Fire and Ice

Dinner was awkward again. This time it was because I had been seated across from Delia. She was joking with her family but I knew she was upset that I left after we kissed. But if she knew that I had a feeling she and I were mates, she’d laugh in my face.

She kissed you, you know.

That means nothing.

“So, André,” Annalise said and I looked up politely. “Since you’re not allowed to be tomorrow’s moderator, you should join Delia in drawing.”

I shifted in my chair. “I dunno…. Maybe I should stick around just in case.”

Kelly laughed. “I know what I’m doing, André. You don’t need to babysit me.”

We had chosen Kelly as the moderator. She didn’t know everything that’s happened between my father and the Wolfes so she was an unbiased party. She was also a vampire and knew the rules of the battle of wits. For the battle of strength, though, the only reason we needed Kelly was to make sure my father and Logan didn’t kill each other.

I cleared my throat and looked at Delia.

“Would that be okay?” I muttered.

“Sure,” she shrugged, not looking up from her plate.

Nice going.

-

“We’ve confined her to her bedroom,” Logan told me the next morning as he rubbed the back of his neck to loosen it up. “That’s where you’ll be spending the day with her.” His eyes narrowed. “Do anything to her and I’ll kill you and your father.”

I shook my head. “I’m just going to draw.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Come on, André. I know you’re not blind and I’m not stupid.” He cleared his throat. “Should something… happen, Annalise put some-” He coughed and I shut my eyes in embarrassment. “In her nightstand.”

“This is mortifying,” I mumbled.

“Tell me about it,” he mumbled back. “She made me be the one to tell you.” He shook his head. “She’s sharp, though.”

“Could we change the subject?” I asked. “I mean, I appreciate the, er, assistance but I don’t think anything would happen. Even if it did, I wouldn’t-”

He stared at me. “You don’t know…?”

I groaned.

“This is so awkward,” we said in unison and he laughed.

“I’m just going to get ready,” he said.

“And I’ll go… yeah.”

“Okay,” he nodded and we tried to leave the office at the same time, bumping into each other.

He laughed again and I let him go first. I shook my head, still embarrassed, as I continued down the hall. Someone snatched my shoulder, though, and pulled me into a random closet. I frowned at my sister. Her eyes were bright.

“Use protection,” she begged and I groaned again.

“You, too?” I demanded. “Nothing is going to happen, Marie. She probably doesn’t feel that way about me.”

Marie rolled her eyes. “Anyone with a brain can sense the tension between the two of you. Hell, you’re probably mates.”

I flushed. “I-I don’t- I mean, I’m sure she’d- If she thought that- Not that I do, of course but-”

She giggled. “Stop embarrassing yourself and enjoy your date while the two men children fight.”

I laughed and hesitated outside of her room. I straightened my shirt and ran a hand through my hair then knocked.

“Come in,” she said.

Her voice gave away her nerves as I walked in. She bit her lip.

“Dad says we have to close the door or it won’t work,” she whispered.

I frowned. “What won’t work?”

She gestured to the floor across from her. There were two notebooks and the art kit Marie and I got her for her birthday open. I sat down and she looked at the door.

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but your dad is kind of….”

“I know,” I sighed and she stared at me. “Honestly, I think that’s the real reason your dad challenged mine,” I said. “I wasn’t allowed to say anything and I’m still not. Depending on the outcome of the challenges, though, I might be able to….”

“Magic?” she asked and I nodded, pulling on my collar.

“What do you mean about the door?”

“Oh. When we started to think that your dad was trying to take me, my mom put some protection on my room. No one can come in without my permission as long as the door is shut.”

“Useful,” I commented.

“Yeah.”

I looked at her and she looked away. I felt like a teenager again and reached for the nearest drawing utensil. Trust it to be a pink colored pencil.

“Perfect,” I mumbled.

We didn’t talk a lot while we drew. Delia kept looking at the door and I sighed.

“They can’t get hurt,” I told her and she looked at me again. “It’s one of the rules they put in place.”

“I don’t know, André,” she said, standing to stretch her legs. “The battle between two wolves is very violent. When my mom and dad were at camp, my dad had to fight for her.” She flopped onto her back. “Orvil still has the scars.”

“Who’s Orvil?”

“A bastard wolf,” she answered. “He’s from the Moone clan. I’ve met him a couple times. When my dad became the alpha, each clan was brought in for the ritual. Orvil and my dad are on speaking terms but that’s as far as it goes.” She snorted. “My mom hates him. Not only did he try to touch her, but he’s the reason my dad can make her do things.”

