I was hard to read because I liked it that way. The only people who saw into the first layer were Ma and Seth, and then there was Ms C. Call’s Mom had broken her way into that level years ago, and she refused to leave. And now her son was the first in years to have some how managed to do the same.
Biting on the inside of my cheeks, I let those thoughts settle for a moment before listening to him ramble about the girls he took home.
-
“Well you don’t have to worry about those talks here… I’ve seen plenty of guys like you. I’m kind of surrounded by them on a daily bases.”
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the full truth. Nobody in the pack had done what Embry Call had. He’d looked when others didn’t. And for some reason that make my stomach do that twisting thing again.
“You and I both know too well how much this tribe likes to talk.” Raising my eyebrow I shook my head.
-
Not wanting to bring up his last scandal with the so called married woman. Seth and I hadn’t paid it any attention. Spirits I hadn’t even brought it up. Because it was none of anyone’s business. And he knew all about what was said about me.
“Hmm… Yeah… We are sitting on six right now.” Was that too much? Or was it not enough?
@HotHeadSheWolf
I wanted to tell her that this wasn't like any of that. This wasn't like anything thing I had ever done or felt before.
"I'm not worried, Leah..." and the feeling of saying that out loud made me smile because it brought on the next thought that I voiced. "But I'm leaving either..." I bite my and laughed because it was insane! And I liked it. "I mean I will have to at some stage... But I'm really hoping this list of rules means you want me to come back." What other purpose >
@HotHeadSheWolf < would they serve? Right?
We had both been on the wrong end of rumours and small-town mentality before... it just that more often than not mine were mostly true... just with a few embellishments.
"Okay then... so... we are both new to this whole thing, right? What about... No walking away from each other in a disagreement? Neither of us is great with unresolved conflict... I mean look at what happened tonight because I didn't step up and tell Jake how I felt." I added. I >
Why was it so obvious now that he was trying to give me what I needed? When I took the time to take him in, I could now see and notice those small bites to his lips, the way his eyes lit up or grew a little dull depending on what he was saying.
There were those small movements and the way he took his time to consider what was being said. This wasn’t the Embry Call I knew before.
The spirits story came to mind, when they told me about his journey and -
how I was to help by letting him spread his wings. This was Embry Call now spreading his wings? And the Spirits couldn’t have giving me a heads up about this? About how we would be here today?
“Hmm?” What did he say about not being worried? “Do I need to reintroduce you to myself? I mean…” I pointed behind me to the spot where I knocked his arse to the ground. “You’re not leaving and your not worried?”
Shifting on my feet, -
I stepped forward to sit back down but stopped at his next question. Did I want him to come back. “Like you haven’t been yo-yoing your way back to my door as it is.”
Taking a seat now, I rubbed my hands over my thighs. “No leaving on a fight?” Didn’t that mean… “So, you’re planning on fighting and sticking around for the aftermath too?” Spirits that was a good rule. One you should have no matter what. -
“I can agree on that… that’s rule seven…. And I have one.” The thought a oh fighting brought it to mind.
“If one of us sees the other knocked on their arse with the pack…. We will have faith that we can deal with it. Pack first. Keep your head in the right place. So, we will always reach a hand out, to pick the other up. But have the faith to know we can handle ourselves when it matters.”
@HotHeadSheWolf
She was looking at me now like she was looking for a way in. and I tried to think like when there was nothing in my head I needed to hide... the way I had been able to after Jake helped me lock away those pieces of my life. Like I had before I strayed off of the Spirit's path.
"I'm not saying I'm totally naive here. I know I 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 be worried but... I just..._ I shrugged. "I'm just not." I knew what I was feeling but I was fairly certain saying so would have her shoving me >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< out the door.
I was excited, there was electricity in the air, I was hopeful. I was on the right path... I just knew it. "I spent a year doing that with Mom because I couldn't tell her the truth... I resented lying all the time. So I would just leave. I don't want to do that again..." I chewed on my lip. "With anyone."
Her next words made me beam... I flashed back to the cliffs and Leah taking my hand. I stepped closer to her now. "Now that one... I like." I held >
Something hard hit me in my chest. The air was still a smooth breeze in the space around me, so I knew it wasn’t the spirits.
I knew when I felt it, but to acknowledge it wasn’t easy for me. My eyes drifted to the wall for a moment as the memory of Ms. C, overhearing the conversations with Ma. And the pain she has gone through. And then on the other hand, hearing or seeing those fights from Embry’s point of view too.
“I always respected you for taking that stand. -
For wanting to protect your mom from knowing.” This wasn’t a lie, I saw the look in Ma’s eyes. When she didn’t know if she was going to see her kids ever again. Knowing what was out there to hurt people. And how different it could have been, if I could protect her from it all.
