A Blessing or a Curse

Chapter Ten: Tattoos and Eyes of Gold

I absolutely hated bi-polar weather. It was spring, why couldn’t it just stay nice outside for the rest of the season with an occasional rainy day? Yesterday it was damn near 85 degrees and today it was 63. I hadn’t anticipated that at all, you could tell since I was wearing jean shorts and flip flops with a plain red tee shirt.

I had been waiting about twenty minutes at the creek me and Carter usually met, but he hadn’t made an appearance yet. I wondered if Valentino had told him what I said. Did Valentino even really know Carter? Was his name really even Carter?

I was so lost in my thoughts until something snapped me out of it. I heard a snap of a twig which made me shoot up looking around. I took a whiff of the air trying to catch what the scent was and then I recognized it. Rogue.

I low growl slowly but loudly escaped my lips warning whomever that was I wasn’t fucking around. Just then a large man with a hairy bare chest wearing nothing my jean shorts came out of the woods. His eyes were bloodshot, his body hair and his wild brown hair full of twigs and grass. He was obviously wild and unkempt. Your stereotypical rogue.
“What do you want?” I growled at him.

He just let out a loud, robust laugh which made me flinch in shock. Why was he laughing at me? “You are much like the little dog…ehhh…Chihuahua! So small, so cute but how bad can your bite possibly be? To a pit-bull like me at least.” He had a thick and foreign accent, somewhere from South America.
I glowered at him and huffed out stubbornly. “Never underestimate someone. A lot can surprise you.” I attempted to sound intimidating.
“Oh?” he mocked me. “Surprise me.”

It was then, when I smelt him. His mouth-watering chocolaty scent filled my nostrils making me almost want to moan. I was surprised that it wasn’t my wolf this time. It was him. Actually him.

He slowly appeared from out of the woods and stood right between the rogue and me at least four feet away from both of us. He glared at the man his fist clenching and unclenching. They just stood there in a strong stance ready to attack at any moment, until the rogue spat something at my mate in a language I couldn’t understand or make out. My mate replied in a lower but just as rude tone. They had a short argument for a moment until the rogue glared at me eyes full of rage and left.

I was in shock, he had come out of nowhere and with just a short conversation he was gone. I expected rogues to be ruthless and careless of what anyone said. Apparently whatever he had said scared the rogue off. For now at least.
I turned to face Carter whose eyes were drifting from my face to my body as if he were looking for something.
He was everything I expected but still a total and complete shock at the same time. I did expect a devilishly handsome guy and I most definitely got that. But something about him just was so…different.

“C-carter…” my heart was pounding out of my mind and I tried to suppress the lusty feeling I was getting by looking at him. “That you?”
He looked me up and down with those gorgeous golden eyes with an adorable, perfect smile on his thin pink lips. “Lolita…” his voice was low and husky. It literally sent shivers up my spine.

He took a step toward me and opened his long, muscular, and heavily tattooed arms for me to hug him. Instinctively, my wolf taking over I jumped up and ran into his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face into his black v-neck tee shirt. I deeply inhaled his scent and I felt him do the same as he buried his face in my golden brown curls. “Are you alright? Did that bastard touch you?”
I just shook my head and closed my eyes and snuggled my face closer into him, “No…” my voice came out muffled. “You saved my ass right on time.”

I looked up at him and smiled. I seriously couldn’t believe I lucked out in getting a mate this hot. He had straight black hair that he styled upwards, and the sides of his head were slightly shaven and sun-kissed tanned skin and a pink, healed scar that began above his right eyebrow that made its way down in a diagonal line to his lower left cheek. He was perfect. “Hi.” I murrmed softly.

He smiled down at me and brushed a curl out of my face.

