It was like my mouth fitted into his, as easy as a snowflake dancing in the wind. His lips were cracked but soft, his mouth pressing to mine in a way that was gentle but full of desire. It seemed at first as if he was hesitant, his lips unsure, his fingers barely brushing mine, but then heat seemed to surround us, bringing forth with it a fire that wasn't one of pain. But lust.
It consumed Isaac, wrapping around him as he brought me closer, his calloused finger tips moving to tilt my jaw. His touch, light as a feather brought a trailing line of flames with it. His body sent off an array of sparks, like fireworks that couldn't be tamed. I could hear the rapid beating of his heart, sense the emotion he was holding back but it was like all his emotions were pouring out through the movements of his lips. They parted against mine. Soft. Wanting. Desperate.
I tasted the way his smile used to burst over his lips, dimpling his cheeks in an act of smugness. I tasted the salt of blood and the icy sting of death. I traced the bow of his mouth with my own, taking in the softness of them. The realness of them.
His fingers mapped his desire, tracing my jawline to pause at my cheek. I could tell he was holding back, forcing himself to remain the boy he wanted to be seen as. Emotionless. Independent. Non-reliant.
I moved against his lips, bringing myself closer to move my hands to the nape of his neck, tangling my fingers into his hair. This was his undoing. The fire released, rinsing over us so there was nothing but our bodies together, separated by the openness of truth. His hair was as soft as his lips, his curls tickling my fingertips as his own hands travelled down my skin, moving from my cheek to my neck. I could feel his breath against mine, his lips telling a story. A story of loss and betrayal, of jealously and envy. Of liking to love to protectiveness. My body no longer felt the cold, it was only Isaacs skin against mine, nothing but strips of material separating the colliding of our bodies. His lips pressed harder to mine, his fingers patterning my skin slightly harder, as if he never wanted to let go. I parted my mouth against his, a whisper of a word escaping my lips.
"Isaac,"
His body unravelled against mine, drawing me into his arms so nothing separated the desire we felt. His mouth angled against mine, full of desire and need. All I felt was Isaacs mouth, Isaacs lips, Isaacs hands. They had travelled to grip my waist, perched as if needing to reassure himself I was here. That I was in his arms. Where I belonged.
He reminded me of a lion, nothing but strength and power in his actions but a certain gentleness, carefulness, caution and grace that awoke in his shadow. He was poised now, his muscles tense against mine, his lips on mine, his emotions becoming the better of him. I felt my heart turn over, whirling in my chest the way it did when the Parazonium had driven through his heart. But now I could feel its pulse, thundering against his chest and through his mouth. I couldn't think straight, my mind a whirl of thoughts but all coming back to one. Isaac.
A small moan escaped my lips, causing his fingers on my waist to tighten, his lips crashing onto mine as if fuelled by the sound. With one hand he drew me closer, enough for me to feel his stomach through what was left of my shirt. He whispered something into my mouth but the roar of the wind drowned it, and all I could sense was him against me.
This kiss wasn't a feverish kiss. It was one of truth. One that shared the memories that had been locked away. As he held me to him, his lips on mine, the softness of his touch undoing me, my mind travelled to the curly haired boy I had grown to love.
His fingers tracing the pattern of scars across my knuckles. His body against mine as he cradled me in bed, his eyes hazy with infection. The touch of his lips as I kissed him in my fever. The whisk of a shadow in my dreams. The glint of his flecks as he looked at me from across the room. But then there was the fear beneath his eyes as the dagger tore through my chest. The desperation painting his face as he reached for me, begging for me to keep breathing. There were his glassy eyes as he watched me from beside my hospital bed, his hands pressed into tight fists lifted to his mouth, his face angles of worry.
I dug my nails into his curls, knotting them as I kissed him harder, opening my mouth to explore him. To taste him. All of him. Every touch, every breath, every gasp felt like petrol was adding to the fire. I could tell it was consuming him, wrapping around him enough for a moan to escape his lips.
