Sorry for the long-ass delay, folks. I have one instructor for three classes, and I swear, it's her life goal to draw/quarter me with homework. *kowtow* Please accept this chapter with my apologies.
Also, I know Eddie is vegetarian in the show. He may not be yet in my story, but I can write it in. *does so* And, if anyone wants to give me the correct spelling on 'wessen' or whatever the heck the pronunciation is, I would shower them with internet cookies.
Eddie interrupted the Bach concerto by signalling and slowing. "Getting close." The sign straddling the dirt and gravel road he turned onto said 'Oregon State Park' in rough-hewn wood.
"Is that so?" Celina asked, sounding odd.
It was only then Eddie realized how uncomfortable Celina smelled. Her anxiety coated her like a cloud, and her hands where wrapping and unwrapping in the strap of her backpack purse nervously. Only five minutes of riding in a car with her eyes covered made her like this?
"Are you okay, Celina?" asked the blutbad, mentally facepalming himself. He should have asked if she was comfortable with the blindfold, not assumed. In the face of his excitement and pride over his own creativity, he'd messed up. But she'd joked and hidden it so well! "You can take the blindfold off, if you want."
"I'm alright," she said, somewhat forced but sincere nonetheless. "I can take it."
"Are you sure?" he pressed dubiously.
"Yeah, sweetie, I'll be fine."
He smiled goofily at the way the sentiment rolled off her tongue, and decided to take her at her word. She was a grown woman: she knew her limits. "You don't like having your sight hidden?"
"It's a cat thing," she said apologetically. "And a me thing." She 'looked' his way, fingering her seatbelt. "Not that I don't trust you, it's just...kitty is pacing my skull like a caged tiger. She'll cool off when I do."
"I get it. I didn't even think about that," Eddie said.
"Like you didn't think I would look like an office-Rambo-slash-kidnap-victim?"
"Yeah, like that," he chuckled. Whipping into a parking lot at the head of a trail crowned by a picnic shelter, he twisted the key into his palm and undid both their seatbelts. He reached over, slid a finger under the band at her temple, and lifted it from her face. "We're here."
Celina's pupils were catlike with their inherent discomfort, and she fixed them on him first, not her surroundings. With the rest of her face exposed, Eddie noticed how sharp her cheek bones were when the bottechat was rising, how pointy her chin became and how her whiskers bristled when she opened her mouth to exhale with relief.
Seeing the nature of her creature enthralled his human side, making his heart stutter in his chest. The wolf raised up its head as though looking over Eddie's shoulder with fierce eyes, scenting, sensing. Eddie felt his eyes glow red for a moment and his jaw prickle with sprouting fur. Animal recognizing animal, the same as the restaurant parking lot two days ago. Why does her cat bring out my wolf? he asked himself as he watched her blink away the beast. We're both more prone to lapses around each other.
"Don't be afraid around me," he told her insistently, the wolf tinting his voice with gravel. "I would never hurt you, or let you be hurt."
Celina took his hand and nuzzled it happily. "Okay," she whispered. She believed him. She could see it in his eyes, under the crimson there, that both his beast and his human wanted to protect her.
What scared her secretly, deep down, was that the protective instinct pf wolves was usually extended to mates. She and Eddie were getting deeper involved, whether their human sides realized it or not. Celina tucked that bit away for a time when she could examine it without as much trepidation.
Eddie smiled, and she returned it glowingly. He gestured for her to stay, got out of the car, and walked around to open her door. This made her blush, but she accepted his hand gracefully and accompanied him to the trunk. "Where are we?" she asked, curiosity written on her face as she took in the tall trees and trail head.
"The state park," Eddie replied casually, enjoying prolonging her torment.
"And what are we up to today?" Bouncing on her booted heels, she radiated energy like a coiled spring.
"Curiosity killed the cat," Eddie said. He gloried for a moment in having found someone as interested in the outdoors as him. "You know, most women would worry about snakes or bugs or getting sweaty or something."
She cocked a brow at him unabashedly. "I'm not most women. Now quit dodging! What are we gonna do?"
He laughed at her. "You were crazy as a kid at Christmas, weren't you?"
"Mom and Dad had to hide the presents, or they tended to unwrap themselves. Wait a minute...Gah! Seriously? Tell me!"
"Let's see if you can figure it out when you see the equipment."
The trunk sprang open, and she rifled through the bag within it eagerly. "A GPS," she mused. "A notebook with some numbers in it...a picnic basket, I can guess, but two pens and some bottle caps?"
"Any ideas?" he teased.
She pinned him with an exasperated expression, loving the way his brown eyes sparked with humor. "Now who's the evil one?"
Eddie laughed. "We're going on a picnic and a geocache hunt."
Celina's face broke into a broad grin. "I've always wanted to try that!"
"Me too," he said, hefting bag and basket. "But first, lunch. Can't subsist on granola bars alone."
