Shadow Wolves: Rise of the Phoenix (Book 7)

Chapter 2 - Friends forever ...

“I’m telling you she felt it!” Luc freaked out.

“You, my friend, are imagining things.” Matt pat him on the back and laughed, diving into the clear water of the pool below.

“Hey, we all thought Star was a human, and she turned out not to be. You tend to find the weird ones…” Ant winked at him and took his turn to jump. Luc watched as Matt came running up the side of the hill in wolf form, with his pants in his mouth.

“I hope you bite a hole in those!!” He screamed before jumping. “Woooohhhhhooooo.” He hit the cold water and splashed it everywhere.

“They are such kids!” Meg shook her head.

“Yup, wanna join them?” Fiona laughed.

“Duh!!” For a second, it was as if they had forgotten, then she stopped and turned back to look at Sarah. She couldn’t help but laugh at them.

“Go be big kids!! I love watching you, guys. Don’t worry, I’m having fun right here with my friend called Wine.” They might be able to jump from up there, but she could get drunk and sober and drunk again, three times over, before they did it once. When they were done swimming, they baked in the late afternoon sun, then headed back just before sunset. On their ride back, the boys were quietly riding along with them, each talking with their girl, and it was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

“Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but that water was this cold!” Luc held up his thumb and forefinger, showing her about five centimeters, and she started laughing.

“I promise to take your secret to the grave.” She held her hand over her heart, trying her best to look sincere, but failing miserably. The farm owner started picking up the pace as the sunset was coming, and they finally had to ride to get home before dark. Climbing off the horses, she could swear she heard groans coming from the men, but when she looked their way, they very quickly straightened up. They made their way to the communal kitchen where Fiona and Ant jumped in and whipped up a delicious dinner.

“Darling, dearest. I note that you are wobbling a bit. Are you okay?” Meg asked.

“I’m so not wobbling, woman!! I’m fine.” He replied, and she laughed, and you could see that she knew him well enough to realize something was up with him.

“Here, catch.” Fiona threw something his way, and he couldn’t get there fast enough to catch it. Matt, who was near enough to have caught it instead, also missed.

“Yup, something is up. What’s wrong with you lot?” Fiona asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What Alpha said…” He grinned at Fiona, and she did a double-take.

“Mathew! I know when you are lying to me, and you know I know.” Fiona raised a brow.

“She called you Mathew!! Now you are in trouble.” Luc whispered, and Sarah sat quietly watching this exchange. She could think of only one thing that could be wrong knowing horses and horse riding.

“Luc, would you mind handing me a beer?” She asked.

“Sure.” He got up, not thinking that she'd been drinking wine all day… And softly groaned when he lifted his bum off the chair. She waited for him to walk over, thanking him for the beer. She smiled sweetly to throw him off a little more, and as he turned around to walk away, she smacked him right on his butt, and he grabbed his butt cheek yelping in pain. The others all looked their way in astonishment, and she jumped up, wanting to immediately comfort him.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, is it that bad?” Sarah fought the urge to giggle.

“Is what that bad?” Meg wanted to know, curiously.

“I thought you wolves healed fast. The boys all had sore butts after horse riding because they were being clever. I bet that if you look, there might still be some evidence of faded blue patches… Or at least humans will be in terrible pain by now.” Sarah laughed out loud, and the other two girls grabbed the boys and quickly checked them.

“Can you believe it… Wolves can keep injuries for a while.” Fiona burst out laughing.

“Serves you boys right for trying to act like you are sixteen.” Meg smacked Ant on his butt for good measure, and he slightly growled at her.

“So, what do we do about this, Sarah?” Fiona asked, still giggling.

“Nothing much you can do, I’m afraid. It just has to heal.” She shrugged, winking at Luc. “I guess we will just have to treat them with kindness.” It took about two seconds for the three of them to burst out in fits of laughter and for the boys to leave the kitchen. Dinner was ready, and they went to sit outside and eat under the stars. It really was something to just look at them. After dinner, Luc stole her away from the girls and left them to clean up by themselves, making her feel incredibly guilty.

“They will understand. I promise.” He explained how when a wolf finds a mate, they spend the first couple of weeks living just for each other, and it was as if the world outside disappeared.

“Okay, so you just lock yourselves up in your room and do it for like weeks until what?” She asked, and he blushed bright red, the moonlight showing his strong features even more with his red cheeks.

“Until we have found our rhythm and, well, I don’t know, I guess, until we have overcome that first urge to just be together.” She sighed, and he looked at her with a frown. “What’s wrong?”

“I guess it’s just another wolf thing you can’t explain if you aren’t a wolf, huh?” She sighed.

“That doesn’t matter. There are things about being a wolf that aren’t that great.” A split second of sadness crossed his eyes, and it disappeared just as fast. They walked up to a stream, and she kicked off her sandals to cross over the water, but he picked her up bridal style and carried her over.

“Hey! I can walk, you know!” She protested.

