by K. R. Smith
“It’s a nervous habit.” Dad said quietly. “She used to do the same to her ribbons or shoelaces.”
I couldn’t take much more of this; I had run out of tassels to plait and I tossed the cushion aside as I stood up.
“Excuse me.” I bit out, before I turned to head out the front door.
“Good idea B.” Grandpa spoke up. Huh, what was that? I paused in the doorway to give a funny look. He said calmly, “now would be a good time for Grant to show you the new place.”
“What?” Grant looked on Grandpa in surprise, when his older brother nudged him sharply. “Oh yeah,” he quickly stood up.
This is getting beyond a joke! I rolled my eyes as I violently pushed open the door to stomp down the veranda steps.
“That girl is just as skittish as Jess was, when she was growing up.” I overheard Uncle Ian chuckle. “Next thing we know, Bianca will start running away and hiding from Grant.”
“Shut up Ian.” Mum moaned. “That joke is so old.”
Grant came down the veranda steps as he unlocked his jeep with his remote key ring, before he hopped in first. Darn it! I didn’t know how to get out of this so I would have to go along. I let out a frustrated sigh as I opened the door on the passengers’ side and climbed in last.
He didn’t say anything as he turned on the ignition. Whilst barely looking behind, he reversed past the surrounding trucks. Grant drove fast, without looking over his shoulder but instead through his rear-vision mirror. He skillfully reversed out onto the dirt road, before he drove up the hill. I have to admit, the way he just made it look so easy then, was impressive.
We drove half a kilometer up to the cull de sac at the end of the dirt road. There we pulled into another dirt driveway of a small, two-story, brown wooden house with a stone chimney. I had seen the old place before, but it was long ago. Old Mr. and Mrs. Windchime lived in the house before they passed away last year. Grant must have bought the house off their children, who had houses of their own in the community centre.
“How did you buy it?” I wondered aloud as I looked through the windscreen. “I mean, since the War the only time we use money in the tribe is when we transact with the outside world.”
Grant smiled as he said mysteriously; “a transaction for this property did take place but you don’t have to concern yourself with the details.”
Next, he hopped out of the jeep and walked around the front of the vehicle to wait for me. I hopped out, shut the door behind and then I walked over to where Grant stood.
“What do you mean that I don’t have to concern myself with the details? Either that’s a jibe at my sex or my age, like you don’t want me to worry about the cost of living. That’s stupid because I’m being thrust into adulthood by this marriage.” I griped.
“B, this house is my wedding gift to you.” He said simply.
My eyes widened as my mouth dropped, as I looked from Grant to the house in shock…this is his present to ME? A house?!
“Come on, I’ll show you inside.” He laughed at my stunned expression.
He took hold of my hand to lead me up the veranda steps. He only released it to search for the keys in his jacket. I stood back as I watched Grant unlock the front door and then he stepped aside to let me go in first.
I walked into the old, empty place which smelled of freshly sawn wood and lacquer from the repair work currently going on. I even saw a couple of hammers, boxes of nails and sandpaper lying around. The house had a very similar lay out to my home, with the same open-planned living area for the lounge and dining room combined, with a walk-in kitchen. There was a staircase next to the downstairs bathroom-combined-laundry. Next, I headed up the stairs to the second story where I found two bedrooms and another bathroom.
Grant followed me up and retook hold of my hand. Like this, he walked us inside the master bedroom which looked fairly spacious.
“This is our bedroom.” He waved his free arm. “The windows face the front of the house. And this…” he next led us out of that room and into the second, smaller room, “…will be the kids’ bedroom.”
Kids? He’s already talking about kids? I’m still a kid!
This made me feel uncomfortable and I pulled back my hand from his. I walked a little away as I folded my arms in front. Like this, I looked at the woods at the back of the house from one of the windows.
