She-Wolf I

by Gaëlle Bonnassieux

  Johan got annoyed eventually and wrapped me up in a huge towel bath. “I’m gonna have to build a walk-in shower,” he grumped while kissing my neck.

  “I really don’t see why you would do that,” I teased laughing.

  He carried me out of the bathtub and dropped me on the ground so that he might get himself a towel as well. I was suddenly feeling very hot because his round, smooth, perfect behind was mine for the taking, and I desired nothing more than to… well, for lack of a better word, grab it.

  I bit my lip not to do anything stupid, and when Johan came back towards me, naked, I nearly melted. He was more than perfect, and clearly enjoyed proving it to me by showing off like that. Unable to resist any longer, I pulled him towards me and kissed him fervently. He kissed me back, and his hands ventured underneath the towel to touch my butt. I shivered when his hot and soft hands caressed it, and I pressed my body closer against his. His light, nearly invisible touch made me batshit crazy. I needed him to touch me for real! To hold me tight, to squeeze my butt, to grab my breasts, to eat me…

  “Madelyne Carson… I thought your manners were more proper than that…” he sighed going up my loins.

  He was all smart-alecky, but he was more aroused than I was. He couldn’t help sighing whenever and wherever I touched him, and his entire body had… hardened. He suddenly pulled my head back and kissed my neck, leaving small love bites from my jaw to my collarbones, and it made me moan. I pulled his hair to get him to go downer, that is towards my bosom — which he did, at my utmost pleasure. I wanted him so badly! How could he wait and make me long for it like that?

  “Hey! I’ve been waiting for ages!” Esthelle shouted, meaning that she’d unfortunately returned to bully us.

  Johan sighed with frustration, and his forehead desperately leaned against my chest. I started laughing, it served him right! He should have been faster instead of being a v-tease. He slapped my butt and I bit his lip, before reluctantly letting go of him. I put on the same skirt I had on the previous day and chose one of Johan’s tees — which was black, obviously. I tucked it in the skirt so that I might look decent. I felt good. I was wearing his color and his odor, and I was proud. I kissed his cheek and left him there, hot to trot, horny as hell. I went up the ladder to join the little witch whose patience was wearing thin.

  “You’ll get what you deserve!” Johan mumbled somewhere in my head.

  I smiled and greeted the teenage girl who was biting the bullet at the front door. “You’re merry,” she noticed, scratching her chin. “Had a good night, did you?” A sneaky smile stretched her lips, and I hit her shoulder playfully. She winced. I must have hit a little too hard. Well, she had it coming. Johan joined us two minutes later, and Esthelle threw herself in his arms. Even though I knew it was an innocent gesture, it really did upset me. “Today’s my day!” the little witch sang prancing about. “I want us to go to lunch and then we’ll go surfing because you promised one day, you’d teach me, and then we’ll go shopping, just the two of us. It’s gonna be, like, grand.”

  I covered my mouth with my hands not to burst into laughter when I saw my man’s discomfited mien. The word shopping had been the coup the grace, but I was planning on laying it on thick.

  “That’s a great idea, Esthelle,” I said excitedly. “And if you could get him to buy a couple colorful clothes, that’d be awesome. I don’t want to look at life through black-tinted glasses.”

  “Rest assured I will,” she assured me with a smile.

  Johan shook his head, desperate, and if eyes could kill, I’d be dead by now. I winked and took French leave before he could reprimand me, even though I knew he’d do it soon enough in my head. But no need to worry, I was a woman almighty.

  “You know what, Esthelle, going shopping’s good idea, I might just bring Maddie some new clothes as well,” I heard Johan say.

  I turned around and when I saw the devilish look on his face, I knew it didn’t herald anything good. Esthelle didn’t object, and I was already scared at the thought of them bringing back ugly clothes. Well, it was tit for tat. And as long as the clothes were colorful, I might just be alright.

  When I walked into the house, all my friends were sitting at the table, having breakfast. It was still early, yet Milo was amongst them. He smiled earnestly, and, as Johan walked in as well, he hugged me. I froze. He held me tight and I could feel my soulmate’s anger. He didn’t say anything though and sat without looking at us. I tapped Milo’s shoulder, and he finally let go of me, feeling proud. What the hell was that? Was I not clear the other day?

