Cracking an eye open, Emma felt pain explode through her head. 'I feel like I drank a frat house under the table, before jumping off a cliff.' Her body ached, her vision swam, and her head felt like the entire percussion section of the high school's band was practicing in it.
With a groan, Emma rolled onto her back, realizing that she had fallen asleep on the couch in her apartment full clothed, shoes and all. She remembered walking through the front door, and the pain and fever hitting her again all at once. 'At least I made it to the couch.'
Luckily she had called David and asked him to get one of the part-time deputies to cover her shifts for that night, vaguely telling him that she was coming down with something. He didn't questions it, just said he would take care of things, and see her when she felt better.
Grabbing her cell phone, Emma saw that it was just after school hours, and she was due to meet Henry at Granny's for their usual cup of cocoa. Stopping in the bathroom to run a brush through her hair, and quickly brush her teeth, Emma rushed from the apartment, and headed to meet with her son.
Henry was already waiting for her, having ordered a cocoa for both of them, as he usually did when she was late, which was almost always. Emma was having trouble concentrating on Henry though, as everything seemed heightened to her today. She could smell the sweaty guys at the counter, and the cheap beer they were drinking. She could hear the utensils scraping on the dishes as people ate their meals. It was overwhelmingly distracting, not to mention painful. 'How does Ruby handle this every day?!'
When Henry was finished his cocoa, and had hugged Emma goodbye to head home to finish his homework, Emma moved over to the counter to catch either Ruby or Granny to talk about when they could begin her "Werewolf 101" lessons.
While she was waiting, Belle joined her at the bar, and they struck up a stilted conversation. Neither wanted to broach the subject of Ruby's behaviour the previous evening, and Emma wasn't sure if Belle had been informed yet of what had happened. Deciding to be brave Emma took a deep breath before broaching the subject. "So is Ruby still in the dog house for whatever you guys were fighting over last night?' Emma started, trying to make light of the situation.
"No, although that is something we are all going to be talking about tonight." Belle replied with a tentative smile. "I feel like I owe you an explanation, if not an apology for my part in this. We were fighting about my wanting Ruby to bite me. We have fought over this several times, but last night was the worst yet. I'm sorry that this happened because of our spat." Belle was looking at her hands as she finished, a look of thorough shame on her features.
Gently taking one of her hands, Emma gave a soft squeeze. "It was an accident. I'm not upset, although this headache is a killer. But thank you for telling me what happened. It means a lot to me that you trust me so much." Pausing, Emma was grateful to see the smile that replaced the frown Belle had previously worn. "Can I ask a question? Why do you want Ruby to bite you? I meant I know why she wouldn't; she kind of freaked out about it last night, but what difference does it make if you are a wolf too?"
"Werewolves live much longer than humans, almost 4 times as long. Ruby and I have true love, but she doesn't want to "curse" me to being a monster. I don't want to grow old and leave my true love behind. I want to be with her as long as I can. I also know that wolves are very much pack animals, and being alone hurts Ruby, but she would never say. She needs other wolves to run with, and I want to be there for her, to run with her, and fill that hole in her heart as well."
"Ok… I can understand that, especially with the aging thing. She's lucky to have someone who loves her so much." Sharing a smile, Emma continued to try to ignore the sounds and smells of the diner as Ruby rushed around to serve everyone. Emma, realizing that Belle was usually at the library at this time of day tilted her head to the side, before asking. "Aren't you usually at the library right now?"
"Well, I still want this, and since you are going to be part of her pack now, I don't see why I can't join for your Werewolf 101 lessons, as Ruby called them." Bell finished simply, as if being bitten and turning was no worse joining an after school club.
"But you seem to know a lot about werewolves already." Emma couldn't hide the confusion at Belle wanting to sit through what she knew would be a lot of information she already knew.
"I'm hoping that being there to support you, and helping you through this as well, Ruby will realize that it's not the most terrible thing in the world to be bitten."
As Belle flipped her hair over her shoulder, turning to look for Ruby, Emma was blasted with a strong combination of scents. One was Ruby, she knew that from last night. The other was like honey suckle, ink, and sandalwood, with a hint of something just Belle.
Without thinking, Emma took a deeper breath in, tasting the scents on her tongue. 'She has marked her as hers. They smell good together. She will make a good mate.' Emma though while still tasting the air around them. 'Yes. She will join the pack soon.'
Shaking her head as if to clear the thoughts from her brain, Emma noticed that Belle was looking at her with concerned eyes. "Are you alright? You were just staring at me for a minute there, and" dropping to a hushed whisper so they would not be overheard "your eyes flashed yellow for a second."
"Yeah, sorry. Just a random thought that I got lost in. We will have to ask Ruby and Granny about it later. I'm sure they have an explanation." Emma shrugged, giving Belle a crooked smile. 'That was so weird.' Realizing that Belle was still looking at her curiously, Emma leaned in closer to speak quietly. "You smell really good today, by the way."
Leaning in closer, Belle took a quick sniff of Emma, her eyes fluttering slightly. "Wow. Whatever you are wearing today smells really good too. New body spray?" Belle did not move back, although she did straighten up. "It reminds me of Ruby's scent, but much… more... just more. I like it." A blush crept onto Belle's cheeks as she met Emma's eyes.