“As you can see, there are blinds on the windows which will give us our privacy. But to make it less bare and more homey, my sisters Vine and Hannah are currently making curtains for us.” He said chirpily. “Plus we’ll be getting my grandparents old rugs to put in the lounge area as well as in the main bedroom, so it will add some coziness.”
I nodded, trying to appear enthusiastic when I really felt the exact opposite. Not only did I feel forced into this situation, but I still felt guilty that Grant was doing this for me and not the woman he was meant to be with. I certainly didn’t feel like a woman, as I still felt like a teenager.
When he walked up behind to wrap his arms around my waist, it made me feel more nervous. He said good-naturedly, “it will all work out B, you’ll see.”
I didn’t know what to say or do. I mean, sure it was sweet the effort he was making for our future. But I was still unsure if I wanted a future with Grant? I guess there was still some small part of me that was still hoping that I could be an actual University student, attending Cambridge. I didn’t want to study by correspondence! I wanted to physically attend class. I wanted to study with other people like me.
But then, I’ll never be able to study with people LIKE me, because now I’m a Lokoti Werewolf. I stopped being like everybody else the first moment I changed. I’m not even like the other Lokoti Werewolves, being the only female amongst all males!
Now I’m in an arranged marriage, the first one in 50 years? And I have to go through a Joining Ceremony, another first in 50 years? This Werewolf thing just keeps getting further and further out of my control! I growled in frustration as I pulled out of his arms to rub my weary face.
“B?” he looked on, concerned. “What is it?”
I turned and opened my mouth to tell him? But then nothing came out. So I started to pace up and down, as I wrung my hands as there were no cushion tassels to plait.
“Er, don’t you like the house?” Grant asked, worried.
“The house is fine, the house is lovely in fact.” I said shortly, pacing faster.
“Then what is it?”
“You should buy this house and fix it up with your brother for the woman you love!” I suddenly shouted. It all poured out of me, as my eyes watered and I trembled with emotion. “You should be going through a Joining Ceremony with the woman you love! You barely know me! We have to dress up like idiots, wearing ‘skins’, declare to the public that we love each other when we don’t. We hardly even know each other!”
“B - ”
“I HATE this Werewolf business! I HATE it! My best friend is no longer speaking to me and he said he wishes that I never turned into a Werewolf! Well so do I! Why can’t I just be a Circulator? Why do I have to be a frickin’ Werewolf?!” I yelled tearfully.
He stood back quietly as he watched me pace up and down.
I ranted, “Grandfather expects me to be happy that I can study via correspondence? Well I’m not happy! Derik and I were actually planning on going to Cambridge together! Now he hates me and I’m being told I can study via correspondence? CORRESPONDENCE! What the hell does that mean, anyway?”
“It means that you’ll be taught online via correspondence; that you’ll email your assignments and -”
“If I knew I could give up this Werewolf business by cutting out my heart with a silver knife I’d do it! If I could cut this thing out of me, I would! Why can’t I just make it go away…?” I sobbed.
“B.” He walked up to hold me firmly by the arms. He frowned, “this isn’t the end of the world, in fact it’s the beginning -”
“But you don’t love me Grant!” I pulled away. “
I don’t love you! I’m not the one! This is all spinning out of my control and I just want to make it stop!”
I guess at this point, he thought that he could make it stop…when all of a sudden he pulled me in for a kiss!
Grant pushed his lips over mine which effectively shut me up, as the pressure of his kiss made my head go backwards in an uncomfortable manner. He was holding my arms so tightly I couldn’t pull back. I turned my face away as I gasped for breath.
He gasped too, “sorry, I had hoped our first kiss would have been a little more romantic than that. But I guess I was just trying to break the ice.”
However he hadn’t let go either, so I noted when he leaned his face towards mine as I guess he was going to have a second go. This time his lips gently smothered mine, before I felt him slowly push them apart with his and after another moment, I felt his tongue in my mouth.
