ALAINA'S POV
I cross my legs underneath me as I sit on the couch in Liam's living room by myself. The sound of pots and pans clanging from the kitchen causes me to look up from the paper in my lap.
Ax stumbles over to the stairs and tries to grasp the railing, but his hand slips and he ends up falling face first into the steps. I gasp loudly and he groans, and I hear laughter coming from the other side of the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" Gabby chuckles as she walks over to him and he rolls over onto his back, and my eyes widen when they land on the blood streaming out of his nose.
"I have to peeeeeee," he whines like a child and I feel a smile grace my lips. She helps him up and he lets out another groan, "I'm bleeding! I can taste it on my tongue!" He screams, causing Gabby to laugh.
"Come with me," she instructs before dragging him down the hallway behind the stairs.
Silence fills the air my eyes flicker away from the stairs and over to the kitchen, wondering what Noah is doing. I hum softly as my gaze moves back down to the picture in my hands, the small, blonde girl's smile never wavering.
Slowly, I force myself up and I walk over to the kitchen, peeking my head inside to find Noah standing at the stove with his back facing me. I stand their silently, watching his every move with soft eyes; memorizing every single thing about him.
He really is beautiful, isn't he?
A must've made an awkward noise at the thought, because it caused Noah to turn around and look at me. My brows raise as my eyes widen and a small smile appears on his lips.
"Hi," I whisper.
We've all been here for about half an hour now, and ever since we all came inside, I was hiding out in the living room and the these three remained in the kitchen. Noah and Gabby made it their job to make dinner, whereas Ax made it his job to finish of the bottle of whiskey that Liam had hidden in the back of the fridge.
"Hey," he returns, his eyes grazing over my body. After a couple of seconds pass, he averts his eyes from me and looks back at the stove. "Do..Do you want to help me?"
My eyes light up instantly and a smile appears on my face, which causes him to return it. I nod quickly and go to take a step towards him, but I realize that I'm still holding the picture between my fingertips. I look down at it instantly, causing Noah to follow my gaze.
"What's that?" He asks curiously, and my eyes find his again.
"I don't want you to be angry with me," I whisper without hesitation and his brows raise into his hairline. "But..."
The words I have been planning to say for the past ten minutes leave my brain and I just stare at him. He grabs a towel off of the counter and dries off his hands before taking a step towards me.
"Alaina?" He speaks lowly, causing a shiver to run up my spine.
"I was...in your grandmother's house," I reveal and his face turns into stone immediately, "and..." I look down at the picture before holding it out to him with drawn brows. "I found this on the floor."
His eyes flicker down to it and they turn hard, which makes my chest tighten and I bite down on my bottom lip. He takes the picture out of my hands and I watch as he studies it for a couple of seconds.
He finally looks back up at me and I meet his dark blue eyes. "I don't know why I kept it, I just...I did."
"I'm not angry with you," he whispers and my eyes widen slightly, but I don't say anything. He looks back down at the picture before sighing and scratching the back of his neck.
"Her name is Mariah," he states, catching me off guard and my gaze goes down to the picture.
"Is?"
His eyes flicker up to me and I understand by the uncomfortable glint in them that him didn't mean to tell me that. I shake my head instantly when he opens his mouth to say something, "You don't have to say anything. Nothing at all," I say and his eyes widen slightly.
"What are you two lovebirds whispering about?" Gabby calls from down the hallway and I take a step away from Noah.
"Nothing!" I state, my voice cracking. Noah doesn't take his eyes off me as I move around him towards the sink and begin washing my hands. "You...You said you needed help?" I ask, glancing back at him.
His dark blue eyes stare deeply into my own before he sets the picture down on the table and walks over to me. I feel all the color drain from my face when he stops right in front of me and continues staring straight through me. His hand reaches up to my cheek and he pushes a strand of my hair behind my ear, and my knees go weak.
He doesn't say anything as his fingertips trace over my ear and down my neck, over my collarbone and down my arm before stopping at my hand and he intertwines our fingers. I inhale a shaky breath and his eyes flicker down to my lips, causing me to pull my bottom lip between my teeth.
My eyes widen slightly when his flash the golden color that has haunted my memory and they flicker back up to mine, almost like he's asking permission to kiss me. I want to say yes, give him some type of signal that might tell him that that's exactly what I want, but then there's Gabby and Ax right down the hall and they are probably listening in on us.
