Danny
"You okay?" Kieran asked sleepily after I'd stopped freaking out and pulled him up from the wall. I smoothed a hand across his hair and nodded. Then, I slowly shook my head.
He was awake in an instant, eyes going red with the sudden emotion. "What's wrong?"
I couldn't actually tell him what was going on. Instead, I went to something I'd thought about yesterday. "We got together two days ago."
"Well, yeah." the red glare faded in favor of confusion. "Are we celebrating an anniversary or something?"
"Do you think we're moving a bit fast?"
"You mean--like--this way?" he bumped our hips together suggestively. I flushed and swatted lightly at him.
"Kieran."
"I'm being serious," he said, a hint of laughter in his voice. He sobered after a moment though. "I get what you're saying. And I think you're right, Danny."
"Really?" I hated to admit it but I was half-disappointed. I'd hoped he'd jump to the conclusion that I wanted.
"Totally." Kieran said. "Most people at least go on one date before they get into each other's pants."
So why don't we? I asked him mentally, staring down at the stiching in his collar.
"You want to go out on a date with me?" he sounded so surprised. As if I wouldn't want to, or something.
I nodded. "Of course."
His emotions were indecipherable. "The world's going insane," he reminded me. "There are a bunch of crazy people running around. In two days we're gonna have to defend our relationship in front of a bunch of old, unpleasant shifters."
"Oh." I guess that settled that, then. I tried not to feel too disappointed.
"We totally deserve to go out on a date."
I looked up at him, surprised. "Really?"
"Hells yeah." he grinned. "Let's do it."
-
My aunt raised an eyebrow at us when we told her what we were going to do over breakfast. "Sounds fun," she said neutrally. "Just remember to be safe."
I sensed the double entendre in her words and flushed. Kieran just nodded, a low simmering amusement in him. I poked him in the side.
"You've got a hidden violence in you, don't ya?" he asked after Naomi had left for work.
Considering his current temper, that was like the pot calling the kettle black. I relayed it without saying a word.
"Touche," Kieran conceded. "So." he sat down on the couch and drew his legs up to his chest, never too far away. "What do you want to do?"
Before I could answer, the house phone rang. It was just far away enough that if Kieran leaned back, he wouldn't have to get up. I went to answer it.
I hated talking on the phone. Naomi's connection was clear, but I could always hear a faint crackle behind the words. Plus, I wasn't able to use simple body language to convey what I wanted to say. I actually had to talk to people.
You're so cute, Kieran thought at me.
I ignored him, for both of our own good, and pressed ANSWER.
"Hello?"
"You have got some serious explaining to do."
I winced at Alicia's voice. "I'm sorry?"
"You disappear on me for two days and that's all you have to say?"
My shoulders hunched. Normally, Alicia and I spoke and/or hung out every day. And even though I had a pretty good excuse for missing out, she'd been sick.
"I'm sorry," I repeated, "Did you get over your cold?"
"Yes," she sniffed. "No thanks to you. Were you kidnapped or something?"
Arms suddenly wound themself around my waist, a chin resting on my shoulder. I jumped a little then relaxed. At least, until Kieran spoke directly into the reciever. "In a sense."
There was a long silence.
"Is that who I think it is?"
"You must be Alicia," Kieran said, too close to laughter for my temper. "Danny's told me a lot about you. I'm Kieran," he added, like she didn't know.
"Danny." Alicia sounded more like a squeally teenage girl than I'd ever heard her. "Danny, tell me you're not kicking it with Kieran Night."
"We're doing more than kicking it over here," Kieran's voice was layered with innuendo.
"Okay, I think we're done." I broke out of his hold, glaring lowly. "Alicia?"
"You have some serious 'splaining to do and you'd better do it fast."
"I--" I didn't know what to say. Lying wasn't a frequent habit of mine.
Your car broke down. I helped you.
When I only stared at Kieran, he gave me a mental poke. He was leaning against the counter, smirking.
"Uh--my car broke down during the snow storm. He helped, and I ended up spending the night over his house."
"Spending the night." I could visualize her leer perfectly.
"Not like that!"
"Mhm. Sure. So when can I come over?"