“Hey.” He walked over to log, my hand in his and he sat on it placing me right next to him.
“I can’t believe this is you…” I stared at him in awe. I looked down at his tattoos and began to lightly skim my fingers on them.
“Are you disappointed?” he asked. I looked up from the tattoos on his arms and back up at him. I expected him to be frowning but he had a sly grin on his face.
I shrugged and pretended to think about it for a moment. “Eh…I hoped you’d be a bit taller that’s all.”
He smirked and took my hand in his brushing his large thumb over my knuckles. “6’4 isn’t enough for you Princess?”
My heart skipped a beat when he called me princess. Pet names were always cute in my opinion. “6’5 would’ve been better.” I jokingly said. “But I suppose you shall do.”
“I hate that I didn’t meet up to your standards.” He displayed a fake pouting face with adorable puppy-dog eyes.
I just shrugged. “We can’t all be perfect now can we?”
He placed his hand under my chin and made me look him in the eyes. “You seem to be.” His touch sent a thousand electric jolts throughout my body and a cool shiver down my spine.
My cheeks heated up and I awkwardly bit my bottom lip and looked away. After a moment of silence I finally asked, “Why are you showing me yourself now?”
He looked at the ground and shrugged. “I was originally suppose to come here as wolf but while I was on my way I caught your scent and his and I figured maybe I could just get Alexander to just leave and-”
“Wait, you know him?”
He sighed and nodded. “Long story…anyway if I came all wolf he’d take it as a threat so I just talked him out of hurting you basically.”
“Oh, well what did you say that made him leave?” I asked him my curiosity taking the best of me. “What would make him want to listen to you anyway?”
Carter paused for a moment until he finally said, “It’s just…he and I…we try not to fuck with each other anymore. It’d be stupid for him to take the risk and hurt you. He knows what I am capable of.”
“And that would be…?”
“You ask a lot of questions.” He smiled at me and brushed my hair out of my face tucking it behind my ear.
I frowned slightly. I didn’t want to annoy him already. That was the last of my intentions. I did ask a lot of questions. I was like a child at sometimes, I didn’t mean to be so curious I just was. Did he think I talk too much? Did he hate people who talk too much? I know I certainly did. “Sorry…”
“No, I like it. I like to hear you talk.” He paused for a second. “Your voice is nice. I like the sound of it.”
“Thank you. You know when I told Valentino to tell you to meet me here today I thought-”
“When you met Valentino…he didn’t try anything. Right?” he cut me off and slightly narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw making him look all the more irresistible.
“Why?” I raised my eyebrow at him and let a smirk form upon my lips. “Would you be jealous if he did?”
He squinted his eyes slightly and chuckled. “Oh princesses…don’t play with fire. Don’t feed a wild flame.”

He said it with a look in his eye as if he knew something and I didn’t, which made me wonder what type of guy he was. Even though he was my mate didn’t mean he wasn’t a murderer, or a rapist, or a straight disturbed person. He could be anything. He might have some serious skeletons in his closet and some serious repenting to do.

What would he do if Valentino did try something on me? I mean Valentino was his “best friend” or so Valentino said, how much harm can you do to your best friend? I know I couldn’t hurt Ashelle intentionally. Did he expect Valentino to try something? What kind of person was Valentino? I mean that would say a lot about Carter since Valentino is his best friend. ‘Show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are’ was a saying but it had a lot of truth to it.
Well, what better way to find out then to mess with Carter? I decided to continue teasing him. “What?” I asked innocently trying to pout my lip in a seductive manner. “It was just a question that’s all.”
He chuckled and shook his head and was silent for a moment, his eyes flickering to my face to the ground back and forth.
“Why didn’t you show yourself before?” I asked him the hurt evident in my voice.
“Because…I…” he didn’t answer my question, he just looked me in the eyes thoughtfully. “Do you know who I am?”
“My mate.” I answered with a prideful smile on my face. I brought my hand up to his face and cupped his cheek “Carter.”
“I’m a rogue…” he placed his large hand over my much smaller one, “Technically.”

I wasn’t exactly shocked when he told me this. I had a gut feeling he didn’t belong to a pack. You could tell he was wilder than most. Just the vibe he let off. That he was different and dangerous.

But I didn’t care. He was my mate. I mean I don’t know if I could handle it if he was a cold-hearted, vicious, selfish killer but I doubted he was. Most rogues honestly couldn’t be. I mean, I can see why some people would like to travel and be on their own. Having to answer to an Alpha and follow rules can be irritating, especially if the Alpha isn’t even a good one. Some werewolves want to go out on their own and be free. They can’t all be bad. Can they? Not Carter at least? He can’t be bad.

