Chapter Thirteen

"Come on, Claire. Wake up for me." The distant sound of Dougie's hushed voice called me from slumber, his hands gently shaking me from where they were positioned around me.
"No." I grumbled, shuffling further under the bed covers and backwards in to Dougie's body.
"Please wake up." He wined, still not wanting to wake the rest of the house up, I guessed.
"Are you keen to get rid of me?" I turned to face him, finding myself flat up against him, and facing his bare chest. I blushed as he the tip of his index finger to tilt my chin upwards, our gazes meeting.
"If that was a joke, it was a bad one." He remarked before pecking at my lips with his own. "Harry will be here soon. He text me about half an hour ago."
"Why didn't you wake me?" My eyes widened. I still needed to pack my things for the night ahead.
"Sorry." He blushed rather noticeably. "I just wanted this to last a little longer. In case we don't-"
"Don't say it." I whispered whilst sitting up, holding the covers of the bed closely to my unclothed body, looking back down at Dougie whom simply lay staring back up at me, not daring to utter another word. There was silence between us as I grabbed at my clothes on the end of the bed, pulling them on me quickly underneath the covers.
"Jessi packed some overnight things for you." Dougie spoke quietly, pulling the covers up and over his head, causing his speech to be heard as muffled mumbles. "I figured that you hadn't packed anything yet." I stood up, noticing the small hold all bag that sat at the door.

"Sorry." I muttered, crawling on to the bed again, making a point of pulling the bed covers away from him. "I come here, ruin everything. Tomorrow could go so wrong, and I don't know what I'll do if it does." I sank to nothing but a whisper. The sharp, sudden sound of a car horn interrupted me. I got up immediately, automatically, too quickly.
"That'll be Harry." Dougie stated, sitting then standing up, seemingly undeterred or embarrassed as his own nakedness.
"Yes." I replied dumbly, nodding absent-mindedly as I stared in to his eyes, the both of us stepping closer. "Bye Doug." I murmered before his lips crashed heavily on to my own.
"Bye Claire." We pulled apart and he sat back down on his bed. Neither of us speaking as I picked up the heavy hold-all and walked away.

"Tom and Nat will watch you." Harry said as we pulled up outside a house I didn't recognize. So I'm guessing this is where the happy couple resides. They'll watch me? What was I, some kind of new attraction at the zoo? Or some bizarre science experiment.

"Why are they 'watching' me?" I asked, making quotation marks with my fingers. "I suppose it's just another custom you have to follow."
"Yes." He snapped. "Yes it is! Sorry, Claire, but I'm not going to break tradition for a selfish little girl who's throwing a tantrum about not getting her own way."

Selfish?
SELFISH??

I'll give him selfish. Words just weren't available as my mouth opened and closed without sound. He simply stared back at me. I scowled, undoing my seatbelt quickly and scrambling out of the car. How dare he say that to me. What a twt! Arsehole! Dckfaced wallaby eating shtsmudge!

I snatched the bag of my belongings from the back seat and stormed up the path to the small, but pretty, semi-detached house. I was rather pleased that Harry hadn't followed me, and elated when he drove off once Tom had opened the door to me. He smiled and moved aside for me to walk inside. I did so.

I relaxed immediately. There was something about being here that made me feel a lot more at ease. Probably because Tom knew all about me and Doug. He'd probably told Natalie as well by now. I wouldn't have to pretend or cover it up here. I could be completely open.

"Dougie's rang three times." Tom said softly, taking my jacket from me and hanging it up on the nearby pegs that were conveniently attached to the wall. "He wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm fine." I replied raspily, trying to swallow the lump that was rapidly forming in my throat.
"Here." Natalie walked out of the room to the side of us, holding a wireless phone in her hand, thrusting it in my general direction. I wonder what she's trying to say. "He's on speed dial. Just press 4, and then the little green button."

I looked at her blankly, my hands trembling as I took it from her, the pair of them leaving me to my own devices. I sat on the stairs, staring at the phone before following Natalie's instructions. Now all I had to do was wait til-
"Hello?"

Well that didn't take long.

