"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
2012 Copyright All Rights Reserved
Chapter 25
Raven stretched out her limbs. A mewling satisfied sound spilled from her lips as she tested out the soreness in her body. She smiled at herself, she was sore in places that she didn’t even know could be sore and she was loving every minute of. Will loved her and he loved her good.
Turning over, she buried her head into his shoulder, and kissed his bare skin, enjoying the salty taste that lingered on her lips.
“Good morning,” he turned his head and looked down at her.
“Good morning to you too,” she shyly smiled.
He wrapped his arms around her and brought her up closer to his head. “How are you feeling this morning?”
She arched into his body, stretching out like a little kitten, looking completely adorable in the process. “Good,” she closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh. “Really, really good.” She opened her eyes back up and met Will’s intense gaze.
He tightened his hold on her with one arm and let his free hand rub along the length of her back, reveling in how soft her silky skin felt underneath his large calloused hands. “Any urges this morning?”
She tilted her head, mentally checking out her body. “No, none at all.” She dropped her head back down on his chest and splayed out her fingers in the fluffy mat of hair there. She loved the feel of his hair there, it was soft and curly and when they made love it tickled her breasts.
Will smiled to himself. He couldn’t be sure for another few weeks but if she wasn’t having any urges then that meant she was probably already carrying his pup. Bending his head down, he dropped a kiss on the top of her head. He couldn’t wait to see her all rounded out with his baby in her belly. “You know I love you, right?”
She maneuvered herself on his chest so that she could look up at him. “You better,” she teasing warned and then catching him by surprise, she lifted up and nipped playfully at his chin. “Because I love you too.”
She lowered her dark eyes and in that single moment Will thought she looked picture perfect, she was the image of an angel, his angel. Once again he silently thanked the Moon Goddess for blessing him with the beauty that he held.
They lay there in that intimate position for several long moments; content to be in each others arms. It was Will that ruined the moment when he announced that they both needed to get up. “As much as I would love to lay here with you sweet heart, we both have things to do.” He tapped her nose with his pointer finger. “And you have a psyche paper due next week that you need to start working on.”
She curled up her lips and flopped over on her back, covering her eyes with her face. “Oh God, don’t remind me,” she groaned.
Will chuckled and she felt the bed dip when he stood up. Turning her head, she admired his naked back side, shamelessly. “Did anyone ever tell you that you have one helluva an ass,” she remarked.
He stopped at the bathroom door and glanced over his shoulder at his mate, smirking confidently. “Eh… once or twice, but I don’t mind if you tell me again.”
She sat up on the bed, sheets falling around her waste and scowled at him. “Why you-,” she started and grabbed a pillow, tossing it in his direction. Will saw the pillow coming at him and yelped; slamming the door closed before it reached him. She fell back on the bed in a fit of giggles.
Life was good she thought to herself, almost too good. She turned her head and glanced over at the night table, noticing that godforsaken letter lying there, mocking her. Something was coming; she could feel it, sense it. But what, she didn’t have a clue. Her good mood quickly soured as she forced herself out of the bed. All she could hope for was that when the time came, they would be ready. Otherwise, she knew there was no way she would survive another death. She would just assume her own death before she had to go through losing any more of her friends or fate not withstanding, Will’s.
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Standing in front of the mirror, Raven started to brush the tangles from her hair. She was solemn as she watched her reflection and smiled when Will came into her view. He stopped behind her, easily taking the brush out of her hands and tenderly continued to comb through her hair, easing the rest of the tangles. She watched his reflection in the mirror and was amazed by his gentleness in the task. When he finished, he laid the brush down on the countertop and placed his hands on her shoulders.
Lifting his gaze to meet hers in the mirror, he squeezed her shoulders. "Ready?”
She nodded, unable to speak after such an innocently intimate moment.
“Good, because we’re supposed to meet the gang over at Starbucks this morning. You’ll get to meet Lina and Kevin too. I’ve already talked with Kevin and is the one that will be following you around this afternoon.” He pressed a kiss to her head, knowing that a thousand kisses would never be enough for him. “I wanted to make sure that you were comfortable with him before I left you two alone."
She loved his thoughtfulness; Will made her feel so cherished. "That sounds like a good idea to me,” she commented and then added, “Plus, I have been dieing for some real caffeine.”
“And whatever my little mate wants, my little mate gets,” he tugged at the edge of a tousled curl.
“Damn straight,” she grinned, “And it would be smart to remember that too.”
“Ha! Don’t push it babe,” he remarked. “Let me re-phrase that, whatever my mate wants, she gets as long as it doesn’t pose a risk to her.”