I glance down the hallway for a moment before looking back at Noah, finding him staring at my lips again. My entire body freezes when he raises his free hand to my cheek and tucks a few of his fingers into my hair.
He continues staring at my lips until his eyes slowly raise to mine, and the corner of his lips tilt up into a small smile. Even though it's small, and he's not even smiling with his perfect teeth, it still makes my heart beat a million times faster.
"Noah..?" I whisper, my voice shaking. As soon as his name leaves my lips, his eyes shift back to blue and my breath catches in my throat at how beautiful they are.
"I don't know how I survived without you this past week," he states so softly that I almost didn't hear him. My eyes widen at his words, knowing that they're completely true because I almost died without him too.
I inhale a sharp breath before giving him a small smile, "Me neither."
His thumb rubs over my bottom lip, eliciting a soft gasp from me and his eyes turn back to golden. He continues staring at me intensely and silently, and I wonder what he's thinking about. His calculating blue eyes scan over my face multiple times, flickering back to my eyes every so often.
I watch him in return, scanning over his face so that I can memorize every single detail. If I'm ever to forget him again, I won't because I know exactly what he looks like.
I'll remember the dimple on the left side of his lips, the fast change of color in his eyes, his small ears, his callused hands. I will remember every single detail about him because he is everything to me.
"You mean a lot to me, Noah," I whisper, catching him off guard, and his brows raise into his hairline. His eyes falter and I feel my lips pull up into a smile. "Like...a lot, a lot..."
Bouncing back, his lips pull up into a smirk and there's a devilish glint in his eyes. "And you mean a lot to me. One could even say that I-"
"I have a crush on you," I rush out the words, and for the second time within ten seconds, I catch him off guard. But this time, his entire face falls and his eyes nearly shoot out of his head. "I'm terrified of losing you again, Noah, so I'm just going to tell you how I feel. I like you, a lot. And not in a friend way like how I like Ax and Gabby and Moose," I speak quickly, all my words mushing together like mashed potatoes. "I like you in the way that a girl likes a guy with, like, her heart and feelings and stuff and-uh-and I like you a lot because you are kind and handsome and you care about me and-uh-I wasn't planning on telling you this but you're really close to me and you're holding my hand and you're hand is on my cheek, and I think I might be having a panic attack right now, but I'm not really sure-"
He cuts me off by pulling me closer to him and gently placing his lips on mine. I shut up instantly as my eyes fall shut and I lean into his hold, causing his hand that is holding onto mine to let go and he wraps it around my waist.
His soft lips move against mine like waves crashing on a shore, and I feel my heart trying to jump out of my chest to be with his. My hands raise from my sides and grip onto his shoulders tightly, which gives him more leeway to pull me even closer to him, even though our chest are pressed together already.
His hand on my cheek slowly slides to the nape of my neck and he begins moving me back until I'm up against the sink. My breath catches in my throat when the cabinet hits the back of my leg, causing me to pull away from him and I find his bright, golden eyes staring back at me.
Without hesitation, he pushes his lips back against mine and his other hand slides to the nape of my neck with the other. My grip on his shoulders tightens as he presses his chest against mine and I lean back, which sparks an idea in his glorious mind.
His hands disappear from the back of my neck and my brows instantly draw together, but when they grip my waist, my heartbeat quickens again. He pulls away from me slightly, far enough for me to still feel his hot breath against my lips and he squeezes waist again.
I let out a shaky breath as his chest falls and rises, but I know from the look in his eyes that he doesn't want to stop. And, frankly, neither do I.
Suddenly, his tight grip on my waist causes me to gasp and he lifts me up onto the counter, not even breaking a sweat. A small squeal flies from my mouth when he does so, and his lips break out into a large grin.
My heart does a front flip in my chest at the sight and I smile in return. I raise my hand to his cheek and my thumb rubs over his bottom lip, making his smile slowly fade but his happy essence is still pouring from his blue eyes.
"I like you, Alaina," he states calmly, and the smile I once wore drops from my face. A breathy laugh leaves his lips at my shocked expression, "Why are you so surprised?"
"I..." Shaking my head, I gently tug his face closer to mine, silently telling him to continue kissing me. His smile widens and he places his lips back on mine, making my heart pound violently in my chest.
