Feeling This...

“What happened?” I asked the millions of faces staring down at me when I opened my eyes, Mike's was not one of them and fear over took me, “Where is Mike?!” I sat up to quickly, ignoring the dizzy feeling.

“I'm right here,” I heard his voice from behind Uncle Joe, “You did so well,”

“Who was that lady?” I asked, remembering her face going from my mother's to something else all together.

“That was Cynthia, my mother,”

“She looked like she was searching for Snow White to slip her an apple,” I smiled over at Mike, even though I wasn't sure if he could see me or not at this point, I figured he must be able to, and the blind thing was a big cover up, he was always so aware of everything around him.

“The more you use magic for your own gain, the more effect it has on your body,” I remembered something from the field.

“You did that to Max?” I quickly looked at the dog on the floor, that was my third Uncle.

“He's a person?” Josie asked, sitting down beside me on the couch, she also started staring at the dog.

“Yes, he is my brother, Max,” he reached out and scratched behind Max's ears, “He used magic to make his crush fall in love with him,”

“And you made him a dog?” I asked outraged, not understanding how that was fair, “Can't you just undo the spell?”

“And what kind of consequence is that?” Josie asked my Uncle, clearly she had no fear of the witch in the chair either. Or we didn't know when to hold our tongue, I noted that none of the guys were asking questions.

“It was a much better choice than the other, do you think he would choose to stay with me if I treated him poorly? There is nothing holding him here, he is free to go if he pleases,” Mike took his hand off the dog as he got up on all fours and started over towards Josie and I, hopped up on the couch and ran his rough tongue down my cheek, then turned to Josie and ran it up hers. “He seems to like you two, maybe you two will inherit him,”

“No, no dog, no person dog!” Matt finally spoke.

“That sounds a little like the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?” Josie questioned her Alpha.

“He always liked you when you were younger too,” that stopped me.

“You knew me when I was little?” I looked over to the dog, then realized how stupid I must of looked talking to a dog and turned my attention back towards Mike, “Did you too?”

“Don't be absurd, of course we did,” he pointed towards a picture on the wall, one I had never noticed before, not that I had time to examine the house, “Born with more hair than any child I had seen before, as white as the snow, and eyes so big and bright the man on the moon was jealous himself,” the picture was of my dad, holding a small baby wrapped in a pink blanket, a tuff of blonde hair standing out, Mike, with only one patch on his eye, and another man, considerably younger than the other two, he was also the only one not looking at the the camera, he was smiling down at the baby, me.

In the hallway beside the picture stood Brian, glaring at it, a look of disgust on his face and my heart, which I was sure was just beating stopped seeing him, instantly the cracks of yesterdays conversation with him imprinted back onto it.

“I need some air,” I informed everyone standing up, when another thought came into my mind, “Is it safe? Can Charles find me again?”

“No, here you are always safe,” he smiled while Max came to lay by his feet again.

“I thought you said she banished him?” Matt's rage filled the room.

“She did, out of that space, she didn't kill him,”

–

I had been laying outside so long I swear I had seen all the season, but then I remembered it was Seattle and it was normal for the temperatures to go from 80 to 30 in a matter of hours and the rain to come and go two times.

I heard the front door open and Max came running out and laid down on the grass beside me, and I heard more foot steps behind him, who I assumed would be Mike.

“Seeing if you had frozen to death yet,” A blanket dropped on me and Brian sat down on the grass a good ways away from me.

“Not yet, you're not that lucky,” I quickly looked over at the guitarist before turning my head towards the stars again.

“Listen, that shit yesterday,”

“That shit yesterday, was real, I felt it, so don't try and sugar coat it today,” I started blinking rapidly, trying not to let tears fall that he didn't deserve.

“But I didn't mean it the way it sounded,” he huffed and I saw him lay back against the grass out of my peripheral.

“How did you mean them then?” usually this was the time anger took over, I didn't feel any emotion in that moment. Brian was remaining calm as well, like we had broken something between us for good.

“I thought you were feeling what I was feeling, finally,” he confessed, “then it all was a part of some master plan to get away, to some place I would of taken you if you had asked,”

“You would of never brought me here,” Max wiggled further into my side, seeking heat.

“Yes, I would have, don't you get it, I'd do anything you really wanted,” I felt a twinge of something but then it quickly went away again.

“You would of driven me, to Seattle, to find some man my DEAD mother told me to find, with the only clue I had was internet shopping,”

“Well, we would of found another way to do it, a more planned out way,” I thought I heard a smile in his voice.

“I don't plan, anything...I act first, think later; it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. I speak before my brain even knows what I'm going to say, sometimes I shock myself by what I do and say,”

“I get that, I don't need to be told that, I've watched it happen,”

“So when I wake up at three am and steal a truck, go to Seattle, or go to witches and dig up graves, it's not because it's what I THINK I need to do, it's because it's what I need to do,”

“And I need a plan,”

“I didn't plan to kiss you, or lead you on that night,” my usual word vomit came spewing out of my mouth, “the only plan I had was to get your keys, everything else just happened,” I took a breath, “I didn't know if I was going to the real Mike, or Charles and I needed to be with you before I left, even if it was the five minute ride,” I still didn't look at him.

“I plan everything out with you, because I can't stop thinking about you,” he confessed.

“Friends again?” I asked, nerves took over and I started counting the stars,

“No,” I stopped breathing, “We will never be friends, that word will never be strong enough for what this is,” a calloused hand was in front of my face, reaching out to help me up, and deep brown eyes were blocking out the stars, but they were more beautiful than any starry sky had ever been; when our cold hands touched it was like plugging a dead computer in, everything came back, our emotions, his still indescribable scent, what I'd like to think as gps, everything was back. We keep holding hands as he pulled me up off the ground, both of us were wearing matching smiles.

“But don't think your still not in deep shit for stealing my truck,”

“Shut the hell up,” I ordered him, pulling his body towards mine so our lips could touch.