Raven rolled her eyes and headed for the door, feeling Will’s hand on her back. “Blah….blah… blah,’ she bobbed her head. He swatted her butt and she jumped, rounding on him, “Hey!”
He shrugged his shoulders, playing innocent. “What?” He asked, opening the door for her. She shook her head and turned around. She was so head over heels in love, she didn’t know which way was up or which way was down. Walking out the door, she heard his soft laughter behind her. If she stood a chance with this guy, she really needed that coffee that she was so badly craving.
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Thirty minutes later they were walking into Starbucks, hand in hand. Will spotted their friends instantly and with a gentle hand, he led Raven towards the table.
The first person that Raven noticed was the beautiful girl sitting beside Matthew. She was leaning into him and you could tell just by looking at them that they were mates. It was the way that they moved together, they were totally in sync with each other and she wondered if Will and she looked the same.
The girl smiled at her. She had dirty blond hair that was cut in a cute pixie style. Raven had no doubts that this was Lina, Matthew's mate. Taking a seat at the table, she spotted another strange face. This guy was tall and his shoulders were muscular, his dark brown eyes were assessing her underneath his chestnut colored hair. She figured that this was Kevin, the one that Will mentioned would be following her this afternoon. Looking at him more closely, she didn’t know what it is with these wolves, but they all seemed to be inherently gorgeous and ripped to the max.
She smiled at everyone letting Will go through the introductions.
"So, Raven,” Lina spoke up, “A little birdie told me that you like basketball."
Lina’s face was bright and she smiled at her. This was exactly what Raven needed to get her mind off of suicidal attackers, possible death, crazy sex and potential pregnancy. Basketball has always been an out for her. Layla tried to keep up the best she could but her heart was never into it the same way that Raven’s was. And Christopher was just to over the top when they watched games together. She couldn’t pay attention to the screen because he was usually too busy yelling at it.
“I do.” She stood, intent on going to sit by her new friend when Will wrapped his hand around her arm.
“Where are you going?” He asked.
Raven lifted her brows and looked pointedly at his arm. “If you must know,” she said, bringing her eyes back to him, “Over there by Lina so we can get to know each other better.”
He let out a breath. He had to give her some space and geesh, it was only five feet from him. Slowly he released his hand and tried to smile. “Sorry, we are territorial when it comes to our mates and with everything that’s been going on, I just want to know that you’re safe.”
Raven’s face softened and she pressed a kiss against his cheek. “It’s okay. I think it’s kind of sexy.”
Will was pleased with her statement. He gestured towards the counter, “You want me to get you something?”
She glanced back at the counter, “Surprise me.”
He nodded, and leaned it for another sweet peck on her lips. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. “I’ll be back,” he told her, “Don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t,” she replied sweetly, walking away from to take a seat between Lina and Layla.
The three girls hit it off right at the top. By the time that the guys returned to the table, beverages in hand, the three women were laughing so hard that everyone in Starbucks was watching them.
“Uh oh,” Christopher said, “This could be a problem.”
Layla looked up at him and quirked her lips. “Only if you make it one babe. Just don’t piss us off and everyone will be happy.”
He snorted, “Yeah right, I move the wrong way and you get pissed off.”
Layla narrowed her eyes at her mate. “You’re asking for it buddy.”
“Ohhh, what ya going to do, spank me,” he replied mischievously.
“TMI,” Will interrupted, “What the two of you do in the bedroom is your secret and I do not care to hear about it.” Everyone busted out laughing and he walked around the table, setting a cup down in front of Raven. "And for you my beautiful mate; a decaf chai tea latte."
She snapped her head up, “A what?”
“A decaf chai tea latte,” he repeated. “Try it, it’s good for you.” What he didn’t tell her was that because he thought she may already be expecting, he chose a decaffeinated drink.
Bringing the cup to her lips, she sniffed and scrunched up her nose. “What happened to the regular stuff?” She whined.
Will touched her shoulder unable to hide his smile. “Humor me please and just try it.”
"Not bad", she replied after taking a small sip. "But it’s still not what I wanted, though."
Will shifted Raven and sat down behind her. “But you’ll drink it for me?”
She grunted and he wrapped his arms around her. “I suppose.”
“That’s my girl,” he praised. “And now, this here,” he gestured towards Kevin, “It the infamous Kevin Hall. Back in high school, he could shoot a ball from half court and make the shot every time.”
“Really?” She said. Kevin shyly grinned, “It’s not that big a deal.”
