Xander manages to avoid seeing Isabella for the next three days, and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't hard. If he picked up on her scent, he'd have to force himself to walk the other way, despite his wolf wanting the opposite. If he saw her from afar, he only gave himself a few seconds to admire her before walking off. If he stayed any longer he knows his feet would make their way to her. It helped that Isabella painted through lunch the last three days, as she wanted to finish her project so she has something to hand in for a grade this week.
But every time he sees her and doesn't go to her, he feels the frustration and want increasing in his wolf. Werewolves are not supposed to ignore their wolves. Their wolves are strong and determined and who knows what can happen if the ignoring goes on for too long. Especially an Alpha wolf: the strongest of all.
Sometimes Xander would just prefer to run in his wolf form, but when he has to go to a pack so far away, driving is what gets him there the quickest. He's meeting with a neighboring pack to discuss an alliance deal that was proposed to him. He doesn't mind meetings and such, as he was prepped for them before the Alpha title was even handed down. He remembers traveling with his father to meetings to understand how they work, and how he's supposed to act. Now he's smart enough to do it himself. His parents travel a lot, knowing Xander is responsible to handle things on his own. And if anything were to happen, they're only a mind link away. He figures traveling will also get his mind off Isabella.
<>
Isabella stares at the ceiling of Melissa's room, not being able to sleep. It's about 3:00 am and the other two girls fell asleep not too long ago. A movie, they hadn't really been watching, plays in the background of her thoughts. She's happy she accepted Melissa's invitation to sleepover her house. She really likes Kristin and Melissa, not only are they nice but they're outgoing and they help to bring that out in her. She learned a lot about them tonight, as they did her.
She really was going to say no to the sleepover, knowing she'd be way too nervous to be under the same roof as Xander the whole night, but when Melissa mentioned they would have the house to themselves, she accepted. Every time Melissa mentioned Xander, Isabella had to hide her interest. She's not supposed to like her friend's brother. Especially only after the short encounters they've had. But she remembers how warm her body felt when they were body to body, after they clumsily banged foreheads. Isabella likes that despite how he makes her nervous, he really is easy to talk to. She usually doesn't mention to anyone that her mom passed, so easily.
Isabella quietly gets up to leave the room. She's a little cold so she just wraps the blanket around herself, too lazy to put on her sweatshirt. She leaves the room, heading downstairs for a glass of water.
Xander frustratedly slams his car door shut. He wasn't supposed to be coming home tonight, he was supposed to be spending the night at the pack he had the meeting at, but things didn't go as planned. When Xander tried to respectfully deny the other Alpha's alliance proposition, the Alpha immediately became angry, insulting Xander's pack. Xander denied the offer because the pack is fairly too weak. There's no point of being an alliance with a pack if they aren't strong or have smart tactics. If they were to need each other's help, Xander's pack would not be benefitting, only their's would. The last thing Xander has time for is a petty Alpha who can't be professional and has to insult to feel some type of pride.
He usually doesn't let things like this get to him. But it was the things the Alpha was saying. Insulting his parents and saying they were incapable of raising a fit Alpha, that his father was the worst person for the Alpha role, when his dad is the best Alpha's the pack has ever had. What also got him pissed is the fact that he had the nerve to make comments about his mate. Saying that Xander probably found his mate but is too ashamed to tell anyone. That she must be unintelligent and unattractive, and that's when Xander had had enough. But instead of causing too much trouble, he simply left, and now here he is with the rage still built up.
Xander enters the house and closes the door. He throws his keys on the table next to the door and makes his way towards the kitchen. If he wasn't so enraged right now, and a little more focused, he would have picked up on his mate's scent. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees Isabella standing across from him. He takes in her presence and all rage instantly leaves his body. She's standing there, seeming shocked to see him, not knowing what to do. But he thinks she looks so cute with her curls looking a little crazy, and the blanket wrapped around her small body.
"Isabella?" He ask finally speaking.
"Hi, Xander. I-I didn't think you were coming home tonight. Melissa invited me and Kristin to sleepover..." She clears up the situation and he nods understanding.
Xander's wolf begins to push him to go towards her and Xander doesn't even realize he's moving. All he can think about is how he wants to be body to body, the blanket wrapped around the two of them. Isabella is looking down at the floor, not sure what to do in the awkward situation. Xander gets so close to her that she can feel his breath on her neck. The closeness makes her a little weak at the knees and her breathing becomes unsteady. His lips lightly meet with her neck and if she hadn't put down her glass of water before, she definitely would have just dropped it. He's not placing kisses down her neck like he wants to, but there is lip to skin contact. The position makes her blush and she can't exactly focus. She tries to distract herself from Xander's intimate hands on her waist, and the lips in the crook of her neck, by starting conversation.
"Are you ok? You seemed mad when you came in..." She trails off.
Xander shakes his head a little. He's in control but his wolf is surfacing. He hasn't seen Isabella in three days and his wolf is in heaven with her so close right now. "I was."
"What happened?" She ask, her genuine worry for other's evident in her voice.
"I'm ok now. Seeing you made me forget why I was even mad." He admits and Isabella instantly blushes, all chance of a calm response flying out the window. Her mind is telling her to shut her damn mouth, but her heart is filling with warmth right now and for some reason, she wants Xander to know what he does to her.
"I missed you the last three days."
Xander sighs and guilt instantly washes over him. It's his fault the two haven't seen each other but he was doing what's best. They can't happen. But that's not exactly stopping him right now.