His hands, that are still on my waist, tighten gently before releasing. And then he does it again, and again, and again. A soft moan leaves my lips from his soothing actions, and he instantly pulls away from me to stare at me with wide, golden eyes.
"Fuck," he groans, squeezing his eyes shut and I slowly move my hands back down to his shoulders.
"I'm sorry," I whisper sadly and his eyes snap open again, but this time they're blue. He shakes his head at me as one of his hands cup my cheek.
"No, no, Alaina. You didn't do anything. Well, you did something but you don't have to say sorry," he tells me before clearing his throat. "I just-um-I think I need to go take a shower."
Noah takes a step away from me, causing my brows to furrow and I stare at him in honest confusion. "But...you were just cooking lunch," I claim, gesturing to the food on the counter. It's already after one o'clock, but Ax is hungry...and drunk.
"I can finish lunch in a little bit," he states and shakes his head again to clear his thoughts. "I have to go take a shower."
I continue staring at him, not knowing why he needs to take a shower. "Okay..?" I mumble.
His eyes flicker up to mine, now realizing that I have no fucking idea about what's going on. His lips pull into a smile and he chuckles, probably because I'm so slow.
He comes closer to me, causing my eyes to widen, and his hand cups my cheek before he presses his lips against my forehead. My eyes fall shut and his lips linger against my skin for a couple of seconds until he pulls away and I meet his blue eyes.
"You'll understand when you're older," he informs me with a large smile.
"Okay," I whisper.
"What are you two whispering about?!" Noah's head snaps around and we both watch as Gabby nearly carries Ax down the hallway over her shoulder.
"You know," Ax slurs as his feet drag behind me, "secrets don't make friends. Cupcakes do. Noah make me cupcakes."
"Noah has to go take a shower," I state and Noah looks back at me, his eyes squinting in amusement.
"Food!!!" Ax whines and Gabby drops him off on a chair at the kitchen table before turning to us.
"Why have you got to take a shower? I thought you were making lunch. We have starving children, cousin." She reminds him, gesturing to the drunk that is drooling on the table.
"Because I do," he claims, his voice cracking and I break out in laughter. He rolls his eyes at me before turning around and walking up the stairs, and as he walks passed Gabby, her eyes scan over his body before widening.
"Do you have a fucking boner?!" She screeches and my eyes nearly pop out of my head. Noah doesn't acknowledge her as he continues climbing the stairs and disappears down the hall, and all the air has been sucked from my lungs as I stare after him.
That's what he meant? He has to go take a shower because I gave him a boner?
My bad.
"You gave him a boner?! What were you two doing in here while we were-" She cuts herself off when she looks over at me. "Why are you on the counter?!" She gestures to me with wide eyes and thrown out her arms. I quickly jump down before pushing a strand of hair behind my ear and a nervous laugh leaves my lips.
"So hungry..." Ax murmurs from the table and I glance over at him.
"I'll make you something to eat!" I say quickly before spinning around and looking at what Noah had been doing before I walked in.
"Ax, what have you got?" I hear Gabby ask, and I hear Ax mumble something that isn't English.
I glance back at them to find Gabby holding the picture of Noah's younger sister between her fingertips. Gabby's brows furrow and she turns her gaze to me, causing my lips to part.
"You took this from my grandma's house?" She asks me, and I feel my cheeks getting hot.
I nod slowly, "I found it when I was there...I don't know why I brought it, but I gave it to Noah."
"What did he say?"
"That her name is Mariah," I whisper. "That's all."
Her narrowing, green eyes examine me a couple times before she looks back down at the photo. "She was six years old in this," she informs me and I notice Ax propping his chin up on his fist.
"Is anybody going to make me so damn food?" He groans and Gabby rolls her eyes.
"I'm on it," she sighs and walks over to where Noah had all the food set out. I furrow my brows at the ground as my curiosity continues to grow rapidly, and my eyes finally flicker up towards the staircase.
I thought Noah said that his sister died too...
.
NOAH'S POV
I huff out a breath as I lean my head against the tiles of the shower wall, squeezing my eyes shut so that I may get rid of the dirty thoughts. I just got her back, and apparently the dirty thoughts I've had about her have returned as well.
A frustrated groan leans my lips as I push myself off the wall and move to stand back under the cold water. I hear soft chatter downstairs, but the only voices I hear belong to Gabby and Ax; mainly just Ax complaining about being hungry.
Where's Alaina?