  I looked into our bond and found out that he didn't care about me anymore, or at least not as much as he used to. On the other hand, he was dying to anger Johan. It reeked of resentment and misplaced ego. There was nothing I could do though; it wasn’t my problem. If they hated each other, there was nothing I could do, and they would have to settle things between themselves. I wasn’t a tool they could use to get back at each other.

  When Milo sensed how I felt, he lowered his eyes, and shame took over. I ignored him and sat by Johan, who kissed my cheek, in front of everyone else, and it did embarrass me a little. It was the first time in my life I was having a non-secret relationship with a man. In my former pack, I had to hide, obviously. No one had ever met my previous boyfriends, but now… It felt weird to show up in front of all my friends with my man by my side. He put his reassuring hand on my thigh, and I relaxed a little. I worried too much. Anyhow, if people were concerned as to the status of our relationship, it was crystal clear: we were in a relationship.

  Milo wasn’t necessarily pleased by that fact, but he still brought me my daily coffee. I spontaneously and chastely kissed his cheek, without meaning any harm, but I felt Johan’s hand squeezing my thigh — and not in a good way — before taking it off. He was smoldering — and not in a good way either.

  I put butter and jam on his bread to apologize. I even peeled his grapefruit. He looked at me, amused, and his anger vanished. I had always been good at defusing tense situations. His hand went back on my thigh, and he started eating, satisfied. I was amazed to see how healthy he ate, unlike me. I gorged on every sugary thing I could find. Chocolate was my best friend, and I couldn’t live without potato chips either — not at breakfast though, rest assured. Yet I was the one who loved to cook. Bad Maddie. I shrugged, and spread oily, sugary peanut butter on my bread. Delicious.

  “Thanks again for the couple days off, Adélie,” I said, licking my lips.

  “You’re quite welcome. You need some rest and some fun, and making smoothies isn’t the funniest thing to do,” she smiled, obviously contented. I understood her happiness. Her son had found his soulmate with my refugee ass, her little sister was happily in love too. What more could she ask for? I hoped she would find her loved-one soon enough, she deserved it.

  “Well, since Esthelle abandoned us, what do you say we all go to the beach?” Lola suggested, obviously vexed to be alone without her soulmate. “We could swim, and Colin could make sandcastles and it could be a fun day, what do you say?”

  “I hate the beach,” Bridget complained — for once. “I hate the sun. And kids. And swimsuits. Especially ugly ones…” She was wearing sunglasses and massaging her temples. The vampire wasn’t a morning person. Or a day person for that matter.

  Colin was sitting by her side and rolled his little car on her arm. I was surprised that she hadn’t chopped him up already, but I was pleased by it. “Bri-get!” Colin exclaimed. “Come to the beach! I wanna play with you!”

  She grumbled and sighed desperately when he dropped his car in her cup, which, on the other hand, made him laugh. “I don’t ever wanna have kids,” she announced before starting to massage her temples again.

  “That’s a great idea, Lola,” I stepped in. Going to the beach would do me good, even though I was a little anxious about going there without Johan. But I was my own woman, so I’ll make it on my own. It was just water, and sand. Those were harmless.

&nbs
p; Esthelle and Lola kept on bickering during lunch time. The former didn’t want the latter to wear a swimsuit without her, and the latter didn’t want the former to go shopping without her. I guess I understood Lola: she loved shopping and clothes so badly…

  So many things to think about! I was in the red, money-wise. Lola wanted to go to fashion school. Daniel, who was currently asleep on the table, wanted to go to college and major in biology, and there was the Colin situation as well, since he’d go to pre-school next year. I wanted what was best for them. I wanted them to have a future, opportunities, and the things that they wanted. There was no way they should pay for all of that themselves, and no way I’d use the same stupid financial system William used in my former pack. I was the alpha; I was supposed to take care of that. The witches already provided us shelter and food and so many other things — against my will though — but I wouldn’t have it much longer. I had to find a solution for us to…

  “Don’t worry,” Johan said in my head. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”

  Knowing that I wasn’t alone and that my soulmate would stand by my side no matter what was reassuring. One step at a time. There was no need to be bummed about that now, I’ll figure something out. I always did. Eventually.