I froze…I was literally stuck to the spot as I didn’t know what to do! With the force he was holding me still, I would have literally had to use my own Werewolf strength to push the guy off!
B, you can’t push your future husband off you! But why not? I’m not enjoying this as it felt strange and alien. Derik was a better kisser than Grant and Declan was a better kisser than him…
…eugh! Yuck! You said Declan! Gross! I thought that we had an understanding that we wouldn’t think about THAT guy again.
Right, that’s it! To make sure I don’t think about THAT person again, I’ll throw myself into this marriage. If I have to get married, then I’ll just have to get used to it. Grant’s a nice guy and he’s been pretty patient so far. He did buy me a house…so I forced myself to kiss him back.
I responded to his advances and after a minute or so, he let go of my arms as his encircled my waist instead. He ran his hands up and down my back which felt nice. After another couple of minutes we started to develop a style, a technique per se. Then this didn’t feel so icky anymore and I even started to like it.
Grant eventually pulled away before he sighed happily whilst bumping his forehead against mine. “Your pheromones B, they’re quite alluring.”
“My pheromones?”
“Yeah, your scent. You smell like freshly baked choc-chip cookies.” He rubbed his nose against mine. “What do I smell like?”
Oh, I hadn’t considered it before. I sniffed him again and then again, but I couldn’t quite get the gist of it. I don’t know if I was doing it right?
“Close your eyes and breathe in deeply and hold it.” He held me close.
Using one of his hands, he gently moved my face closer to his neck. I did what he said; I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply as I ran my nose across his skin and held it.
Woah…now I get it! Suddenly I understood what he was talking about. His scent reminded me of a herb garden. He smelled like a combination of herbs such as oregano, thyme, rosemary and even faintly of coriander.
Am I imagining things or is this really his scent? I inhaled him again, with my nose touching his skin. I caught his eyes close as he held onto me tighter. The fragrant herbs filled my senses once more, almost making my head spin! I took the liberty of pressing my nose against his throat and inhaling him over and over.
I heard him growl as simultaneously I felt the rumble in his chest. I think this excited him somehow as he bent his head to kiss me again. This time, I liked it…I really, really liked it! I even playfully bit down on his lower lip, which made him chuckle.
“Do you still hate everything Werewolf?” Grant murmured.
“Shut up.” I breathed as I grabbed hold of his long, black hair.
I pulled his head in to kiss him again. We kissed passionately for a good couple of minutes, even losing our balance at one stage! We stumbled sideways with Grant steadying us with his greater strength.
“Woah!” He laughed, “I can’t say that’s happened before; a girl sweeping me off MY feet.”
This made me laugh along with him, which made me start to fall into ease in his company even more.
*****
It was late in the afternoon when Grant drove me home. As he parked his jeep in my driveway, I noticed the other trucks and vehicles had gone, indicating that my ‘wedding planners’ had left. My husband-to-be turned off his engine before he turned in his seat to look on longingly.
“Try not to worry so much.” He spoke softly as put his hand over mine. “Everything will fall into place, you’ll see.”
“Hmm.” I stared thoughtfully out his windscreen.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to our future together. I think it could be fun.” He gave a wink.
I sighed weary with emotion, “thanks Grant.”
“Thanks for what?”
“Thanks for being the optimist in all of this.” I turned to give him a small smile. “Thanks for the house too.”
“Anytime.” He said humorously. “I just hope I haven’t spoiled you so when your birthday rolls around, you’re not expecting anymore large pieces of real estate.”
I laughed out my return, “you mean it was a one time thing?”
He laughed back, “for the moment anyways.”
We both turned quiet as his hand didn’t want to let go of mine and he was staring again.
“What?” I wondered.
“You’re the only girl in the tribe with dark blue eyes, you know that?”
“Yeah I guess.”
“Your mother, your grandmother and your grandfather have blue eyes but not dark blue eyes like yours.” His voice turned husky as he caressed the top of my hand with his thumb.
“OK…?”
