going?"
"To meet up with my pack."
"You're going to tell them about me, aren't you?"
"I kind of don't have a choice," she shrugs apologetically. "When we are wolves, there is a pack link that basically means everything I think about, they see."
"So, you are saying that when you play them back the conversation of what I am, or any time you think of me, they are going to get a real show."
Leah cringes apologetically. "Sorry."
"You should charge them a fee for each peep." I tug on my beloved runners, smirking as she snorts.
"I really love you, you know that?" I look up to find her dark eyes boring into me with a visible reverence that has my chest feeling really warm.
"After this morning, I might have suspected." It was supposed to be a light, teasing, comment, but it comes out softer than I intended. And that's okay too.
A/N: I know this is a short chapter but this is all I'll have for a while. I probably won't update next week but hopefully I can start working on this and my other stories after the semester ends.
I'm thinking maybe one or two more chapters but whenever I try to guess, it ends up being a lot more so it could be one more chapter or ten, so we shall see I guess. Thanks for reading!
Please review.
~Silver