"It's me." I croaked.
"Claire! Are you okay? I'm so sorry about this morning!" he gushed, his words muddled together as one.
"I'm okay." I mumbled. "Don't be sorry."
"I wanted to say so much. And I just ended up saying bye." He sounded so sad. So lonely. Regretful.
"You don't have to say anything." I choked on my own tears, trying to sniff as quietly as I possibly could.
"But I want to." He protested. "I love you, Claire. I fcking love you. Last night was the best of my life. I just don't know how to tell you so that you'll listen."
"You just did" I giggled, wiping my eyes clumsily, trying all efforts to stop the flow of tears.
"Well, I feel embarrassed." He spoke quietly. "I imagined telling you that face to face. Not ear to phone." He trailed off a little. "If.. um...If it's not me tomorrow…"
"Doug…" I wined. I didn't want to hear this. Not now.
"No. Claire. Hear me out." He attempted to continue. "if it's not me, then there's a reason for that. We have to take it in our stride, and.." his voice began to waver horrifically. "And.. ignore it. Even if it hurts, we'll have to accept that."
"That's not good enough." I whispered. "I just want to tell everyone. I just want… I want you." The tears were really starting to become rivers on my cheeks, forming small wet puddle on my jeans and on the carpet. "I'm sorry, Doug. I have to go. I'm sorry."

I looked up at the open doorway in front of me, noticing Tom stood there, a sympathetic smile curving his lips and furrowing his brow. He walked over, sitting on the step beside me and placing an arm around my shoulder, drawing me in to a sideways hug.

"An argument?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No. I think he wants me to let go." I buried my head in Tom's chest, "I can't."
He was silent. I looked up, noticing his gaze was fixed elsewhere. He gently pulled at the collar of my shirt. I winced as the material was pried from my sticky bite wounds. Apparently, the ability to heal quickly hadn't taken on these very well. I pulled away a little and he sighed.

"I knew I shouldn't have explained blood mating." He muttered, placing my shirt back in to place. "I should have known something like this would have happened."
"We never tried to, Tom." I smiled a little. "I just happened."

"That's so romantic." Natalie sighed once I'd been through the previous nights events with her for the third time. I sat on the edge of the bath as she attempted to clean and cover the marks of the passionate, memorable, delicious night.
"I was foolish." Tom remarked from where he stood at the sink, wringing out a hot, wet flannel, which he then passed to Natalie, who then placed it at the base of my neck, near to my collarbone.
"Romantic." She corrected him sternly.
"Harry will go berserk." He exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air, exasperated.
"Harry won't find out." Natalie frowned at her boyfriend, who merely sighed and walked away, down the stairs, muttering something under his breath. "Don't worry about him." Natalie smiled at me, dabbing at the torn flesh again. "He's nearly as hooked on tradition as Harry is. He's worried about you and Doug. That's all. He just cares too much."
"I thought he was pssed off with me." I said, biting on my thumb nail anxiously, so much so that it had begun to tingle unpleasantly, showing the first few warning signs of the pain to follow. "I show up here, fall in love when I'm not supposed to, and generally disrupt the peace." I stated. "I've never really been one to keep a low profile, even when I try not to be noticed."

"Were you Patricia's lab rat too?" Natalie asked suddenly, her tone dripping with a daring curiosity "I was her first." Now this had intrigued me, I looked up at her as she stood up tall from bending over me, then sitting down on the floor in front of me. I smiled in encouragement for her to continue. "I was two when Patricia found me in an orphanage in the heart of London. She took an interest in me and my brother, Hayden. It must have been around the same time or just after she picked up on you." Natalie half explained, half thought aloud. She seemed to wince inwardly as if recalling an unpleasant memory before letting out a laboured sigh that appeared to have been wanting out for some time.
"I didn't know you had a brother." I commented on what had just been said.
"No. I don't speak much of him nowadays." She glanced to the floor before giving me a small, sad smile. "A hunter killed him. I was angry with him for not showing up to mine and Tom's binding. I thought it was because he didn't approve."
"Oh. Nat… I… Sorry. I don't know what to say." I garbled. I never know what to say in these situations.
"Don't worry, Claire." She beamed again, showing off her pearly whites. "I got my revenge." She gave a small childish giggle, which I personally found a little menacing. It frightened me a little, but from what she'd just informed me of, I doubted she had hesitated when the chance to avenge her brothers death had arisen.