(Soundtrack : "Why Can't I Wake Up With You?" – Take That)
"Aurah, what the cuss are you doing?" Ben asked the chubby half-vampire girl who was climbing the gigantic tree beside the hotel building.
"What do I look like I'm doing?" Aurah bawled out him. "I'm trying to sneak into the hotel. Do you think the receptionist wouldn't notice my bloody outfit?" Do you want to be kicked off by the hotel management?"
"Oh, come on! This is not Residence Inn or Hilton. They wouldn't care."
"Benjamin, I know you're used to getting kicked off, but I don't leave things to chance."
She reached the top of the tree at one go. It was late and dark. No one was around. She sat on the highest branch, leaning against the stem. It was obvious that her wounds were hurting.
"Go to the fourth floor and open the window for me. I'll come inside."
Ben rushed into the building. The hall was empty. He ran so fast that the receptionist became perplexed. He didn't even wait for the elevator. Jumping over the steps in tens, he reached to the fourth floor just in seconds. He opened the window and Aurah flew inside.
He kept her from collapsing as they walked along the corridor.
"Your mother is going to kill me," Ben said, anxious enough to drop the keys once as he pushed the door open. Then he turned back to help Aurah get in.
"Don't worry," Aurah said, leaning on Ben's shoulder. "She hasn't killed anyone before." Then she gave a mischievous smile. "But… there is a first time for everything."
Shaking his head, Ben locked the door as he watched Aurah make her way past the bathroom.
"Can I take a look at your wounds?" He called out.
He didn't wait for her to respond. After all, this was the only reason why she'd agreed to come into his hotel room. He directly walked in without knocking the door. Aurah'd already found the emergency kit inside the bathroom cabinet. Ben closed the white toilet lid and patted it with his hand.
"Why don't you sit down?"
Aurah mildly sat down. She looked a little different to Ben's eyes. Usually, Aurah's stare was sort of devilish. But now she was looking more innocent than ever. She watched with large kitty eyes while Ben popped open the white box, methodically laying out bottles, tubes, tape and gauze. She studied his beautiful, slim hands, staring when they moved to pour alcohol on a diminutive white square of cotton.
Then she moved her eyes on her shoulder to assess her own injury.
"This is going to hurt, I suppose." She grimaced.
"Just a little bit," Ben muttered before he dabbed at the bite mark. Aurah felt the slight sting. She knew that if she'd been normal it would have burned like hell. Still she hissed like a cat. Ben's lips were curled when she hardly stopped herself from cursing.
Aurah wasn't feeling quite well because she'd lost some blood on the way. Her eyes were peeled on Ben's neck. She felt a strong urge to sink her teeth into the nape of his neck. She had to do something to ease the tension before Ben might understand what she was thinking. Sliding her eyes from his neck to his face, she bit her lip.
"Ben, may I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Did you really eat a vampire?" Her smile yanked the corners of her mouth as she asked.
Ben frowned. "Let's not talk about that, Aurah."
"Why? I wanna know." Innocent kitty eyes again.
Ben heaved a sigh. "Not on purpose. Let's call it an unfortunate event."
Aurah bowed her head to a side. "How did it taste like?"
"Aurah, please…"
"Okay. Okay. Excuse me!" She made a face.
Ben sterilized the wounds on her neck and on her shoulder before he wiped away the dried blood. He was experienced with this, Aurah realized with sudden clarity. Maybe werewolves were supposed to learn such things. Aurah knew that her father, Dr. Samuel Cornick, was taking care of more serious wounds in Columbia pack -even if he's not one of the pack. Warren told her that Samuel fixed Ben's hands, peeling off the dead flesh, after Ben had jumped into the fire with Adam to save Mercy. So, who was patching up Ben's wounds when he was in London? Megan? A curl of jealousy sprang up to claw at Aurah's belly and she tried to shake it. There was no place for jealousy here.
"Okay. It's done. I think you're gonna be all right," Ben said as his lips lifted into another half smile.
Aurah's devilish stare returned to her face. She smiled.
"When I was a little kid, each time I fell from the bicycle, my mom used to kiss my wound to make it better." Her voice came out as sweet as taffy toffee.
Ben, being stultified by her comment, raised his eyebrows. Aurah waited for him to give a sarcastic response, or to make a snarky comment in return. Anything but stand still and look into her eyes, almost passionately.
Ben could feel the air vibrating as well as Aurah could. He was trying to figure out whether it was the adrenaline from the nasty fight tonight or the waves of Aurah's arousing scent of flowers. He desperately tried to deny the fact that his wolf was in an urgent need of the girl in front of him.
After he recovered from the shock, he asked; "Did it use to help?"
Even before she answered, Ben knew that He had to run away. If he kept on standing this close to her, things would get out of control.
Aurah slowly opened her cherry lips to respond. "Everytime."
It was too late…
Mine! Ben's wolf yelled inside. The voice echoed in Ben's ears as his hazel eyes filled with a sharp look of passion and desire. He knew there was no going back.
Aurah watched as he heeled on the marble. His head was on the same level as Aurah's shoulder. He leaned forward helplessly as his mouth came closer and his arm pressed against her. He hesitated for a second. Then his lips brushed the wound on her shoulder.
