Edited*
Exactly 3 days later, I was stumbling out of my house with my sports bag in one hand and my surf board tucked under my arm.
1:05 in the afternoon. Crap, I'm late.
Travelling at a ninja pace, I strapped my board onto my car roof and pretty much threw myself into the driver's seat. As soon as my car started up, I was already screeching backwards down the driveway and on my way to the beach.
*****
'You're late'. Tanner stated unamused whilst glancing down at his invisible watch.
'Sorry, sorry, sorry. I got out of work late then sat down for what was meant to be a half an hour rest but turned into an hours nap. Then I was woken up by Blake calling me to say that his hours have changed and his working overtime, so now his working from 6 in the morning to 10 at night so his just staying Gavin's for the next six nights. Then I had to literally run around to get ready because I was running late, then forgot my phone as soon as I got into the car, forgot my board, strapped it to the roof and practically sped here.' I rambled in one breathe and extremely quickly. 'Just be happy I'm in one piece.' I joked around.
Tanners well known smile didn't make an appearance on his face, and instead a deep frown showed up. 'Alana Smith,' he stated and my face fell.
Tanner using my full name was for three reasons and three reasons only.
One; he would be teasing me.
Two; he was yelling at me because I did something wrong (or we were at training.)
And three; he was worried or concerned about at me.
'I know Blake is extremely busy at the moment and living with just him, or the lack of him, is hard to do. I want you to know that you can come to me for anything at all. If you want some company for the next few nights come and stay at mine.' His eyes were boring into mine, and they were deadly serious and full of concern.
'You're like a little sister to me, and as much as a pain in my perfectly toned ass you are,' he said with a wink, 'I am always free to help you, no matter what I'm doing or what I have planned.' His immediately sobered up and his face went back to being serious. A nod of appreciation was given from me and with that he started our training session.
As soon as we had finished the 4km warm up jog (note that I was already stuffed after that), I was looking sheepishly up at Tanner.
'I forgot my drink bottle.' I innocently looked up at him and smiled. With a small shake of his head, he tossed me his drink bottle and we continued training.
***
An hour and a half later, Tanner and I were standing with our feet in the shallow water, leg ropes attached to our ankles and were staring out to sea.
'Over to the right is where I'm headed,' I said to Tanner after much consideration. 'There's barrels.' I stated. With a nod of his head, we both ran into the cool ocean and let the cold water wash over our aching bodies, cooling down our sore muscles from our hard work out session.
Sitting out the back and waiting for the next perfect wave to come through is one of the most relaxing feelings I have ever had. Just you and the ocean, nobody to bother you with petty problems.
I sighed and looked out the back and saw a decent wave coming in. Turning my board around, I paddled hard and caught the wave, popping straight up and onto my feet before gliding down the face of the wave.
The air rushing past me made me feel like I was flying. I shot straight down to the bottom of the wave and flung my body causing me to do a snap back. I turned facing right and was engulfed in a barrel.
Just being surrounded by water, knowing that if the wave broke short you would be smashed sent my adrenaline pumping throughout my veins. Speeding out the other side, I saw Tanner sitting on his board clapping and cheering me on, grinning like a mad man.
I gave him a thumbs up and mirrored his grin, then purposely steered right off the top of the wave and flew through the air before landing in the water. The oceans water took me under and I swam back to the surface and jumped onto my board and headed back out, ready to catch another wave.
****
'So get a bag and come to mine around 8 yeah? I'll order you a pizza, buy some ice-cream and rent a movie.' Tanner said as we stood at our separate cars with a towel wrapped around our bodies as we attempted to dry off a little bit.
'Thor 2?' I asked with a smile that he hopefully couldn't say no to.
'But we watched that last time!' He whined like a two year old whose mom wouldn't buy him the cool power ranger's toy from Toys R Us.
'Please?' I attempted the puppy dog eyes, and more than likely failed but I was desperate.
'How about this. I choose a movie and you choose a movie. It can be a movie night.' He said.
'Okay,' I agreed with him. 'I choose Thor 2.' He stared at me with an are-you-joking face and told me to pick another movie. 'Fine,' I huffed. 'Now You See Me.'
Tanner was still not satisfied with my choice of movie. 'I don't want to watch people do magic for 2 hours. That's boring!' He whined.
'Suck it up princess. It's Now You See Me or Thor 2.'
'Fine,' he grumbled. 'Now You See Me it is.' He snatched his drink bottle out of my hands in a playful gesture and hopped into his car. 'See you in precisely 4 hours Lani, no later.' He said in a stern voice, concerned for my safety.
'Yes father.' I mocked him.
'Oi, don't be a smart ass or your grounded for the rest of the month.' He scolded, playing along. This earned a chuckle from me as I waved him off. Then, I strapped my board onto the top of my car and threw my bag into the boot, ready to go home.
'Who was that?' A deep voice growled from behind me. The voice was deadly and I'd recognize it from anywhere.
My heart beat involuntarily sped up, and I fumbled with the car keys, desperately trying to unlock the driver's side door.
A set of rough hands gently came in contact with mine, cupping both of my shaking hands and prevented me from unlocking the door; which was actually just me fumbling with the keys.
Even though his hold on my hands were gentle, his next words were threatening and aggressive making my blood turn cold as ice.
'Give me one reason why I shouldn't rip his throat out.' He hissed, his sharp voice making me jump. Even though he was tense and was clearly angry about something, his gaze on me was soft and he looked like he wouldn't hurt me. Yet.
Not having the nerve to answer him, I tried pulling my hands free from his grasp but he only tightened his hold.
'Alana,' he cooed and tilted my head to face his. Those dark brown eyes locked with mine, and instantly flashbacks from Apollo Bay replayed in my mind.
