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5. Lightening the Load
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Aline's Choice 6. Splintering
-Aline- I wince and continue making my way to Talu's room. As I stride past the human girl, Mei frowns when I don’t ask for help to find Talu’s room. It's amusing but irritating since I pretty much grew up in the Wu house. Why is she in Talu’s house, anyway? Shouldn’t she be playing house with her vampire? My lips curl in disdain. She steps into Talu’s room behind me, wearing a medical-grade mask she hadn’t worn when she let me into the house. Talu gives her an approving smile while sending a superior look my way. I'm annoyed and wish the girl gone. I am angrier at Talu and his supreme smugness. He looks too much like Lance and not the happy-go-lucky guy who played Hide-and-Go-Seek with me when we were kids. "Knock it off, Talu," I grumble, fishing out my KN-95 from my purse. I put it on, grateful for something to hide behind. “I came to apologize, with a peace offering.” From my fingertip, tied together at the laces, dangle his new d
Aline's Choice 7. Girl Talk
-Aline- Mei smiles at the sound of her name falling from my lips, deciding it is an invitation to sit across the table from me. "So, are you with him?" My overwhelming curiosity outstrips my need to ignore her presence. "Talu, I mean?" "Yes, I am," she says. A wide smile splays across her face. I throw up a little in my mouth. "Are you sure? I thought vampire guy, Chasewhatever, was your one and only?" I marvel at her ability to go from her one true love to the recovering werewolf in the next room. The lemonade I gulp to hide my disgust is a tad too sweet. I cough a little. "I’m sure. It's Talu for me. I loved Chase, but..." Mei’s voice trails. I take pity on her. "Let me guess. The leech, this Chasewhatever, shattered the love you had for him when he dumped you for no good reason. The bloodsucker wants you again, but you can’t go back to him. You’ve filled your empty spaces with my wolfy pal?" "Sort of." Mei lets out
Aline's Choice 8. Jump Off a Cliff
-Jian- I avoid Aline for about a week, keeping to myself while shoving away nagging thoughts about how I left things with her. Breaking news interrupts my efforts to forget about her. Lance tells us the vampires left the city. Talu, still on forced bedrest, doggedly researches why and bends my ear with his theories during my visits to bring him his favorite boba drink. According to Talu, Chase, Mei's vampire ex-boyfriend, sent her a goodbye text saying his coven was moving across the bay to Oakland, but there was no explanation. Without alpha commands to gather against bloodsuckers, I have too much idle time. I try to interest myself in Talu’s mission, but fail. Watching Tony dote on his middle schooler has me worried that he’ll get arrested if someone doesn’t check him on his stalkerish behavior. I convince Will to act as Tony's caretaker. I even stay at home to help my mom around the house. After just a day, she sat me down and told me my h
Aline's Choice 9. What in The Hell Are We Doing?
-Aline- His T-shirt is soft against my thighs. Fascinated, I study the dark, rugged vision of him, still blocking the sun's fading rays. If his fidgety stance and inability to rest his eyes on my face is any sign, Jian is as shocked by my flirtation as I am. His eyes slide away, refusing to meet mine. Instead, his gaze skims the length of my legs. My heart thunders at his unadulterated perusal. The crashing waves mask the sound of the rapid heartbeat pounding in my ears. While his shout off the cliff was not as masculine as he would have liked, Jian seems to think manly thoughts now. His stance, hands shoved deep into his pockets, hides the evidence of his desire within his dripping shorts. My lips twitch, wanting to curl into a smile. I am pleased by his reaction to the sight of me. For just a moment, I shut my eyes, seeking some privacy to consider what exactly the hell it is I am doing. "Is that an invitation for me to manhandle you?"
Aline's Choice 10. A Peek Into His Past
-Talu- I lounge on the sofa, healed enough to haul myself out of bed. Today, Jian keeps me company. He's twitchy, not at all his usual calm self. After asking after Mei and Aline, and pacing the length of the small living room at least six times, Jian finally settles in the armchair kitty-corner to the sofa. We both pretend to watch the Giants vs. Mariners baseball game. The distracting thrum of his fingers on the chair's upholstered arm forces me to break the heavy silence. "So, bro," I say, attempting a casual but cautious air. "Want to tell me about her?" "A girl?" He feigns rapt interest in a Geico commercial. Stupid talking lizard. "Just a wild guess. Seeing as you can’t look at me, you’re thinking about a girl, right?" It’s impossible to keep from grinning. I know poking at Jian might make him angry, but teasing him is irresistible. He shoots me a dark, annoyed look after I suggestively move my eyebrows up and down and g
Aline's Choice 11. The Thing About Imprinting
-Talu- Feminine voices tickle our werewolf auditory senses long before the owners' light footfalls hit the porch. Aline and Mei are back. Jian and I seem to realize this at the same time. Jian casts me a wary look as he scans the room for a quick exit. I hide my amusement with a cough, knowing he's good and stuck since the backdoor is through my dad’s bedroom. Mei enters the unlocked front door and rushes to sit beside me, smiling to find me out of bed and in the company of a friend. I'm unused to seeing her so delighted while holding a shopping bag, but she has one dangling from her wrist. Aline slides inside behind her, propping herself against the entryway to the dining room. Her focus is on the smartphone in her hand. She appears unaware of Jian’s presence, or if she knows he's here, she's hiding it well. I'm still getting used to Aline’s super-short, softly tousled hairdo. Solely under threat of death, will I ever admit her fresh cut is
Aline's Choice 12. A Race And Some Respite
-Jian- I burst into a thicket at the western end of the park near the windmills and Park Chalet. With my nose in the air, I sniff, trying to catch Aline’s unique scent. A few weeks ago, I discovered something about her fragrance during my last botanical garden meeting with the nature conservancy. The workshop was about preserving the state's native plants and the presenters had aromatic samples of California wildflowers. I stayed after to satisfy a curiosity about the composition of Aline’s fragrance. It hadn't come as a surprise to find her identifying perfume was a mix of Nightshade, and Wild Ginger. Both reminded me of her, a bit dangerous, hot, untamed, and spicy. The final blossom in Aline’s bouquet proved the most difficult to uncover. Standing in the deserted meeting room, the discovery of the mystery fragrance brought an immediate smile to my face. I identified Aline’s last delightful scent in a tiny vial labeled, Wild Sweet Pea. Of all thing
Aline's Choice 13. What's Love Got to Do With It?