My eyes were back on him up on hearing the excitement in his voice. I raised my eyebrow at the outstretched hand. A memory from the cliff playing now.
“Eight is always the magic number for our -
People.” For so many reasons. My eyes were on his, the hand still there between us. My heart did that stop and start thing again and my face burnt.
Rubbing my hand on my thigh, before I finally lifted it and placed it on his. “Eight is the number.”
@HotHeadSheWolf
I could tell she was deep in thought too. "Sometimes I wonder if what I did was worse... the not knowing... the imagined evils that I could have harmed me... Not knowing how strong I was." I shook my head. "But regrets ground us in the past. We're supposed to change direction not turn back." That was something Harry had told me... Spirit's... how many years ago?
"Eight it is." I smiled and closed my hand around hers. "Still warm." I muttered ridiculously... but it was >
@HotHeadSheWolf < baffling to me.
My eye's moved from our hands and to her captivating rich, brown gaze. My heart stumbled a few beats. I lightly squeezed her hand and my tongue swept over my lips. "Can I kiss you again?" I asked... not ashamed to let a hint of pleading into my voice because I needed to... how was it was that possible? It really only been minutes but craved it like the air after underwater too long.
‘𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬.’
Why did those words sound so familia to me? I knew I’d heard them… and then I remembered who used to say them.
I swallowed hard, waiting for the walls to shoot up and lock the world, everything and everyone out. I waiting for that guy wrenching feeling that had me running, but nothing came. Sadness sure, guilt.. yeah. But I wasn’t running.
“That’s good… advice.” I told him with my voice -
lower.
He still had a hold of my hand, and his heart did that thing where I missed a beat or two, then again mine had done it too.
But that question of his. Something made my body from my head to my toes feel a bolt of something hot and sparky hit me all over, all at once.
“Hmm…” his eyes were already locking me in place, and then all I could see were his lips. Recalling how they felt on mine. “Y…yes…” The word so soft that no one else could hear it.
@HotHeadSheWolf
“I always thought so.” I said quietly when so seemed to remember who it was that say that.
Her heart skipped a beat and smiled with short breathy chuckle. “I can hear that, you know?” I leaned in slowly and my hand moved to her waist and this time I pull her towards me as I stepped in closer. I leaned in an the tip of my brushed against hers. I closed my eyes kissed the corner of her mouth softly then the other a breathy sigh rumbled in my throat. Then my lips were on hers, >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< my heart raced and my stomach leapt. My lips moved to part hers and my arm snaked around her waist closing the last sliver of space between so. I burned blissfully it all the places my body was in contact with hers. I was kissing Leah Clearwater… and spirits! She was kissing me back… I let over her hand and raised mine to her cheek. Her skin was soft and smooth under my calloused fingertips. My lips moved on her and low, longing sounds made there way up my throat.
The fire >
Words were never my strong suit, so now when I found myself stood before him. Only inches from his body there was nothing I had to say. It was all lost to feelings that hadn’t made themselves known before.
My feet took me forward to close the space between us, and he was still holding on to my hand. The way he curved his arm around my waist, had me tense before relaxing. The reminder that I had been the one to say… Yes.
-
My eyes meant his and I knew, of course I knew he could hear the betrayal of my heart. Just as I had witnessed his do the same. But I didn’t push him away. Instead I couldn’t stop myself from taking him in.
The way his eyes closed, his warm arm radiating heat back towards me. No comments about how hot I was. Because in this place now, with the two of us. It was the same level of heat, only that it was growing with every passing moment.
-
When he let my hand go, it slipped up to rest on his chest. I was not just listening, but also feeling the rhythm of his beats. Every touch, the feel of his breath, the scent of him surrounding me. It was something I didn’t see coming.
My lips fell open and I took a moment to still and clear my mind that was spiralling. Each soft kiss built even more anticipation that send electricity shuttering through me. And he hadn’t even placed his lips over mine.
-
“Embry…”
I whispered his name, not even audible to anyone but us just before he finally kissed me. And in that moment, the moment he pulled me into himself and parted my lips, the moment I tasted him again. I knew. I knew by the name of the Spirits…
I wanted to find out what this was. What it was that pulled me to him now, after all these years of knowing him. What it was that I was feeling in the depths of my spirit and soul when I kissed him back.
@HotHeadSheWolf
The way she whispered my name did so many things to me. Heat spread out across my chest from where she rested her hand over my heart. Not the heat that I was used to, this was new. She moved her lips against mine. I leaned into her even more tilting my face up towards mine.
I poured everything I was feeling into the kiss, letting the fires blaze to life inside of me. I tasted her on my tongue and my finger twisted into the back of her shirt.
My heart pounded against her >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< I hand. I knew them at she could here mine and feel it to.
There was a new pull from the center of my chest that was tugging me closer to her. But it was impossible to been any closer to her.