She's probably still thinking about the picture of Mariah. A bunch of questions swirling around in that head of hers, and I doubt that she's actually going to try and ask me about it.
Not today, at least.
After a few minutes of standing in complete silence, Gabby and Ax's conversation grows louder, causing me to roll my eyes in annoyance.
I missed Alaina like hell, but I didn't miss Gabby and Ax's arguing.
"Would you just fucking shut up before I shove this fork into your uvula?!" Gabby screams.
"How can you even do that without puncturing the back of my throat?! It's impossible, you psycho-freak!" He shouts back at her, slurring his words slightly.
"Doing both seems like a great idea to me!"
I sigh in irritation before shutting off the water and wrapping a towel around my waist. Stepping out, I glance at myself in the half fogged mirror and furrow my brows at the sight.
The cuts and bruises have all healed, not even a scratch left. I shake my head silently, trying to get the images of the gashes out of my head. It's fine, I'm better now and so is Alaina.
She appears in the front of my mind again and a stupid smile appears on my lips. Deciding that I want to go be with her, without doing anything sexual because I'll have to leave abruptly again, I open the door and instantly walk into my room across the hall.
Swinging my bedroom door open, my eyes widen when I find Alaina sitting on the edge of my bed with a book in her hands and her cheeks are tinted red. Her head snaps over to me and her hazel eyes nearly shoot out of her head from the sight of me in a towel and nothing else.
"Shit," she mutters under her breath and the look on her face reminds me of the big guy in 'Lilo and Stitch' that kept getting his ice cream cone knocked over.
I blink rapidly at her as she abruptly stands up and stumbles over her foot, her eyes growing even wider. "I...I...I..." She looks for something to say, but she still is stupefied.
I continue staring at her, loving how innocent she is and the fact that me being shirtless, and practically naked, wipes her entire brain of anything except for a bunch of chopped up words. Then I remember that she's in my room...Why is she in my room? Not that I mind or anything.
My brows draw together as she continues stuttering and my eyes flicker down to the book in her hands and they widen instantly when the cross over the drawing of her I made weeks ago.
Fuck.
"I...I'm going to go back downstairs!" She states finally and I turn my gaze back up to her face.
"I can explain that," I say quickly, pointing down to the book and her face turns even redder.
"Y..You don't have to," she shakes her head at me, and I feel that I'm making her more embarrassed than I'm intending to. "I...I just...I...Uh..."
"Alaina! What's taking you so long?" Gabby yells from down the hallway and my eyes widen.
"We're talking," I shout back to Gabby before stepping into my room and closing the door behind me, and Alaina looks like she's about to have a nervous breakdown.
Shit, I'm still naked, aren't I?
I glance down at myself for a second before looking back up at her to see her force a smile. She's about to pass out, I can tell.
"This isn't helping," I say as more of statement than a question as I gesture to the towel. The dark color of her cheeks causes me to laugh and her brows knit together.
"No, it isn't," she whispers and shakes her head slowly, her entire body shaking a little bit.
I nod, "I'm just going to grab some clothes...and go get dressed in the bathroom...and then I'll come back...and explain that," I point to the book and she glances down at the drawing before back up at me, "and then maybe you can tell me why you're in my room?"
Her face pales and she automatically sits back down the bed, causing me to laugh again. I quickly grab a pair of boxers, a pair of shorts, and a T-shirt before giving her a small smile before disappearing out into the hall.
My eyes shoot out of my head when they land on Ax and Gabby standing right in front of me with their jaws touching the ground. I feel like Alaina as heat rises in my cheeks and they both continue staring at me in absolute shock.
"You guys didn't just..." Gabby mumbles, her voice changing octaves for each word. "Did you?"
"No!" Alaina screams from inside my room, causing all three of us to jump. "We didn't have sex!" She cries out and I chuckle.
"What the hell are you two doing?" I ask, gesturing to them and Ax stumbles a bit.
"I'm sleepy," he states before burping loudly, causing Gabby to grimace as she holds him up. "Gabby is taking me to bed." Wink.
"What?"
"Oh, shut up," she rolls her eyes, "it isn't like that. Now get out of the way so I can take him to his room."
Deciding that getting dressed and getting back to Alaina is more important than trying to figure out what's going on between them, I nod and move across to the bathroom and slam the door shut behind me. I get dressed quickly and when I'm finished, I'm back in my room faster than the speed of light.
