Crissa's Mate

Chapter Nineteen

Crissa was silent for several moments, trying to let this powerful revelation sink in. But she still longed for Janick's opinion.

"I will be very honest with you, Jannick, as I may never see you again in a few days. You see, I think I 'm in love with David. And it seems he has such feelings for me. At least he did before this whole nightmare happened to him. And I fear all is lost now. Forever. Our future has been turned upside down by this."

Jannick just looked down at the wooden floor, silently.

"Is it possible," she asked in a heartfelt voice, "that if he returns these next nights or days . . . he can or will feel the same as he did for me? Before he and Julie left us?"

The young man looked back into Crissa's eyes. There was a glimmer of hope in them, but at the same time a look of how this was simply no dream, but a harsh reality.

"It is very possible, Crissa," Jannick said softly, "that he will be the same David in many ways when he returns here. But we cannot know how strongly he has taken to the others in the clan. If he will not even prefer one of them . . . to you."

Crissa was stunned at this prospect, though it had entered her mind that Julie would possibly be more bonded to him now. Yet, as she remembered on both occasions, where she had made eye contact with the wolf she believed was him, he was solitary in his gaze. And very focused on her and only her.

"We will just wait and see," Jannick finally said, placing a hand affectionately on her shoulder. "After seeing many cycles of this, I can say that Lara, along with David and Julie will probably be back . . . not tonight, but the next night. When the moon shows its first signs of leaving full brightness."

"I'm very anxious about that," she confided in him, as she prepared to ascend the stairs to her room.

"But you must expect them. . . and other wolves to come here again tonight. To howl at us and warn us of their power. Of their determination to conquer the village. Family by family."

Crissa left Jannick after a brief hug to thank him for his sincerity. She entered her room and, though the sun was just setting outside and dusk was approaching, she felt she needed to get into her bed and brace herself for the emotional strain of what was all to come, both this night and the next.

As Brad was obviously staying with the others in the dining room, to further discuss events of the day, Crissa felt he would now give her the solitude she needed following their harrowing day. For this she hoped, he would sleep this night in his own room. As a signal of her desire for this, she locked the door and made her way to her bed, where she would remain, hopefully undisturbed by wolf or man until morning.

As the exhausted Crissa got into her pajamas and under the covers, she began with little effort, to drift off into a vivid dream:

* * *

It was totally dark when the sound of someone or something suddenly caused the floorboards near her bed to creak. Waking in fear at the sound, she was too terrified to move or call out. Brad had not knocked on the door all evening and she was convinced that she had indeed been alone, asleep in the darkness. Suddenly, she heard soft words being spoken near her bed to carefully awaken her. Her body jerked into a greater consciousness at the sound, and though terrified and unmoving, she recognized it was David's distinct voice!

"Crissa. It's David. I'll not be sleeping in my room tonight. I've chosen rather to be here with you."

Again, she noted the paralysis of body and was too shocked to even try to speak. Next, she felt him pull back the covers in the darkness and gently enter the bed next to her. Immediately she felt David's warmth, and as he moved his strong body against hers, she could sense he was for the most part naked.

"Please understand, Crissa, that I have come here in secret. As a promise to you of my love. No matter what will happen to either of us, I just feel you needed this assurance tonight. For you not to worry."

Crissa was trying to move and respond to him when she felt David's hand caress the side of her face. The smell of his distinctive cologne, which she had noted the other times they were intimate, was again redolent in the room.

"But David . . ." she was able to whisper.

"Don't speak. There's no need for words here. Especially tonight."

Crissa allowed his hand to turn her face gently toward his and then felt that familiar sensation of his soft lips against hers. Still in shock and unable or unwilling to be evasive, she just allowed this intimate expression of affection to quickly morph into a more passionate and deeper kiss, verifying both of their strong feelings. David then pulled her body closer to his and she felt him slide a bare thigh between her pajama-clad legs. With the next breathless kiss and a hypnotic caressing of her breasts, she found herself, as if beguiled by some magic, removing her pajamas to feel his total body as one with hers.

Just before the act of sexual union was about to happen, and willfully on her part, Crissa heard a key loudly jam into the locked door from outside the room. The door quickly swung open, filling the room with bright light. At that moment, a large wolf which had been in bed with her, sprang out from under the covers and lunged for the threshold of the open door, knocking Brad, who had just entered, to the floor. The gray wolf was gone from the room in an instant, leaving both a horrified Brad and a naked Crissa shocked and incapable of speaking or comprehending what had just happened.

Crissa was instantly awake from the dream in the darkened room. She was drenched in sweat from the fearful reverie, yet still feeling the mesmerizing sensations of arousal, brought on by the enigmatic David—ostensibly now part wolf and part man.

* * *