There was only grass rustling and Ian tugging her hand, everything else shut out. She felt submerged, like water was covering all her senses, the layer to connect with the outer world felt thick, impenetrable. Noah had a gorgeous brunette, with wide soulful eyes, and tall elegant limbs covered in copper skin, which suited her dress the best. Emerald-colored cocktail wear flatters her curves and smooth gait. What felt like the first membrane under her skin, was touted under the blade of the sharp scalpel. She wasn’t prone to jealousy, never had been. It could be considered a healthy emotion if addressed with maturity. But this, this hurt. Her jealousy wasn’t with how she looked proud and oddly at comfort in his arms. It was with how Noah looked at her. This would be the old Noah, the Noah she was warned about time and again by Evan. The one that carried out his wicked intentions with exacting fervour, to the point where his victims felt like the center of his universe. She could atte
She had trailed them like an addict chasing another high when he had walked with her. Nora didn’t seem comfortable first, but now she did. Whatever he set out to achieve, he did. That was Noah Abel. And this was Vanessa Flynn, standing in her faded khaki capri with black sweathirt, hair up in a signature bun, and barefoot. She had tried climbing this vertical set of logs. Her feet hurt now, a blister or two would form. If water retained, it’d either infect her, a mix of dead white cells, tissue debris. Its like her brain had coveted to finding non sense to fill the vacuum once her obsession with the couple would die down. And it will. She was fast hatching a plan to make Noah hers. It was no longer question of her need, it was about her sanity. The banality of her idea didn’t strike her comforting but she felt more than ready. Because she knew Noah could no more lose interest in her than he could stop caring about his prized possessions. That was one thing set in stone. Noah like he
Noah was rethinking the whole evening. It played like a scene, one after another, when his wolf couldn't catch a break. Rudiger was against Desmond, and if he saw the evening to an end, in some ways Desmond's daughter will be too. He sifted through the papers, looking for everyday things- a pen, or a pencil, was a task in itself. Because Vanessa set them up however she wanted. And for the life of him, he couldn't tell her otherwise. He spent a whole evening with a beautiful woman, one he would've done everything in his power to take her to his bed. Why could he only think about the one he was soon going to get rid of? Vanessa knew he'd be in his cave. Hidden away after the party. That was his way of ending the day with order intact. She saw him leaning over the table and wanted to replace whatever held his attention. Noah, from a distance, looked more pious. And whatever they had was worth consideration, effort and seeing beyond one's pain. It was no help that casual Noah was stam
The penny finally dropped. Only, it felt like someone had knocked Noah sideways. He was still here, touching her, breathing her in. He knew she was a virgin. He knew the way she tucked her chin that she thought this was why he hadn't turned all his filthy fantasies into a reality with her. But that was far from it. He moved a few steps away, his back to him, and for the first time in a long time, he prayed. Vanessa was feeling cold. She usually didn't, the wolf kept her warm and cozy. Without Noah's body heat, she felt something akin to snakes coiling in her belly because his tensed shoulders, the way he rubbed the back of her neck told her she had picked the worst time to make her little confession. But she wasn't backing down now. Wasn't he the one to convince her to not run away? "What is this Vanessa?" She approached him still. He pointed his finger back and forth to indicate what she was doing to both of them. She didn't quite understand but his anger made her feel giddy. It al
Maybe he’d finally squish her under his feet. It would be better, anything would be better than this. Because she loved him. “What’s worse is you are so deep in your own troubles you don’t see the world around you. Especially when you are home-sick. Always searching for it like a nomad. Vanessa, people can’t be your home. It goes to say how ridiculous your aspiration is because you fell for the first person who shoved some attention and care your way. First-person that sees you for who you are, and you become desperate enough to give him your all.”He was having an out-of-body experience when he said that but she brought him back. “Stop. Oh! God. Stop. Speaking.” The cry wrenched from her lips so loud that someone at the door flinched. The loud quiet leaked into her bones like poison, she saw his eyes fix on the door only to turn around and find Nora Desmond.Nora Desmond with her manicured nails clutching the champagne bottle as if it might jostle out of her arms. She had heard.