I find Alaina sitting on my bed again, a tired daze in her eyes as she turns to look at me. A lazy smile appears on her lips as she raises the book up into view.
"I'm not a witch," she whispers and my brows raise slightly.
"I...I know," I tell her as I nod and walk over to her, sitting down in the spot on her right. "That..That was Liam," I state and she continues smiling.
Her hazel eyes slowly drift back down to the book before she stifles a laughs. "You think I'm a demon?" She asks. "That's kind of accurate, I guess."
I watch her carefully, wondering why she's so tired. After a couple of moments, she closes her eyes and the book begins to slip from her fingertips. I snatch it from her before it can fall to the ground and her eyes remain shut.
"Alaina?" I mumble, now standing in front of her with furrowed brows. I slowly place the book on my dresser without taking my eyes off of her, and hers continue to stay closed.
"Alaina? Are you okay?" I ask, forcing my voice to hold authority. I cup her cheek gently, wondering what on earth is wrong with her. Did she just fall asleep?
A couple of seconds pass and a small stream of blood begins running out of her nose. My eyes widen and instantly grab her shoulder with one hand and my other continues cupping her cheek.
"Alaina?!"
Her eyes slowly flutter open and meet mine and she smiles. "I can do things," she states in a hushed tone. "I can think about you and...and I go through your memories."
"What?" My voice cracks and her head tilts to the side.
"I think I've always been able to do it, but just while I was sleeping. I used to see your nightmares sometimes," she claims and as soon as the words leave her perfect lips, I remember the night I had stayed with her in her room and she told me that she would have nightmares at night that didn't belong to her. "I used to see what you are so afraid of, but only parts; and none of it made any sense to me.
"But now it does. Gabby took me to your grandmother's earlier because that's where you saved me from De Umbra..." She nods slowly as her eyes trail down from my face to my neck. "And instead of seeing that, I saw you rip your brother's neck open." My breath catches in my throat and I have no clue what my face looks like right now, whereas she just looks tired. "I saw you nearly rip your mother's leg off, and I saw you kill your father. And...I saw your grandmother."
My eyes move down to her hands sitting in her lap and watch as she picks at the skin around her nails. "I watched her curse you."
My jaw clenches and I don't move gaze back up to meet hers, and I don't think she seems to mind. "That's the part that doesn't make sense to me."
Eyes wide, my head snaps up and look at her curiously. "Out of everything you saw, that's what doesn't make sense?"
"She spoke in Latin," Alaina reminds me. "Not everyone can speak Latin fluently like you, Noah." She chuckles. "But, I do know that she cursed you to the moon...which means...she turned you into a werewolf..." Her voice trails off as her eyes lower back down to my neck. "And that means...you weren't a werewolf to begin with..."
She stares at me with furrowed brows, no longer knowing how to piece the puzzle, that is me, together. I stare back silently and watch as the wheels turn in her head over and over again, still trying to find out a simple solution.
A moment passes and she goes to close her eyes again, but I grab her shoulders and shake her gently. Her eyes remain open and she stares at me intently, "Alaina, stop. No more. You need to calm down," I demand her brows raise slightly.
I run to the bathroom for a couple of seconds before returning with a hot rag and I hand it to her, and she instantly places it against her nose. Her eyes flutter shut rapidly and I cup the side of her head when she nearly falls back.
"Here, here," I whisper as I move around the bed and pick her up bridal style, causing her head to fall against my chest and I feel my heartbeat pick up. I pull back the comforter and lay her under it gently before pulling the blanket up to her chin.
I take the rag out of her hand and drag it under her nose until I get rid of the rest of the blood; and when it's disappeared, I toss the rag into the hamper next to the dresser. I look back down at her to find her eyes shut, but there's no blood dripping from her nose.
I sigh softly as I stare at her in her sleeping state, she's so peaceful and quiet. She sniffles softly as she places her hand under her cheek and her nose scrunches up in a stubborn way.
My lips pull up into a small smile and I sit down on my bed beside her, making sure not to wake her up accidentally. I place my hand on the side of her head and allow my thumb to gently remove her hair from out of her eyes, causing a satisfied sigh to leave her lips.
The smile I wear slowly fades as I stare at her, feeling my heart beginning to pound erratically. "You're not going to lose me again," I whisper softly. "And I'm not gonna lose you."