This kiss wasn't like the one I shared with Aaron. Aaron's was patterned with sexual desire, the need to feel something, the need to be in control. But Isaacs lips were different. They were softer, more careful. They told a different story, a different chapter. They painted words of longing, craving, yearning. Of love.
His mouth was possessive, his fingers matching this as he gripped me harder. I stiffened against this, a spark erupting deep within my body that numbed my bones. Desire seared through me as his body shivered against mine, his palms gripping the material of my jeans. His lips roughened, his breathing becoming more rugged as he explored my mouth. His lips roamed, exploring places they had always wanted to go, my skin heating under his touch. He became ravenous, his lips soft but wanting. I melted into him with a familiarity that I never knew I held. He deepened the kiss, his mouth mapping eight months of secrets he had so desperately tried to hide. One of them being his own emotions.
But then his mouth moved over my lips, skimming a path to my jawline, kissing upwards to peck the freckles dusting my nose. I felt my nose crinkle in delight as he pulled away.
I opened my eyes to see his tricoloured gaze on me, his flecks dancing in an array of emotions. His eyes were the darkest I had ever seen them, but his lips had tilted into the beginnings of a smile. His fingers remained on my hips, his stomach still pressed to mine, causing me to tilt my head to search his eyes. They were diluted, nothing but starry pits of a promise. A promise of laughter, happiness and belonging.
My gaze was drawn to his lips, soft, parted, wet. But then his voice dug through my cloud of fire and I tore my eyes to look back at him. His face was still carved with blood, but the flush of his cheeks flooded through his once pale skin. I wasn't sure if they flushed with life or after our moment. The thought brought a small grin onto my lips, and with it, Isaacs eyes seemed to shine.
"I've wanted to do that for months now," He uttered, although his voice had lowered several octaves, a constant reminder that the kiss had undone him in a way that he tried to hide.
I eyed him, watching as a snowflake fell into one of his curls. The curls that I had just slid my fingers through. I felt my heart flutter before I spoke. "Why didn't you?"
He searched my eyes, his own trapping mine against my will. It was like he could see through me, his irises a mirror that reflected all my thoughts. He glanced down to watch another snowflake drift into the snow beside him. "Because I feared that my likening for you would lead to your death."
I felt my smile disappear from my lips, and with it his fingers seemed to loosen on my waist. Almost as if he was beginning to doubt his intentions. "Isaac," I began but he interrupted me, his voice soft but full of earnest.
"You nearly died because of me Renee," He said, his eyes on mine. "My own emotions got in the way of your safety, and because of it, your life was nearly taken."
I pushed myself away from him slightly, attempting to take in his face. His eyes were lowering, his eyelashes casting shadows across his blood speckled cheeks. "I should be the one saying that," I said quietly, moving my hand to touch one of his on my waist. His fingers relaxed against mine, however his body still remained tense. "You sacrificed your life for me when I didn't deserve it."
But then his eyes rose to meet mine, a fire flickering beneath his irises. "I failed you. I let Miss Anderson win when I was at my weakest. I let Aaron have you."
"Aaron doesn't have me," I replied softly, brushing my fingers lightly across his knuckles. "He's gone Isaac."
Isaac ducked his head, his curls falling into a fringe. He said nothing, the wind rushing through us until he finally rose his head. His hand moved from mine to touch my face, brushing my cheek to trace the bow of my lips. "I nearly lost you," he whispered, his eyes a sea of worry. "I couldn't bear the thought of losing you, and then when I saw," he paused to take a shaky breath, his lips pressing together. "Her," He said, his eyes steeling over in a flicker. "Above you, the Parazonium brushing your neck, I thought you would die." His eyes were on mine, wide saucers of the prosperity of my death. "I thought I had spent so much time protecting you and now I had failed you. I had let you die a painful death. I had let Aaron become the better of me and distract me only for you to be killed by the very woman I had protected you from." His fingers paused to brush my lips, his eyes travelling to them. His pupils seemed to soften immediately, his body loosening, his fingers becoming gentle. "Fear blinded me. All I could see was your bloodied body pinned by Miss Anderson and my mind was focused on replaying your death over and over," His other hand traced the scar of the pencil mark, however his eyes remained unblinking on mine. "It was like my nightmares had come true."