I remembered how Annalise stopped talking when Logan told her to be silent.

“That sounds unfair,” I said.

“Eh. If Orvil had won my mom, it would’ve been ten times worse for her.”

I walked to the window and sighed.

“Why couldn’t they have had the contest in the front yard?” I grumbled.

She laughed from behind me and I heard her typing. “My thoughts exactly.”

I put my hands in my pockets and turned around. She was scanning something into the computer and a digitized picture of one of her sketches came up on the screen. She tilted her head.

“What do you think?” she asked and I walked over.

It was a sketch of a wolf.

“Is that her?” I whispered and she sighed, putting a hand on the middle of her chest.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “She’s been… different lately.”

“What do you mean?”

“Two months ago, she got restless,” Delia answered, leaning back and swiveling in the chair to look at me. “It’s like… like if you sit for too long and you have to walk. Then she started getting angry. Now she’s agitated.”

“Why?” I asked curiously.

She looked uneasy. “Well…. I think the main reason is because she’s….” Delia sighed and shook her head. She leaned her head back so she was looking at the ceiling. “When a wolf is around their mate, several things happen. She… she’s been going through the different stages….”

I wouldn’t be surprised if my whole face was red.

“So, you’re saying that she knows your mate is somewhere nearby?” I whispered.

When she looked at me, I knew right away that she was just as sharp as her mother. Our eyes locked and I bit my lip. She stood up and walked over, looking nervous.

This is a bad idea.

I leaned forward and kissed her a little. She kissed me back immediately and my eyes closed on their own. My hands slid to her hips and she put hers behind my neck. She licked my lower lip and I acted on instinct.

The minute her tongue touched mine, I felt like someone had lit a fire inside of me. I gasped and pulled her so that every part of her body was touching mine. Our kiss quickened, becoming desperate, and she pulled gently on my hair.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I pushed her against the wall, running my hands under her shirt and she moaned, tugging on my shirt, too. I took her shirt off and she quickly tossed her bra to the side. I had never seen a woman naked before and I was momentarily distracted. Then she put her hands on my chest and ran them to my shoulders, looking confused.

I kissed her again, pressing my chest to hers. She slowly undid the button on my jeans. She wore yoga pants and I pushed them off of her.

We both shook as she pushed me to her bed. I climbed on top of her, looking down at her uncertainly. She brushed hair from my face and smiled, her lips trembling. I swallowed thickly and put my head in the crook of her neck.

Though I had no idea what I was doing, I let my body take over. I shut my eyes tightly as I moved into her and heard her whimper. When I tried to stop, though, she gripped my arms.

“Don’t,” she breathed. “Please.”

I took a deep breath then started up again. Eventually, her whimpers faded into moans that made goosebumps erupt on my skin. I ran my hands up her sides and she put one on her breast. The other she put on the back of her neck and groaned, arching her back. I wasn’t sure what was so special about that spot, but bringing her pleasure brought me pleasure and I started moving faster.

Suddenly, her body stiffened and she let out small cry of pleasure. I kept going until I reached what my mother had called an orgasm.

I rested my head on her shoulder, panting and sweating. Her chest met mine as we both tried to gather our breath.

I propped myself on my elbows and looked down at her. Her face was tired but she smiled at me. I smiled back and moved the hair away from her neck.

“I feel,” I whispered, “like….”

“Me too,” she whispered back.

“I don’t know how,” I admitted.

She lifted her head to kiss me. “Let your instincts take control.”

I blinked a few times then closed my eyes. Again, my body seemed to know what to do and I kissed down her jaw and to her neck. She gasped as I kissed just above her vein. My fangs extended and I hesitated. Was I supposed to feed? Before I could question myself, I bit into her neck briefly. Her blood was warm and delicious on my tongue and I moaned. That along brought me almost as much pleasure as making love to her.

I kissed around the bite marks until they healed. She was moving the hair from the back of my neck now, so I put my forehead on her shoulder again. She licked my neck near my spine and bit into it with all four of canines. I gasped but the pain passed in seconds.

I looked into her eyes again and brushed my nose on hers.

“So it wasn’t just my imagination,” I breathed and she laughed a little.

“No, it wasn’t.”

I smiled and kissed her, both of us giving into our bodies desires.