  I ate up and drank up my coffee without a shred of angst. Johan’s touch helped, for sure. Soon enough, Esthelle decided it was time to go and in spite of my whole independent state of mind, I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want him to leave — me — and he didn’t seem to be thrilled to do that either. I dragged him to the hallway while the others cleared the table. Yes, shame on me, I wasn’t even helping, but I’ll make up for it tonight by cooking a delicious meal for us all.

  “I don’t want to go…” Johan whined.

  “I can hear you!” Esthelle yelled from the kitchen, and I laughed.

  He rolled his eyes and tenderly grazed my lips with his. This light, delicate touch awoke my sleeping desire. The memories of our proximity the previous night suddenly came rushing back, and I sighed with disappointment. Life was unfair. “Would you not rather spend the day in bed with me…?” I mewled like a kid, clinging onto his neck.

  “Don’t tempt me…”

  I bit his lip — it was my way of punishing me for that sentence the she-wolf inside had mistook for an order. We were touchier than them on that order topic, but we’d be alright. My she-wolf was fast angered, but also fast soothed. Pinching, slapping, biting — softly, of course — and she was at ease, content to be dominant still. I thought that, the two of us being alphas, it would cause a few sparks to fly, but as it turned out, we were okay. Maybe because aside from our possessive instincts, we both knew that neither of us had to submit to the other, and we could just evolve, side by side, as equals. I wasn’t naive enough as to believe we would never fight over that, but for now, we proceeded like clockwork.

  It was so perfect that I didn’t want to let him go. I had just got him; I wasn’t ready to see him leave just yet. I pressed my body against his, he pushed me up against the wall, and kissed me fervently.

  Adélie suddenly came out of the kitchen and caught us. I blushed. He smiled. She glowed. Milo, seeing this, winced, and left for work earlier than usual. Well, it’s hard to please everyone, isn’t it? I rushed towards his lips again, and kissed him like… a good hundred times, before he definitely had to leave. Desire meddled with us, and we had to find enough strength to step away from each other, panting. Our hearts were pounding like crazy; our brains were about to melt. That was torture! He was a pain in my ass, making me wait and long for him like that! He kissed me one last time, amused and satisfied with his teasing, before leaving with Esthelle.

  I was hot now, thanks to him. Bloody hell.

  I went up to the attic to put some water on my face and put on my swimsuit. I put Johan’s tee back on, because even though I was acting like I didn’t mind and I just wore it to please him, I actually loved wearing his scent and his clothes. It made me feel like we belonged to each other.

  I was putting my hair up in a ponytail when a question entered my mind. I still felt Johan close to me, mentally. Our bond wasn’t fading away. Could it be that… that thing was long distance? “Looks like it!” I heard him say, and I smiled.

  “Looks like it!” I heard him say, and I smiled.

  “Great! You’ll be at the beach through me, and I’ll be shopping through you…”

  From time to time, if I concentrated hard enough, I could see what Johan was doing or what his own eyes were seeing. Actually, I had access to his thoughts, and when he was doing something, he had to be thinking about it. So I had access to his sight. It felt weird though, and I’d rather not to do that unless I’d have to. It could be useful, like if we had to fight or if one of us was lost. We’d always share this connection, and it was wonderful.

  “I’d rather not,” Johan grumbled. “If I see one single person checking you out in your swimsuit, I’m gonna wreck that mall.”

  “And if I see one single saleswoman checking you out, I’m gonna unleash a tsunami on the town, so you better keep those blondes, waitresses far away from you.”

  “Just the blonde ones? Brunettes are okay then?” he teased.

  I growled angrily. Even when he was far from me, he was still a pain in my neck. I heard him laugh, and I calmed down. I trusted him, and I knew he trusted me too. “Have a nice day, babe.”