“What do you mean technically?” I asked him.
“Eh, it’s not important right now. All that’s important is that my princess is here with me.” he shrugged off the question. He began playing with my hair lightly tugging on one of my brown curls and let it spring back up and repeated that over and over. “I love your hair.”
“Don’t make this a habit.” I lifted his chin to draw his attention back at me. “Not answering my questions. You never do.”
“Well I’ll tell you one thing. About us rogues.” He lowered his voice which sent a shiver up my spine and my heart beat double time. “We’re bad, bad news…most of the time.”
“W-what do you mean?” I breathed out nervously. “Why are you bad news?”
“I didn’t say I was. Don’t jump to conclusions princess.” He had an impish smirk on his face that made my stomach flutter.
“You still didn’t answer my question.” I frowned at him.
He chuckled, “Ask me a question and I’ll answer it honestly.”
“How come you kept hiding yourself?” I demanded more than asked.
“Except that.” He replied quickly. What was he hiding?
“What’re you hiding?” I echoed my thoughts. His eyes flickered from my hair to my eyes.
“I like your eyes.” He trailed his thumb from my cheekbone to the side of my right eye. “They’re so different. Purple…”
“Violet.” I corrected. “And what are you hiding Carter?”
“Ask me another question.” He ignored my question. I sighed and pouted hoping he’d give in but after a moment I gave up. I’ll figure out what he’s hiding some other time.
“What language was that? The one you were speaking with that guy?”I asked him.
“Portuguese.” He answered.
“You’re from Portugal?” I wasn’t exactly all that interested but I wanted to get to know him.
“Nah, I was born here in America,” he replied “But my mother and father were born in Brazil and so was that man. They speak Portuguese there.”
“Oh” was all I said and we were silent again for a moment until he decided to break it.
“You speak French right? You called me rude in French that one time, remember?” he had a soft smile on his lips.
I smiled back and nodded at him. “Oui, I do speak French. My mother was born in France and came here to America when she was 19.”
“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?” he sloppily said trying to add the stereotypical accent to it.
I rolled my eyes and pushed him playfully. “Crétin.” I giggled calling him a moron.
“Do you know what I said?” he asked testing me.
“You asked me to have sex with you tonight.” I replied. “I know the language and everyone knows that. Wasn’t it from some famous song or movie?”
He shrugged and wrapped an arm around my shoulder “How do you say mate in French?” he asked me.
I thought about it for a moment and shrugged. “Copain…but it’s more of a friend thing…not a soul mate-mate.”
“Oh, well, how do you say beautiful?” he asked me as he continued playing with the curls of my hair.
“Belle,” I answered him. I started picking grass from the earth, “You say Belle.”
“Hmm…belle.” He muttered quietly under his breath. “In Portuguese we say belíssima.”
“Belíssima,” I repeated him. “Belíssima, that’s so pretty. So belíssima!”

He chuckled and shook his head lightly. He opened his mouth to say something but my ringtone cut him off. I reached into my back pocket and took out my iPhone and checked the caller I.D. It was Damien.

I lightly gasped in shock. Since yesterday he’s been ignoring all my texts and calls and now all of the sudden he is calling me back. I look at Carter apologetically and say “I kinda need to take this. It’s really important. Do you mind?”
He shook his head and began toying with my curls once again as I answered Damien’s call.

“Damien…?” I said in almost a whisper. I heard a low growl come from Carter next to me but I just ignored it. It was probably because I was talking to another guy.
“Lolita, hey…” he slowly greeted me. “Sorry I didn’t answer your calls and what not yesterday…umm a lot has been going on with the Alpha and my dad…They needed my help and I’m still trying to cope…”
“No, I totally understand. Listen are you okay? Is everything alright?” I tucked my hair behind my ear and waited his for response. There was silence for a moment and it made me incredibly nervous and guilty. The boy had just lost his best friend and I practically abandoned him. I had a lot of things to set straight with him.
“To be honest no. Look, I was hoping I could see you sometime soon. Please? I want to see you.” He paused for a second and continued. I heard another growl come out from Carter but it was low enough that Damien couldn’t hear. “I need to see you. I miss your beautiful face.”

