Cracked a 100 reviews - you guys are awesome

Enjoy

Alex

"Hand me that book," he said softly and dutifully, I picked it up and put it into his hands. I noticed how careful he was not to touch me, make any contact whatsoever especially after the shower incident. It was like I was a diseased pariah.

We were spread out on the couch with numerous notes and books that didn't seem to be helping. I wasn't exactly helping either, just watching as Mason focused intensely looking for a solution.

I was still hung up with finding out why he was doing all of this for a girl he hadn't seen in ten years. Did he still love me, or was he working extra hard to send me back to my own time so he didn't have to see me anymore? The question kept echoing in my head and it was bugging me. Though it hurt to admit it, the latter seemed more likely.

"Alex? Are you even listening to me?"

My head snapped back around from my staring off point to see Mason gazing expectantly at me. He shook his head disappointedly. "Things never change."

I wanted to argue that the whole point of this was so I could change but I didn't want to fight him. I was lucky he was even here at all.

I watched him again. His eyes would narrow if he read something he didn't like. He'd grab another book and read furiously. Then his eyebrows would rise if there was something interesting, and he'd grab the notepad and scribble something down. It was fascinating to be honest.

I reached out at one stage to push back a strand that had fallen into his eyes and he drew back sharply. "What are you doing?"

His reaction stung but I plunged on. "Your hair was just in your eyes and I…."

I trailed off quietly and he just looked at me, studying me, like I was just a giant puzzle. So I looked back.

I dared to move closer. "You enjoying the staring matches?"

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He had been trying hard not to smile or laugh or show any emotion really. Every time a smile tried to break through, he would fight it. And I was having a hard time wondering why. "Not as much as the awkward silences."

I moved closer again, so close I could see faint freckles below his eyes. I tried to count them all but I was too distracted by how inviting his mouth looked. So I plunged forward and met the couch, face first. I picked myself up, wiping away the fluff stuck to my mouth.

"Don't do this Alex," he warned from his standing position; I'd forgotten those lightning fast wolf reflexes.

"Why?" I stood up, so angry I couldn't even see straight. Ever since I'd left Transylvania and come back home, he had been driving me crazy and enough was enough. "Why are you here if you don't love me?"

"It's not that simple Alex. We can't…the wizard council..." The words were broken, fractured, kind of like how he was.

"Screw the council!" I screamed. "Mason..."

"No, Alex." He sounded so weary, tired, so sick of it all.

"No," I said in reply, coldly. I'd had enough. Either way I was getting what I wanted and he might as well cooperate. No more playing by the rules, no more being fair.

Time to play dirty.

Being in future Alex's body had taught me a few things: I was only as confident as I felt and that I could make guys melt with a single choice look. And even though I felt like I was on fire and my stomach seemed to be the host of a million butterflies, I did the most daring thing I had ever done.

I turned away from him so he was facing my back. I slipped my fingers under the hem of my top and slowly lifted, exposing enough skin that I heard Mason catch his breath. Then it was over my head and tossed in the corner.

I didn't dare turn around. I just stood there, waiting, hoping to get some kind of response. Then I heard Mason's laboured breathing and I knew he was right behind me, but his body was still inches away, still scared to be so closer. His fingertips scaled up my arms as he lowered his mouth to my shoulder. He didn't kiss it though, just hovered above and blowed gently on my tingly skin, making me feel weird.

His head reared up slowly and he wiped away the hair that had stuck to the hot skin on the back of my neck. I could see him out of the corner of my eye as he bent down to kiss the spot tenderly. "I can't," he whispered painfully.

I bit back my own agony. "There's no such thing as can't."

I walked away from him, accentuating each step. I could feel him watching me as I left, just like I hoped he would.

I went into my bedroom and slipped off the skin tight jeans I wore. I sat on the edge of my bed, in only underwear. This was definitely a bold move, even for me. I ignored how much my heart was pounding because I wasn't going to lose my nerve, not now.

Mason appeared in my doorway, his chest heaving in and out, like he was struggling to breathe. His eyes were so dark, like midnight. His hair was all over the place; his jaw was set, so still it was like it was carved out of stone. His features were becoming almost…inhuman. He let out a low growl and with unimaginable speed, had pushed me down and was lying on top of me. His eyes were growing rounder and when he opened his mouth to breathe heavily, I could see his teeth extending.

"Mason, Mason." I lodged my fingers in his hair as he groaned in pain and threw his head back. As his head arched upwards, I could see just how sharp and huge his teeth were. One bite and he could probably kill me.

