Chapter 21 Chapter 21
Suki took a seat on one of the pillows on the picnic blanket. “This is truly beautiful, Brendan.”
Taking a seat on the other pillow beside her, his gaze softened on her. “A beautiful picnic for an even more beautiful woman.”
She blushed, getting lost in his dark eyes that reflected the world and sky around them so aesthetically. “We… should open the wine,” she said, pulling herself to reality and grabbing the bottle. “Oh,” she tapped the top of the bottle, “did you bring a wine opener?”
“Ah, no,” Brendan admitted. He grabbed the bottle of red wine and snapped it at the neck. “There, problem solved.”
Suki giggled, “And now we’re at risk of drinking little specks of glass.”
“I suppose it’s lucky for us that we’re both werewolves with super healing, then, isn’t it?” he retorted as he poured her a glass and handed it to her.
Sighing dramatically, she took the glass, “How reckless and dangerous of you.”
He chuckled, “It’s the only danger I’ll put you in, I swear it.” He held his glass in front of her, waiting.
Her smile faded faintly as she locked eyes with him and clinked cheers before finally taking a sip of the sweet wine. “Wow, this wine is amazing,” she exulted and grabbed the bottle to examine the branding. She gasped, “This is so expensive, Brendan, you shouldn’t have got this.”
“I wanted to,” he said, taking the bottle and placing it down before leaning back to admire her beauty once more. “They drink it in the Alpha’s mansion, and I thought you deserved the same luxury.”
Suki beamed, scanning his face. “Oh, did you take it from the Alpha’s home?”
The softness in his eyes vanished. He cleared his throat and sat up, “Are you insinuating that I stole it, like the filthy Rogue I am?”
“No!” she exclaimed. “I just thought, since you live with them, you’d have similar privileges like Zale. That you could just freely–”
Brendan scoffed. “I can’t do anything ‘freely’, love.”
“I didn’t mean it the way you thought, I promise. I was just making conversation…” Suki confessed and looked away.
Pushing his annoyance aside, he sighed, “It was a gift on my 18th birthday, from the Alpha. He gifts me a bottle every year on my birthday. He never took that much interest in me; his kindness in giving me a home was more than I ever expected. He could’ve given me nothing on my birthday, and I’d still be grateful.”
“Are these bottles from a recent birthday?”
He shook his head. “I never had a worthy moment to drink them with someone.”
“Your birthday isn’t a worthy moment?” Suki tilted her head towards him before taking another sip of wine.
Brendan ran his fingers through her hair and played with the ends between his fingers, “I stopped celebrating my birthday the minute my own people wished me dead.”
Suki frowned, “Dead…?”
“Don’t ask about it, please,” he said speedily, seeing all the questions flicker in her eyes.
“I won’t,” she nodded. His body relaxed slightly. Then she added, “But I still want to know more about you. So…” she smiled eagerly.
Hesitation struck his face. “Let’s eat first,” he suggested.
✧ ✧ ✧
After some food and a bottle of wine, Suki was feeling a haze forming in her mind. She wasn’t one to drink, let alone get drunk, so more than a couple of glasses of wine was assured to end in a messy night for her.
Though that being said, Suki had never been drunk before, so she didn’t even know what she would be like intoxicated.
Brendan pulled out another bottle of wine and cracked it open. “So,” he began as he poured another glass of wine for Suki, “this is how it’s going to be for a while, right? You’re seeing him and me separately?”
“Yeah,” Suki replied, taking the wine and sipping it quickly, hoping it would push away that awkward feeling she always got when her two mates talked about each other. “I know it’s not ideal.”
“I have my thoughts about it,” he sighed, “but I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
Suki shivered as the cool breeze hit her. Cooler temperatures don’t bother wolves, but it doesn’t mean they’re totally numb to it. She watched as Brendan scooted closer to her and placed his arm over her shoulder.
“Cold?”
She shook her head. “No, but this is nice,” she smiled, leaning into him. “I’m still waiting for you to talk.”
Silence struck the air, enough to burn Suki’s cheeks.
“We’ve been talking…”
Suki sat up and faced him, “We’ve been talking about me and my life. I want to know more about you now.”
Brendan chugged the wine in his glass and topped it up again, sighing, “What do you want to know?”
“Anything! Just give me a fact about you.”
“A fact?”
She nodded.
He frowned, “I don’t know what to tell you.”