“Spirits!” I muttered into the kiss. My lips were back on hers instantly. “What are you doing to me?” I whisper and drew my fingers through her hair.
I flattened my hand and on her back, freeing her shirt. I planted small individual kisses on her lips. She had to be feeling all of too.
How could something like a simple kiss have a person filled with so many sensations all at once?
The way his hands felt on my cheek had a line of fire spreading, the touch of his lips and the taste of his tongue with a mix of whiskey had my awareness heightened. The sound of his heart…. Spirits… was it speaking to mine because it felt like the two were deep in conversation.
My eyes flickered open, and my lips had started to throb a pulse softly. Aware that his lips -
were missing as he spoke.
I closed them again welcoming those small kisses. With shock. How was I not giving him a hard time about it?
“Me?” Spirits… “what are you doing to me Embry Call?” My breathing was ragged as I caught some air. Now looking at him. That urge to kiss him again right there tugging at me. So I did.
My hands moved up to cup his face this time. Taking a hold lightly as I flicked the tip of my tongue over his mouth asking to be let in. There was -
An unexpected need to taste him and kiss him again.
@HotHeadSheWolf
I was about to say 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧? But then her hand were on my cheeks, and all thoughts flew out of my head. All I could see was her lips, and when they touched mine I sighed heavily onto her lips.
My whole body became charged and my hand on her cheek dropped and wrapped around her too. It slipped up her back along her along stopping between her shoulder blades. I leaned into the kiss so deeply that we staggered back a step or two. And what could only be a >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< moan passed over my lips.
I held her tightly to me, hearing only our hearts and her breathing. The cool breeze coming in through the window heightened my awareness of how warm she was.
I could stay like this with her until hunger drove us to come up for air. I broke away from her lips and trailed along her jaw towards her ear. Leaving slow, deep kisses on her flawless, almond toned skin.
My tongue flicked her ear lobe and I moved kisses down along the curve of her >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< throat.
“This still feels like some kind of dream.” I muttered. My fingers twisted into the back of her shirt, proving that she this was still happening. “Still real.”
We stumbled like teenagers trying to understand how to be together when they locked into their first embraced but for us it was different. It was the want and the need to come closer, to kiss deeper, to feel more. But there wasn’t space left for the air to even pass between our bodies, that had come together and clicked into place.
My tongue entwined and played with his. The taste of his only feeding the desires neither had thought of sharing. -
Or at least I hadn’t, and I was sure not had he. Or had this been something he did see coming?
The thoughts in my head jumped from place to place, never settling long enough for me to come to conclusion.
My fingers slipped up into his hair, combing it back and then gently curling strands into my fingers. I hadn’t done this before, touching hair, it was too personal. And I knew once I had what I wanted, I was out of there… -
yes wasn’t the same, this had none of the making of every rule I lived by when it came to men.
My heart stopped and my eyes opened in shock from the sound I heard him making. Embry Call just moaned? Into my lips, into our kiss. And I was witnessing it first hand?
Spirits… what were we doing to one another?
The sensation from the cool air washed over the heat we were radiating, and I smiled. And actual smile crossed my lips. -
Because the heat of him and me, combined with the cool La Push air, it was heady.
“Still real…” I don’t know if it was agreement or understanding. “Not… a dream…” my breathy voice rasped out as my head fell back and I closed my eyes, letting my mind follow the path his lips were carving out.
“Spirits.” My fingers tugged at his hair when his lips passed that perfect spot on the soft skin of my neck. And out a sigh of pleasure. -
My core was pulsing and throbbing as I tried to control what he was causing to come to life inside my body.
@HotHeadSheWolf
I felt that smile on her lips as we kissed, but then her fingers were in my hair. It shocked me how amazing it felt.
The heat between us grew and my kisses grew hungrier as I moved lower! My nose pushing the neckline of her shirt aside to plant heavy kisses along the curve of her shoulder. Her scent changed and my fist tightened in her shirt and a jagged sound rushed up from somewhere deep inside.
I let my teeth scrape along with the tender skin, careful not to leave a >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< I wasn't here to lay a claim. And that thought struck me. The heat, the sounds and scents in the air, the want and desire... Though all of that was amazing; it wasn't what this was about.
I pulled back, it wasn't easy. My hold on her stayed firm but I flattened my palms on the small of her back and between her shoulder blades. I took in her face and I kissed her softly and with different intentions. “Slowly,” I whispered and touched my forehead to hers
The fire that was alight in me was unexpected, as a Spirit Warrior we felt everything with a heightened sense, it may be in the list of reasons why I kept myself so guarded, but more so it was the fact that we couldn’t be ourselves with people.
The men I spent nights with, I could break without even trying. I could push out walls and break down trees. I could kill a vampire by ripping off their heads, and I had done that. -
So, to think what I could do to a human if I ever lost control was never far from my mind.
