Ayn's Healing

Chapter 9 - Kari

I am grateful to be in my room again after one week of sleeping in quaint guest rooms and sharing the space with Timo. But most of all, I am looking forward to seeing Ayn again.

I have watched a hundred times in my head the movie of our brief one-to-one interaction.

The way she slowly walked out of her room, as if she would have been floating on a cloud. Her body, wrapped in that silk nightgown that clung to all her curves in such a way that, even if she would have been naked, she couldn't have possibly looked hotter.

When she asked for permission to offer me the healing touch, I remembered that the Alpha had requested me to stay away from her. I quickly calculated how many double-shift of border patrol he would slam me with for disobeying his order. I decided that, irrespective of how high that number might end up being, it will be totally worth it if I could feel her hand on my skin. 

It had been so totally worth it. Her hand was soft and soothingly warm and, when our fingers touched, tiny little sparks traveled through me, warming up the very marrow of my bones.

I sometimes thought of rational thoughts, like how she is a witch and how I cannot accept her as my mate if I want to lead the pack one day. But rational thoughts were boring and painful and I didn't care for them. 

 Instead, I let myself dive into Ayn-centric fantasies, enhancing that healing session, thinking what would have happened if, when her face was so close to mine that we breathed each other's exhale, I would have tilted my head only slightly. How would that kiss have felt? Until where would my hand have traveled along her silk-covered spine? Would one of those balcony chairs have held our combined weight, as she would have moved on top of me?

All these unanswered questions kept me awake at night, and thus gave me ample time to miss her.

I step on the terrasse, expecting to be greeted by her sweet flowery scent, and much to my horror, the heaviest smell of weed assaults my nostrils.

"Hi, Kari," her voice floats slowly through the smoke she is wrapped in.

"Hi...Ayn," I whisper back, sitting on the floor next to her chair and taking the joint from her hand.  "That's forbidden in our territory." 

I don't tell her that the Alpha tolerates the use but I hate it. Nothing good ever comes from clouding the mind.

"Surely you are jesting." She turns towards me, trying to get a hold of my arm and I have to notice with heartache that she is unbearably charming, even with half-closed stoned eyes.

As I shake my head in negation, denying her silent ask, she starts to sob. Storm instantly orders me to bite my own hand, as punishment for having upset the female of great powers. The female of great powers wipes her tears on her sleeve, before whining in my direction.

"I haven't slept through the night since I came here...I was so tired yesterday that my healing almost failed. On a rabbit. I then came to the idea of trying grass. I slept so well, Kari...please?" 

It is extremely difficult to refuse her soft plea, especially when she backs it up by batting her eyelashes ever so slightly at me. She extends her hand, but instead of giving her back the forbidden sleeping remedy, I grab her wrist and roll her into my arms.

"Let me try something" I whisper, as I lift her and sit on the chair which still keeps the warmth of her body, nestling her between my thighs,  guiding her to lean against my chest. Her hair smells like lime flowers laced with weed and I breathe in the strange combination, only to get dizzy with arousal.

„What are you doing, Kari?" Her slow wiggle is useless against my grip, which just got tighter with pleasure when she whispered my name with the raspiest r.

„Pressure point massage. It will help you relax..."

My fingers tangle themselves in her hair, looking for the base of her skull and, as her body stills, allowing her whole feather-like weight to rest on my chest, mine shakes with want for a taste of her skin.

I would resist that urge if she wouldn't look at me over her left shoulder while pressing her head further into my hand and if she wouldn't whisper while holding my gaze without any fear that, whatever I am doing, it is very nice.

I wouldn't lean over and our lips wouldn't touch. They wouldn't part slightly under mine, offering me a taste of smoked forest fruits, and I wouldn't abruptly remember that I am not in one of my inconsequential fantasies. What I am doing is real and wrong on so many levels.

Most considerations are easy to ignore under the pull of the bond, like the fact that I have a wolf and she definitely doesn't. Unfortunately, though, the beautiful witch I am kissing is higher than Pass One and incapable of consent and that is my hard-line which I don't plan to cross. Not even with my mate.

I push her slightly away from me and she lets out the cutest frustrated whine which is almost derailing my plan to be reasonable. Bringing my mouth again close to hers, I tease the lower lip with my tongue, as my arm wraps tighter around a fragile rib cage.

"We need to stop..." my ask comes out weak and unconvincing, and thus it's rightfully lost on her. A tiny hand travels warm along my jaw, sending shiny rays of light through my bones. As she shifts her delicate body on top of me, searching for better access to my lips, I moan with the pleasure of it and with the frustration of what I am about to do.

„I need to stop..." I sigh, catching her wrist before her fingers reach the back of my neck, and untangling her arm from me.

She is still sitting between my legs, but there is a big gap between our bodies. The warmth she left on my skin is quickly dissipating in the spring night.

"Fine." She stands and searches my eyes. Her scowl has my wolf whimper in submission and makes me curse my hard lines. "I am going to need your hoodie" she orders, stretching her hand out to me.

"What?" I exclaim, briefly shocked at both the tone and the content of her words. My hands however are already executing her command, unzipping my jacket.

„The last time I was able to sleep well was when I was covered with your hoodie. Your scent is comforting." She states it plainly as if it would be an obvious and broadly known fact, in the same category as the one that the Earth is round or that two is a prime number.

"Here you go."

"Thank you."

She stands and takes three hurried steps to her room. On every place that her feet have touched, lime tree flowers are piling sadly under the moonlight. She turns around frowning and makes them disappear with a wave of her hand while muttering under her breath something about a fucking glitch, before closing the door behind her with a soft thud.

As I lay back on the chair I am thinking what a pity it is that she didn't ask for my heart. My wolf would have ripped it out of our body and handed it to her without hesitation. It would have spared me the pain of hearing it crack in my chest.