“It impresses me,” she put in. “I do well when we’re playing Horse to shoot and make a single shot.”
Will remained quiet, curling a tendril of her hair around his finger she talked with Kevin. “So tell me Kevin, do you have a mate?”
"Nope, and to be honest, I hope that I never do.” He smiled at Raven, fiddling with a straw wrapper, “I just like don’t care to be tied down to one person." He turned to Will and said, "No offense to you man, it's just not my thing."
Caught up with the play in his mate’s hair, he politely countered with, "None taken."
Raven glanced at her watch. “Well, this was fun,” she announced, “But I have a class is in fifteen minutes and if we don’t start heading that way, I’ll be late.”
“And we don’t want that, now do we?” Will remarked, already pushing Raven up to her feet.
“No, we wouldn’t.”
Will turned her around and soundly kissed her lips. He only meant to kiss her good-bye but it quickly deepened and before he knew what he was doing, he was pulling Raven up against him, kneading the cheeks of her butt.
“Okay you two,” Layla poked at Will’s back. “We’re in public.”
Raven pulled back, slightly breathless and separated her self from Will. “You’re killing me,” she accused, “In a good way of course.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, you love my kisses.”
“I do,” she agreed, “And now, I have class. Meet me at the café in two hours?”
“Yeah,” Will nodded and fought the urge to pull her back into his arms. This was going to be a very long two hours, he mused to himself.
“Kevin, are you ready?” Raven asked, turning in his direction. “I sure hope you are better prepared than Matthew was."
“Yup, ready as I’ll ever be.” He stood and using his head, motioned for Raven to follow him. Unable to resist, Will gave her one more sweet kiss on the cheek and then swatted playfully at her butt for the second time today as she passed by.
“Hey!” She squealed "Hands off the goods mister."
He chuckled and mouthed to her as she was leaving, ‘Love you and be careful.’
She nodded and mouthed back, ‘love you too and always.’
Walking out the door, she tilted her head up to the sun shine and breathed in the morning air. Kevin was behind her and just like Matthew and Will, his eyes were always roaming. "You don't have any paper or pencils, do you?" She asked him, already knowing the answer.
He bent his head down and chuckled, "No ma’ am. But I can get some if you don't mind making a little detour."
“Sure,” she replied. They had fifteen minutes and that was plenty of time. If she had to have guys with her at all times, she would prefer they look more like students instead of body guards, which seemed to be just too weird. “I guess you were a little more prepared than Matthew after all," she smiled.
He didn't say anything else as they walked, only kept his face stoically forward, guiding Raven by the elbow. "I try to be,” He said several minutes later.
She responded with a quiet, “Mmm."
Kevin was concentrating on his task. Raven decided to let him do his thing and stayed quiet, following along. It was his job to protect her and since he came all this way, she didn’t want to mess him up. Before she knew it they had stopped at a small building on the other side of campus.
He opened the door and motioned for her to go on in ahead of him. She hesitated, looking around, "Why are we here?" Something didn’t feel right.
Kevin surveyed their surroundings again suddenly seemed impatient. “Look, just stay in here for a minute while I run up to my room. You’ll be safe here."
His face turned hard and that uneasy feeling was growing in her gut. But she reminded herself that Kevin was one of Will's friends and Will would never trust her to someone he didn’t trust himself.
"Are you sure?" She asked again and he nodded, giving her a little extra nudged. “Yes, positive, now hurry up.”
Sighing, she took the first steps, walking into the small building. It looked like some sort of storage room used for old athletic equipment. She turned around, ready to tell Kevin to hurry because she didn't want to be late for class when the door slammed in her face.
Fear instantly gripped her; cold chills ran down the length of her spine and panic quickly set in. Running over to the door, she tried to push it back open and it wouldn't budge at all. It was like something had been wedged against it.
She started to knock on the door. “Hellooo!” She called out. “Is anyone out there?”
She heard nothing. Seconds later she turned around to look for another way out when smoke began to billow in the back of the room. Gasping, she shrieked as the small orange flames started to grow and flicker up the wall.
She was stuck. She was locked in and the building was on fire. Scared out of her mind, she turned back to the door and began to beat harder, louder, screaming for someone-anyone to help her.
In the back of her mind, she knew that they had walked to the edge of campus and the chances of someone hearing her were minimal to none. As the flames started to spread around her and the heat intensified, Raven knew no one would find her in time. This was it.
She turned around, leaning her back against the door and slid slowly to the floor. Instinctively, she clutched her stomach in a protective manner and dropped her head to her lap and let the tears fall, tears for what could have been and the tears for what will never be.