Pathways

We hadn’t talked much after that. Clearly I had hit a soft spot for him and I made a mental note to try not to talk about his family. That shouldn’t be too hard, I mean I was curious about how a family worked but it shouldn’t be too hard to avoid something I never had. That was how I’ve always worked; I will definitely be able to avoid this. Maybe not forever, but until he was ready to talk to someone about it. I’ll let him lead us into the things he wants to talk about, I don’t know much about him so I didn’t want to say something that would offend him.

Now that the tent was down and the fire was out we were back to hiking through the woods. He was a few steps ahead of me this time and he was lugging the tent around again. I offered the blanket to him once more but he just brushed me off and flashed me a crooked smile.

After that we practically walked in silence for half the way. I felt ashamed for some reason. I felt like I was invading his space, I feel like it was my entire fault that he was being cold to me now. I just need to learn to not butt my head into things that I didn’t understand.

So instead of dwelling on that fact that I felt like a complete asshole, I simply tried to get my mind off from it. My eyes tried counting the trees we passed, and when lost count tree times I gave up and just decided to look at the forest. It was probably one of the last times I would see the towering pine trees and falling snow. It was gorgeous, honestly a sight that I would never forget. The falling snow looked like marshmallows raining from the sky and it littered the ground like fallen clouds. Snow was wonderful; it was probably the one thing that I would miss besides Roe. It was beautiful and even when it was fading into a slushy mush it was still pretty. My icy blue eyes looked up to the bright blue sky, snow was still falling lightly and it now sprinkled the green needles of the pine trees.

“Rose?” Darren hummed, with a small grin I looked back to him. He wasn’t facing my yet and was still walking quite quickly. All I could really see of him was the back of his winter hat and the tent that he was lugging on his back. To my surprise he wasn’t shivering anymore and he seemed comfortable about where he was at.

“Ya?” I mumbled, looking back up at the pine trees.

He didn’t talk again until I found myself running straight into him. He had stopped without me knowing and because of me looking at the trees I never did. My body ran straight into the tent and granted enough force for me to fall back onto my butt. With a giggle I looked up at him and seen him ready to help me up with his own laughter. I took his chilling hand and allowed him to pull me out of the snow and back onto my feet.

“Sorry.” I smiled sheepishly, blushing and trying to hide it by looking at my feet. My heel dug into the snow, trying to forget that I had run into him.

Darren’s fingers captured my chin and he pulled my face back up. I knew what was going to happen before he did it, and I didn’t stop him for some odd reason. His soft lips pushed against my in a soft kiss. Fireworks exploded in my stomach and almost instantly I was kissing back. My eyes closing and leaning against him. It was so wonderful. A first kiss that was intertwined with his scent was simply wonderful. I never imagined that my fire kiss would be with my mate, let alone this wonderful. Although I still didn’t understand why I was letting this happen, shouldn’t I get to know him first? Make sure that I really wanted him?

Sometime during our kissing he had managed to back me up against a tree. My arms found their way around his neck to pull him closer. Moving my lips against his in a way that I didn’t understand. It was like instinct to kiss him back. It felt so right to be this close to him. Darren seemed to be as into the kiss as I was. In fact he seemed move into it, he wolf side was dominating and he was probably letting it take over. His hands roamed from my chin to my shoulders, and eventually they traveled lower. As our lips moved together I found myself feeling his cold hands travel down my sides over my curves. That’s when I began to get nervous, I mean this was my kiss and it was clear that nothing even remotely sexual has happened to me. I didn’t know how it worked, I didn’t understand anything. When his hands traveled to my hips I broke the kiss with a gasp. He didn’t really notice I had pulled away, in fact his lips continued moved my throat. My body shuddered underneath his lips, I think it was more or less from nervousness then it was excitement. Don’t get me wrong though, I was very excited.

“Mh, Darren…” I whimpered, his hands traveling lower along with his lips. I felt his breath against my collar bone. Shit. “Darren, stop.” My hands found his shoulders and I pushed him away a bit. That’s when he caught himself. He pulled away from me, his breathing a little heavy and his eyes shameful. In an instant he was away from me, backing up a bit and holding up his hands.

“Oh crap…I-I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” He mumbled.

I froze against the tree and I felt the bark of it push against my back, also holding my hands up. “No its okay, it’s not your fault I’m just….well…” How do you explain to your mate, whom you’re supposed to be…sexual with that you’ve never had anything to do with another man. Would he be happy that no one else had touched me or would he just see it as another thing he had to deal with because of me. Crap, I’m really over thinking this. “Darren I-…” I just sighed and leaned against the tree, giving up explaining.

My eyes looked up at him, kind of ashamed of myself. He had lowered his hands now and was just looking at me with an amused look. “Are you shy, darling?”

My face heated up more and I swear it was probably the shade of a freaking tomato. “No!”

He chuckled a little and then walked back over to me, placing a hand on either skin of my head making me sink back into the tree with embarrassment. He attached his lips to my jaw line and I shuddered once more. “That’s kind of cute, I never expected my mate to be shy.”

I pursed my lips and pushed him away once more. “Well she is so back off bud.” I snarled at him, baring my teeth a bit. That simply made him smile a bit more.

He laughed a little and leaned back. “Oh Rose, its okay. I won’t push you, and if I do just do the same thing you did now. I understand.” He tousled my hair a bit then laughed again, walking back the way we originally were. Great, now I’ve got a horny playboy for a mate. He has just proved to me that he had women at the snap of his fingers. Or at least enough to not be a virgin. I feel like he is going to push me, but I guess it doesn’t really matter he is my mate and I don’t have a say in the matter.

A sigh escaped my chest, what am I going to do. We’re going to get to his pack and they are already going to assume we’re having sex. It’s going to happen sooner or later, but how can I get ready for it? Shit, I’m nervous now…I have a feeling I’m going to screw this up. Will I screw the idea of Darren and I being happy together as well?