"Actually," I began guiltily, "Kieran and I wanted to go out on a date today."
"So you're just gonna abandon me again?" She sounded teasing. "Fine. But you owe me a girls' day out."
I didn't argue. We'd had the 'I'm not a girl' conversation and she'd won, somehow. "Okay. Bye, Alicia."
"No no no, blondie, you don't get off that easy. You've got to answer one more question for me."
Somehow, I knew this wasn't gonna be pleasant. I sighed. "What."
"Is his butt really as firm as it looks?"
-
Nearly an hour later, Kieran was still chuckling.
"I like her. I like her a lot."
Concentrate on the road.
"You know, the silent treatment isn't really the silent treatment if you're still speaking mentally."
I focused on a small dot on the window and didn't think anything else at him.
"Oh come on Danny. Don't be like that." he nudged me with his shoulder.
I didn't know where we were going--Kieran had managed to withhold that from his thoughts. But we'd been driving for ten minutes and I could see the looming buildings of the town square ahead, so I had a pretty good idea.
Sure enough, Kieran parked in a space near the town center. It made sense that he'd insisted that I bundle up.
"Ready to do some walking?"
When we got out of the car, Kieran reached out and took my hand. I looked around. The square was pretty crowded, teenagers and families walking around under the decorate awnings of buildings and in the paved streets.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I squeezed our joined hands.
"It's none of their business. Let them try something." The rumble was slightly omnious.
I nodded and pressed our bodies slightly closer together, hiding our hands anyway. Kieran looked at me but didn't argue.
We walked down the snowy streets together, quiet except for Kieran's occasional excited remarks. He seemed like he was ready to bounce in place.
"Here we are!" he gestured grandly to the theater. People were pouring in and out of the doors. This was the only theater in town and it showed.
We got in line behind a large family.
"What do you want to see? I was thinking the new Vin Diesel." Kieran eyed the large movie posters on the brick wall. Suddenly, he turned toward me. "This is okay, right? Because we can--we can go eat or do something else--"
"Kieran," I interrupted. "This is..."
His hand was warm in mine, cheeks red and lips chapped from the cold. He was wearing a green hat that he'd borrowed from me, a pom pom at the top. Around us, there was the warm murmur or people celebrating the holidays. I'd only ever been on two dates before, and neither made me feel like this.
"This is perfect."
Of course, during the movie I had to convince Kieran that making out during the 'boring' parts was not appropriate in a crowded movie theater. I wasn't all that successful, but I honestly couldn't complain too much.
It was afternoon when we got out of the theater. The sky was a cloudy gray and it had started to snow again, snowflakes landing on Kieran's jacket.
"Lunch?" Kieran asked.
"Sounds good." I nodded.
There was a pizza place near the theater. It was crowded, but we managed to order and find a seat near the back. We sat across from each other, grinning stupidly.
Suddenly, Kieran stiffened. Before I could ask why, there was a whoop.
"Kieran! My man!"
A group of kids that I recognized from school made their way over. The ringleader was a guy who they just called 'Al'. He had bright red hair and a nasty habit of picking on innocents.
"Al," Kieran smiled at them, though his emotions were conveying anything but happiness. He stood and they nodded to each other. "What's up?"
"Just out on the town. About to head to Toxic." he mentioned a teen club that I had no intention of going to, ever. His eyes slid to me and smirked. "Doing charity work now, Night?"
Don't. I warned.
Kieran didn't listen. (I figured that was going to be a thing I had to deal with now.)
"Excuse me?"
Al didn't seem to notice his dangerous tone. "Like, that 'conversion' shit. He's a fag, you know. Freakin' disgusting. Turned down ten females in the first week that he got to school, and there's no way he's banging that weird Alicia chick--"
I had to stand. The red was seeping into Kieran's mind, and if I didn't do something someone was going to get hurt. People were starting to look.
"Kieran," I grabbed his arm, my voice low and urgent. "Let's go."
"Don't touch him!" The girl Al had attached to his hip suddenly snapped. Her lip curled, she snatched up my bare wrist where my sleeve had ridden up.
Cold like nothing I'd ever felt before shot up my arm, icy-flames licking at my skin. I cried out and yanked my hand out of hers at the same time that Kieran finally snapped.
