Chapter 12
It was surprising to me that I'd been able to sleep at all, but I had. I woke, my body huddled next to Spencer for warmth. It had gotten bone chillingly cold last night, and thank goodness for best friends. Spence didn't stir as I shifted, covering his back as I slipped out from under the comforter. Farren was dozing in the corner of the cave, but where Derek had been, there was only a discolored bloodstain. I felt his presence nearby, so I wasn't too worried, but I was curious to see how he was feeling. I quietly slipped to the edge of the cave and saw him just below. I could tell by the way he was working out that he did this daily, for he seemed to do his pull-ups out of routine. I could also tell his mind was elsewhere. I gently slid down to the closest edge away from the cave. As stupid as it was, I wanted to watch him. The muscles in his arms and chest rippled with each pull, and his determined face shone with sweat. I don't know why I'd never realized before that he had a tattoo on his back. I wondered when he'd gotten that, but more importantly, I was relieved to see that the whiplashes were mere scars now. Thank God for his fast healing. I felt immensely better knowing he wasn't in pain anymore.
My daydreaming distracted me, and it was only a few minutes later that I snapped out of it and discovered his red eyes on me. I sighed, but made my way down the slope, figuring it would be better to talk to him than just stare. "I'm sorry," I said when I reached him. "What for? A lot of women stare at me." I had to bite down on my tongue hard as jealousy shot through me. Man, I hated that feeling!
"Why didn't you say anything?" I shot back, angry now. His eyes flashed as he stood a little taller, looking down at me. "Because there was no need to, it would have only lead down to this." "Well, it's out now. We need to talk about it, Derek." His eyes slid to the side, and his hands became fists at his side. "Aaden, I don't know what it's like for you, but this is difficult for me. I don't really think I want to discuss it." "Derek," I said gently, "we need to. I know that it's difficult." I reached out, and much to my surprise, he didn't lean away from my touch. I pressed my hand against his chest, his skin was warm, and touching him made my whole body jittery. I felt like a schoolgirl with her crush, but this was so much more. "What did Farren tell you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing and he grabbed my wrist. "Nothing," I said, looking up at him, "only that I had a lot of women and heartbreak to make up for." I looked to his hand clenching my wrist and tried to pull away, but he held it tight. "It's not that simple," he growled, "one of them cost me everything!" His grip on my wrist was painful, and I pulled against it, but to no avail. "I'm sorry," I said earnestly. "I'll bet you are." He said, letting go of my throbbing wrist. "Fine, you can be angry," I said, "but you don't have to take it out on me! I didn't do shit to you!" "The question is, "would you?"! If I so much as tried to let you in, when would you take the opportunity to destroy me?!" Real pain showed in his eyes, and it took my breath away. His hurt made my whole chest ache, and I rubbed my wrist as I sorted through what to say. "Honestly, Derek, I don't know about the relationship between Alpha and Luna, but if I had to guess about their bond? I'd have to say that it's pretty damn near impossible to want someone else." Something I'd said had hit home. He didn't say anything, but a thousand different emotions played across his face.
He opened his mouth to say something after a few minutes, but his mouth shut when he looked near the entrance of the cave. "I'd say 'good morning', but it doesn't appear to be so." Farren said, hopping down from the edge and landing gracefully on her feet. She walked over to us, her hair angrily swirling around her pale face as the wind blew. "Should I referee?" she asked once she got closer. "No." Derek and I said together. "Good, because now that we're rested up, we have bigger problems than your trust issues." She pointed east, "There's the direction of the highway. We're a good six hours on foot from the house. No, your car is out of the question." She interrupted Derek before he could say anything. "That's just fucking grand. There's no telling what that icy bitch will do to it." I gave him a confused look. "Don't worry about it," Farren said to me, "that damn car is his baby." I repressed a smile, not wanting to anger Derek further. "Derek, it doesn't really matter, you can get another one," she said, "my point is that it's going to take us a whole other day to get back. There's no telling what everyone is doing. Remember, the full moon is two days from now. The wolves are more than likely about to go insane." "Damn it, I forgot about the full moon," he said, his eyes lightly glowing. "What do you think we should do?" I asked. "Maybe," Derek said after a bit, "if we can make it to the closest town, we can get a rental." "Derek, the nearest town is close to ten miles away." "So? We walked almost that just last night." "True," Farren said, then looked back toward the cave, "okay, so we have a plan. Let me go wake up Spencer's lazy ass." I did laugh then, and watched as she leapt up the side of the mountain. "Derek?" I said once she was gone. "Hmm?" he said, only half listening as he pulled his shirt over his head. "I really am sorry. If we are meant to be, let's take our time and be friends first. If your heart just never gets into it, we'll say no more, and I'll become a vampire. Maybe the bond will break. I mean, well, I just don't want you to feel like you have to do this." He took my words into consideration, then nodded once without a reply. "Say something please." I said. "Okay." he said, "When we get back, I'm taking you to dinner. Wear something pretty." He walked off, leaving me shocked.
That had escalated fast.
I think I had both been hoping he'd brush it off and hoping he'd act on it. I don't think, though, that I had expected him to say something like that. So, okay, we were going on a date. I felt my heart racing, but pushed it away as I heard Spencer holler from the cave. Oh, what had Farren done now?
I hurried up to the cave entrance, and was taken aback to see Spencer almost completely drenched. "What the hell happened in here?" "Farren fucking tried to drown me!" "No I didn't. If I had been trying to drown you, you would've drowned." I laughed, "Why did you throw water on him?" "He wouldn't get up. Next time, maybe he will." Spencer grumbled, wringing water out of his shirt. "It was cold too." He complained, wrapping up in the comforter. "No shit Sherlock," Derek said, entering the cave behind us, "it's fifty six degrees outside." "All right children." I said, "Farren, where do we head from here?" "East first, then we'll turn left off the road and head into Quenten, the little town off of the highway back to our place." "Okay, sounds good," I grabbed a wool long sleeve shirt from the little wooden box Farren had kept the comforters in and threw it to Spencer, "Here, put that on. It's drier and warmer than what you've got on." "Ha, ha, I forgot how to laugh," he said, quickly shucking his wet shirt and pulling on the other. From the corner of my eye, I saw Derek pulling on his black jacket and I grabbed my hoodie. Farren, the lucky one, wasn't feeling the cold, and she wore simply a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. "All right group, let's fall out." She said, hopping from the edge of the cave again. "Not literally," Derek said, throwing a sly grin at Spencer. "Was that supposed to be an insult?" Spencer shouted. "Oh, come on slowpokes!" Farren groaned from below. Laughing, I followed behind Spencer and we headed out to find the little town of Quenten.