Julia's Pack.

Chapter 9 - Distance doesn't help.

Julia woke, propped up in Levi's lap, his arms around her and a pillow behind his back and head. They'd fallen asleep halfway through, she realised, giggling softly. Because he'd slipped a pillow behind him. The clock beside the bed said two in the morning.

She shifted in his lap, aware that he was probably going to ache from head to toe now, trying to shift sideways. A hand crept up her back slowly, fingers dancing up her spine, and Levi opened one eye to meet her eyes.

“Where you going?”

“Moving so you don't ache.”

“I don't mind aching.” He growled softly, arms tightening, hand falling down her back to slide across her hips. “You fell asleep.”

“Sorry.” Julia cringed at that. She knew he'd been waiting for weeks for this with her and she'd just passed out on him. “I was tired.”

“It was going to be you or me.” Levi grinned, leaning up to kiss her, and yawned against her lips. “I guess we should sleep properly.”

Neither of them moved though. She shifted against his lap, teasing him, kissing his neck gently. Not exactly the night of hot sex they'd promised each other. Julia leaned back to admire him, to gaze at him in the dark, the 'night vision' making every inch of Levi's skin stand out in the darkness. How, compared to Oliver who was muscle and low body fat and crazy fitness levels, Levi's body had 'softened'. The muscles weren't popping out all over the place now, they were leaner, more relaxed. Levi's stomach was softer, his body with a little more softness to it, concealing most of the muscles he still had. His arms were still pretty spectacular, she traced a hand over them, over the muscles and lifted his hand to kiss the palm, as he raised an eyebrow at her.

“What are you doing?”

“Admiring you.” Julia shifted back to gaze at him, bum on the bed, legs sprayed across his thighs so she could gaze at him in the dark. His hair was kind of long too, mostly because he probably didn't have time to go to a hairdresser while he'd been on the mainland, and he'd tucked it behind his ears. Some of it still escaped his attempts to keep it out of his way- it was all over his eyes. He yawned again, blinking at her, like he couldn't quite get what it was she was staring so intensely at. How did the man not stare at his own reflection all the time? Julia couldn't get enough of him. “I love you.”

There was something in his face at that, emotion, love, and he leaned forward to kiss her more tenderly, hands tangling in her already messy red hair. “I love you. Always.”

She smiled, shut her eyes, and slid back into his lap. Maybe now they'd had a nap they'd last longer.

-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-

Cake for breakfast worked pretty well. She sat there in Levi's lap, giggling as she licked the icing off his chin, ignoring the stubble that was starting to come back. No wonder why some of the werewolf men decided to give up shaving- if their head hair grew fast, maybe their chin hair also grew fast, but Levi was always so stubborn about being clean shaven. Oliver? Not so much. He'd actually been muttering something about wanting a beard again after she'd managed to keep him sane for a few years. Julia had liked it, at first, till she discovered food bits in Oliver's beard. Ew.

“Oliver?” Levi laughed as she beat him to the phone and they turned it on.

“Sorry. Oliver had to rush out.” Beth sounded exhausted. She heard her yell, “Angelica, get inside!”

Julia's good mood vanished with that. Vanish where? “Did he say where?”

“Couple of the fighters and him went out. He was really appologetic but- Evie, no- I'll be back in a second. The two of them have found a dog.”