When he lifted up his head again, he looked into Aurah's eyes and asked shyly:
"Did it work?"
The paleness on Aurah's face was gone. Her cheeks were becoming pink again. She said nothing, just smiled innocently.
"Okay. Let's get you to the bed." Ben sighed.
Aurah's innocent smile turned into mischievous. "Get me to the bed? What do you mean by that?"
Ben's eyebrows flew up. "I mean you need some rest. You should sleep or just lie down."
"Hmm, okay. Can you lift me up, please?"
Ben put his hand upon his forehead, giving a tense smile.
Aurah extended her arms to him. "Please!"
"You're not twelve anymore."
"So what?"
"You're not thin, either. Tonight I really had hard time carrying you around until I found a taxi."
"I'm 5'7 and 140 pounds. They call it average, baby." Aurah said smugly. "Besides, you're a WEREWOLF. You can even carry a piano all by yourself."
"Thanks for the reminder." Ben had to surrender. He took her into his arms and lifted her up. He gently laid her down to bed. Just when he was about to turn around, Aurah leaned forward and caught his hand. Déjà vu.
"Lie down with me until I fall asleep."
"Aurah, please give me a break. Okay? My life changed since I met you, you know? I have to find back myself a little... And last time, you got involved, I didn't enjoy one bit seeing you explode against a wall!"
"No one said it would be easy to fight against a crazy vampire." Aurah shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly.
Ben, with a desperate look on his face, lay down beside her.
After a minute passed in silence, Aurah began to caress Ben's hand. "Your hands are beautiful. Too natty to be werewolf hands. "She hesitated for one second before she whispered; "Ben… in your hands… I'd like to make love to you."
Feeling nervous like a child, Ben retracted his hands. This made Aurah upset.
"You wouldn't have said no if that were Megan, would you?"
Trying to hide his face which was blushed, Ben murmured; "Aurah, you're virgin."
"Is this your excuse?" She curled her lip. "So, tell me, Ben, how many girlfriends have you had? How many times did you make love? Or sex?"
"I don't wanna talk to you about this." Ben covered his ears.
"Just give me a number. One, ten or a hundred?"
No response.
"What? You've had too many and you fear that it may shock me? I won't get shocked, baby. Let me tell you some things. A classmate of mine in tenth grade was a dick. He fucked all the bitches around Brooklyn. Even at school in Manhattan, whenever an empty class' door was closed, you could be sure he was making sex behind it! And this girl in my music class… She's the reason for the word 'bitch'. If you didn't get lap dance by her, you're the school's exception!"
Ben sucked in a hard breath, trying to recover. "Say no more!"
"Well, you haven't answered my question, yet. And if you don't, I'll keep on talking!"
Ben paused for a long.
"You're not able to answer because you have no answer to give!" Aurah kept pressing him. "Don't you think I've figured out? You've never had a woman! You've never made love!"
"This is not exactly true-"Ben wanted to object but Aurah interrupted his word.
"Yes, it is. I don't include the times when you were used by some sexopath, as a child," she mildly said. "You're as virgin as I am!"
Tears slid down along Ben's cheeks. He turned his back to Aurah before she saw him cry, knowing that even if she didn't see it, she would feel it anyway. Aurah approached him, but he rejected her.
"You see? I would never be a good lover..."
"All I see is you don't love me." Aurah drew herself away from him with a sulky face.
Suddenly, something changed in Ben. He quickly wiped his tears away and turned his direction back to Aurah, extending his arms and pulling her close at himself.
"Now get this into your smug head. I love you more than anything in the whole fucking world!" he sincerely said as he directly stared at her with his bleary eyes.
Aurah, feeling relieved by his confession, lowered her eyelids. "It's not enough."
"What else do you want to hear from me?" Ben asked, looking puzzled.
"Tell me you desire me and I'll be the happiest woman in the whole fucking world."
"Yeah, I know." Ben's smile yanked the corners of his lips. "But you're not yet a woman for the moment. So, we both need to be patient. You must grow up a little more."
"I don't know if I can keep on growing up, but I know that I'm not gonna get any older. Eighteen is just fine."
"Eighteen is fine." Ben approved.
"How old are you anyway?"
"How old do I look?"
"Hmm… Twenty one or twenty two, approximately."
"Not even close," Ben said yawningly.
"I mean, twenty one as in dog age." Aurah tittered.
Ben leaned forward and kissed her face all over.
"You're the wittiest, sweetest and the cleverest bitch I've ever met. That's why I love you. I love you madly!"
Aurah's eye caught the sight of the wall-clock.
She was startled, saying "Shit!" under her teeth.
"What happened?" Ben became panicky, too.
"I forgot to call my mother. She must be going of her nuts by now." She jumped out of the bed. "I don't have a cell phone. May I use yours?"
"Of course." Ben slid his hand into his pocket and extended his phone to Aurah.
She dialed the number, holding her breath.
"Are we screwed?" Ben asked, looking at her with as much apprehension as happiness.
"Big time." Aurah nodded, smiling.
Ben took a step forward and held her tight in his arm while Angelina picked up the phone, yelling…