by K. R. Smith
“Just be careful Grant.” I looked long and hard whilst I sat across at the table.
“Like I said B, I have a lot to live for.” He reached out to put his hand over mine. “Don’t worry, you’ll be stuck with me for a few years yet.”
When he released my hand to pick up his sandwich, he gave a cheeky grin.
*****
I tossed and turned in bed that night, as every little noise made my eyes snap open and my heart turned cold with dread.
Please don’t let that be a distant gunshot! Please don’t let him be harmed, fighting for me! Grant – Grant – Grant – please be safe!
Somehow or rather, I think out of exhaustion, sleep finally claimed my mind. I don’t think I slept long, maybe just an hour or two? However the next time I awoke, the bedroom was a pale grey colour with the onset of dawn.
When my eyes swept over the quiet room, they fell upon my husband who had used his predatory skills to sneak up. He was kneeling by my side of the bed without making any noise. Grant smiled softly, as he gazed down.
“I’m home safe,” he greeted, “just like I promised.”
I flung my arms about his neck in pure relief!
He held me back just as tightly and as he did so, he murmured into my ear, “Happy Birthday.”
Happy Birthday? Why would he wish me…oh, today must be the 10th October. My childlike habit of counting down the days until Birthdays, Christmases or Easters had ended when I started counting down with dread, the days in between full moons instead.
“I’m legal now.” I joked which made him shake with laughter.
“My 17 year old wife turns 18…damn!” He pretended to sound disappointed. “I liked having the reputation of a cradle-robber.”
Next, he pulled away slightly so he could hold out my present. It was wrapped in old newspaper thanks to rationing after the War, but I didn’t care. I excitedly unwrapped my gift before I let out a happy giggle.
“A new MP3 player!”
“I noticed that yours looked scratched and the battery life wasn’t very long.” He observed. “With this model, it can last for up to 72 hours of continual playback before you have to charge it again.”
“I love it!” I hugged him so suddenly our heads accidentally bumped, but he was quick to laugh it off.
Grant was sitting in only his jeans from patrolling in Werewolf form. He was perched on the side of the bed, holding me against his bare chest. Once I relinquished the hug, he remained close.
“There’s already a couple of songs stored in its’ memory.” He implied my gift. “When you were doing the laundry, I used your laptop to transfer the music onto it. I noticed you had a lot of ‘Iggy Pop’ and other old bands on your hard-drive.”
Oh oh…I tried not to tense up otherwise he would sense it. I tried not to panic over if he saw any of the diary entries, which were also stored on my computer.
“Um yeah.” I carefully kept my voice neutral. “Those songs were given to me by Derik when he used to borrow Declan’s CDs.”
“Hmm,” he frowned thoughtfully. “I have a couple of ‘Greenday’ and ‘The Killers’ songs on my iPod which I also converted to put onto your MP3 player. You should listen as I think you’ll like them.”
Although I only liked a couple of songs from the bands he mentioned, I managed out a smile, “OK.”
Grant pulled off his jeans to climb into bed beside. Together we snuggled under the covers, with me ensconced in his strong arms. It wasn’t just his strength or his generosity that I appreciated then, it was the fact that he had come home alive.
“Your family will be coming over around eleven to cook you up a birthday brunch.” He informed. “So until then, I might catch up on some sleep.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I readily agreed as I settled into his embrace.
This surprised him which he turned this expression my way. “You didn’t sleep while I was out on patrol?”
“Not much.” I closed my eyes.
Lastly, I felt his lips place several appreciative kisses on my forehead whilst his hand rubbed my back. I think we even fell asleep at the same time. Just as our Lokoti Werewolf hearts would fall into sync, so did our consciousness.
But as much as I appreciated this closeness with my husband, I realized I would also have to be wary of it, especially with my secrets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
13th October 2084
I sat at the dining table polishing my new silver-coated sword with jewelry cleaner and an old rag until it shone. I smiled to myself whilst admiring the craftsmanship…I liked the fact that I got another Circulator’s sword. It made me feel more like a Circulator myself, by handling a weapon that was over a thousand years old from an era long since forgotten. It added a sense of continuity to all of this.
Grant came inside from the greenhouse when he stopped to look on. He smiled to himself to see my happiness with my new ‘toy’. I held the sword up to slowly move it around to catch the reflection of the ceiling light.
“I think it’s clean, B.” He said in amusement before he walked over to the kitchen sink to wash the dirt off his hands.
“I like my sword.” I joked. “I’m tempted to even name it.”
“Mr. Pointy?” he joked back.
“Nah, I’d want to give it a female name.” I disagreed. “It’s an elegant sword as it’s not big and bulky like the European swords.”
“I think this is love at first sight.” He jested as he leant on the entryway of the kitchen. “Just please don’t try to take the sword to bed with us.”
I noticed he was standing a respectful distance from the silver-coated weapon.
“Oh, sorry.” I returned the sword to its sheath.
“Thank you.” He now came forwards once the danger had been removed. He rested his hand on my back, “I was about to run down to the store to pick up a few things if you wanna come?”
“What things?” I queried.
“Milk, bread, butter, toilet paper…just a few odds and ends to tie us over until the end of the week.” He shrugged.
“OK.” I stood up. “I’d like something sweet, like more biscuits or ice cream or maybe some chocolate. I get the munchies for something sugary after dinner.”
“So I’ve noticed,” he smirked, “you finished off Hannah’s choc-chip cookies in three days.”
“Hey, you helped!” I turned around to poke him.
Grant laughed as he pulled me close for a quick kiss before we prepared to leave.
*****
We walked hand-in-hand, up and down the small aisles of the general store. In his other hand, he held the carry-basket for us as he told me what to grab. When we walked past a couple of older women, I noticed their looks of approval by seeing us behave like we really were a married couple.
