Chapter 45 Kiss

Erica stared at everyone in the room one after the other. Beatrice was a little bit weak, she probably didn't get properly discharged. Reynolds had been getting loads of paperwork since yesterday. She'd stashed that part of the work to him. Loki himself didn't have a good sleep yesterday. Though he thought she didn't know that he snuck off into the sacred forest.

And Erica herself was a little jaded. Discussing anything now wouldn't necessarily achieve the desired result.

"I get what you mean, Loki, but we all need our rest, at least for today. I survived, thanks to everyone," she said. "We need to take things slowly at least, till she is in top shape." she pointed at Beatrice who stubbornly rose up.

"I am in top shape," she said. "I am okay. Seriously. You all need to stop worrying about me."

"I am not worried about just you," Erica replied. "The past few days have been a little bit hectic, so we all deserve a rest."

Reynolds nodded and so did Loki.

They all sat down there and discussed a while. Erica all the while playing with Beatrice's hair and the woman, for some reason, didn't even try to stop her. This made Erica a bit joyful within. Even though they'd started out on a very wrong foot, she'd started to warm up to Beatrice, despite her cold personality.

It wasn't long that everyone left her room, aside from Loki, who just sat on his makeshift bed, his head against the wall and his eyes closed.

Erica spent up to like ten minutes looking at him, taking in every single aspect of him. She started from his sturdy brown face, that was complimented by his dark gelled hair that had been shaved and blended on both sides. Then her face ran along his torso, then she remembered that time he'd transformed in front of them completely naked. The moment her mind pictured it, she blushed and Loki's eyes flung open.

"What?" he asked.

"What ... what?" she replied.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"No reason at all, I just happened to be glancing in your direction when you woke up."

"Of course you were," he said.

She stood from her bed and walked to him, "Should we go out?" she asked.

"Go out where?"

After Beatrice almost died, she'd realized that even though she was given a second chance and nothing would stop her from achieving her goals but still, she couldn't guarantee everyone else's safety. Even though she knew she'd try her best to keep those loyal to her alive, she couldn't promise she'd always be there. So she decided to start spending the most she could with her friends. Whatever would happen in the near future, she didn't want to waste this one.

Having revenge on her mind was great, and most of her time would be spent directed at it, yet she still understood that this was a second chance. While the weight of the world would come down bearing on her, she knew the people close to her would be her only option in lifting the weight, so she'd help them lift a bit of their weights too and also enjoy her life while doing so.

"Anywhere," she replied.

"Is this like an order?" he asked, opening his eyes curiously.

"What? No," she said. "I am just like… saying if you would want to go out… with me."

He looked at her with a smirk so annoying, she was doing everything in her power not to smack him.

"Nah," he said. "I don't want to go out."

"Well, this room is boring."

"Nah. It isn't."

"Seriously," she said. "You prefer to just sit here, eyes closed doing nothing?"

"I am listening to you actually," he said. "I enjoy listening to you," he said closing his eyes again.

Eric could only just sit there and stare at him. She wanted to do more than just stare sincerely. So she took his hand and placed it in hers.

"Erica?" he said.

She turned to him and stared him in the eyes a bit. "I just want to hold your hand." she said.

"Are you sure that is all you want to do?"

"Huh," she turned to him and she met his eyes grey eyes staring into hers.

"Uhm..." she said. Her heart was racing as he looked at her and her hand started to shake a bit. "Can I rest my head on you?"

"Like I am a pillow or something?" he replied and Erica scoffed. "You have a mate though, you know?"

"I do?"she asked almost in annoyance. "You think a mate poisons their mate with arsenic and mistletoe?"

"Huh…?" he said. "Maybe it is a complicated relationship," and this time she couldn't resist it, she slammed him on the chest with her fist. He held his chest, exaggerating the pain and it made her laugh.

"You are such an idiot.," she said.

"So, your mate is out of the picture?"

"Yes."

"Then," he said, leaning forward into her face.

For that split second, his face came into hers, Erica's eyes bulged wide and her nose reddened then she felt his lips meet hers in a soft peck and then he withdrew. She didn't let him get a breather when she climbed on her knees, wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him. His hand ran along her face and she whimpered from his touch.

She released him a bit and properly sat down on him.

"You look like an hyena right now," he said.

"Huh, just shut up," she said amidst laughter then kissing him again to shut him up. They kissed, for a very long time. Every single part of Erica's body burning like it was on fire, yet she felt so cold and she wanted every single aspect of Loki's body to melt into hers. She stopped kissing him after a while then took off his shirt.

"What are you doing?" he asked when she stared at his body.

"I want to count all your bones, with my mouth," she said.

"Have you always been this spoilt?" he asked.

"Stop talking, you are a mood ruiner," she laughed, going down to kiss his nipples and nibbling a bit on it.

Erica wondered why, but, even though her heart raced all the while. The moment she kissed him, everything felt perfect, like they'd been doing this for a while. She didn't feel embarrassed or careful. She wanted to show him all that she was and she wanted to know all that he was.