The Protective Wolf

Brown eyes.

I felt my heart start racing as I reached over and traced the tip of my finger down his nose, bringing it all the way down his face untilI reached his soft pink lips. I flicked my eyes back up to meet his. In that moment, I was pretty sure I'd never seen such an amazing color. I felt my arms reach up to wrap around his neck, pulling his face slowly closer to mine until our breath mixed together. Without wasting any more time, he crashed his lips onto mine.

But then I woke up, alone, in my own dorm bed, with my best friend snoring on the other side of the room like it was no one's business. I stared at her for a couple minutes, pleading silently for her to unplug the chainsaw and let me go back to sleep, but there was no such luck. I flung my blanket off my body, shifting my legs off the side of the bed.

After changing into a more suitable pair of sweats with my college's name down the pant leg, tugging on a random hoodie, and some shoes; I grabbed my keys and left my dorm. Since it was only nearly one in the morning, the moon was roughly up in the air and everything around me was coated in darkness. It was the first day back from summer, so many students were taking the night lightly. Thankfully.

I didn't run into many people as I walked around the campus with my arms folded a cross my chest. A cool breeze came and blew my hair off my shoulders.

"Reagan?" a voice called out from not too far away. My heart started pounding louder in my chest.

"Voice?" I called out. My eyes searched the street before me for any sign of a person, but I came up with nothing really. What was I really expecting to find? Who else would actually be out walking at one in the morning, let alone a person who knew me. Shelby and Louise were probably still up in their new room debating how to set up their stuff in order to get "the most room for activities." I felt my eyes roll at the thought. It took Molly and I a solid ten minutes to put everything into a state that we liked.

A chuckle came from behind me, "I'm behind you."

"I knew that," I replied back slowly, turning on my heels to see either Lukas or Markus standing not that far behind me with a black hoodie and some dark jeans. Then again, it was night after all so he could have been wearing any shade of clothing and I'd probably classify it as dark. "Oh, you're one of the twins, right?"

He breathed out a laugh, nodding, "Um, yeah. Lukas."

"I'm sorry," I blurted out, tugging the sleeves of my hoodie down over my hands and brushing a strand of my dyed blonde hair from my mouth. I was lucky enough to be one of the few who could pull off not only brunette hair, which I was born with, but also a pretty nice shade of blonde. "I promise to learn your names soon, but you guys are just so identical, like wow."

"I could help you out with that," Lukas replied, stepping closer to me so I could make out every single detail of his face as he gazed down at me, "telling us a part I mean. There are differences. For instance, Markus smells like wet dog and feet. I smell like peanut butter and a nice pine tree." I hadn't noticed his face slowly coming closer to mine, but I just couldn't pull my eyes away from his. "Markus is also about a centimeter shorter than I am. I've been told if you look closely, I have a bit more of a honey color to my eyes than Markus does. His voice is also slightly lower than mine, but not by much."

"You have a scar too," I noted, with the small distance between us, I could make out the light hint of a scar that was about an inch long curving around the bottom of his right eye, "which I'm guessing Markus does not." A smile broke out on Lukas's face as he nodded, confirming my words to be true. "Where'd you get it?"

"That's a story for another time, Reagan," his voice sounded a bit colder, "but I would like to talk to you about why you're walking around outside at one in the morning. It isn't safe."

"Oh," I shifted my arms, tightening them around my torso, "Molly woke me up with her snoring, but don't tell her I told you that, and I couldn't fall back asleep with the sound of a chainsaw ringing in my ears, so I decided why not go for a walk."

"You could have gotten hurt," he inched closer to me and this time I felt his body up against mine lightly. He couldn't come any closer without this situation becoming increasingly intimate.

"But I didn't, Lukas," I reminded him, taking a small step back just to get some space, "and I haven't even seen any sign of real life out here since I saw a random guy walking around giggling to himself." Lukas, noticing the separation, took the time to remove it once again, but this time wrapping his arms around my body. "I really am fine. You don't have to be so close, you know."

"So you couldn't sleep, huh?" He asked, nuzzling his nose into the top of my hair.

"You can let me go, Lukas, I'm safe."

"Call me Luke," his voice sounded huskier.

"Okay then, Luke," he let out a sound that oddly enough sounded like a soft growl, but a content growl if that was even possible, "you can seriously let me go. I was just heading back to my dorm anyway. You can even walk me all the way to my dorm room door if it'd settle your nerves." Lukas pulled his face from my hair, straightening his back completely. The motion was quick and sudden, making me lean my head back to examine his face. He looked alert, watching around as if someone were there. I listened closing, but I couldn't hear a thing. His arms tensed around me, tightening even. "Luke."

"You're going to stay with me and Markus tonight, Reagan," he replied, sounding rather demanding at that, "I think I just saw an animal over there. It'd make me feel a lot better if you came with me." I was about to protest and again tell him it would be fine for me to go to my own dorm, when I heard a movement in some trees a cross the street. Not far from us at all. I just nodded to him, suddenly too consumed with fear to form words. "Okay, are you okay? You're safe with me, Reagan, I promise. I would never let anything hurt you. Come with me, you know what I'll just carry you." With that and more rumbling from his end, I felt him effortlessly pick me up bridal style before we made our way back to our dorm. His scent suddenly filled all the space around me and I felt safe, safe enough to unconsciously start hiding my face against his chest. "You're adorable, Reagan."

I honestly had no intention of falling back asleep that night, but in his arms, I felt my whole body relax into a sweet state of content sleep. I'd never slept that nicely any other night of my eighteen years.