Suki huffed, “Oh, goddess save me, Brendan, anything! Like…” She tittered, “What’s your favourite colour?”
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Hey, you’re not giving me anything, so I’ll start with the boring questions until you give me something.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Answer it!”
“Um… blue.”
Suki’s shoulders slumped, and she sighed dramatically, “Seriously? That’s all I get?” Brendan looked at her, perplexed. “Give me more details. Okay, for example, my favourite colour is purple, but not just any purple, the purple you see in the sky during sunset, when there’s a mix of orange and blue blending together so perfectly that it’s almost like looking at a piece of artwork in the sky. To me, whenever the sky looks like that, I feel safe, like I’m complete, like there is always hope for a new and better day.”
Brendan blinked repeatedly and exhaled, “Wow…”
“Cheesy, I know.”
“No, that was… sweet,” he smiled faintly. “I can relate, kind of.”
She smiled, “Yeah?”
He nodded, taking a swig of his wine before speaking, “The type of blue I like is in the sky too, I suppose it’s as dusk is fading into the night. That shade of navy blue you get in the sky where the last bit of the sun still touches, but the moon begins to light the sky too… That’s the blue I like.”
“That’s beautiful, thank you,” Suki grinned, lacing her fingers with his and squeezing his hand.
Brendan squeezed her hand back, and a flicker of sadness appeared in his eyes for a second before he blinked it away.
“What is it?”
He shook his head. ‘Don’t,’ he said through the bond as he looked away from her.
Suki placed a hand on his cheek, making him look at her. ‘Please.’
Taking a moment to decide whether to fight against it or not, he sighed and gave in. “When I was first banished, I had no home, no shelter, no family or friends to rely on. The sky was my only companion for a long time. I’d watch the sunset and the night sky takeover and find comfort when the sky became that navy blue shade, because I knew the moon would appear in the sky, and it reminded me that the Moon Goddess would be watching and guide me to a better life.” He scoffed lightly, “I truly believe she guided me to you.”
“Brendan…” Suki cooed, tearing up.
“Hey, no crying,” he held her cheek, “you can’t be doing that every time I tell you something about myself,” he smiled.
She blinked away the tears. “I love it when you smile. You should do it more often,” she whispered, leaning forward.
“No promises,” he uttered softly, moving forward and planting a kiss on her lips. Yet one kiss was never enough for Brendan. He kissed again and again until he deepened it with mighty passion.
Suki gripped his shirt, yearning to have him closer even though their bodies were already against each other. Her tugging resulted in him moving more forward, dropping her to lie on her back, and him climbing on top of her.
She groaned, speaking quietly, “I think the wine has gone to my head a little too much.”
He chuckled, “Good.” Planting his kisses on her neck again and again and again until a melody of soft purrs of enjoyment escaped Suki’s lips. Brendan dragged his teeth against her flesh and bit down, and sucked her skin.
“Brendan,” she moaned, not knowing where that sentence was going, but knowing she had to express her pleasure to him.
“I want you,” he groaned, resting his forehead on hers. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold myself back.”
Pushing herself to sit up and encouraging him to do the same, Suki sighed, “I’m not going to make either of you wait long, I promise.”
He nodded and pecked her lips once more, and hummed, “This will have to do for now.”
Suki tittered, leaning in for another kiss when a gust of wind blew a familiar-unfamiliar scent her way. She inhaled sharply, “Do you smell that?”
Furrowing his brows, Brendan held her chin and scanned her face, “What?”
“It smelt like… humans.”
Brendan’s face fell flat as all the colour left his complexion, “What did you just say?”
She shook her head, “I don’t know for sure, I’ve never met mortal humans before, but I’m almost certain that’s what I smelled the other day. They smell like us, without the wolf…” Suki looked at Brendan, and her brows rose, “Hey, are you okay? You look a little pale.”
He cleared his throat, “Yes, I’m fine.” Shaking his head to snap out of it, he stood speedily and held a hand out for her, “Come on, let me take you home.”
“What?”
“We’re too close to the borders. If there is something nearby that shouldn’t be here, you, of all people, shouldn’t be here either.”
“But–”
He didn’t let her speak; he just began to drag her through the forest, gripping her hand tightly as if he were trying not to lose her.
Suki looked back, trying to steady herself, but the alcohol was making her head spin. “What about the picnic?”
Brendan didn’t respond and led her back to the town centre to take her home.