The Alpha and the Gift

Chapter 3: Neighborly Coffee

“Damn stupid… metal… piece of crap!" Rowan shouted as she tried to get the heater going.

She had woken up this morning to find the power had finally been turned on, and the only thing she could think of was getting heat in the house. Last night it had been cool outside when she had finally come in. But now it was freezing, and she just wanted some heat before her body forgot how to function.

However, the heater was not cooperating. Rowan flipped the switch again and waited to hear the heater startup. But nothing was happening.

Rowan stomped her foot and growled at the heater, then began kicking the sides of it. “Work! You god damn stupid hunk of metal!"

“You know they usually respond better to loving words rather than curses," a voice said behind her.

Rowan screamed and spun around, throwing the useless wrench she had in her hand in the direction of the voice. The man in the doorway easily stepped out of the way, leaving the wrench to slam into the wall then fall harmlessly to the floor.

“Well, hello neighbor to you too," the man said with a half-smirk on his face.

The smirk should have detracted from his attractiveness. However, it only added a sense of mischievousness to his aura. She had no idea who this handsome man standing in her doorway was.

Rowan's heart was beating a hard, steady rhythm in her chest as her panic-filled brain tried to comprehend what he had said. Neighbor, he had called Rowan his neighbor. He must have been one of the townsfolk. She had known that she would have a few neighbors but figured they would be more suspicious of her and hoped they would leave her alone. This man did not feel that way. In fact, by the look on his face, Rowan would say he was more trying to contain his laughter rather than felt any sort of concern about her. Rowan put her hands on her hips and hung her head as she took long slow breaths, trying to calm down.

“Sorry, you startled me," Rowan told him as soon as she could speak again.

He raised an eyebrow, and his smirk deepened. “I can see that. I'm just glad your aim is worse than your reflexes."

Rowan felt a flush rush up to her cheeks, and she busied herself with trying to clean up the scant amount of tools in front of the heater. Only when she felt the heat move away from her cheeks did she finally stand up and properly introduce herself.

“I'm Rowan. I just moved in."

“I'm Fyn. I'm your neighbor to the right," Fyn replied, holding his hand out.

Rowan looked at his hand for a moment as if she considered not touching it. Fyn's eyes narrowed on her face watching as the plethora of emotions crossed her face. There was something wrong. Fyn wondered if it was a past or present issue that caused her to be so wary of other people. Was it other people? Or was it just men? He wanted to figure it out.

But at the last minute, before he dropped his hand, she slowly placed her hand into his. Emotions seemed to explode through Fyn, and the sense of awareness that he had first felt last night compounded as her scent filled him completely. She smelled of roses on a warm summer night that reflected the full moon. Fyn didn't know how he knew that, but that was the image in his head as he breathed her in.

Then there was her skin. The feel of her small, fragile hand wrapped in Fyn's larger one spurred his feeling of protectiveness. He wanted to draw her into his arms and promise her nothing would ever hurt her again. His instincts that he usually associated with his wolf side screamed that she was his.

Fyn shoved his wolf instincts back and pulled away from Rowan. He had never felt such a strong reaction to anyone's presence in his life. He must be going crazy, he decided. It had been so long since he had been with anyone that his hormones were going wild. This woman was so small and slender that he automatically felt the need to care for her.

That was it.

Fyn gave a mental shake of his head, trying to clear it of her influence. It got even worse when he met her eyes and could see the lingering effects of their touch fading slowly from her. Whatever happened between them, Rowan had felt it as well, and that made it even harder to ignore.

“Did you need any help with that heater?" he asked carelessly as if his whole mind wasn't whirling.

Rowan didn't want him to stick around any longer than necessary. He might be one of her neighbors, but he almost may not be. It just seemed dangerous to let him think that he could visit.

She reached out to one of the mice that were roaming through her walls to see if it had noticed him and might know anything about him.

But all the mice that had been in there early seemed to have suddenly raced away. They moved back to their nests and stayed as quiet as… well, mice. They didn't move, didn't squeak, and when Rowan touched their minds, all she could see was the white-hot panic that came with them being confronted with a predator. Though it was unusual for a prey species to hide so completely from a human, it wasn't completely abnormal. She could have just extremely timid mice in her house, which wasn't an altogether bad thing.

“Rowan?" Fyn called to her gently, trying to get her attention.

Rowan shook her head. “Sorry. No, it's okay. I'll call someone in to get it fixed."

Fyn grabbed the box of tools from her hand and walked back up to the heater. “The only heater guy in town is Ted, and he only works when he feels like it. He could get out today or won't come for a week. You never know."

Fyn fiddled with the knobs, then cranked a few things, and within a minute, the heater revved up and began blowing air through the vents. Rowan hurried over to the nearest one and felt the heat rush up her legs pushing the shiver of cold out of her body.

“Ooohh," she groaned and put her hands towards the heat. “That is so wonderful. Thank you so much!"

The sound of her pleasure made his body still, and the urge to make her do it again almost overwhelmed him. He mentally slapped himself to get his body and mind back into check.

“You're welcome," Fyn said, tossing the tools back into the box. “I'll let you get back to your morning. Just wanted to stop by and say hi."

Rowan's eyes suddenly jumped to him, and she suddenly didn't want to see him go. “Would you like a cup of coffee? I was just about to make some if-if you'd like to stay."

Rowan felt the flush go up to her cheeks again as if she was offering him something other than coffee. The slow, crooked smile returned to his face making her heart flutter, and a goofy smile returned to her face.

“I'd like that," he replied and waved her ahead of him. “It'll feel good on a cold morning like this one."

Rowan could think of a few other things that might feel good as well. But as soon as those naughty thoughts crossed her mind, she forced herself to squish them and shove them into a box labeled "DO NOT OPEN EVER". She had never felt the rush of desire as she had the moment, he had touched her hand, and now she couldn't get those images out of her head. There was something about her sexy neighbor that was got her hormones and heart fluttering.

Rowan suddenly understood that she needed to be careful. He was the type of trouble and complications that she didn't need right now. One neighborly cup of coffee, then he was on his way.

Just to say thank you. Not so Rowan could soak up more of his dark, musky, masculine scent that was driving her nose crazy. Not so she could stare at his face and imagine kissing him.

JUST a thank you coffee. That was all.