“Uh-uh, I’m not letting those pretty feet freeze.” He grinned at her, and they sat down on the soft grass looking up at the stars. An awkward silence fell between them.

“Meg tells me you have triplets. How old are they?” Sarah started making small talk.

“Old enough to make me feel old. Why do you ask?” He nervously laughed.

“Just trying to get to know you. Isn’t that what this entire weekend is about?” She blushed slightly. He shook his head.

“Oh? What is it about then?” She asked, tilting her head slightly. He leaned in slowly, and she felt her heart starting to pound in her chest.

“May I kiss you?” He almost whispered. She could hardly breathe, how was she supposed to say anything?!! She could almost hear the song “kiss the girl” playing in the background, and she slowly nodded. He slid his hand softly past the side of her head, cupping her cheek before placing his lips on hers. Her breath caught in her throat, and for a second it felt as if her heart was about to burst, it was beating so fast. He pulled away, and it felt as if someone had ripped all the air from her lungs.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t wait anymore. You smell like cherries and ice cream and I…” He groaned, not able to hold back. She leaned forward, kissing him. He toppled over, and she fell on top of his rock-hard chest. His blond hair fell backward, and a small moan escaped from his mouth when she pulled away slightly.

“No.” He whispered, pulling her back closer to him. This time he deepened his kiss, demanding entrance, and she freely gave it to him. Allowing him to explore her mouth as she passionately explored his. She felt like her entire body was about to explode from wanting this man. Lost in what she could only think could be the beginning of… of… NO

She pulled away and got up, grabbing her shoes and ran, jumping on the rocks and through the freezing water of the stream. She couldn’t just give herself to him. She didn’t even know if she wanted to. Doing the one-night-stand thing with him would be impossible. She knew that for a fact! He caught up to her quickly, grabbed her around her waist and tickled her until she was on the ground screaming for mercy.

When their laughter died down, he was straddling her, and she looked up into his beautiful green eyes.

“We can take things as slowly as you need. Just because wolves do things differently doesn’t mean we have to. I won’t mind if you want to go fast, really fast, but I can go slow if you…” He stopped talking.

“Thank you, Luc. I don’t know yet how fast, honestly.” She smiled up at him. He climbed off her, sitting next to her, then pulled her onto his lap as if he physically couldn’t let go of her.

“I’ve never been… Good at this… Relationships, I mean.” Sarah frowned.

“Okay.” He nodded. How was she going to say that? She wanted to, but she didn’t know how… How do you tell someone that you want to love them, but you don’t know how?

“As I said, we take it at the pace that is comfortable for you. So, you asked about the boys.” They sat there, and he told her about his boys and finally about his wife, and she could see the love he felt for her, and he felt for his boys. They were the kind of family she had always looked at, and thought that they were insane to trust each other that much. His kids sounded like normal teenagers, but she didn’t really know if she would ever be able to be a stepmother to teenage boys!!! She knew she was getting way ahead of herself, but from what Meg and Fiona had told her, Luc’s mind was made up.

Once a wolf found his mate… That was the girl or guy they were going to marry. In this case, it was just a question of whether she was going to accept him and his family, and the pack, and everything else that came with being a human in a pack of werewolves! Meg pulled her to one side earlier today and told her that she could scratch her and make her one of them if that was her choice. She apparently just wanted Sarah to know that it was a possibility before she heard horror stories of having to be bitten to become one. Especially after they were talking about this marking thing and all that, she started getting really worried about being Luc’s next lunch!

Fortunately, Meg had lived a pretend human life for a long time, and she was almost like a mother hen when it came to Sarah. Fiona was like a naughty sister who just wanted to teach her the ropes and make her one of them. She shivered and realized she had been daydreaming, or rather moonlight dreaming, while resting her head on his shoulder.

“Come on, let’s get you underneath some blankets before you get a cold.” He picked her up bridal style, and thankfully the campsite wasn’t that far, so she let him carry her. Her feet felt frozen, and the grass was too cold to walk on with just her sandals.

“Ah! The lovebirds have returned! Now we can play truth or dare!” Ant waved his hands in the air.

“Oh, no you don’t! The last time you, Matt, and Luc got us thrown out of the spa! It’s not happening again!” Meg put him in his place.

“Thrown out of a spa?! This I’ve got to hear.” Sarah laughed at the thought, and Luc sat down with her on his lap. She noticed that none of the others was this close, but they still cuddled close to each other, touching each other in some way. Either holding hands or crossing their legs together. Not really following the story, she thought back and realized that they always touched their other half in some way or another. As if they needed it, like you would need air. Their eyes were always searching for each other.

Fortunately, she caught the punch line of the story and laughed with them until her stomach hurt. It was their last night at the resort. They were leaving early the next morning, so she could still get home early on Sunday, and get some work ready for a meeting early Monday morning, but at that moment she felt as if she never wanted to leave. She looked at Luc, and he smiled at her, making her heart skip a damn beat again!