She Runs With Wolves

Seventeen.

We turned New Year into Christmas to make up for the lack of it on the twenty fifth. The feast Jay and Taylor put out would rival anything my Mum could have come up with and there were even presents. It gave me hope for the coming year, a good start could only lead on to better things.

At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

After washing every dish and piece of cutlery the kitchen possessed, I sat up on the bench and watched Cody finish putting the last few things away. Everyone else was playing a game or watching TV, I wasn’t entirely sure. The laughter that came from them was nice to hear and I wanted the day to last forever.  

Could this be how my life would carry out once Damon was gone?

Cody seemed to think so, coming to stand in front of me I wrapped my legs around him and welcomed his kiss. Though as his hands ran through my hair and he pulled me tighter against him, I made him stop.

“Anyone could walk in.” I reminded him, looking towards the entry. I knew Connor had worked out where I slept again, but I wasn’t sure about the others. Even at the hotel they had assumed we had a room each.

“I don’t care anymore, why not let them know?”

“What will they think?” I didn’t want this to change their opinion of me, I had worked hard to make them accept and respect me.

“Does it matter?”

He moved in again and the awkward cough from the doorway had him leaping backwards while my face went bright red.

Guess he did care after all.

“Oh please, don’t mind me.” Connor teased, going to the fridge.

“It wasn’t…” The excuses were about to come pouring out of Cody and I couldn’t hide my amusement.

“Yeah right. Keep telling yourself that brother.”

“You knew?” I asked and Connor only nodded, taking a swig of the orange juice straight from the carton.

“It’s obvious, always has been. The only one who hasn’t clicked on is your friend, though he did work out the other day you don’t sleep in the barn anymore.”

He left us with that and Cody couldn’t hide his embarrassment. Here we were, thinking we had everything worked out and hidden only they knew all along. I was almost proud of them, I didn’t think they had it in them to be so observant. Neither did Cody.

Cody lifted me down and we headed into the living room, taking the beanbag Cody got comfortable and to his surprise I made sure to sit with him. Not next to him or near him, finding a place between his legs and leant back against his chest. His arms fell over my shoulders and I got comfortable too ignoring the looks from everyone.

Especially Ethan’s.

After a minute, things went back to normal and slowly my eyes began to close. I was warm, comfortable and felt completely safe. Better than that, I felt loved. It was a strange realization to finally understand feelings I had forgotten. I loved my pack in the wild. We travelled, hunted and lived together for years. Yet the affection was different. It wasn’t like the humans, like what I allowed myself to feel for this group.  It was the same kind that hurt when I thought of my parents and family, of Leanna. If I lost any of this family, it would hurt me just the same. Actually it might hurt worse as I had only just rediscovered what it felt like and I couldn’t lose it again.