Start Living Now

I was flying. Below me, the forest was asleep. Even the nocturnal animals stayed in their dens. One of the many reasons why I love the calm, humid weather that takes place just before a big storm on a night like this is because the skies are empty, people stay inside their cozy little homes, and the forests are clear for the taking. It’s no wonder why flying on a night like this is one of my favorite pastimes.

A flash of lightning. The sound of thunder. The rain began to pour. I continued to fly into the night, leaving my inhibitions behind. Yes, it was a good night to be flying.

Eventually, the rain and lighting became too much of a nuisance for me. I turned around, and started to fly home. Once the reservation came into view, I heard Niko’s thoughts inside my head.

“Jael, come over tonight. There’s something we need to talk about.”

At first, I was angered by the intrusion of Niko’s presence; the pack knew that on nights like this one, I liked to fly. They knew to leave me alone to my thoughts. That, and on stormy nights, they enjoyed the time off; I didn’t let them Shift so I could be completely alone.

Immediately, my thoughts were filled with Niko’s sincere apologies. He reminded me that I knew he wouldn’t Shift in order to contact me unless it was about something serious.

“Ok Nik, I’ll be there soon.” I could feel Niko’s thoughts brighten at the sound of hearing my nickname for him. And there was another emotion. Something like apprehension?

“I’ll be waiting.” Niko’s consciousness vanished from my thoughts.

As soon as I got home, I climbed in through my window in order to get some clothes. I mean, I sure as hell didn’t want to walk in through the front door in my birthday suit. Especially if Pops was watching the ten o'clock News in the living room, like he did every night. I yelled a quick “Hello” to him as I rushed towards the bathroom for a quick shower.

“Where ya headed in such a hurry, Kwoli?”

“Over to Niko’s for a bit! He Shifted while I was flying home! Must be important, so I gotta go!” I yelled from the bathroom.

“Humph, I don’t like that Nikolas Ahiga. S’not trustworthy in my opinion.”

“Pops, he’s my-”

“I know, I know. Your boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean-”

“I was going to say ‘he’s my Beta.’”

“I still don’t like him. You’re only seventeen. Don’t stay for longer than an hour, Kwoli.”

"Ok, Pops. I’ll be home before eleven. Sound good? And I’ll be eighteen in the fall, so stop worrying.”

“Damn straight. Can’t be too careful this time of night. You hear about the Marlboros? Almost got attacked by a friggin’ bear walkin’ home from the neighbors’ house!” I overlooked his choice to not acknowledge my comment about being eighteen.

I chuckled to myself. “Yeah, I heard about that. Heard a huge dog got in the way, and they got home in one piece.”

I could hear Pops’ snorts of laughter downstairs in the living room. “Yep. A huge dog…Hehe...Huge dog…”

When I reached Niko’s house, I ran around to the back of the house. Niko’s bedroom window was on the second floor directly next to a tall pine tree. He had the light turned on. I threw a small pebble at his window; the light was turned off and turned on again. This was his way of telling me to hold on while he opened the window. I started climbing the pine tree, and before I knew it, I was face to face with Niko in his room.

“So...what was so important that you had to-?”

Niko had put his hand on my lips in order to shut me up. “Why do you have to talk to loud? My family’s sleeping, ya know! We have to keep quiet.” He let his hand drop.

“Ok, Ok. I get it. But couldn’t this wait until morning?”

“No. I-I have to…t-tell you something…”

“Ok, so spit it out. I promised Pops I’d be home before eleven.”

“Eleven? Can’t you just stay the night like last time?”

I blushed. Last time I snuck over to Niko’s, it was one in the morning, and I ended up staying the night. Let’s just say things got a little heated between us. No pun intended. Literally, things heated up. When two Shapeshifters are intimate, in any sense, with each other, the combination of our body temperature is enough to leave third degree burns on a normal person’s body. It’s a good thing our skin is thick enough to protect us from it.

“As appealing as that sounds, I can’t. I keep my promises, you know that. And we didn’t even do much, Nik. It’s not like we had-”

“Yeah, I know. I was there, remember?” At this remark, I punched him in the arm.

“Whatever, Nik. Now c’mon and spit it out before I leave.” I made for the window. What can I say? I’m impatient sometimes.

“Wait! Ok, I’ll tell you.” He took hold of my hand, and led me to the bed. When we both sat down, he took hold of my other hand, and looked me in the eyes.

“Jael, we’ve been together for a while now, haven’t we? How long as it been? Almost two years together as Alpha and Beta, and almost one as a couple? Anyway, I wanted to tell you at a different time, I couldn’t, because of the-”

“Because of the pack, I know. Go on.” Yeah, that’s the one downside to this whole Shapeshifter thing. You never could keep your thoughts to yourself.

“Well, I just wanted to let you know how much you mean to me. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you. And well, I just wanted to say…I love you. You have no idea how much I love you. I mean, you’re my imprint for the Ancestor’s sakes! And I was wondering if-”

I threw myself at Niko, covering his lips with mine. I pulled away and said the four words that would mean the most to him. “I love you too.”

The smile on his face was indescribable. He looked so happy. But I don’t blame him; I was smiling too. Suddenly Niko got up and went over to his bedside table. I was confused at first; there are not a lot of things you can pull out of a table that small. But when he returned, in his hand was the most beautiful bracelet I’d ever seen. It had wonderful designs in a silver overlay with a turquoise nugget in the center. The silver overlay was attached to a black piece of leather, with strands to tie it on in the back. Concho discs adorned the sides. It was beautiful.

“It’s a Ketoh. I made it for you. Took me forever to do it. ”

“I love it!”

He slipped the band on my left arm, and tied the leather straps securely, and leaned his forehead against mine. Looking into his eyes, I couldn’t help but loose myself. And as our lips touched, our bodies melted into one another, becoming one. But I quickly pulled away.

“I have to go. It’s almost eleven.”

Niko ignored my protest and left a trail of kisses up my neck, pausing to suck on an earlobe. He ran a warm hand down my back while kissing between my neck and sternum. My weak spot. Oh, sometimes I hated him for knowing me so well. And soon after, I found myself on top of his lap, kissing him passionately. Clothes were shed and thrown on the floor. Our breathing became panted, and the heat emitted from our bodies was intense. Niko looked at me, almost as if he were asking me to stay. I looked at him nodded my head.

I should have known all along that I would end up staying the night.

Niko slowly lowered me to the bed, positioning himself between my legs. And as we began kissing each other again, I couldn’t help but smile, knowing that this night would be one I would never forget.

I woke up with tears in my eyes. Of all the memories I had to dream about, I had to dream of the night I slept with Niko. As if things weren’t painful enough. And I mean painful. Everything hurt. It was strenuous just trying to open my eyes, so I quickly gave up and left them closed. My arm gave an involuntary twitch. It even hurt to breathe. I groaned out loud.

Then a thought occurred to me. Where am I? That should’ve been my first thought. I tried opening my eyes again; all I could do was flicker them open and closed. I took a sniff; that was a mistake. Once I got past the bursts of pain, the only thing I could smell was…well, I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t the best smell in the world.

Once I was able to keep my eyes open, I tried turning my head. I was in a room that resembled a library/office. I was on a makeshift bed. As for clothes, all I could feel on me was a thin sheet. I tried to move, but I couldn’t budge a muscle. The stinging sensation was too agonizing. This time I REALLY moaned out loud.

The sound of an opening door filled my ears. I stopped breathing, and tried to close my eyes again. The sounds of my discomfort could be heard, no matter how hard I tried to stay quiet. I heard a small chuckle near the door.

“Well, it looks like you’ve awakened. I was beginning to worry.”