Chapter 10| Magical Kisses and a Changing Problem
"Oh Caline, Darling, Finally! It took you long enough to get her here." Mrs. Alvaro says, smiling gracefully as she waved me down the hallway. I raise an eyebrow as I hear a lot of voices and I turn back to look at Rese, who's smirking down at me. He motions forward and I roll my eyes before I move.
The whole way over to his house I was blasting 'Unstoppable' with all the windows rolled down. Rese almost crashed twice while looking at me, but he made it to his house with both me and his precious car still intact.
I hug Mrs. Alvaro as I get to the end of the hallway and for once, I was grateful that I decided to wear some high-heeled boots today because Rese's family was insanely tall.
"Come on dear, you can help me in the kitchen. Rese...Mmm, you stay out here and mingle." She says, giving him a once over. I withhold a laugh as I throw a look back at him while his mother grabs my arm and starts to lead me towards the kitchen. He looked less than pleased.
"I would love to help. What do I need? My mother always said to help make dinner and tonight seems like a perfect night to do so." I say and she smiles, opening the kitchen door.
I almost run out as I see five other women her age laughing and drinking an expensive bottle of wine. They all look over and then they start to coo when they see me.
"This is Caline, Rese's friend." Mrs. Alvaro says and I almost sigh. No longer just friends...
"Oh you're gorgeous, darling, isn't she gorgeous, Alina!" One woman says and I smile flushing red at the compliment. Mrs. Alvaro smiles as she sees my discomfort.
"Alright girls, She's had enough compliments today. I'm sure Rese just spits them out. Calina's going to help us with dinner. Mary, would you like to show her? Line, this is Mary, Gavin's mother." Mrs. Alvaro said as a beautiful woman who has similar features to Gavin. She smiles at me.
"I would love to, come on darling. It's going to be Danish Pastry's." She says, and I nod, hesitantly following her over a corner of the room. Soon enough, everyone's back to laughing and a few ask questions about me as I help Gavin's mom make the desserts.
I stop all movement before the door opens and I look at it as it opens, knowing who it was. Rese walks in with a havoc-causing smile on his face. He looked around the room and his smile widened into a wild grin as he saw me.
"Mmm, looks tasty." He says, leaning up against me. I growl, blowing the hair out of my face before I ram my elbow back into his gut. He laughs, backing up, and I look over, seeing all the ladies smiling to themselves.
"Rese, control yourself. It's literally about time to eat." I say quietly, and he looks over my shoulder as I craft the dessert as I had already done twenty times before.
"Oh, I wasn't talking about the food, Sugar." He purrs into my ear and I go red, stepping on his foot as I throw him a look over my shoulder. He holds his hands up before taking a step back. But then he walks around to the side of the table and watches me intensely until I crack.
"Jesus–Rese, for the love of God, go into the other room," I hesitate, "Later." I add quietly, and he grins wickedly, leaning over to kiss my cheek, his lips hovering by my ear.
"Later?" He asks cheerfully and I roll my eyes but I nod. He kisses my cheek again, pulling away. He gives me a sly wink before he saunters out of the room again.
I let out a visible breath, shaking my head. He was going to give me a heart attack one day, and for all the wrong reasons...
I spent the rest of the time talking to Gavin's mom and Cole's mom, who arrived late, until it was dinner time. As I walked outside, I had a feeling that Rese dragged me here because there were so many people and they were all gawking at me as I passed to go sit next to Rese who smiled at me brightly.
"I am going to get a milkshake after this and you're going to buy it for me." I tell him quietly and he smirks, leaning over, putting his palm under his chin.
"So bossy, Sugar. Are you sure you didn't contract something earlier?" He asks teasingly and I can't help but smile as I look over at him for a second, before I look over, seeing Colin. His whole face brightens up as he sees me and he grins, before giving me a giant wave. I wave back with a smile.
"If I contracted anything, I'd hope it'd be your good-looking genes." I tell Rese without looking at him. I hear him snort, putting a casual hand on my knee.
"I know, Sugar, I have the face of a saint." He says, and I smirk wickedly, looking over at him.
"The face of a saint bernard, Alvaro." I tell him, and he gives me an offended look as I laugh. He squeezes my knee lightly, and I smile again, shoving his hand off.
This was going to be a long dinner...
∞∞∞
"Ok, ok, have you ever run the Black-Foot Trail in Washington? I hear it's a lot of miles." One of Rese's several, several cousins asks, leaning in closer like the rest of them. I smile, keeping up a well-mannered expression.
"Actually, yes, I have. My mother ran it with me when I was 13. Of course, she had to walk half of it because of health reasons. It's very...hilly and hot during the summer." I say, thinking back to it.
Mom did have to walk half of it.
All the girls and boys grin absolutely fascinated with me.
"That's so cool! I wish I could travel the country. I wouldn't run or anything, but still! You went to boarding school in England when you were 10 to become a wizard at running!" One of the girls says and I smile again, running a hand through my hair. My face was already flushed with embarrassment, so it couldn't get any worse.