“I am here to let you know. You don’t have time to mop over your heart-break” His voice leveled, revealing how the cat’s playtime was up. “Why isn't he here telling me that himself?” “He has something else to do. I don’t ask questions like you, Vanessa. Nor do I go around crying when Noah is doing all he can to keep us all safe. Listen girlie, I disliked your ‘I am a damsel act’ the moment I saw you. What will it take to pull your head out of your ass for once to make you realize this is bigger and more important than our troubled little lives?” Rhys grip tightened with each word he breathed in anger. He was angry because, like Noah Abel, he had a thing for recently dumped, wore-their-hearts on sleeves women. Like the one looking at him with doe eyes. Vanessa snickered. Then she really did laugh. Her hand moved, working on muscle memory and she didn’t know what she was doing until it met with a hard collection of bones under the smooth olive-brown skin. She had slapped Rhys. She ha
The voices didn’t make sense. They never did. She felt like a child standing in a whispering room. Like everyone before her had come here to confess something, only they were trapped in here and she could hear them. She could talk back to them but they wouldn’t listen. Vanessa’s mouth tasted coppery, it took a breath or two to realize it was blood. And before the panic could set in, she also somehow knew it wasn’t her blood. When she scraped her tongue with the upper row of teeth expecting to see red, all she saw was her own saliva. Still groggy from sleep, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been real. Very real. And for the first time, she can’t recall her nightmare or pseudo-dreams as she labeled them a while ago with Noah, because when he had cuddled her close twice at night, both the times he had confirmed how the air changed around her when she slept. The physical presence might be non-tangible but to a wolf-like his, it’d be no easy feat to fool. So whatever or whoever
“Communion is good at constructing a reality, for temselves and for the rest of us which is at odds with thousand other realities. They pick their favorite one and order others to believe it too. They will try to be confidential about any new information they find. Which is when we go public with it. Create enough panic and demand from everyone so the leaders are forced into taking some decisive action. The sooner they fin a culprit, the quicker they can please creatures. It is how it always works. Nobody is interested in due justice, they want quick justice. Desmond won’t see the light of the day before he knows what’s happening to him.” Noah was getting ticked by the second. Anyone who was here to pick up the samples should have arrived by now. “W should go. Staying any longer won’t do us good.” Mikhail was right. They should have left half an hour ago but something old Noah whoever was coming wasn’t late. They were cautioned. “There is an information leak.” What was he expecting
'Love does find a way afterall. No matter what obstacles are laid before us, if our love is pure, it will win at the end, no matter what.' Vanessa thought as a smile lit her face up. She was sitting comfortably on a couch, in a large sweatshirt that belonged to Noah, now her husband.She thought back to their wedding ceremony, it was a wonderful affair filled with laughter, love and hope. All their friends had come, looking clean in their dresses and suits. Noah had left last night, in wolf form, hollering and calling loudly to the moon. A makeshift bachelor party- a wild run in the forest and then some chilled beer at a cliff with a nice view. That left Vanessa to sit back at home, thumbing through her favorite book and smiling now and then. It was midnight when she decided to call it a night and go to bed- her last night as a single lady. Just then, she caught sight of a rustling figure outside the window. It was Noah, his hair windswept and his cheeks red from being drunk. He was
She watched his face, less shy about its location on the map of her body. He was smiling to himself, mischievous, his eyes on his work. Small pool of sweat gathered at her lower back, at the dimples he liked so much. He was finger painting.She gasped, trying to twist away as he wrote more. But he didn't have to. "Noah...." Was she going to weep? She didn't want to weep. "Is that a yes or a no?" The wolf was relaxed this time around. Like it had gotten what it wanted for the time being, she knew the decision was equally human. "Yes! Yes, I'll marry you." "If you can stop snotting, maybe then..." She hit his shoulder. When he kissed her, on the psychic plane, his wolf appeared. Battered, strong, feral. And with him- a bond. It was a great shining thing, like a falling moon. An orb born of love tumbling in the creeks, in the meadows. She had only to catch it. And she did. With it came a smaller bond-Ian. Unafraid, she linked herself to it. The distance between them felt like sph
The last thing she remembered was his claws digging in her ass, and their pleasure sated bodies a tangle of limbs. Where was he now? Not next to her. But he had slept, the bed held his impressions. Coming to herself, she blushed. His smell was so strong on her, hers had nearly vanished. She had an inkling that these were the signs of mating bond completing itself. Even he would smell more like Vanessa than himself. The animal was playing for keeps, and it wanted to be kept as an equal. She found him sitting on the porch stairs. She grabbed his shirt, shivered at how sensitized her skin felt, trying desperately to keep herself from looking at the spot of blood on lavender sheets. Thankfully, they weren't white. His marks, teeth, hand, claws pulsed in her body. Her body held his secrets more tenderly than it did anything else. He sensed her approach, straightening his legs, making space for her between them. She went, hiding behind her hair. His content was contagious. Bare chested
The satisfaction coursing through him was so arrogant, so unfaltering in its ownership, her wolf quivered a little in fear. If he consumed her, would she live to see another day? Intrigued, he rubbed his jaw against the inside of her legs, her scent decadent, strong. He fumbled with his jeans before pulling them down. His wolf wanted to take. To turn her around on hands and knees, mount her, and when she'd arch her neck in pleasure, take a bite. It'll hurt but he'd share the pain. "Noah?" She was still here. Legs spread, waiting for him. He smiled. His mind was playing tricks on him, he won't take her like an animal. That'll have to wait. He suddenly dipped his head and she shoved a discarded pillow to her face. Which was a good thing. Because the scream that tore out of her was no human. Her eyes shifted, her wolf begging to have her equal measure of the sensations. His eyes still on her face, he licked her between her thighs. The tender bud begged for his attention, which in h
When he threw up his shields, she was back in front of him. Tonight, there was no leash. She wanted to play, he'll abide. The wolf bared its teeth.... She shot out with a grin. Adrenaline shot through her, she was nowhere near as fast as him. But she could read his thought clear as a bright sunny day. Apart from the high of the chase, she was humbled by the trust. He lowered his shields to nil and let her in. She had yet to do that.He was getting closer, the wolf didn't try to hide the heavy breathing, his massive lungs resounding in warning because he wanted her to know when he was near. Claws out, canines protruding, Noah was no longer human. Not a single part of him. Heart raising hard and fast, she sharpened her run into the direction of lower range, a steep one her much smaller body could maintain running at. Noah's much larger frame would tumble at this speed, so he pulled out an old trick. He laid down and rolled like a barrel. Laughter bubbled inside of her. 'Nice trick.'
