Chapter 45: Simon

It was quiet and still dark out. I hoped that the events of last night were not just a dream. I opened my eyes and saw a skylight, with rain pattered across it. I was in Violet’s bed. I looked over at her as she slept, breathed deeply, with a frown etched upon her face. Did I see her bottom lip quiver? She shook her head lightly and sighed.

“No! Please don’t leave,” she said. The frown grew deeper as she turned over on her side away from me. Her shoulders shuttered as if she were crying.

I didn’t want to see her so sad, whatever she was dreaming about must have been bad and I couldn’t fix it. I pulled the blanket that was now close to her feet up around her shoulders. She took a deep breath in, relaxed a little. I laid my hand on her shoulder; she relaxed even further under my touch. A smile spread across my lips, even in dream she could feel the connection between us.

I didn’t want to disturb her, she seemed to have moved onto a different dream. I positioned myself behind her and lightly put my arm around her waist. If she woke up, I could just say I was a cuddler. I settled in behind her with my arm draped over her, I breathed in her lavender and vanilla smell. I wanted to pull her against me and never let go. She smelled like home. I closed my eyes, drifted off to sleep already dreaming of her.

Time passed and I woke up to the sun shining through the skylight. I looked around, Violet was not next to me. I sat up panicked. What happened to her? Was she taken? My stomach dropped. I fell asleep holding her last night and now she wasn’t here. How could she have gotten up without me knowing it? I could feel the distance between us as soon as I saw her for the first time.

I jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs, I looked around the small cabin. I saw her, on the back porch, with a mug in her hand and a book in her lap, wrapped up in a blanket. I smiled; I wouldn’t mind waking up to this every day. She looked over her shoulder and smiled.

I probably looked like a stalker just standing there staring at her. I made my way to the back door.

“Morning.” She said and smiled at me; she took a sip from her mug.

“Good morning.” I said and smiled back.

“Would you like some coffee or breakfast?”

“Coffee sounds amazing.” I said. Violet started to get up. “Oh no, let me get it. You look so comfortable.”

“Nonsense. It will only take a minute.” She sat the book down in front of her. “You can help.” She brushed by me. I could feel my dick twitch at her close proximity.

“What can I do?”

“First, you could tell me how you slept.” She grabbed a mug and placed it under the Keurig. “Which one?” She lifted a box of pods at me.”

“Slept great and you choose.”

“Good, oh um.” She looked over the choices and pulled out a hazelnut one and showed it to me.

“My favorite.”

She popped the pod in and hit a button. “Would you like anything to eat? I’m pretty sure that there is about twenty pounds of food left in that basket.”

“Ok, I get it. I went overboard with the basket.” I held my hands up in surrender.

She looked over her shoulder at me and laughed. A hair fell over her face as she looked at me. On instinct, I took the hair and brushed it behind her ear. Like I did that a hundred times. She turned quickly, was she blushing? If I had my way, I would have pulled her to me and kissed her. But I didn’t want to scare her off.

“Do you like milk or sugar?”

“Black is fine. Thank you.”

“What is it with you werewolves and black coffee?”

The smile that was on my face slowly faded at her words. Did she entertain other werewolves here? How many? I couldn’t smell any other wolf here. Only her sent and mine mingled together. My eyebrows furrowed together.

She held the mug out to me but stopped short. The smile on her face left as well. “What’s wrong?”

“What you just said, how many werewolves have you served coffee to?” A surge of jealousy pulsed through me. I would tear the throat out of whoever was over here.

A look of confusion crossed her face. “Oh shit.” She turned and placed the mug down on the table. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you, he said he would get into trouble.”

“Who? Who was it?” I took a step toward her. Fighting the urge to grab her arms. I didn’t want to hurt her.

“I said I wasn’t going to say anything. I don’t want to get him in trouble.” She said, looked down and bit her lip. That action pulled my attention from her eyes to her mouth. What I would give to bite that lip.

“Who?” I demanded.

“You have to promise he won’t get into trouble. I pretty much force fed him coffee.”

“I’m not promising anything.”

“Yesterday morning, I was sitting out on the deck, and I could sense one of your pack members lurking in the woods. It was early in the morning, and the sun hadn’t even risen yet. I felt bad he was watching me, and it was chilly, the least I could do was offer him a cup.” She explained quickly. “He said that he could get into trouble, because he was only supposed to watch not interact. I gave him a cup of coffee. He didn’t even come onto the back porch.”

She looked up at me. The tension in my stomach vanished. No one came into her cabin. The jealousy slowly eased away. “You lured a wolf out of the woods with a cup of coffee. Great to know that my army can withstand temptation.” I scoffed and rubbed the back of my neck. “I promise he won’t get into trouble. Give me his name.” I smiled at her.

She hesitated, she looked into my eyes. “Now if you lie to me, you know I can curse you right?” I could see that she tried to hold back a laugh.

“That is very true. I know and he won’t get into trouble. Cross my heart.” I crossed an X over my heart.

“His name was Bruce.”

“Of course, it would be Bruce. He’s the best of my warriors, he has a good read on people. If he thinks you’re ok, I guess you are ok.” I chuckled, I leaned over and poked her side which her jump. I grabbed my coffee and walked away.

“Hey! Don’t do that.” She squealed.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” I strode out to the back porch with her following me. I sat down on the chair next to hers. She came and wrapped the blanket around her and sat down.

“Aren’t you cold?” She looked at me from her blanket cocoon.

“Nah, wolves are meant to withstand different temperatures. This actually feels pretty nice.” I took a sip of my coffee. “What are you studying?” I tilted my coffee toward the book.

“I’m just reading over a resurrection spell. It’s pretty complicated.”

“Is this what you do all day? Study?”

“I don’t have a job, so I spend most of my time here. What else is there to do? I can only watch so many romantic comedies.”

She didn’t have a job and liked romantic comedies. “Did you need a job? If you do, I could get you one, easily.”

She smiled, looked down at her book and slowly turned to me. It was a different smile, this one meant more, I couldn’t really understand it fully. “I’m set for a while but if that changes, I will let you know.”

“Your set? What do you have a safe full of money?” I laughed.

“No, I have a duffle bag full of money.” She said matter-of-factly and looked back down at her book.

I sat and stared at her as she continued to read over the book. “I can’t tell if you are joking or not.”

“Why would I joke about that? It’s true.” She glanced over at me then quickly back at her book.

“Huh, ok then.” I looked out over the lake. I could see some wolves were already training in the yard. Soon I would have to go back to reality and leave Violet here. I had to see her again. What could I do to see her again?