-Jian- “Feel better?” “Yes.” Her relaxed weight against me reveals the truth in her reply. “It's weird, Jian. I'm sort of making friends. You'd be amazed. I mean, I'm amazed.” I can picture her in human form, shrugging and giving me an odd, sad smile. “Seems like there’s something likable about me. It is kind of shocking. You, Mei, even that bastard, Talu. And it's disturbingly easy to talk to Mei about stuff, but...” “But what? You worried about her, or something?” “Jian, I don't think she'll be able to handle it when Talu imprints. It'll... it'll kill her.” “There's nothing that says he will imprint, Aline. But if he does, I bet Mei’s tougher than that. She's been with vampires and survived! I’m glad she came to her senses. But now she's going out with the worst sort of werewolf, which means her taste in men is highly questionable.” Aline barks
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Aline's Choice 52. Chocolates Do Not Suck
-Aline-{Valentine's Day Eve} I've decided I'm a moron, believing that a singular thought would make him, the spitting image of Chris Hemsworth, magically appear in my room, or, at the very least, at my front door. I'm a blithering idiot. But not as big an idiot as Jian, though, so that’s some consolation. Ugh! I slap my palm to my forehead and shake my head. Hell, I don't even know if Stefan's in the same time zone, never mind whether he's next door with Felicia right now! I finish my internal self-condescension and finally shower, change, and put my hair up. I'm pleased to discover my mane is now long enough to put up again. Clean, and no longer feeling maudlin, I pad barefoot into the living room. I think about making tea. I squinch my face. I hate tea. Since Lance’s wedding, though, I've been drinking tea. Drowning myself in it, really. Someone at school told me that it would be soothing. It is. Soothing, I mean. But it tastes like flowers. And right n
Aline's Choice 51. No Backing Down
-Jian- I sit on a log watching Stefan’s blond head as he carefully dusts off something that looks like a wooden box. He sets it aside with patience I do not possess. He does not open it, but moves instead, to pick up another artifact and clean it. It's unnerving to watch how exacting his movements are, almost loving, even reverent. "Jian, did you know your name means 'to see?'" Stefan's tone is casual and conversational. I look at him as he bows over whatever he holds in his hand. "What? Did you find that in one of my ancestor's artifacts that you pulled out of the ground?" Stefan lets out an appreciative little laugh at the annoyance in my voice. His eyes still focus downward as he carefully removes dirt from a crevice in yet another wooden box. "No. I looked it up on the internet." I stare at him open-mouthed. "You're cyber-stalking me?" "What?! No!" His gaze whips up to meet mine. Then he smiles and he's even more good-looking than before. The si
Aline's Choice 50. Of Curses and Legends
Readers Note: This chapter hops between Aline and Jian's point of view to explain the mythology. Thank you for understanding. -Aline- "So she cursed him - us- forever," Felicia says, her voice suddenly quiet. "She left him impotent among humans and shifters, unable to father children, one of the primary duties and the greatest of all blessings given to the clan's leader. But to make matters worse, he was to walk the earth attracted to the most deceitful and conniving of all human women for eternity." My brows knit as I process this information. Impotence, doesn't that mean…? Felicia lifts her index finger and then allows it to droop. Wide-eyed, I lift a hand to cover my open mouth. Poor Stefan, indeed! "How long?" "Too long, really," she says with a sigh, a wry smile on her face. "It's been so long we've lost count. At least through the Middle Ages. As you might imagine, it frustrated him through the first hundred." My eyes must be the size of dinner
Aline's Choice 49. Werewolf Puberty
Author’s note: There are a lot of point-of-view switches between Jian and Aline in this chapter. Thank you for understanding!__________________-Jian-(in San Francisco, at Talu’s house)Talu’s warning pounds in my head. I've been wallowing in self-pity for two weeks. He's right. I'm not proving myself much of a man here. And he is now allowing me to show myself worthy of Aline. I sigh and stare pointedly at the sheaf of papers he removed from the manila envelope. "So, what did the leech find out?"My gaze shifts warily between the papers and Talu. "First, let me tell you what Mei’s ex- told me." And so he tells me how the bloodsucker was hunting in the woods during a stopover to Europe at the same time the terrible twins paid Mei a visit. That was also the same night Talu was with Aline on a jet plane bound for Syracuse.####-Aline- (in Syracuse at her place)We're still on the porch and I'm mulling over Felicia's suggestion.“So, why not both?”Her words bounce aroun
Aline's Choice 48. Lessons On Love