"God Alex, I told you, we can't," he said gruffly, struggling against the transformation that was taking a hold of him.

I held onto his shoulders, stopping his thrashing movements as he fought the change. He was only hurting because he was trying too hard to resist it. "Mason, look at me."

He finally looked down and I could see he was more wolf than human now, hair beginning to grow on his face.

"Look at me," I repeated. "Calm down."

He never took his eyes off of me as the wolf parts began to dissolve away. He was just Mason now, my Mason.

"I love you," he whispered.

My eyes went glassy as I laughed dryly. Finally. "Kiss me," I ordered.

And he did.

I woke up with a pair of muscled arms cradling me and it took me a few seconds to register what had happened. Mason; last night; wow. They were the only words I managed to get through my head.

"Morning beautiful."

He kissed my hair and I smiled so big it almost hurt. "Hey wolf boy."

"It's wolf man now," he corrected and I giggled.

I rolled out of his grasp to face him. "You don't have any regrets, do you?"

He shook his head. "Right now, none. But tomorrow I'll probably feel bad about taking advantage of a seventeen year old."

"I'm twenty seven," I pointed out, slapping him playfully. "If anyone was taken advantage of last night, it was you."

"True," he said with a grin and my heart leapt at seeing it, "But you can take advantage of me any time you want."

I liked that idea very much but something was puzzling me. "How old are you anyway? I mean you look older than sixteen but I thought werewolves don't age."

"We don't but the longer we hold off from phasing, the more we age. I'm around twenty one now physically but in reality I'm over four hundred years old."

The fact he'd only aged four years in ten years was mind boggling. It also made me technically older than him.

"How do you stop phasing?"

"Lock yourself in a lightproof basement and take a special potion. If the moon doesn't hit me, I can't change. The brew is a tad unpleasant but it's only once a month."

I traced the panels of the muscles on his chest with my fingers and he watched. "So if you're twenty one, and I'm twenty seven, does that make me a cougar or something?"

He laughed. "If you want to get technical, I'm actually 472 and you're 17."

"I'd rather be the cougar."

He laughed again and held me in close, pressing me to his torso. I fit into his arms like a perfect puzzle piece. "I want to stay like this forever."

"Me too."

"But we can't," he whispered in my ear. "The wizard council….."

I'd totally forgotten about them. And even now that he had mentioned them, they were still the last thing from my mind.

"I don't care," I said, reaching up to kiss him. I unravelled the sheets from around me and jumped out of bed. I slipped some underwear on and chucked on his shirt that we'd dispensed with last night.

"On second thoughts, I don't give a damn about them either, come here."

I pounced back on the bed into his lap, grabbed a fistful of his hair and forcefully separated his lips to kiss him. After about a minute, I let go and he sat there, looking thoroughly amazed.

"Think that'll hold you until I get back from the bathroom?" I asked.

He nodded quickly and I gave him another brief peck before I leapt off again. "Trust me Mason, they'll never find out. We have nothing to worry about."

While I was washing my face, someone started to knock on the door. I called out to Mason, "Can you get that?"

I heard him shuffle out of bed and saw him tugging on a pair of jeans as he hopped past the bathroom door to answer whoever was visiting so early in the morning.

As I wiped my face clean with a towel, I heard low voices followed by what sounded like something smashing. Racing into the lounge room, forgetting I was only wearing a crinkled men's shirt, I saw Mason writhing on the floor with men in suits all around him.

"What are you doing?" I screamed, trying to run to him but getting scooped up some guy. He grabbed me by my waist as I kicked and swung my fists at him. I connected with his face and he groaned, dropping me onto the floorboards. I ignored how much the impact hurt my knees and scrambled to Mason's side where he was yelling in pain. His whole face was contorted in anguish and he held his head, pressing his palms into his temples as if trying to push the pain out.

"What's happening to him?"

Another one grabbed me and held me back and this time he clamped my arms down and held me at least a metre away from his body where I couldn't do any damage.

The one staring down at Mason made eyes with me and I noticed the syringe in his hand. "We just injected him with wolfsbane to prevent him from changing. It won't kill him."

It didn't seem that way; he looked like he was in agony. Then he stopped twitching and went limp. Two men picked him up like he was a rag doll. They took him away and I started to kick again, trying to go after him.

"What are you doing? What's going on?"

"Are you Alex Russo?" One of them asked.

I nodded. Too bad if I wasn't though, they'd already attacked Mason and were currently holding me down.

"You're under arrest for breaking Wizard law 222: mortal/wolf relationships."