Wolf's Heart

Just as I grew more bold, my hands moving down to slide under Ulric’s shirt, he tightly grasped my shoulders and shoved me back, rolling so that I laid against the bed at his side. He quickly sat up and pushed from the bed, standing to pace around the room. I frowned and sat up as well, pushing my hair back from my face.

“Ulric? What’s wrong?”

He continued to pace, not even stopping to look at me, “I can’t – I can’t do this. You shouldn’t want to do this.”

My frown deepened, “I shouldn’t want do what? Ulric, I don’t understand!”

“You shouldn’t want kiss me! You shouldn’t have these feelings towards me!” he growled, sending me a glare as he turned to continue pacing the other way.

“Why?”

“Because I killed him!”

“Ulric,” I sighed, finally understanding.

“I killed him, Roana. I killed your brother.” His pacing increased, fury in every step.

“Ulric, I don’t blame you for that. Neither of us knew who he was. All you knew was that he was hurting me and trying to take me away.”

“That doesn’t matter, I should have known.”

I rolled my eyes, “How were you supposed to know? Ulric, I didn’t even know!”

“I just should have! I shouldn’t have allowed myself to lose control, I shouldn’t have killed him.”

I slid from the bed while he continued to pace, “Maybe not, but I don’t blame you for what happened.”

“How could you not? He was your brother!”

“A brother I didn’t know about! He was never in my life and the only time I saw him he was hurting me and taking me away from you!”

“It doesn’t matter. You know now and you shouldn’t be kissing me, shouldn’t be wanting to do more with me!”

“Fine!” I cried, throwing my hands in the air, “I’m tired of trying to convince you when you’re obviously set on this stupid idea. So I’m just going to leave and find some other guy who’ll appreciate what I’m trying to do more than you.”

I turned and walked to the wooden door, pushing it open and walking through it before Ulric’s roar shook the entire hut. I spun quickly to see him right behind me, his lips pulled back in a snarl. His hands were clenched at his sides and his eyes were all Creature, completely black with his rage.

“You’ll do no such thing, not if you want me to kill someone else.” The words were growled, barely understandable as his chest expanded with his deep breathing.

I glared at him, “So, and correct me if I’m wrong, but the way I understand it I’m not allowed to kiss you or any other man.”

“Right.” The word was barely more than a growl.

“Well, that makes my life interesting, now doesn’t it?” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest, “You’re being ridiculous, Ulric.”

He snarled, his human nails elongating into a Creature’s talons. They pressed into his still human palms, blood quickly welling up against them. Either he didn’t notice the pain or he ignored it because he just continued to glare at me.

“Ulric, please, be reasonable,” I sighed, walking closer so I could rub my hand against his cheek, “why is this so hard for you?”

“How can you ask me that when I killed your brother right in front of you?” His growl was almost a whisper, the rumbling seeming even more intimidating because of it.

“I didn’t know, you didn’t know! How can I be upset when neither of us knew about it?” I pressed my hands against his chest and pushed him back into the hut, not stopping until he was sitting on the bed, “So you can either sit here alone and worry about something you can’t change or you can move forward with me. Make your choice, the past or me.”

Ours eyes locked together as I stood there waiting for his answer. It felt like forever as I watched his mind turn with his choices, his dark eyes roving over the features of my face. When he finally sighed and relaxed his stiff shoulders I felt the stress leave my body.

He reached up and tangled his fingers through my hair as he smiled, “When you put it like that, I guess I am being ridiculous, but, Roana, it’s hard for me to know that I murdered one of your family members,” he placed his finger against my lips before I could interrupt, “I understand what you’re saying, but think about this from my perspective. It’s a mistake that’ll I’ll have to live the rest of my life with, and I’m terrified that one day you’ll change your mind and the way you feel for me.”

“Never,” I whispered against his finger, “Ulric, that’ll never happen.”

“But how do I know that won’t change? Time has a way of making everything worse.”

I shrugged, “I guess you’ll just have to trust me, like I trust you.”

I smiled as I leaned forward and pressed our lips together, his hand sliding to curve around the back of my head as a smile of his own greeted my lips.