I gave him a questioning look, my heart rising to thrum into my chest from both his touch and his words.
"Every night I had the same dream. A dream of Aaron posed over you, a dagger clutched in his hands," He fingers cupped my cheek, brushing it slowly as if he was amazed by what he saw. What he held. "It was dipped in mercury, already stained with blood. I was at the other end of the clearing, watching as he shouted at you. You were crying, tears staining the blood splattered on your face," I watched him, watching as his eyes seemed to cloud, venturing into the pits of his mind that held his fear. "You begged for mercy but he only laughed. He said you weren't worthy of life and that that you had no one but yourself," he paused to swallow, as if speaking his dreams was painful. "And then he angled the dagger down to your heart. I yelled out and ran towards you but my movements were slowed and his were fastened. You cried out for me but I couldn't answer, my words were silenced. So I was left to watch the dagger tear through your heart and ribcage. And all I could do was see you reached for the blade wedged in your chest, screaming out for my help. Screaming for me, for my name," he lowered his eyes but not before I saw a flicker of redness in them. My breath hitched in my throat and I reached out to touch his jaw, tilting his chin up to meet my eyes. His eyes were glassy, unshed tears spilling in his eyes.
"I'm here now," I whispered, moving my hand to wipe a curl out of his eyes. "I'm here with you."
He leant into my touch, his forehead resting against mine. He took in a shaky breath, his fingers twisting into mine so he clutched them together, kissing the tops of my knuckles gently.
"I couldn't ask for anything more," He whispered into the wind. I breathed him in, taking in his snowy scent.
"I'm so sorry," I said quietly, squeezing my eyes shut against the bloodied site of him. "I never wanted to see you hurt."
"It's not your fault. I knew what I was getting myself into. The moment I challenged the Alpha I had a death sentence," He replied back, his curls ticking my cheek. "I broke code by shifting into a tunid. I knew something so severe like that would be a punishment of death."
"Why didn't you run?" I questioned, my mind wandering on the sensation of his fingers entwined in mine.
"I was going to, but then I heard talk of the Alpha's daughter in the tunid school. So I went to seek revenge on the Alpha by finding his weakness." He paused to take a breath before continuing. "I wanted to see if the legends were true and if you truly were the First Descendant. But then I-" He trailed off, and he leant away to look me in the eye. They were misty now, obscured by a distant touch of prolonged memories. "Then I began to learn of Aarons intentions. The moment I saw him I knew he was under the Alphas orders to kill me. But the Alpha grew curious of you, enough for my life to be spared and Aaron to slaughter me after gaining answers from me about you and your abilities."
"All this time you knew Aaron was posed to kill you as soon as the Alpha gave the command?" I whispered, taking in his determined jaw and long eyelashes. He seemed oblivious to the blood splattered over him or the fact he had died. All that mattered was us. Here. Now.
"Yes," He said back after some time, however his gaze remained unwavering from mine. "But I was determined to stop the Night Children before they created the army the Alpha had dreamt of. I needed to uncover members of the Parade and the Huntresses' identity. I needed to stop them from slaughtering the pack but I needed the pack to stop slaughtering tunids." His eyes flashed, the corners of his lips raising into the beginnings of a smile. "But then you grew too curious of our world. You thought looking for clues would aid the town," He took in my face, his eyes travelling over my face to stare at the wound where the dagger had been. Now it was closed over, the blood staining my shirt, the only remanence of how close I was to death. "But it only led you closer to death."