"I'm not actually wearing anything. I didn't even shower when I woke up." Emma laughed, flashing a wide grin, not shying away from Belle's closeness. "Here enjoy this for me while go freshen up in the little puppy's room for a minute." Emma stood directly in front of Belle, her face level with Emma's stomach, as she took her jacket off and draped it around Belle's shoulders. Heading off to the washroom, Emma chuckled as she saw Belle trying to discretely sniff more at the jacket.
When she returned to the counter though, she saw her seat had been taken by a large, heavily sweating man with a greasy beard. He looked to easily be above 6'6" and must have weighed around 300lbs. He looked like a creepy, dirty version of Santa. Emma saw that he was leaning close to Belle, who was leaning away heavily, looking around with timid eyes. Ruby was taking an order at the front of the diner, her back facing the scene, and Granny was busy in the kitchen. It seemed that he may have had a few too many at happy hour, and Emma was less than pleased at his body language.
Emma scented the air without thought as she moved closer. She could detect two new scents in the air, fear and arousal. The fear she could tell belonged to Belle, as it carried her scent with it. The arousal was pouring off of the man attempting to move closer still to Belle. 'He is making her fear him and it is arousing him. She is ours, not his.' Emma thought again in new way she was coming to suspect was her inner wolf developing.
As the man lifted his hand and placed it on Belle's thigh, several things happened at once: Emma let out a small growl that caught Ruby's attention, Belle gasped in shock at the man who was gripping her leg tightly without invitation, Emma's eyes flashed yellow again, Granny looked out the service window seeing the situation, and Emma lunged for the man. Emma reached the man first, as Ruby began to weave through the crown, knowing what was likely about to happen.
Wrenching his arm behind his back, and half lifting him onto the counter, Emma let out a deep snarl. "You do not get to touch her without her permission. She is not yours." Twisting the man's wrist to a more painful angle, Emma continued. "Do you understand?"
The man did not try to fight Emma initially, until he realized that it was a female restraining him. Attempting to push up from the bar top, he felt himself be forced roughly back down, and heard the questions repeated, with another twist to his wrist. "I said, do you understand?!"
Feeling that his wrist was about to break, the man began to nod frantically yes. "Good. Now apologize." Emma easily pulled the man into a standing position, despite the obvious size and weight difference. She directed him around to face Belle, keeping a tight lock on his wrist and a bruising grip on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." The man quietly grumbled, still in shock at being handled so easily by a woman, and thoroughly embarrassed. "I didn't hear that!" Came the quick reply, with a painful twist of his wrist. He felt a snap, and cried out from the pain rushing up his arm. He was sure something had been broken on that one.
"I'M SORRY!" he cried out, tears falling freely down his face, both from the embarrassment, and from the pain. "I'M SORRY."
"Good. Do not touch what isn't your again, or I won't be so gentle next time." Emma snarled again at the man, turning and pushing him towards the front door. He stumbled, but quickly caught himself, and looked back over his shoulder to see who had been tossing him around so easily. He caught sight of Emma, teeth bared in a feral grin, and rushed out through the door. Ruby stepped out of his way as he shot through the door, the bell jingling loudly.
Granny pulled Belle into the back hallway, and told her to go wait in the B&B common room, and she would send the girls back shortly to see her. She seemed to be in shock at what had just transpired, and followed the elder Lucas' directions. Ruby was already clearing out the guests, stating that they were closing early for the night, and that their meals and drink were on the house. A few grumbled, having not yet received their food, but left none the less after seeing Emma still standing in the middle of the diner breathing heavily and shaking slightly. Not wanting to receive similar treatment, they left without further prompt.
Stepping back into the main dining room, Granny carefully approached Emma, making sure to keep a wide space around her, to assess her control. "You alright there?" Granny asked keeping her hands in front of her, attempting to appear as non-threatening as she could despite Emma's closed eyes.
Taking another deep breath, Emma opened her eyes, and attempted to smile. "Yeah. I'm really sorry about that. I-I dunno what happened there. Just he was making Belle scared, and I could smell her fear. And he was liking it. Ugh, I could smell that too. What the hell?!" Emma had her face scrunched up. She didn't notice the shocked looks on both of the other women's faces. "What's happeneing?!"
Emma's eyes were still very much yellow, and both women were at a loss for words. "You guys are kind of staring. What's going on?" Emma shifted uncomfortable under the scrutiny
"Your eyes, they are yellow. Well, kind of golden yellow, if that makes sense, but yeah, not your normal green." Ruby stated, not understanding how Emma could have just done what she had with having only just been bitten. She didn't know a lot, about wolves that were changed, but she knew most wolves weren't as strong as Emma had just shown. Most didn't have the level of control not to outright lose their temper during wolf's time, and none that she knew of had ever been able to do any of that without having successfully completed their first transformation. She was in awe.
"Why don't you both take Belle up to one of the rooms and calm down for a bit. I will clean up down here, and then we can all go over some of the stories you will need to hear." Granny gestured towards the back where the inn joined the diner. 'We need to have that chat now, before anything else happens.'
"Uh, sure. Come on Rubes." Emma called, turning and walking quickly toward the back. "I'll grab Belle, you grab a room key. I don't really want just anyone to be able to hear this."
Ruby wanted to argue that she should go with to get Belle, but felt the need to listen to what Emma had told her to do. She shook her head, and just went to grab the room key. Emma was right; they would need privacy for this conversation. Ruby saw Emma's old room was still open, so she grabbed the key and went to meet her girlfriend and her best friend. 'Things are about to get very interesting, that's for sure.'