"It was only for a year. My parents didn't have the money to keep me there for the whole three years but I learned as much as I could in that year. They taught us more than just to run, you know. I learned riflery from a very charming boy a week after I arrived and then I surpassed him during our final exam week. We also learned dance, archery, and cross country–for horses." I say, and then I smile once again, "I had a lovely horse named Rodeo because he liked to gallop as fast as he could while trying to do a barrel pattern. He's a racehorse and a rodeo horse of course but I taught him how to jump and now he's somewhere in France as a prized show horse." I add, and the girls gasp. I look over at Rese, and I grin wickedly before giving him a wink. Silently, I hoped he'd see my desperation to leave.
"Alright girls, give her space to breathe." He says, coming to my rescue. I punch him in the gut when he throws an arm around my shoulders. He grunts but he grins down at me despite it.
"Yes, girls, please, Caline looks absolutely overwhelmed." Mrs. Alvaro says, passing us. I smile at her happily, watching her walk over to the adult side of the table. Rese pulls away from me and he gives me another wink before he runs off towards the house. I narrow my eyes as I watch him, having suspicions about what he was doing.
He was only gone a few minutes before I had a feeling he was waiting for me to come after him. So I excuse myself, going after him. My feelings proved correct because as soon as I walked through one of the glass double doors, I saw Rese talking to Russet.
I look around the corner, and I see Russet struggling to hold onto both Salmon's leash and Milo's leash at the same time. Why did she have my dogs?
As she let go of both dogs, they raced out the open double doors and I could hear the coos and squeals from outside as they wreaked havoc.
"I would have thought you'd spy earlier." I heard someone say right beside me and I almost screamed, looking over to see Rese leaning on the wall beside me. I punched him in the chest, giving him a harsh glare as he laughs at me. "I'm sorry, did I scare you, Sugar?" He asks teasingly and I growl at him.
"Fuck you." I tell Rese, spinning back around and he grins at me boyishly, taking a step closer. I take one back, stepping into the hallway in front of the now open doors.
"Wouldn't that be lovely?" He asks, taking another step forward. I growl at him, taking another step back. He was such a complete asshole.
"You're so bloody annoying, Rese. You should have told me they were coming! I can't see to them right now, Rese! Salmon's going to start trying to find me and–" Rese suddenly lunged forwards, and he kissed me just as hard as he had on Inspiration Hill, making my head spin, as he wrapped his arms around my waist. On instinct, my hands came up to his face, feeling his scruffy jawline.
He pulled back, breathing heavily, "Two in one night." He says before he kisses me again.
"Must be a new record." I breathe, pulling back for a second, our lips hovering in front of each other. He grins breathlessly, shaking his head as he pulled me closer.
"Records are always broken." He says before he kisses me again and I can't help but forget about my family, smiling as I grab his jacket, pulling him even closer.
It was a peaceful bliss while it lasted; Then there was a loud squeal and a bark.
"Oh My God! PDA for God's sake!" One of Rese's cousins yelled, slapping a hand over her eyes. I just smile, close my eyes and kiss Rese again. He tasted like sweet butterscotch and honey.
"Dad?! Are you going to do anything about this?! It's a public display!" Russet yells and Rese smirks evilly and then his lips touch my jaw, trailing down my neck. I take a sharp breath, looking up at the ceiling and as I look back down, Rese looks at me for a second, before I see confusion build in his eyes. He looks over his shoulder for a second, before he looks back at me in even more confusion.
The sudden spark we had between each other vanished in an instant.
As he opened his mouth, pain shot up my spine and I lurked forwards into Rese, gasping as my eyes widening. My wrist was burning up and it felt like someone was peeling it off my skin.
"Sugar?" He asks, but his voice was beginning to become dull and quiet, "Line? Caline, look at me, what's wrong?" He asks before all the sound becomes a sharp ring in my eyes. All I could see was Rese mouthing something at me while I grab his jacket tightly, feeling the pain shoot up my legs and ripping through my bones like a knife.
I felt it before anyone else did.
My head whipped around despite all of my pain and my face blanched white at the sight of Finley, the guy from the aquarium. He was smirking at us and the gleam in his eyes sent shivers down my spine.
He wasn't doing anything yet, but I had a feeling he wanted to cause chaos. Fortunately, I spotted something that would hopefully put an end to the chaos before it can begin.
A dark figure darted past me and my eyes widened as the wolf from Inspiration Hill lunged at Finley, sinking his razor-sharp teeth into his arm. Finley looked absolutely surprised by a wolf attacking him so suddenly and that gave Rese enough time to lunge as well.
As Rese got a grip on Finley, the wolf released Finley before running over to me. He wrapped around me protectively while keeping a close eye on everything happening around him. He looked up at me and I could see his worry for me, only confirming my suspicion about this wolf and the coyote.
The wolf tried his best to comfort me, but he could only do so much. It still wasn't enough to help, so I tried to focus my attention on what was before me.