“Hi B and Grant.” Old Mrs. Huntington smiled as we passed by, whilst she was shopping with her grown granddaughter.
“Hi Mrs. Huntington.” My husband greeted the elderly woman. “How’s your elbow treating you?”
“Good thanks, Grant.” Old Mrs. Huntington answered before she smiled in my direction. “The cold compress your Grandpa gave me to use works like a treat.”
“That’s good.” I said politely.
Mrs. Huntington just stood there, grinning at us then she looked down to obviously stare at our holding hands. It was almost like she was bestowing her approval, which made me uncomfortable.
“Well then, we’ll be seeing you.” He excused us.
Even if we weren’t Werewolves with our sensitive hearing, we still would have heard old Mrs. Huntington say as she watched us walk away; “the Wisetail-Riverclaw girl and the Elm boy, now there’s a good match! Three branches of the tribe’s oldest families have come together to create one strong tree. They’ll breed good stock.”
My eyes widened as Grant tried not to snicker. He pulled me along to prevent me from turning around and staring back at the nosy old woman! I felt my cheeks burn
as I tried to refocus on the task at hand, whilst he didn’t seem offended at all.
“Come on B.” He squeezed my hand. I gave him a funny look, which he caught so he spoke quietly, “when my family first announced our engagement, I got a lot of that. I had people stopping me on the street to offer their congratulations. They all told me how they thought we’re the perfect match being two Lokoti Werewolves marrying another, let alone a Wisetail-Riverclaw and an Elm union.”
I gulped as I quickly looked away and tried to look preoccupied at the bottles of sunflower or olive oil.
Not that there was any pressure or anything! Boy, if this is how the whole tribe feels about our nuptials, I wonder what would have happened if I had refused to go ahead with the wedding? Or if I had ended up with Declan instead…
Grant grabbed the bottle of the olive oil before he moved us along. I sensed that he wasn’t bothered by any of this in the slightest. He may have been amused but I started to wonder if he saw our union as something else; fate perhaps?
“Yum!” I stopped in front of the different confectionary and I was relieved to change the subject. “Should we get choc-chip biscuits or just a bar of chocolate?”
“I think Hannah will be giving us some more biscuits soon, so we probably don’t need any of the bought kind. How about a couple of bars of chocolate instead?” He shrugged.
“OK.” I readily put two bars of chocolate inside the basket.
Just then we heard the rattle of the bell over the door, of somebody else coming into the general store. Before I turned my head to see who it was, I smelled his maple syrup scent.
I looked up sharply just as Declan stopped in his tracks when he saw me. I watched his eyes widen, before they narrowed into a look of pure resentment when he saw Grant standing beside. His human blue eyes even began to look a little green…
…when he quickly turned around again and walked back out. Oh, just like that he was gone. As I watched his abrupt departure, I noticed his huge muscles under the dirty white t-shirt looked tense. The poor guy, since he worked next door at the Garage, he probably came in to get a can of soda or something when we put him off.
My heart hurt but to hide this from my husband, I quickly busied myself by grabbing another two blocks of chocolate off the shelf before moving us on again. However what I really wanted to do was let go of Grant’s hand and run after Declan, to comfort him.
I wished I could somehow ease his pain, because the pack and even the tribe thought that it was a much safer bet to pair me off to Grant Elm instead of Declan Sabre. Just because he wasn’t a Lokoti Werewolf and because his family wasn’t as old in the tribe as the Elm family was…it did seem a bit unfair.
“I think that’s it.” Grant said cheerfully, acting oblivious to Declan’s sudden appearance and disappearance. “Are you ready to go home?”
Quietly I nodded before I walked with him over to the counter for Mr. Barley to mark the things out in his book.
“And how would you like to make up for this trade today?” Mr. Barley asked congenially.
“Ian and I are currently working on some new pieces of furniture.” He began.
“I’ve seen your work, it’s good. I especially liked that dining table set you did for the Lightfoot’s. I can give you two month’s worth of groceries for a dining table set with a buffet unit.” Mr. Barley bartered.
“Deal.” He smiled on the arrangement and the two men shook on it.
Grant placed a happy kiss on my forehead, as I watched Mr. Barley write this down in his book underneath the items we were checking out. As I looked on the book which kept records of all the family accounts, I realized that this was a new section of the book that he had created for Grant and I. My name was no longer under the ‘Hunter & Jessica Wisetail’ account, but it was now under the ‘Grant & Bianca Elm’ account.
Frickin’ hell! I really am a married woman and the tribe firmly saw me this way. I stared at my name scribbled next my husband’s – Bianca Elm. We had our own family account as I was officially seen as Mrs. Bianca Elm.
No wonder Declan couldn’t bear to be in the same room with my husband and I…because I was another man’s territory.
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:-) G'day! To borrow the ole logo, "but wait, there's more!" I just wanted to let you know that 'Scent' doesn't finish at chapter ten, but there's twenty more where they came from. ‘Scent’ has thirty chapters, a conclusion as well as a 'SSIT Report on Reincarnation'. Where to get your hands on the paperbacks and ebooks, can be found at: http://onaya3.blogspot.com/
I hope you enjoyed this free sample and you can find me on Facebook; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Circulate-Series-By-KR-Smith/222260061814?ref=ts
From the same author on Feedbooks
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Claimed (2011) Jessica Tandy is coming back from a camping trip in Alaska, when she meets the tall, dark and handsome Flint Riverclaw. They chat in a bar during a rest stop, which eventuates into a one-night-stand, and ultimately changes the rest of her life. Why do Flint’s brown eyes occasionally glow turquoise, or he growls so much? Imaginations run wild, in this supernatural, romance novella.
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