'You don't need to be afraid of me.' He reminded me, cooing at me like I was an adorable six year old dressing up in her mom's dress and caking makeup on my face.
I still hadn't said a word, and he must have guessed I was scared half to death. 'I'm taking it you know what I am?' He chuckled, amusement in his eyes. When I made no sign of answering his question, he raised his eye brows patiently waiting for me to answer him. I slowly nodded my head in response.
His eyes were still locked with mine, and when he spoke I felt as if the world had stopped. 'Do you know exactly what I am, or have you just guessed?' he asked me.
'Guessed.' I spoke quietly, averting my eyes to the ground only to have him take my chin in his hands and made me stare back at him moments later.
'Are you scared of me?' He whispered, voice laced with worry, like he was hoping my answer would be anything but yes. I quickly nodded my head up and down, causing hurt to flash across his beautiful features. He slowly lowered his hands from my face.
'My names Michael, do you remember that?' He asked me softly, seeing the fright radiating off me. I think it was so obvious I was scared, a blind person could see how frightened I am.
My heart was still racing as I nodded my head. How could I forget the name of someone who can turn themselves into a wolf? I bitterly thought to myself.
'I'm here to protect you, keep you safe, okay?' Even though it was a question, he made it out to be a statement, as if he didn't care what I said.
'You have no idea how hard it was to find you.' He said as if he had been on a huge quest, talking as if he couldn't believe he actually accomplished it. And what I didn't know, is that he was.
'How did you find me?' I whispered. 'Why did you find me?' I asked genuinely confused and frightened at the same time.
'I found you through your scent. It was hard, but I did it. All car fumes smell the same, it was a miracle I found you.' He said. He raised his hand to stroke my face as a sign of affection, but dropped it back down to his side when he saw me flinch back.
'Why?' I whispered again.
'Because you're my mate, your mine. I won't ever stop until I find you.' He spoke a promise, one that he looked determined to keep. When he saw the questioning in my eyes he expanded his sentence for me and provided me with a definition.
'A mate is someone who the moon goddess pairs another wolf up with. It's like a soul mate, someone to stay with for life. Other wolfs say it's like your other half, but that shits to corny for me.' He said lovingly and with an amused glint in his eyes as if this was common knowledge that everyone should know.
I wasn't sure what made my heart beat pick up and thump wildly against my rib cage; the fact that he admitted he was a werewolf and confirmed my crazy suspicions, or the fact he said that he thought I was paired with him for life. I was just so confused my hormones and my mind just burst.
I staggered backwards and crashed my back against my car and shoved my hands to my temples. I slid down onto the ground, bringing my knees up to my chest.
Instantly, Michael was kneeling down beside me, worry laced on his face. He reached out to touch my arm and to embrace me but I scurried away. 'Don't, don't come near me.' I shouted. Looking at his face almost broke my heart. He looked like he had been crushed.
'Alana,'
'NO!' I shouted. 'Werewolf's don't exist. I'm crazy, I've gone delusional. This isn't true.' I stuttered not able to process all my thoughts.
'Alana, I know this is a lot to take in but you have to let me explain everything to you.' He stated firmly, like an order. He was giving me no say in this.
'No. I don't want to talk about this. It's stupid. It's messed up.' I said over and over and over again.
'This is so messed up, I'm so messed up.' As soon as the last four words left my mouth, a low growl erupted from the back of Michael's throat.
'I never, ever, want to hear you put yourself down like that. You are not messed up. You've just gotten a lot of information that's new to you. It's a lot to take in, I get that. I will do everything in my power to make this easier for you.' He soothed me.
'You set some rules, and I will follow them. Anything, I just need to be with you and for you to feel safe and comfortable around me.' He looked at me, waiting for me to set some rules.
'No touching me.' I whispered. I was all good for people contact, but werewolf contact was another story. 'I, I don't want you to touch me. Not without my permission.' I said in a more demanding tone, finally getting some confidence.
I saw him cautiously nodding his head with a sad look in his eye, as if I asked him to comply with the most ridiculous rule that had ever been made for mankind.
'Anything else?'
'You answer all of my questions I ask you.' He nodded his head in agreement, happy to comply with this one.
'Can you actually, you know. Turn into a wolf?' I asked in pure amazement, but still freaked out with what the answer. A nod from him caused me to suck in a sharp breath of air and scooted myself a tiny bit further away from him. How is that even physically possible?
'Don't do that in front of me.' I warned him. The look in my eye told him I was not joking and left no room for argument.
'Anything else?' He looked almost pained to ask me that. It was obvious that he wasn't too keen on all but one of the rules I stated.
'Yes.' I said changing my mind about everything, realizing just how ridiculous this is. 'You stay away from me. You don't come near me, you don't speak to me. This whole situation is stupid. You have the wrong girl. This type of thing doesn't even happen.' I said. By the end of this rule, he was growling.
'No.' he stated. 'I will do anything but leave you alone. That is impossible to do. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't stay away from you. I will give you space and take things slowly with you, but I will never, leave you alone.' He stated.
'I am here to protect you, to keep you safe, to love you unconditionally. I can't do that if I'm not around you.'
'You have the wrong person.' I stated, a new source of confidence was flowing through my body.
'I don't. I have fucking butterflies in my stomach when I talk to you, I can't stop looking at you, all I want to do is mark you and be around you. That is the mating bond. You will soon feel it to.' He growled.
With every word he spoke, my confidence drained away and I was filled with fear again. There was no getting away from him. I was stuck in a one way road that never ends. 'No,' I whispered backing away from him even more.
'You are mine, my mate. The sooner you come to realize that, the faster you will accept me.' He growled.