Claws (Rewritten)

Twenty Eight

Markus

Coursework was a little difficult to concentrate on, given that my mate was sat right next to me. He was trying his hardest to not be distracting, bless him - staying quiet, watching the laptop screen as though entranced with everything I typed - but even the close proximity was enough to tear my mind in two. The responsible, hardworking side that wanted to finish this coursework, and the not-so-responsible side, which had other ideas. My wolf wasn't helpful at all, the lovesick puppy. He wanted us both to shift and explore the woods. As well as each other.

"Sorry," Noah apologised, bringing me back to my senses. I'd been staring at the screen, my hands paused over the keyboard. He shifted away from me, smiling. "It's not on purpose, I swear."

I glared at him lightly. "It definitely is," I countered.

To help me out a little, given that his scent was still driving me and my wolf insane, he stood up. "Do you mind if I use your kitchen?"

"Go ahead. It's yours, too, you know," I assured him. "What's mine is yours, and all that."

He made us a quick lunch whilst I finished off my work. Just as I sent it off, feeling only marginally less stressed given that I had a whole other project to finish by next week, Chloe messaged me.

Favourite human: lyn and I are heading to the library to study and Caleb's walking back. Please don't burn the house down x

I rolled my eyes at her lack of faith in me before stretching my arms above my head dramatically and leaning back on my chair.

"You're done?" Noah asked hopefully.

"For today." I grinned, getting up and approaching him as though a magnet pulled me to his side. "I may need your help convincing the others to take tonight off studying, though."

To my surprise, his expression fell into one of subdued concern. "Actually, I was meaning to talk to you about that," He began hesitantly. "I feel bad just...pushing my way into your life. I mean, you have your pack and your friends - who are all lovely, by the way - and you're studying at university and--I just...I don't want you to think I'm here to steal you away from all this. What you have here...it's amazing. I'd give anything to have it. Minus the rogue dad and the hunters. Those I can live without."

I held his gaze, feeling myself get lost in his eyes. It took everything in me to keep focused on his words. "You're not pushing your way into anything. I want you here. You're always welcome here," I told him firmly, leaving no room for argument as I took a step towards him so we were face-to-face. It took a great deal of effort to keep my train of thought from wandering to his eyes, and his lips, which were so tauntingly close. "And--once I finish my course, we can go to your pack--if you could wait that long, and if not, I totally get it. Honestly I'd rather drop out than do more coursework--"

Noah gave up on the struggle and beat me to it. He cut me off by kissing me. Only briefly, but it was enough for fireworks to go off in my mind as my train of thought crashed and burned.

He pulled away slightly, his hands resting on either side of my face. "Fuck--I'm sorry. I should've asked--" He panicked, about to let go of me.

I quickly reached up to cup his hands in mine. "No, no that's okay," I managed.

He smiled at my probably-dumbstruck expression. My skin felt alive and on fire beneath his touch. "Of course I'll wait for you. Do whatever you need to do here, and only when you're ready - whether that is months, years or decades from now - we'll face the whole beta-thing together. I already know you'll do great at it. We could even split the year, if you wanted. Six months here, six months there."