My fingers around his tightened, and sensing it he blinked against my gaze, his face softening. "Why didn't you tell me the truth? If I knew the truth from the beginning I wouldn't have thrown myself into danger," I said gently.
His smile returned, but it wasn't out of playfulness, but a light-hearted sadness. It was like he knew I would say that, his tiny smile a representation of how well he knew me. "You would've thrown yourself into danger regardless of the truth or not. You wouldn't ever sit around trapped in your tunid community if you knew innocent children were dying."
I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn't retaliate. It was the truth, whether I wanted to hear it or not.
"I didn't want you knowing what I was," Isaac said suddenly, and I glanced up to see the brown in his irises wrestle with the green, illuminating the flecks that danced among his pupils. "Despite everything, I valued your opinion on me, even if I refused to admit it,"
A smile touched my lips, matching his as he spoke. "I vowed to never speak of what I was to you, no matter how tempted I was," he continued, his eyes trapping me in a void of green, blue and brown so all I could do was drown in the colours. "Even in wolf form I struggled to hold any fleck of humanity I had left. When I first saw you through the window I couldn't even comprehend what you were. All I knew was I was dying, and I had nobody but myself."
I blinked against the memory, remembering his skeletal body as he skittered behind a tree, his white coat clinging to his skinny frame.
"I couldn't think straight. All I remembered was the warmth you gave me, the food that flooded through my system and I grew reliant on you. I barely had any human thoughts, I just had to survive. But survival for a wolf is never linked to the tunid world. I began to seek other options as I grew stronger, hunting on my own but never venturing into pack territory." He swallowed, and I watched his adams apple travel up his throat as he did so. Every bit of detail in his skin was perfect. Every scar, every dent, every freckle.
"However I was curious. You weren't afraid of me, but every other tunid would have raised a barrel to my head the moment they saw me," His fingers gently traced the outline of my veins along the underside of my wrist, creating goose bumps to raise along my arms. "I came back, watching you through the shadows. I studied you, as did your father when I wasn't around. He was better at hiding then I was but I had no intention to make my presence unknown," But then his fingers stopped tracing patterns and the light of his pupils dulled significantly. "My mentality was still shattered. I relied on your company for survival, the knowledge that someone, something was looking after me. My only thought was ever you and always you. But then when I had grown to trust you, you brought your camera."
I stiffened at the memory. The feeling of his hot breath against mine, his teeth bared as a growl emitted from his chest. His tongue passing over his teeth as he snarled. I ducked my head, my head swimming with the fact that my wolf was Isaac. The wolf I touched was Isaac. The wolf I saved was Isaac.
"The flash erased what little humanity I had left and darkness surrounded me. I was filled with fury and fear, my memory of who and what you were was gone," he searched my eyes, his eyelashes dusting his fringe. "It took every ounce of strength to turn away from you, but I knew that I couldn't rely on you anymore. I couldn't see you and risk hurting you."
"I knew you would never hurt me," I said back after listening, taking in his strained expression and thoughtful frown.
"But I did hurt you Renee," he answered. "I nearly lost everything when I threatened you in the locker-rooms. I was furious that you lived a perfect world. I wanted nothing more than to be you, encased in a sugar-coated tunid world oblivious to the truth of our world. I couldn't contain myself after realised you were the Alpha's daughter. I took my anger out on you when it was aimed for your father."
I went to speak but Isaac continued softly, his fingers reaching up to slide through a knot in my hair, undoing it to sweep it out of my eyes.
"I needed to rid of my thoughts, so I reverted back to stopping the Night Children. I searched for Amber and tried to save her when she was reported missing but Aaron had already gotten to her," I heard him inhale sharply, his face tensing as a muscle in his jaw jumped.
"I found her body, her neck slitted in the lake. They had already performed the Paidi ceremony on her and I knew within days the disease would have full control over her."
"Aaron said something about the Paidi ceremony," I inputted gently, feeling heat rise from his touch to flush my cheeks. "He said once the Alpha performed it on me I would be what the legends said I was."