-Jian- "What do you know about the archaeologist?" my voice is a low growl, frightening even to me. I've just stormed into Talu’s room, having left Lance, who proved himself a worthless fool, spouting on and on about how an imprint is never wrong and imploring me to leave Aline alone so she can get on with her life and find happiness. "Hell if I will!" I cursed his useless hide as I slammed out of his house an hour earlier. Stupid Lance! Using this Stefan guy to assuage the guilt he feels for breaking up with Aline the way he did. A little voice in my head suggested I'd recently done the same. Maybe hurt her even worse. But as I made my way to Talu’s place, I roared at the tiny, nagging voice to just shut the hell up. Now, I glare at my best friend. Talu’s expression is impassive at the onslaught of my tumultuous, emotional verbal assault. My eyes track him as he moves to the desk in his room. He pulls out a manila file folder that reeks of bloodsucker. My n
Aline's Choice 47. Something to Consider
-Aline- I'm wrapped up in an oversized cashmere sweater, legs curled beneath me on the wicker loveseat on the back porch in Syracuse. Even my werewolf's body heat can't quite keep me warm against this cold, empty feeling inside. The night of Lance’s wedding keeps replaying inside my head as I stare, unseeing, out into the upstate New York winter. The mid-winter chill is so much more here than in the temperate winters in California. My hands cradle a cup of now tepid tea. I hear a door open and turn to greet Bella, only to grimace at the crazy, blonde bitch who steps out onto the porch. In my peripheral vision, I watch Felicia gracefully fold herself into the wicker rocker kitty-corner to my seat... too near. For two weeks, I've avoided her. Now, I am too tired and melancholy to bother getting up and leaving. Besides, I got here first. I huff out a cloud of hot air against the freezing morning, showing my unhappiness at her undesired company. There is no sound other than our combin
Aline's Choice 46. The Other Guy
Aline left for Syracuse without a goodbye from me. I knew I couldn't see her again without groveling and I refused to do that to myself. After all, a man has to preserve some dignity. I haven't spoken to anyone since Lance’s wedding and it's been a couple of weeks. So, now it’s February, and I am still so pissed I can't see straight. In the weeks since the wedding, I didn’t hang out with my pack brothers or hit the clubs with friends from work. Instead, I torture myself with my new, self-imposed daily task of overseeing the actions of this man, Aline’s imprint. The guy I’m convinced will not only take away the woman I love, but who also wishes to rape our land. So, maybe I'm being a touch too melodramatic. But I am miserable, and therefore, I'm entitled to my feelings. I kick the dirt at my feet. Through slit eyes, I take measure of Stefan and decide he is my my unofficial love rival. On looks alone, he could claim Aline as his own. He could do so just as soon
Aline's Choice 45. Mother Knows Best
-Asena Cai- (Jian’s Mom) I find my boy sitting in the darkness out in the backyard. From the kitchen window, I take in the sight of him. He's still wearing his tuxedo, his tie undone, the wine colored swath of color hangs around his neck against the white-white of his shirt. His dark hair is in wild disarray around his so familiar, handsome face. There is heartbreak in his expression, so happy only hours ago. My heart cries out for him. I rush upstairs to change and make my way to sit quietly beside Jian. I say nothing as he hangs his head. I watch the steady drip of silent tears fall onto the back of his large, strong hands. In the moonlight, the drops glimmer against his naturally tanned skin before sliding into the dark green grass beneath our feet. I wait for him, offering him my strength simply by staying beside him. I know my son. He does not want me to witness this weakness. He never did as a boy and I know it pains him more as a young man to know I am watching. "It hurt
Aline's Choice 44. Unexpected Comfort
-Aline- I crumple to my knees, not caring in the least that I am muddying this damn $300 dress. Sobs wrack my body as I grieve for a love I’ve only just realized I can't live without. I wail against an imprint I can not make myself refuse. I feel the sudden heat of two hands cradling my wracking shoulders. The warmth is not human. I silence myself, drop my hands to my lap, and turn to look up, eager to discover who's standing behind me. "So now you understand the force of an imprint." I stare at Jian's mother as though she's sprouted another head. She is the last person I expect to see, the very last. How can she know about my terrible secret? "I know what you are, Aline Kam. I know because I have been you." I shake my head. She can't possibly know because she can't possibly be a werewolf. She stares at me and answers aloud the unspoken question relayed by my head shaking. "But I am, Aline. I know what you are going through." She