But this? As his lips and mine kissed harder, deeper, and longer. As we pulled the other in, and as his caresses moved down my neck and over my shoulder, I was aware that we couldn’t break one another. We were both matched. He was as strong as I was. A bolt shot its way through me making my eyes open and I took in the ceiling. -
He pulled back just as I was about to. I wasn’t thinking right, but I knew one thing…. And then he said it.
‘𝙎𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙮.’
Resting my forehead to his. My hands slipped to rub the back of his neck as I closed my eyes and gathered myself.
“Yes…” Slowly was how I wanted to take this.
“I want that.” I wanted to know what this was between us. And slowly was the only way that would happen.
@HotHeadSheWolf
Each breath was heavy as I tried to catch it, my chest pressed into hers with each inhale. I closed my eyes, feeling her touch on the back of my neck, her forehead on mine... Such a strange and welcome touch.
“Me too.” I replied... Even though I had already said as much. She wasn't a conquest to me. “I want...” how could I say I wanted? There weren't any words to describe it. “The journey... Not just the destination.” I whispered, knowing I sounded like a fortune cookie. But >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< I didn't care. It was the truth, I wanted to know everything there was to know about this before we moved forward.
“I don't want to miss anything.” I tilted my face to kiss her again before stopping back, just to take her hands and then I stepped backwards to her couch. I sat when my legs hit the couch.
With an amused laugh, I looked up at her still holding both of her hands hoping she would sit down too. “You know something... I kept you awake all night... And I'm not >
Words were his medium. I knew what he meant with it though. It was that journey that we were undertaking that would show where the outcome of this thing would bring us.
“This… isn’t a rule…” The taking it slowly was for us both. “It’s an understanding, a knowing that we both want the same thing?” I set it out as a question to give him the time to consider if it was in fact this way for him too, even if he did say it first.
-
Kissing him back, this time our lips touched lightly. I didn’t pull back right away, but slowly I lifted my head letting myself hands slip down his arms and he took a hold of them both. He was taking us back to the couch and I followed and then stood before him looking down.
“Spirits.” I bit the inside of the my cheeks. How had we come to this? He was looking at me again as if he saw something that had been hidden up until now.
-
“That’s something to hold on to. And you’re not even sorry for stealing me sleep?” Trying not to concentrate on the sound of his laughter, I finally sat down beside him. My eyes drifting to our hands.
“I’m not going to run away Embry.” I whispered to him.
@HotHeadSheWolf
"Not a rule" I whispered. "We've known each other a long time... I don't think we need rules on how to respect each other in that way." I knew that was a slight contradiction... I mean, I had kissed her completely out of the blue tonight.
I chuckled and moved my arm around her as she sat down. "No, I'm not. But you're tired after working all night. And good! Because I couldn't catch you if you did." I reached back for the throw draped over the back of her couch.
"If I know >
@HotHeadSheWolf
< anything about you... you have a whole day planned." I shook out the throw and pulled it over the two of us... Not that we got cold, but some human comforts were hard habits t break. I turned into her and kissed the side of her head. The scent of her hair overwhelming me again.
"Don't think." I whispered; my arm around her shoulder again. I pulled her back with me as I rest back against the corner of the couch. "Just close your eyes... Just for a little while."
I froze in place when his arm came in around me. The movement was slow and still my instincts were to react by pushing away. I knew some things weren’t going to change over night, years worth of habits didn’t just disappear because someone you knew all their life kissed you. And I wasn’t going to hold this against myself or him.
“What is it with you tonight… today…? It all started with ‘𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦’, and now you’re saying ‘𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬’? I should—” -
My words cutoff. He brought me back with him after draping the couch throw over us.
“Are you…” he was staying? He was staying and he was curling up with me on my couch? “So, I guess Leah Clearwater and Embry Call are now going soft?” Yawning as I pulled my long legs up and curled them. “Hmm… long day ahead…” I muttered, fighting my heavy eyelids.
I could go for 72 hours without sleep. I couldn’t sleep with just anyone beside me like this. -
But now. With his arms wrapped around me. The spirits singing to calm. I found no reason to stay awake.
“Just a little. Just resting my eyes.” I muttered softly. Listing to the Sound of his beating heart and his breathing as they became a lullaby.
@HotHeadSheWolf
"All of that sounds a lot like thinking, Trouble." I chuckled. I didn't acknowledge her remark about going soft... because this... was definitely something that I would consider soft.
But I still wanted to be close to her. I kissed her hair again and closed my eyes, one around her as she settled. "Exactly... just resting our eyes." I rested my other arm over her and settled back. The feeling of her body heat was a strange but comforting sensation, I et myself get lost in it.
ᒪEᗩᕼ ᑕᒪEᗩᖇᗯᗩTEᖇ
Embry Call