The forest is unusually still, even while it’s so full of life, of threats… of her. It’s oddly terrifying to be back and unsettled in this unnatural way. The forest was a place of peace, even before he met Aislyn, but now it was nearing its end; ready to die, to erase them all. Energy whispered from all around him, calling him forward and pushing him backward as if they were there, in the bay itself makes Derek nervous. The thought that another cataclysmic event could bestow itself upon the land such as calling out the rings of limbo once more was horrifying. He wondered, idly, if anyone thought along the same lines; if anyone knew exactly who they were messing with by keeping him from her. As he neared their clearing he found Aislyn in the middle of it, sitting right in the dirt with her knees bent up to her chest, just like she always used to. ‘Sweetheart,” he murmured to himself. She wrapped her arms around them tightly and rested her head down on them. Derek knew that look
Aislyn’s eyes met his once more and dipping down to kiss her was all he could do. There was nothing else. Just the two of them in this holy place underneath the most beautiful sky. Her lips are so soft and willing, cradling his own with the same love and desire as before all of this. Goddess, he whimpered in his mind as she accepted him only further. His love pulled back only slightly, her lips still leaning against his as she spoke. “I love you so much,” she whispered. “Felt too much. It was terrifying.” “I’m so sorry you did so much alone,” he apologized. “If I could go back and fix it…” “It’s better this way,” she promised, kissing him soundly. Her fingers loosened then, worrying him as she went, regardless of how she still hung hungrily from his lips. No… no, no… He stepped forward, closing the small gap between them. His arms reached for her, landing on her waist first to steady them where they stood. Aislyn’s kiss deepened as she moaned against his lips, her body follow
“I don’t know,” Derek replied, rolling back onto his back. There was so much that was wrong with being there in the first place; too many reasons that shoved him off onto his own. “There was never really a place for me, Zane. All of the family shit… I don’t know.” He could hear the way his brother was going to let him have it. Every conversation about coming back was the same. We are one, together, and so on… It really did hurt when his position was so badly mocked despite the protection he provided. “I think we’ll take our chances out in the untouched spaces,” Aislyn replied, making chills run up his back. She knew him so well. “Right,” Zane replied. “Fall is approaching fast,” he began. “You don’t have to worry about us,” she promised. “We’re all we need.” Her eye caught Candice’s beside her after. “Excuse me,” Aislyn murmured and left her perch. Her warmth left with her as she went to assess her friend’s concern. Derek watched her as she approached her situation. “Beside
In the months to come, life outside became colder still. When the first snow fell, she wistfully snuggled against his soft fur, nestled comfortably in their bed which now was layered with animal skins and smelled entirely of their combined scents. Aislyn smiled at the fact. Her love truly did support her and their wishes to be alone, on their own, free from society. It was bliss. While his warmth never cooled, their life would need to shift. Plenty of animals would be on the move, looking for food or getting ready for hibernation. The thought that they’d need to do the same and leave the home they built together for survival burned her deeply. There were other times she felt the same burn deep in her chest, but this one was different. It spread. It pricked at her entire consciousness and jolted her forward towards him. “Calm down, baby girl,” Derek hummed against her skin. His wet nose brushed against the nape of her neck as if it was searching for something. How she wished he’d
=====Derek=====The bass is deep enough to feel coarse through his bones as he moves through the night club, Sirens. It was just like any other wanna-be lounge out there in Larrissa’s Bay, focused mainly on the sea. Why they were there was beyond him. Derek rolled his shoulders as he tried to regain some sort of comfort in the stiff leather seating that sectioned off the floor. As he panned away from his pack mates getting comfortable among the dancers, Derek crossed his arms, one over the other as if he was the Alpha to please.It didn’t matter to him that he wasn’t in the running for Alpha. It was a tireless, thankless job. Except for nights like these when they were evicted from the pack house to make room for one of their couples to consummate their mateship within the home. It’s been the way they’ve done things for as long
That was fine to throw in his face. He did reject the female after all. In fact, it became the thing he was known for. Many took on Zane’s challenge, trying to please him, but all would fail. They just weren’t what he was looking for. None of them were, and it ticked Zane off, apparently.“How does that matter?” Derek forced out as the music’s pulse began to build up again.Zane threw up his hand signaling for two drinks to be served and he was fixed with them immediately. The amber liquid shown in the soft golden hue of the bar soon drowned in the dark as if it were never there and the faintest glint off of the ice promised it was safe to think that he was in trouble. No one, not even Zane’s mother, got a drink so easily.
Derek grimaced as he turned away from Zane to look down at Maleki who was ten seconds from howling in ecstasy. If he did, the dancer would be his for life, human or not. And while the wolf’s choices shouldn’t matter to Derek, per se, he knew what it was like. His love didn’t know what she was saying, or how she was locked to his heart, but still she howled with him. Aislyn…“Aislyn…” he heard her name the same time it rang through his thoughts.That wasn’t real. He couldn’t have heard that, he told himself.Despite how he wanted to tell Maleki not to howl when he came, the opportunity slipped away from him. Derek turned to follow the continuance of the nearly one sided conversation between some woman and someone,
Aislyn’s words sang to them all about how they were her individual saviors, keeping their focus up at the ceiling until the light stopped racing up to her platform. The cloth that was there, quickly released into a ring of fire, disorienting them further.Still, Derek kept his eyes on Aislyn. He knew her style was less about theatrics and more about how she felt. All he needed to see was the lift of her palm to know for sure.Just as she did, Derek lost his breath.She used to do that and claim she was feeling for him. His aura was something she could reach for regardless of being a human, and she wanted him around. Granted, he never showed her his human form, Derek reminded himself and fear set in. She wouldn’t know him if he approached her. It