I finish my last bit of homework sitting at home. I have to text Zay back, because I said we could talk when I was done.
Me: im done
He responds a few minutes later.
Zay: Good, can you come outside?
Me: yea where
Zay: Your backyard.
Me: hold on
I put my phone in my pocket, and walk to my backyard. He's standing on his side of the fence that separates both of our yards. I walk over to him.
"Hey," I greet.
He doesn't talk. Did he hear me? Of course he did, his hearing is remarkable. I wave my hands in his face and I'm rewarded with his smile.
"Hi."
Zay jumps over the fence to my side. He is smooth and graceful when he lands, attributes I don't posess. He takes my hand and stares into my eyes deeply. The world silences and the surreality of the moment intensifies when I feel him leaning in. But sadly he stops, and sighs.
"Thank you for not saying anything," he says gratefully.
"Hmm, yeah." The shirt Zay is wearing is a real compliment to his shoulder muscles.
Sensing my attention elsewhere, he grasps my other hand. "Really, Amber. I shouldn't even have to admit this, but I thought for a moment you would fail me."
His eyes are downcast but they occasionally peek up at me. He wordlessly begs me for forgiveness.
"Well, to be fair I thought I was too but.. I don't know. That would burden me forever. Even if Savannah didn't believe me," I say.
"Do you really trust her?"
"Savannah? With my life."
He breathes in deeply. "Then we may tell her. I know I can trust you now. Back there at her house, you not telling her, that proves it. If you trust her, then I trust her."
A few hours ago he was all against telling her and now he's saying I can? He must be tipsy. "Are you sure? Cause I'm fine with keeping it a secret."
"No, I want you to feel more free about us. And maybe it'll feel better hiding from one less person," he shrugs.
I smile, drawing Zay's eyes to my lips. "We must talk about what happened, though." His voice quivers and he fails at ripping his gaze from my mouth. I recognize his mood shift and take notice of his revealing shirt again.
"We need to talk about...what Ryder said to you.." Zay's voice is quiet and trailing off but the name he speaks is like a bullet. I physically flinch, and he notices.
He sobers up quickly and concern shows in his face. "Are you alright?"
The event bubbles back to me in chunks. I tell Zay what I remember; my conversation with Savannah, my walk from school, and then Ryder appearing.
"What happened, exactly?" he says soft but firmly.
"He greeted me. He said you need to tell him what he wants to know, or he'll hurt me."
"You know I won't let that happen. I'll stay by you every second if I have to." A fire burns in his eyes as he speaks.
"That won't be necessary. I'm sure I can handle it," I say. Though I wouldn't mind.
"Today proves otherwise. Continue the story," Zay says back. He leaves no time for retaliation.
"Well, I'm no idiot so I tried to leave before anything else happened. But I was panicking and he got ahold of me. He said instead of me telling you he would leave a more permanent message."
I watch Zay think about what I just told him. I hope he believes me.
"Permanent message? As in what?" he inquires.
"I don't know. I think he was going to kill me then. But he started to kiss my neck and-"
Zay interrupts me in fury. "Wait, what were his exact words before he kissed you?"
"He said something like, marking you would piss him off more. And that it'll give me pleasure. It didn't though."
I glance up at Zay. He's acting eerily calm, but underneath his gold eyes I see more hatred than I care to admit. His teeth grind together and he takes a deep breath.
"Did he...?"
He leaves the question unfinished. I don't know what he means, and I can tell that he doesn't want to finish it. But I have to ask. "Did he what?"
"Did he bite you? Anywhere?" he says quietly.
"No. He didn't hurt me. I don't even know what marking means. I'm untouched by him."
He sighs loudly. "No, you're not. You're scent.. I can smell him on you. It's driving me insane, really. He shouldn't ever be that close to you."
I curl up around him, in hope of surrounding him with my real smell. He rests his chin upon my shoulder and I breath him in.
Zay slowly pulls my hair from my neck and the place where Ryder kissed. He growls a deep, menacing growl that manages to sound sexy but chill me at the same time. "Amber. You have hickeys from him."
I reach towards my neck and try to feel them. Not having any luck, I drop my hand back down. "I tried to get away," I say.
"I'm not blaming you. It's all him."
The more he talks the more unstable he seems to get. He clenches his fists and his eyes flash. His breathing is rough, and I can't help but notice him lean away from me. "Zay?" I ask tentatively.
He takes a step away from me and doesn't make eye contact. "I want to kill him."
Zay hates this guy. There are the obvious reasons; for Ryder touching and threatening me. But underlying that, I see a deeper reason.
"This has to do with something else, doesn't it? More than just me?"
"The bigger reason is you. He's a cold-blooded murderer."