"True that." They took a table under the empty shelter and worked together to set up the meal. "Are the caches big enough to see easily?" asked Celina, pouring out lemonade from a thermos.
"Two of them are macros," replied Eddie, slicing ciabatta bread. "One is a micro, a 35mm film case according to reviews."
"You've done your research," she said approvingly. "And you made a vegetarian picnic, how sweet. Aren't you going to eat some protein, wolf man?"
"I've been thinking long and hard," said Eddie, pulling out container of grapes. "What you said the other night on the phone about cutting out meat made sense. Granted, it won't be easy, but I think the good will outweigh the nasty."
"Are you trying to suck up to me?" she asked with narrowed eyes and a smile. "Adopt the lady's habits to get on her good side?"
"Who, me?" he queried innocently with a devilish smirk. "Never. But it makes sense for me the reformed blutbad as much as it does the human boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Celina cried indignantly, hands on her hips.
Crap! That had completely slipped out. Eddie wished he could stuff the words back into his mouth, but there they were, buzzing like a swarm of wasps intent on stinging him to death.
"Your face is priceless," she said sneakily, grin growing to life. "Hilarious, actually."
Eddie's mouth dropped open. "You little - !" He dashed around the table, but she squealed and dodged him.
"I didn't mean it!" she laughed, putting another table between them.
Eddie was fast, if he tried. Celina was slightly faster, being smaller. Every time he committed to going a certain way, she would be gone by the time he reached for her.
"So close!" she goaded, shaking her hips slightly at him.
"You're sooo gonna get it now!" he responded, baring his teeth at her.
She shrieked with delight and scampered, but was soon caught in a corner of the shelter cordoned with bulletin boards. There was only a table between them, and Eddie approached with a wolfish smile.
"Heeeer kitty, kitty, kitty..." he cooed darkly, fixing her with his best scary-eyes.
Celina rubbed her arms, still backing away as he came around the table. "Ooh, you're giving me shivers! Quit!"
"Not until I get my compensation for emotional turmoil."
"What might that be?" she asked with a teasing toss of her hair.
He did not answer, only stalked closer. Closer. Closer.
Celina determined not to run away, partially because she was out of breath, and partially because she knew she did not have to. She stared him in the eyes, which were still that deep intoxicating brown, and watched him as he came right up to her.
Eddie was surprised: one, that he still hadn't wolfed out, and two, that she'd called his bluff.
The wolf wasn't howling for blood. In fact, it had some fairly harmless suggestions. What the heck, Eddie thought.
Touch her, the wolf said. Eddie slowly drew his thumb to bear on her cheekbone, resting his fingers in her hair.
Celina's eyes fixed on his unswervingly. They fluttered slightly when his thumb ran over her lips.
"Brave little thing," he marveled quietly, more to himself than her.
Something snapped in her eyes. She bucked his hand with a twitch of her chin, stepped into the circle of his arms, and yanked his head down to crash their lips together.
Whoa, Eddie thought. Didn't see that coming. But dang, she's a good kisser.
Just as Eddie was finding his balance, she pulled back from the near-attack of his mouth and dimpled one cheek. "Oh, sure, let's chase the cat around and see what happens," she said sarcastically. "What were you going to do if you caught me, hm?"
Eddie's brain was still trying to catch up. "Huh?"
She snickered. "Bright idea, wolfie. And now the squirrels are stealing lunch."
"Huh?" Eddie repeated.
Celina nodded over his shoulder, eyes crinkled with mirth.
Eddie whipped around to see a squirrel not ten feet away, gnawing insistently on the plastic container that held the mixed nuts. "Are you kidding me?" the blutbad exclaimed. "Shoo! Get off!"
The squirrel twitched to attention, eyed him for a moment, and sprang onto the wooden support beam and scrambled into the rafters.
"They sure are friendly out here," commented Celina.
"I should rant about the consequences of deforestation and human interference," said Eddie with disgust.
"But the squirrel will have stocked his pantry by the time you finish," reminded Celina. With a sway of her hips like she knew he was watching, she walked back to their table. "By the way," she said over her shoulder. "Boyfriend is a very appropriate term."
Eddie brightened almost comically, but tried to contain it with a sigh as he sidled up to sit across from her. "So much for an adventurous date."
"It's hardly over!" she said, sitting down and taking out the GPS. "So, where's our first coordinates?"
"If you read, I'll punch in the numbers."
"Deal."
They ate the cold but yummy food with their fingers and speculated about potential hiding spots for caches.
Internally, Eddie played whack-a-mole with his wolf, which was unhelpfully suggesting exactly what he would have done if he'd caught her.
I've seen squirrels do that, no lie. And Eddie was only being playful chasing Celina, not doing that whole 'when I catch you, I'm gonna hump you' thing he did with Angelina in 'Three Bad Wolves'. That will come much later. :P
Happy Midterms to all! *dodges rotten produce and boos*