And There Were Wolves

thirty five | you gave me roses and I left them there to die

His tone was not harsh or chastising, but instead sounded soft and desperate.

Two minutes passed in complete silence before I moved forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I chose you."

"W-what?" He stuttered, his eyes widening in surprise. Clearly, he didn't foresee this.

I heard myself giggling. It was not the sort of sound that I'd normally produce, but at this point, I just went along with everything. "Is it so hard for you to accept that?"

"No, I just thought after seeing you in bed with him last night—" he struggled for the right words, lines of frowns appearing on his forehead.

"You thought I would choose 'him'," I completed his sentence, and he nodded. "Well, no. It was supposed to be a goodbye."

"I can't believe this." Hope emerged on his face, followed by a look of joy and a sense of relief. A full smile spread across his lips and I felt a painful twinge in my chest. But I knew it was better this way. This was how I would finally get my goal. Sometimes a person had to sacrifice something in order to gain something else, in order to be happy. His arms were around me as he lifted me off my feet and his lips crushed into mine in a kiss that left both of us breathless.

"We should go inside," I told him once we pulled away to catch our breath. "Let's go into your room."

He blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, this is what I want." I gave him my most convincing smile and stood on the tips of my tiptoes to kiss him. I let my tongue chase after him and tasted him. My hands raked over his back and shoulders, feeling every muscle of his body. This was not enough. I longed for more. I needed him to give me more. He was still aware of everything. I couldn't take him on like this.

This time, he drew away and asked again, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

A sliver of doubt crept into my mind. Did I really want this? More importantly, could I do this? I hardened my heart, convincing myself that this was the only way we could be together. He would've wanted this too. "Yes," I finally replied. The thought of him was the only thing that strengthened my will. I wanted to give him happiness, and this was the only way. "Yes, I am sure I want to be with you. I chose you." Right after I said that, he closed the gap between our mouths and kissed me.

"Forget what I said last night," he said huskily, groaning suddenly as he caught me up in his arms. "I don't know what you've done to me, woman. I think you must have bewitched me. Right here and now I don't give a damn how many other men there have been. And I don't give a damn if one of them is my very own flesh and blood."

"There might be a little problem." I forced my body not to shudder, hearing what he'd said and knowing what I was about to do, but I failed.

"What is it?" he asked, his eyes searching for mine, but beneath his worry, I could see that he actually cared. "Tell me."

"B-but I am inexperienced," I lied. "I don't think you'll appreciate my lack of experience when it comes to this." Once I began, the lie flowed more smoothly.

"So he never—" he took a brief pause, and swallowed. He looked a bit confused. "So he never touched you?" Wonder and surprise were evident in his voice.

"No." I shook her head. This time, it was not a lie. 'He' truly had never touched me. Even last night, despite my pleas and me embarrassingly begging him, 'he' had never touched me. 'He' had only let me kiss him and that was only because I literally had jumped on him and even then, after we had gotten caught, 'he' had told me to leave. I said the one thing that 'he' had kept telling me, "He always insisted that we both need to find our mates first. That we should wait until we are certain."