Beyond The Fangs

Chapter 41

IZEL

We had been walking for hours, as usual, but the weather suddenly decided to change. Drip... drip... drip...

It started drizzling, I could handle a little drizzle.

I had been lying to myself, there was no way I was getting over these feelings. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Even if I tried, I wouldn't, and I really hated that.

I wanted to keep a distance, just to keep the sensations that ran through me whenever I got close to him at bay, but it wasn't working. No matter how far ahead of him I was, I still felt him. It was like his warmth radiated to me.

"Why are you walking so fast?" Jaeger asked, suddenly beside me.

"I'm not walking fast, you're just walking slow."

He snickered, "well you better still have energy because we have to run, the rain is going to get heavier."

I stuck my hand in front of me, focusing on the feel of the slow, gentle drops as they hit my arm, "I doubt that."

"I don't, within seconds it could—"

The rain suddenly became more intense. More and more drops started hitting my arm with more force.

"See?" He said then began running, and I followed behind him.

The rain was pitter-pattering incessantly, plunking the now muddy earth. Jaeger and I were soaked through within seconds. I cursed myself for the way my eyes wandered to his shirt and the way it stuck against his skin, revealing the outline of his back. Distracted by his figure, I lost my footing and slipped but Jaeger caught my hand before I hit the ground.

"So clumsy," I heard him say. He pulled me up but didn't release my hand as he led me through the rain.

By the time we reached the cabin, we were soaked from head to toe, leaving a small puddle everywhere we stepped because of the water dripping from our clothes.

He released my hand only to remove his rain-drenched shirt. I had seen him shirtless more than once, yet I still caught myself staring. The water was adding a kind of shine to his skin. My eyes lingered for a bit too long and I had to forcibly draw them away, relieved he hadn't noticed.

"We should get out of these wet clothes," he said, "so I'll go look for something dry we can wear. I've been in this cabin before, and there's nothing here so I'll have to go to the village and see if I can find anything."

"Why can't I just follow you to the village?"

"Cause it's farther away than you think," he said, making his way to the door. "Don't miss me too much," he added with a wry smile before exiting.