I'm naked in the water. My three mates stand on the shore looking at me with adoration, love, longing, and desire.
Sam grins, “You know I could just runoff with your clothes.”
I smirk, “I could just shift and go back to the house for new clothes.”
Sam shakes his head, “You would wouldn't you?”
I grin proudly, “You bet I would!”
Vincent looks at me, “So you finally accept what we have told you?”
“I still find it hard to believe. I don't even know what I am,” I say.
Eric smiles, “What you are only plays a small part in this. Who you are is what matters most!”
I shrug, “Let's hope.
Ummm Sam, your brothers are giving Katie booze.”
Sam chuckles, “It's a wedding party kinda a given.”
I sigh, “Well she won't be able to work tomorrow.”
“I'll call her off,” Vincent tells me.
I look at them, “And if you think she's a lot sober, drunk Katie is twice as crazy.”
Eric says, “I thought drinking usually relaxed humans.”
I laugh, “Not her, she gets super chatty, loses all inhibitions, and could outrun the
Energizer Bunny!”
I walk out of the water.
“Wow!” Vincent exclaims.
“You've seen it before,” I tell him.
Sam whistles, “Not draped in moonlight!”
Vincent explains, “When the light catches the droplets, they look like jewels gliding down your body. It is mesmerizing.”
I say, “cataegis.”
Winds begin to whirl around me at gale force. I dry off quickly, “Sorry we can continue this later.”
I put my clothes on and turn to face them once more.
“How did you know that spell?,” Eric asks.
I shrug, “No clue. I just wanted to be dry and that word popped into my head.”
Vincent asks, “Your voice or another's?”
“Mine,” I tell him.
Vincent smiles, “Good.”
Eric says, “Let's go save the wolves from Katie.”
We all share as laugh as we walk back to the pack house. Katie is outside dancing around the fire with the Kents and the youngest of the Falls while Simon is assisting Gran in the kitchen. One issue though everyone outside is naked.
I look at Sam, “Is this normal?”
He's hesitant to make eye contact, so I glare at him, “Well not happening. My body is for my mate only. Well in this case mates only!”
Sam tries to explain, “Wolves tend to be free and embrace nudity in many of our ceremonies. This was to be our wedding reception.”
I sigh because I can see his point, “Some witches do as well from what I have read, but I'm neither wolf nor witch. I'm me!”
I point to myself, “This woman doesn't flaunt her body or openly displays it to anyone besides who she's committed to. I'm sorry if it goes against tradition but I wouldn't be remotely comfortable doing so. No amount of booze has ever caused me to lose my inhibitions either. I may get slightly bolder but would never do anything I wouldn't do fully sober.”
Sam smiles, “It's fine. This should've been discussed before it led to this. I think that they just felt comfortable with Katie and forgot that you weren't raised a wolf.”
———-Sam’s POV———
There is so much that I forgot to discuss with her. I think part of me thinks she's a wolf and must know, but she's not a wolf. I need to keep repeating that to myself no matter how much I feel that she's like me she's not. She's her and whatever she is she wasn't raised around immortals. There is part of a wolf in her soul and I hope her heart, but she's not a wolf. She's far more. I know mates are consumed by each other during the haze, but it hadn't started yet. Yet I'm already consumed by her. It is taking everything within me to
respect her space to give her time to adjust. I want nothing more than to be in her and feel her every minute of every day.
I need to force myself away for a bit until the full moon rises. I need to give her that space. Eric can so I should. This will be the hardest thing
that I have ever done. I need to contact other Regional Alphas and see if this intensity is normal. I will
be careful how I word it. They are all older than me and found their fated mate long ago. I am the youngest and the last to do so. Eva was hidden from
me. Why? So many questions with so few answers. I will do my best to help
her in any way that I can. I love her, and I only hope that she grows to love me.
——-End POV——
I shrug at my nude dancing family, “Well I guess they just needed stress relief. Things did get pretty intense today. Why I ended up in the lake.”
Sam grins, “Let's all eat and relax.”
I give him a hug, “Okay, Vincent and Eric are you both okay or do you need to feed?”
Vincent looks at me, “Eva?”
I smile as I kiss his cheek, “It's not a huge deal. I can make you each a glass.”
Eric asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
I kiss his cheek too, “Yes!”
I go into the kitchen, “Hey you two. May I have two glasses for our undead guests?”
Gran laughs, “Of course.”
“l also have a question,” I tell her.
She comes and stands beside me, “Alright dear.”
“I can hear everyone's thoughts including the Kent's, why?” I ask.
“You're supposed to hear your pack's,” she says.
I shake my head, “The Kents aren't part of the Falls, but I can still hear them just as plainly.”
Gran shakes her head, “No and it's odd that you do.”
Simon asks me, “Can you hear other werewolves?”
I shrug, “I don't know. Before coming here I would have said no, but now I'm not so sure.”
Gran grins, “I bet you can. Just like you can see all vampires' memories. It might be what is needed for what is ahead.”
I sigh, “It's a bit harder with my mates but I can. I just don't like to because I don't want to be intrusive.”
I take a kitchen knife and slice my wrist in the sink where I placed the cups. I drip blood into the first cup and it fills halfway before my wound closed and I do it again. Once both cups are half full, I rinse out the sink.
“Does it bother you to do that?” Simon asks me.
“I offered. It's not much. There's no risk to me either it seems or they wouldn't have let me. Just so you know all the wolves outside and Katie are nude,” I huff.
“Already?” Gran asks.
I sigh, “Afraid so. I'll be staying clothed while in the company of friends and family though. Sorry if it balks tradition.”
She smiles as she hugs me, “It's fine dear.”
“Okay, I’ll see you out there and the cake is smelling great!” I tell them.
I head out with the blood. I wanted to ask a few more things, but I wasn't sure that I should. I know that Simon is Sam's brother but I don't feel that familiarity to him as I do with Sam. I might in time, but I feel a disconnect between them that I hope to learn more about.