  “Babe? So that’s my final nickname? No more puppy?” I blushed. It just came out; I hadn’t said it on purpose. But it was quite ridiculous. It didn’t suit him. I had to find a better one, and Johan agreed. “Have a nice day too, babe” he teased.

  And in that moment, I knew that mistake would follow me for all eternity.

  I finished getting ready, smiling, thinking of Johan. I was crazy. Crazy about him. And it made me happy to see that I was freaking out about this. I’d never had such a close relationship, one of those in which you could just be yourself. I had to get used to it, learn how to deal with all those emotions, and cope with the sexual tension. No doubt I’ll succeed, hands down.

  After waking Danny up, convincing Bridget to come with us, cheered Lola up, gathered everybody’s stuff, and helped Clemencia and Adélie prepare a picnic, we finally left for the beach. I was planning on enjoying this day. In the car, the vampire stopped sulking and started humming with Lola. I was amazed to see how well everyone got along. I was lucky, extremely lucky.

  “Maddie? When am I going to get into the pack? I feel lonely and rejected,” Bridget said dramatically, while checking her makeup in her newest, high-tech phone.

  “Tonight,” I decided, because there was no point in waiting any longer. “You both will get in tonight.”

  “Great!” Danny brightened up. “I can’t wait to get into Lola’s head to see what she and Esthelle are doing at night.”

  Again! The two teenagers bickered the whole ride through, and I couldn’t help smiling. Just like when I used to drive them to school, early in the morning. They pretended to hate each other, and they kept on messing around, but I knew that deep down, they were thick as thieves. They just wouldn’t quite admit it, and as long as it remained friendly, I tolerated it.

  Today was gonna be a good day. Bad things couldn’t happen daily.

  Chapter 33

  Despite Bridget being grumpy, and in spite of the constant squabbles of the teenagers, the day went by quite smoothly. When we reached the beach, I had trouble getting used to the atmosphere of the place, but I overcame that stupid fear and the beach eventually appeared as gay and fun as it used to. And since I’d been back here with the witches a couple months before, I’d managed to get over my anxiety. It was like taking candy from a baby.

  I enjoyed the sun and the ocean. I had trouble being comfortable in my swimsuit in front of all those people, but I managed. My body was my own. I couldn’t care less about those perverse or judgmental looks on people’s faces. I was pretty. I was perfect for me. There was no need to be ashamed or to hide. Especially
since I wanted to go for a swim, and it would have been weird for me to go in with my clothes on.

  The sky was bright, and there was nothing that threatened to cloud the day, both literally and figuratively. There was blue everywhere, the sky, the sea, and my grandma would have loved those colors. Bridget had wrapped her towel around her body despite the stifling heat, and a couple passers-by had looked at her inquiringly. Clemencia was more radiant than the sun and pleased to be at the beach with her son, who was collecting shells and attempting to make a sandcastle. Danny was preening and was being all Don Juan-like. Adélie, Lola and I were lingering in the shade with a cocktail.

  From time to time, Johan talked to me to make sure I was okay and that no man was approaching me. I thought it was cute he should worry like that, but I was worried as well. I didn’t like the thought of him being cared for by hot sales assistants. And worst of all, they were supposed to go surfing! Not on that beach though, and there definitely will be hot women checking out his perfect body. God, just the thought of it was infuriating. I totally understood how he felt. Thankfully enough, there was nothing to worry about on my side, and neither on his. I was not spying as much as he was because I didn’t want to focus on our bond and neglect my friends. Esthelle kept her weather-eye out, I was sure of it — no need to bother him.

  Why did happy times have to pass by faster than the sad ones? Perhaps because we tended to focus on the bad things in life, rather than the good ones. Either way, the time to go home came quickly.

  Milo had joined us in the afternoon and entertained us with jokes and poetry. He was a real heartbreaker, I could see it, and it was a shame he didn’t realize that. Cupid to the rescue! There was no need to prove how skillful I was, I’d managed to patch things up between Esthelle and Lola, so I should succeed in finding a great woman for my dear Milo. That was my new mission, and it’d keep my mind busy. Sold! This was gonna be fun. “You seem cheerful,” the shapeshifter said, which brought me back to earth abruptly.