He lunged forward with a roar, claws that only I saw out and read to kill. I jumped forward and wrapped my arms around his, accidentally tearing open my lip with my teeth. A couple of the patrons started screaming even as Al skittered back.
StopstopstopstopstopKIERAN--
With a rough shake, Kieran threw me off. I flew into the chair behind me and tripped over it, falling onto my back so hard that the air flew out of me.
Chairs and tables flew as three huge men suddenly jumped into action, grabbing Kieran's body and starting to drag him out of the crowded pizza place. Gasping, I scraped myself off the floor and stumbled after them.
People moved out of the way as the men dragged Kieran to a filthy alley, earning vicious bites and gouges for their trouble. My head was pounding from the red and black rage on his side of the bond. I clutched at my hair, fighting to breathe through it.
I could barely speak around the pain, but I had to. "Who--"
"We're pack." One of them turned and flashed golden eyes at me. He looked like a trucker. "You're the human." he rumbled. He didn't sound happy about it.
"Son," the another said. They all had the same face--triplets, I guessed--but his face was slightly kinder even as Kieran fought him. "Son, you've got to bring your mate out of it."
The thought terrified me. I was shaking, I realized, trembling all over. The place where that girl grabbed me still felt like ice. "I can't--" I stammered, words locking in my throat.
"Try."
Blinking tears out of my eyes, I brought myself away from the wall and walked toward my raging boyfriend.
Red eyes darker than blood glared at me, crazed with it. He had a mouthful of fangs that were sunk to the hilt in a thick forearm. He looked like an animal, like something feral that people put down.
"Kieran." It came out as a trembling whisper.
Kieran lunged at me, breaking one of the mens' hold. I backed up so fast I knocked into a wall.
I had to do this. I had to do this. I had to--
I closed my eyes tight, then opened them, ignoring the tears that slid down my cheeks. "Kieran." Before I could second guess myself, I walked forward and reached out with both hands to cup his face. One of the men shouted in warning and--
His fangs jerked out of the man's arm and cut into mine.
I screamed, black spots appearing in my vision as blood gushed down my arm. It hurt, oh God it hurt, and I sobbed with it even as the fangs receded. I pulled my coat away from the wound to look. My arm looked like a hunk of meat.
There was an odd rumbling noise. I turned away from my arm, cradling it to my chest, and up at my mate.
Blood--my blood--was smeared around his mouth. His eyes were still red and his fangs and claws were still out, but he looked oddly sorry as I cried. He made that same rumbling sound and stepped forward, softly this time.
Before I could shake my head, the men had let him go. He strode toward me and wrapped me in his arms, still feral. I shook and bawled even as he licked at my neck, trying to comfort me.
I didn't want him to hold me. I wanted him to leave me alone--but his wide, flat tongue lapped at our mating mark and his hand wrapped around my injured arm, which was still screaming with pain. I hid my face in his shoulder to avoid the gazes of the other shifters, trying to stop my shudders.
Suddenly, there was a strange tingling in my arm. I looked down, shocked into stillness as the wounds began to close.
Fifteen seconds and a few pinches later, the wounds were gone. Only the blood remained, proof that I wasn't crazy.
"Well," one of the men said, drawing my attention. "Never seen that before."
I didn't say anything. I couldn't, even as they hustled us to their car and drove us to Kieran's house. Kieran stuck me like glue, a growling, violent thing that people flinched away from. No one looked him or me in the eye. I didn't see anyone I knew.
We ended up right back where we'd started: in Kieran's room, with the door locked behind us and unable to separate.
The clothes stuck to my skin because of the blood. My hands were shaking too much to undo buttons and zips. In the wolf's mind, it made perfect sense for him to shred the clothing off until I was shivering in just my boxers.
He did the same to himself, though he didn't stop at boxers. I looked away.
He dragged me to the bed with him and shoved the covers over us, half of his body on top of mine. I was cold with fear, but all he seemed to want to do was cuddle.
I closed my eyes as he snuffled at my skin and rumbled.
"I love you," I whispered. "So much. But you terrify me."
***
I really. Did not expect that to turn into that. So you can consider me just as shocked as you are, okay?