Isaacs whole body seemed to tense at the sound of him, his lips angling into a stern frown, his eyebrows furrowing. It took him several seconds to reply. "The Paidi ceremony is what tunids go through to become a Night Child. The Alpha or his Beta slits your throat in BrookeField Lake when the moon is at its fullest. The Alpha marks you before they drown you."
I felt my heart skip a beat to form a lump in my throat. Isaac squeezed my hand with his other, clearly sensing my discomfort.
"Legends say the moon rinsed lake washes away your humanity and you are reborn as a tunid infected with the disease of the Forsaken. Ambers body remains in the lake until the moon is replaced by the sun. By then, the disease would have become to infect her mind."
"Her humanity?"
"Gone," Isaac answered, his eyes like deep pits of sorrow. "When we are first turned we have no recollection of what we are. We are at our strongest, wildest and most dangerous. The Alpha struggled to control the newest members, despite his orders to ensure no one touched you. Some of the wolves didn't have enough control to sustain their wildness and tracked you when they got the chance."
"The sandy shewolf," I whispered and Isaac nodded in response.
"Any wolf that harmed you was slaughtered after. The Alpha was furious that his pack had nearly killed you, so he began taking more children daily to make his army larger. He wanted complete control over every Forsaken, and he could only do that with Aarons help."
"But I saw you with blood on your paws." I said carefully. "And Aaron said you slaughtered Amber."
His eyes flashed with sudden fury but he quickly blinked it away. "I tried to save Amber from the lake but the pack took it as a weakness. I was in their territory after I had been exiled. So they attacked and I barely escaped. I knew after that that time was running out. I needed to find the Huntress and I needed to stop my pack," his pupils flitted onto mine. It was like looking into an ocean filled with the essence of life. I could drown in his gaze, allowing the last bubbles of reality to escape my lips so I could search the secrets that lay in his irises. "But my priority was you."
I titled my head, "Why me?"
"You were a girl with such power but yet you had no idea. The Parade and the pack were in a battle and you were the reason but still you never knew. I wanted to understand what you were capable of. I grew curious simply out of spite. I wanted to know why the Alpha cherished you so much. I never planned on-"
Falling in love.
But he blinked slowly and instead moved his hand to trace the pattern of my lips. They parted under his touch and I could feel his eyes wander to them. He held himself back but the tightening of his fingers on my hand told me he was straining.
"I didn't take me long to realise you had a need to end up in deadly situations," he said with a smile, letting the previous conversation fall. "I was angry that you kept getting in the way of my plans but you began to uncover things that I had never seen before. Miss Anderson's behaviour for example."
I felt my eyes narrow at the sound of her name and Isaac chuckled airily at the site of my obvious rage.
"She was interested in you, her curiosity matching mine but hers had a cold malicious intent. I didn't think much of it at the beginning, but soon I understood her intentions. She was working with silver, and only Parade members knew of its effects on Night Children." His eyes travelled down to my lips before looking back up. I wanted nothing more than to taste his lips again, to fall into the sensation of them against mine but the truth was more important, despite what my mind was telling me.
"I knew she was either a member, of the leader. But I couldn't figure it out without proof. She was hurting you, and soon Aaron found out. He told the Alpha and the Alpha made an effort to strengthen his army to overthrow the Parade."
I glanced down at the scar from where the pencil had driven through my hand, remembering the way it had burnt my insides. "So why lie and say you were one of the Parade when clearly you weren't?"
Isaac seemed to pause, his brain thinking this through. He was still holding himself back. Whether it was from the truth or kissing me, I wasn't sure. "I couldn't let you discover what I was. I couldn't let you find out about your father. I knew it would break you, and I refused to see you get hurt again. I lied in hopes of getting you off my back." He leant forwards to thread his fingers through my hair again, his eyes nothing but a multicoloured storm of emotions. "I lied for your sake, but it wasn't long before I regretted it leaving my lips."