"I am sorry I made you feel unwelcome. Consider this an apology." He kissed her knuckles, a small key pressed to her palm, the soft crinkle of paper-a note. She couldn't read his thoughts anymore. But he walked away with a purpose. Dusk clambered in the Nebraska, the summer of dragging afternoons fast learning to evade the gossamery warmth for autumn seeping in sycamore trees, yellow golden leaves ready to replace the greens. Beyond the moonbeam dancing stream, stood two peaks, protecting the land from the unknowns, so many unknowns. The peaks, they are not exultant, and they no longer believe themselves to be the instrument of some great intention. They are, but a shadow of those living beings looking up at them, creatures grasping at life with stained hands. Waiting. Hoping. Vanessa hid her gasp, swallowing the thick ball of emotion in her throat. A heavy weight ruffled the decidous low hanging branches in the trees but she didn't have to turn around to know who it was. Her soul
Home.The black villa doors opened to reveal the place she had thought would save her from the mountain of debt she had buried herself under. The debt was the answer she had been waiting for, and apparently so was Silas. Greggory Flynn, she had kept his ashes in a thurible, had never given her complete answers. They arrived, to find Mikhail, Beatrice and Rourke waiting for them in the foyer. Vanessa was searching for Mrs.Kemp and her cupcake smelling apron. Beatrice looked healthier but the awkward distance between her and Mikhail didn't go unnoticed by anyone. "This here, little heathen, has more body count than me, brother. What do you say to that?" Evan dragged Vanessa from under Noah's arm to his side, strangling her in a side hug. Vanessa was beyond grateful. She didn't know how to break ice with Mikhail. The last time he had her tied to a chair in the basement, he had his reasons but that didn't make it okay. She didn't know where to go with him from here. She loved Noah but
Vanessa shuffled inside her closet, her claustrophobia all but gone. She was done packing but not ready to head back home. Things felt so incomplete. In past two days, she had tried to access Calvin's mind but had failed. When all of them, Selene, Falkner, Silas, Noah, Evan and Jodie convene for finalizing border control policies she had to tell them. She wanted everyone to know there were others like her, the Communion will want a hard proof. "Come in." She knew it was Evan. "Hii. I am resigning. Consider this official." He had been in a jolly good mood, he always was when he worked on secret plans but this time, Vanessa knew it was about Jodie. His mind was a back to back movie night on weekends, filled with lewd imagery of things he'd like to do to her.The powers did have it's shortcomings. "Resigning?" His shields were up. "Yes." Evan folded his legs, sat on the newly purchased futon, which Noah had gifted Vanessa because she liked to sleep on the floor. Bed after thirty six
He begrudgingly admitted nudity was her last preserve right now. She shifted but did a very poor job of hiding herself, the swell of her ass, small and pert with tan lines- he groaned- held his attention. Until he moved it to her shoulder. Stripes, more stripes of red, white, yellow, blue. What the fuck was it? How did she get bruises this bad? Before he could ask, she begged for a clothing. Anything he might have. He stripped off his shirt and threw it to her. She scrambled into it like she was on fire. No more inadvertent strip show, his cat saddened by the perspectiveShe knew what he was going to ask. It was always there, in the manner people stood, slightly skewed, uncomfortable of her reaction even before she had reacted. Scars. He had seen them. And she knew he won't let it go. "You aren't going anywhere until you answer me." Lonely, she wanted to be with her own kind after being denied association for so long. Walter Desmond's death made her breath for the first time, free