"Trust me when I say I missed you more." He admits. He hears her heartbeat pick up even at such a small thing and smirks. He's not gonna lie, he likes having this affect on her. Xander holds her waist tighter, and her arms naturally rise to wrap around his neck. The blanket falls off her body with her not holding it, and it falls between their feet. Now there's even more skin to skin contact.
Isabella can't help but love the way his skin feels against hers. She lightly traces her fingers up his neck and into his hair, and she can feel goosebumps form on his skin. Her touch drives him crazy and all he wants is her to run her fingers all over his body. With his enhanced vision, even in the dark, he can see her body. She's wearing a tank top and shorts, and he doesn't even realize that he's tracing his thumbs under her tank top and on her bare waist.
The girl can't think straight. She would never let a guy she doesn't know that well, hold her the way Xander is now. But something in her is craving it. Something about their bodies being together just seems right; like it's meant to be.
He leans back, a little away from her, and his eyes meet with hers. She blushes a little and shyly looks away. Xander smirks.
"What's wrong?" His deep voice by itself has the ability to make her go crazy. So his sexy voice plus his hands on her body...she's finding it hard to think straight.
"I...well-nevermind." She shakes her head.
"Tell me...please?" He ask.
Isabella lets out a defeated sigh and looks up at him. "Don't laugh at me, ok?"
Xander holds back a smile and nods.
"You promise?" She ask softly, looking up at him. He just wants to place kisses all over her pretty face. Xander nods once again.
"I promise."
"Well," she pauses, "you kind of make me nervous." All effort Xander makes not to smile goes to waste, as his lips curve up.
"You said you wouldn't laugh!" Isabella covers her face in pure embarrassment and Xander has to remove them.
"I'm not laughing, Isabella." He says and then she gives him a pointed look.
"Honest," Xander assures her, "I'm just smiling."
Isabella looks at him curiously. She doesn't need to ask the word "why" verbally, her expression does it for her.
Xander pulls her closer to him. "Well maybe I'm happy I have an affect on you, just as much as you do on me."
She's completely taken back at his statement and it takes her a second to gather her thoughts. "You're saying I," she points to herself, "have an affect on you?" She points to him.
He looks at her confused. "Why do you find that so hard to believe?" Isabella just shrugs.
"Don't sell yourself short, Izzy. Ok?" His words make her smile and she nods.
"Promise?" He teases, using her method from earlier and she laughs a little seeing what he did there.
She looks up at him. "Promise."
Xander smiles at her and she does the same. He can't help his eyes as they roam her face, taking in how beautiful she is. She can feel his eyes looking at every detail of her and she becomes a little shy under his stare, but this time she can't look away from his eyes. Isabella doesn't miss that his eyes go to her lips. Her heart rate picks up, wondering if he wants to kiss her. She sure as hell wouldn't have a problem with it.
Everything in Xander wants to kiss the beautiful girl in front of him. His wolf wants his mate, his body wants her touch, and his heart wants her love. Unfortunately, his brain keeps fighting with the rest of his body, reminding him of everything he's said about a mate. He can barely stay away from Isabella now, what will happen if he kisses her?
But she's standing against him, looking up at him with her brown eyes and their hands are intertwined, because they never separated them when he took her hands away from hiding her face earlier. And all her beauty is overwhelming and her lips look so inviting, he just has to lean in.
So he does.
Isabella is too nervous to move but she wants Xander's lips on hers, just as much as he does. She's expecting it to feel like forever before their lips meet, like it says in all the romantic fiction books, but it's actually no time at all before their lips are together. They melt into each other and appreciate the contact right before reality hits the Alpha.
So in the quick time it took for their lips to meet, Isabella's and Xander's lips separate just as fast. Xander's whole demeanor changes and it throws the poor girl off.
"I'm sorry. I can't do this." Suddenly he's speaking quickly and seems frustrated yet exhausted and she doesn't understand. She doesn't understand that Xander wants her but all these negative thoughts about having a mate are taking over.
As soon as he placed his lips on hers and the warmth filled his body, his mind said he can't do this. Because the feeling of Isabella's lips alone are enough to make him feel something he's never felt before. A feeling he can't find anywhere else except in her. So if he doesn't stop this now, there's no way in hell he'll be able to stop later.
"Y-you can't do what?" She ask upset.
"I shouldn't have kissed you." As soon as the words leave his mouth, Isabella doesn't know what to do with herself. Her heart is sad and she feels insecure, but she doesn't want to show him that. But Xander sees her eyes lose a little glow they had before, and he wants to apologize to her. To hold her and tell her that it's not her. Because she's wonderful and sweet, and he likes the sound of her voice. But according to his brain, Alexander the Alpha isn't meant to have a mate.
There's no point in saying anything. Isabella thinks. He doesn't want her, despite what he said before about her having an affect on him. Despite the way he looked at her. Despite the way he held her. Despite the way he kissed her.
So she leaves.
She doesn't remember what look Xander had on his face when left. She doesn't even remember if she walked or ran. But she left because he doesn't want her. He said it himself.
So she sadly walks up the stairs and sneaks back into Melissa's room. She lays back on the couch and looks up at the ceiling. Just like earlier, she can't sleep. The only difference now is that she got to experience Xander's warmth, and now she's left upset and cold, as the blanket that had fallen from her body to between their feet, is left stranded on the kitchen floor.
~
Thanks for reading xoxo