I bit my lip uncomfortably and sighed. The second I landed eyes on Carter all my feelings and attractions for Damien melted immediately. My two-year crush was over with. I honestly had no interest in being with Damien romantically. I honestly didn’t know how that can be since I officially met Carter not even twenty minutes ago but it was true. I didn’t want Damien.

“We need to talk…” I let out another sigh, this one out of guilt. He had just lost his best friend. I didn’t want to make anything worse by putting him in the friend zone. But it had to be done. I didn’t believe in leading someone on. It was wrong and painful. It’s been done to me countless times since I was a kid.
“Look, tomorrow after school meet me near the soccer field and we’ll talk. Okay?”
“Is something wrong Lolita?” he almost whispered slowly into the phone. I could tell he was nervous.

I debated whether or not I should tell him what’s really up now, but I figured that’d be a foolish decision. If I were to break things off over the phone I wouldn’t know what to say or how to say it. Plus I had a rogue mate who could possibly be irrational and crazy and do something like find Damien and kill him for ever being with me.

Male werewolves were possessive, jealous and seriously territorial of their mates. Of everything to be honest. I’ve seen it myself my whole life. When I was younger I didn’t understand why my dad would sometimes get into fights or arguments with strangers who gave my mother certain looks but I sure as hell do now. My older brother was the same before he died. My uncle acts this way as well over my aunt.
I couldn’t imagine what a wild, jealous rogue would do. I didn’t want to imagine it either. If Carter was anything like most rogues he’d be ruthless and careless. I didn’t want Damien to get hurt. Or even Carter.
“I just um really need to speak to you. In person. And today I can’t so please? Tomorrow after school?” I sighed again. I needed to tell him the truth. I didn’t want to lead things on with Damien now that I’ve found Carter.
“Sure…” he answered sounding almost unsure whether or not he should agree to seeing me or not. “See you then I guess.”
“Bye.” I hung up the phone and tucked it into my back pocket again.
“Whose Damien? Why is he so desperate to see your beautiful face again?” Carter practically growled. His gorgeous golden eyes had specks of black in them threatening to let his wolf out.
“It’s nothing.” I gave him a small smile and started fingering his tattoos. “He’s just some boy.” I assured him.
“Why do you need to see him?” he asked me his eyes narrowed together.
“A little jealous are we? Possessive, hm?” I teased him a slight smirk across my lips.
Carter scoffed and placed a smirk of his own on his lips. “You’re lucky you’re cute.” He murrmed and tugged on another one of my golden brown curls and eyed it as it sprang back up. I couldn’t stop the heat that creeped up on my cheeks making me blush.
Just then my phone vibrated and I sighed and reached from my back pocket and checked the text message.
It was my aunt ‘Ou etes-vous?’ Where are you
I sighed and replied, ‘I went for a run. I’ll be home soon, give me vingt minutes.’ I responded telling her to give me 20 minutes.’

I put my phone away and smiled apologetically at Carter. “I have to go, I’m sorry.”
He frowned and pressed his eyebrows together. “Why? Who was that?”
“My aunt, I need to go. I’ll see you soon? Right?” I asked hopefully.
He nodded and pulled me into a hug. “Most definitely. Tomorrow at 6, since you wanna see that douche bag Damien after school.” He said into my hair. I could feel him inhaling my scent but I didn’t mind. I took in his chocolaty scent as well.
“Bye.”

He placed a sweet kiss onto my forehead and that’s when my heart started to beat quicker. His lips felt so incredibly soft and I wished I had the balls to place my own lips onto his. “Goodbye princess.”

That very night I left the curtains of my window open and stared at the crescent moon in the sky. It seemed to glow even brighter and much more beautifully than usual. I couldn’t get him out of my head. It’s like I was addicted to the thought of him.
His enticing smell, and his gentle touch and the sound of his voice like music to my ears; he was perfect. I wondered what he was doing this very moment, if he was sleeping, what was he dreaming of?
I so badly wanted to see him again.
I looked at the clock and sighed. ‘2: 13’. It was going to be hell when I woke up the next morning.
I decided to put all my thoughts aside and go to sleep thinking of him. His tattoos and eyes of gold