He keeps moving farther from me. I try to fill the space again but he distances himself quickly. It's so he won't hurt me, I know that. But space is the exact opposite of what I want right now. "Don't come closer," he says.
"Um, I'll do what I want."
"No! Stay away!" His outburst drives me all the more.
"No, Zyler. Shut up!" I yell right back.
He quiets and stares at me with an inhumane look. I tread carefully until I'm right in front of him again. My arms find his body and once we touch I can't imagine ever letting go.
I hold his face and try to relax him. "You're okay, Zyler. I'm here with you." I place my hand over his heart. "Focus on my voice, not him."
When he does, I feel it. Every single nerve in my body awakens when he grips my body fiercely and his eyes clear. A calm encloses us. I smile at him. This moment, right now, is perfect.
"I'm sorry. I can't do it," he says in a strained voice.
I kiss him softly. "Do what?"
His anger joins the air and is swept away with the wind. I'm left with his more playful side. "I can't stand the thought of anyone else touching you. Or marking you."
"What's marking?" I recall Ryder saying that to me and now Zay is talking about it.
He smiles freely. "A very sexual act that werewolves do to show ownership of something."
"Something as in someone?"
"Precisely. We mark our mates."
"So am I Ryder's mate? Is that why he sai-"
"No, you're not," he says sharply. I probably shouldn't have mentioned him. I rub his chest gently. He sighs. "Let's just forget about Ryder right now, okay?"
I nod. "Agreed. Just one more thing. Why is biting someone in any way sexual? I mean, that's got to hurt."
Zay chuckles at the trees and scratches the back of his head. "Why do you have so many questions?"
I giggle at his dodge. "Because. I'm curious about your life and I want to know more about you. So please enlighten me."
He plays with my hair. "You're connected. It's just, sensual. It feels good. Kind of like sex." He eyes me when he says sex. I blush and look at the collar of his shirt. "I don't know how else to explain it because I haven't done it myself...but I know people who have. And they like it."
I avoid saying Ryder's name as I speak. "So can a werewolf mark someone that's not their mate?"
"Yeah. It just feels a whole lot better with your mate. But it's a lot harder to find mates now."
His deep voice turns me on; that with his closeness and touch. "I wonder how it would feel..." I leave the suggestion out there.
He laughs and presses our foreheads together so our noses touch. "Don't tempt me," he smiles.
Our lips connect in a brief excerpt of motion. I rise on my toes to reach him easier and detangle his soft curls. He kisses my cheek and moves to my ear. When he lowers to my chin, I give him full access to it and lower.
But Zay also has full view of the hickeys again, and examines them once more. He runs his fingers over it smoothly and places his lips right under my jaw. They caress my throat. It's like a thousand beams of warm sunlight glide across my skin. "Baby, your skin is so soft," he mumbles against me.
Pleasure fills me, unlike any feeling I've felt before. His tongue tastes me and I grip his shirt to not buckle underneath him.
"Ohh, Zay." I try to suppress a moan but fail. He growls possessively. When the tips of his teeth nip the side of my neck, I realize we shouldn't.
He creates new love bites and I moan at the feeling as he travels all over my neck. This is indeed a sexual act. I feel like this should be done somewhere more private. I go against all my desires and push him slightly away.
I'm out of breath. I breathe into his shirt for a few moments before looking up at him. "I see what you mean," I whisper.
Zay is staring at me so lustfully you would think we were having sex and I just forced him to stop. I notice his eyes again and just have to comment. Hopefully he won't run this time. "Your eyes are so beautiful like that."
He blinks out of his daze and returns them to normal color. "Uh.. thank you." He doesn't know what to say.
"Yeah, that was a compliment."
He keeps staring at me like I'm water in a desert. He frames my face and hair, giving me a final kiss on the lips. "Do you want me to stay here? Because if not I'm going with my dad to run."
Do I want him to stay? Ha, funny question. "You're going running?"
"Yeah. I haven't shifted in a long time, and I need to run." It takes me a few moments to get what he means. Shifting into a wolf.
"Oh, no. Go do that. Have fun or something. I gotta catch up with my mom. Talk." I shoo him off.
In truth, I feel he should have some time away from me. One can get boring if you stay with them all the time and I don't want Zay to get bored of me.
"Ok babe, I'll see you tomorrow."
He walks away and I stand there on the other side of the fence, contemplating jumping over the fence after him and begging to spend time with him. He looks back a few times before totally disappearing from sight. Right before he closes the back door, he smiles at me.
I keep that image in my head. There's a possibility that over the past few weeks, I've fallen in love with that smile.
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This chapter was just a Zamber chapter. It was interesting to write😝 Again, SO SO sorry for the late update. Should I speed things up with the plot? I feel like I'm moving this story too slow..
Anyway, vote if you like.
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