I watched Rese fight Finley with sharp precision. He knew exactly where to hit Finely to cause the most pain. Finely, on the other hand, looked sloppy while trying to defend himself and attack Rese at the same time. He couldn't do both and he was suffering because of it.
My hand found the wolf's fur as pain rocketed through my spine again and the wolf looked back up at me, whining and watching as I put a hand over my nose, pulling it back to see blood on my fingertips.
Both boys stopped fighting as a low rumble shook my chest and vibrated my throat. I looked at Rese with sudden panic coating my face. I could feel my teeth moving and my bones groaning with an unknown pressure.
When Finely started to speak, both of us turned to look at him, but Rese had a murderous expression on his face while mine was coated with intense pain.
"Wolfsbane can trigger a shift when not on a full moon, only if the one who ingested it is a Moon Kissed, boy." Finley spits out with a cold laugh his words striking my heart like a lightning bolt. While I had no idea what it meant, something inside of me did. It recognized what was happening then and everything began speeding up.
I groan as the pain becomes even more unbearable and I screw my eyes shut before bending over.
I was quiet for a minute before I screamed and something snapped in my back. I began to feel my back shifting and moving, causing me to go down to my knees. I looked at my hands and my face went pale as I saw claws growing out from my fingertips, my bones shifting and snapping to make room.
"Caline!" Someone yelled and I looked up at Rese with a pained expression. Beside him was Cole, who shared his expression. Rese stumbled back as if he'd been hit. His face was covered in absolute shock as he looked at me.
The wolf beside me circled around me, growling at anyone who got too close. He was trying to defend me, but there were others willing to help me more than he could.
I gasped as my senses suddenly heightened and everything became ten times worse.
Everyone's heartbeat thumped in my ears and I could feel the smallest breeze blowing past my face as my body began to change. I groaned lowly as my skin went alight with flaming pain, and I watched in complete horror as dark fur started to bloom on my skin, and my hands slow morphed into paws with razor-sharp claws. My voice became deeper and I began to shake again as a low growl coming out of my throat.
Everyone went deathly still as the pain vanished, leaving a dull soreness aching in my bones.
I looked up from the ground, and everything was a little brighter and larger. I took one step towards Rese, and I stumbled, my face crashing into the ground. The wolf snorted, nudging me up to my feet–paws.
It stayed close to me as I looked around, completely terrified. I looked over my shoulder and I saw grey, brown, and amber fur trailing down my body. I saw a tail swishing slowly, and I saw four huge paws pressed against the tile floor, nails digging into the tile.
It was a wolf–I was a wolf.
I whined, looking over at Rese who was busy punching Finley over and over again, blood spraying from his nose and onto Rese. I felt my ears pivot around and I shrank down a little, hearing sharp whispers in my ears. I looked around, the wolf keeping a close eye on me as I turned, seeing the whole entire family, including mine. Mrs. Alvaro looked sad and she had tears in her eyes, but Russet–Russet was looking at me with such horror and fear–I whined again, taking a step back as my paws clung to the floor tightly, my nails scraping against the tile sharply.
I saw Mr. Alvaro take a step forward and the wolf, who I now noticed was about half my size, took a defensive step in front of me, curling his lip up into a silent snarl as he looked at Mr. Alvaro. I watched in awe as Mr. Alvaro's eyes flickered with orange flames and he stared down the wolf, who a second later, whined, and lowered his head with his tail tucking in.
What the fuck is going on?
As Mr. Alvaro took a step closer to me, all hell broke loose. I saw Salmon lunging for me and my instincts–the wolf instincts–flared. I stood up taller with my hackles raised, and my muzzle curled into a threatening snarl.
Salmon came to a screeching halt, stopping inches from me and he whimpered, looking up at me with a terrified expression. I growled lowly, but Salmon stood his ground.
"Don't let her–" Before Rese could give a warning, I scrambled around Salmon, hating how he looked at me like that. I wasn't some monster.
My claws clicked against the floor as I began to slip and my left side slammed into the ground as I lost my footing. I heard an unnatural snap in my paw and I yelped, scrambling back up as someone tried to grab me.
I saw the door wide open, but the only thing in the way was Russet, who was frozen in her place as I ran right at her. A second before I ran into her, I realized she wasn't going to move, and I screeching halt inches away from her, breathing harshly as I looked at her. Just as I was about to swerve around her, I heard a voice.
"Caline," He said, and my muscles coiled as I stopped myself from running. I looked back and right into the beautiful eyes of Rese Alvaro, who stood there, completely relaxed. I snarled at him, taking a step back as I went lower to the ground. Rese took a deep breath. "I know why you thought I was the pufferfish. You think I'd run away at the sight of danger, but I'm standing right here. So if you want to snap at someone, snap at me." He says slowly, not moving an inch as I lurked forwards just a little bit, snapping my jaws once, and then I looked him in the eye again. My angry expression falls and I stop growling and snarling at him.
I took a deep breath and then I spin around and I sprint out of the house.