Then he leaned forwards to kiss me softly on the lips and whilst he was sitting closer, I overheard him breathe in deeply.
“Good bye B, for the moment.” He sighed like he didn’t want to see me go.
“Bye Grant.”
I opened the door and climbed out to walk up my veranda steps. I threw him a wave before I disappeared inside. He didn’t start his jeep again until he saw me go through my front door. As I closed the door behind, I heard him begin to reverse out.
My parents came out of the kitchen where they had started to prepare dinner.
“Hi B.” Dad looked on hopefully. “Did you have a good afternoon with Grant?”
“Um yeah, it was OK.” I said as I turned towards the stairs.
“What did you think of the house?” Mum enquired.
“It’s OK.”
“Well, did you like it? Can you imagine yourself living there?” She stopped at the bottom of the stairs to watch me climb up.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“What did you and Grant talk about?” He queried.
“Typical newlywed stuff.” I called as I disappeared down the hallway.
Mum and Dad exchanged confused glances but they thought it best to leave it at that before they returned to the kitchen.
I walked into my bedroom and shut my door behind. Then whilst leaning on the wood, I slid down to the floor and sat like that, with my back against the door. I don’t believe it…I’m actually engaged to be married! Then the double-whammy is that the groom isn’t such a bad guy, nor is he a bad kisser.
Frickin’ hell, my Werewolf pheromones just keep on snow-balling…picking up reluctant or willing volunteers along the way. How did the male Lokoti Werewolves cope with their attractiveness before they took mates? I guess their egos expanded as they enjoyed the attention from the opposite sex, but it was going to take me a little while longer to get used to.
It started off with Derik; then the boys at Ben’s party flirted with me; then Declan holds my hand before he kisses me and then I do something else with him. Now this afternoon I kissed my fiancé, the man that the tribe set me up to marry because of this Werewolf business.
I felt like a tennis ball, being hit back and forth across the net in a game of doubles. Derik, Declan and now Grant were holding the rackets. But as the Sabre’s stood on one side of the net, Grant Elm played as a one-man team on his
own. I rubbed my face hard with the palms of my hands as I tried to take control of my raging Werewolf hormones.
As my room changed colours with the oncoming sunset, I tried to stop myself comparing scents; maple syrup or a herb garden, which did I prefer? Whilst the lighting in my room changed from pink to purple, I tried to make sense of my racing heart.
“Stop it B!” I growled out, angry with myself. “Just stop it!”
I decided to get my mind off you-know-who by having a shower before dinner. However as I walked over to the window to close my curtains to undress? In the purple dusk, I spotted his glowing green Werewolf eyes as he sat in his hiding spot in the woods.
This time I paused as I stared back, unsure of what to do. Usually I would close my curtains on him, but today I didn’t. Today Declan did something different. Instead of me closing my curtains dismissively, I saw his eyes move away as he turned around to disappear amongst the trees. I sensed that he bolted off down the hill, probably back home.
Oh, I guess Declan knows and I don’t think he was happy about my news either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 7
New Chapter
~ 7 ~
30th September 2084
“OK.” Grandpa stood up, putting the piece of chalk in his pocket that he had been using to draw lines over the skins. “I’ll take it in here, here and here. B is much slimmer than my Grandmother was when she wore these.”
I was standing in the lounge area with Nana, Mum, Dad, Gran, Grandfather and Great Grandma all wandering around, sipping tea or coffee whilst watching Grandpa do my fitting. I was wearing the ‘skins’ which was basically a long suede skirt, suede boots, and a suede tie-up blouse. The shirt and skirt had beaded patterns around the edges and even a couple of feathers. The suede smelled old and I felt a little ridiculous to be honest.
“What’s with the feathers?” I cracked up laughing. “It’s a bit cliché, isn’t it?” Grandpa raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to elaborate. “I mean, c’mon! We’re Indian and we HAVE to wear feathers?!”
