Breathe (Mates Saga #1) *Wattys2015*

Chapter 24

"How are we going to win this war?" Will muttered, his head in his hands. "Preston's pack is so strong; he's never lost a war. There's a reason why he has the strongest pack in America."

I looked down at Will sadly; he was really stressing over this. He didn't know what to do, and it was tearing him apart. I wanted to help him, but I was new at this whole werewolf thing. I didn't know how to fight like he did. But wait.

My wolf did.

I leaned down so that I was resting my torso on Will's back and pointed at an empty area that had no one on guard duty there. "Put me there," I told him, following the instructions of my wolf. "I'll have a gun and shoot any werewolf that doesn't smell like our pack. You can have me and any others who can't fight in wolf form up on top of the roofs, put silver barriers in place so Preston's pack can't get to us. We'll take out as many wolves as we can. Maybe to make sure that we don't shoot any wrong wolves, you can have every wolf fighting in our pack wear a piece of red fabric somewhere on their person - er, wolf."

Will looked at me sideways, awe evident on his face. "That's an amazing idea, sweetheart," he told me, smiling at me. "We'll do that."

He scribbled in notes on the map of where he was going to post those who couldn't fight in wolf form on the roofs, and I noticed I was at the middle of the square. I pointed at that.

"Why?" I asked, tilting my head.

Will smirked at me. "Preston will come up to me to challenge me for you, and if anything goes wrong, you're there to shoot him to make sure that he doesn't take you away," he explained, jabbing the center of the town-square on the map where he assumed that Preston was going to challenge him with the butt of his black-ink pen. "But you only shoot him if I'm losing and you don't think that I can win. For this, sweetheart" - he gave me a very serious look, his dark eyes boring into mine - "you have to listen to your wolf. This is crucial; your wolf will know when to shoot - if you have to shoot at all. Listen to her, and nothing will go wrong."

Somehow I knew then that there was going to be more going on than Will was expecting. Something was going to go terribly wrong. I shrugged the feeling away; I was just being silly and over-paranoid. I was just being ridiculous, underestimating my mate and overestimating my enemy.

I stood and stretched, raising my arms high over my head.

"Yes, you can go visit Akira," Will told me, not looking up from the markings he was making on the map.

I chuckled and hugged him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my lips against the skin behind the lobe of his ear. "Thank you," I breathed, feeling a sense of womanly pride when he shivered and crossed his legs. "I love you, Will."

Will whipped around and pressed his lips against mine. His lips fit against mine like two puzzle pieces, and his fingers threaded through my long hair. My breath exited my lips in a whoosh of air, and I gasped, breathing in his scent of Axe deodorant mixed with a touch of vanilla, all blended together with the heady perfume of his sweat. He licked my bottom lip, and my mouth fell open, unable to go against his will. His tongue met mine, and his taste dissolved on my tongue. He tasted of infinity and happiness, of my future. He tasted like everything I wanted, honey and vanilla. He had been smoking again, I realized, and I scowled into the kiss.

Will's lips turned upwards, and he angled his face to better catch my lips with his. Our lips danced together, our tongues tangling in their own dance that was to a different rhythm than the dance of our lips. It became that I could only taste him, only feel him, only smell him. He was everywhere, and we danced together high above the earth, in the heavens.

My lungs began to burn for air, and I pulled away. Will pressed his forehead against mine so that I could still taste him on my lips, still smell his scent. He smiled at me.

"Breathe, sweetheart," he drawled, smirking. "You've just been soundly kissed."

I breathed deeply, inhaling his scent that still lingered on me. "Shut . . . up," I said in between pants, and he chuckled breathily.

"Not a chance," Will said softly, pressing a kiss to my nose. "I assume you got my message."

"That you love me?" I asked, and he nodded. I giggled. "Oh, yes."

He leaned in and kissed me again, deeply.

We repeated this for many minutes, until we moved on to other things. Let's just say for all of you innocent-minded people out there, we didn't get anything else done.