Celia's P.O.V
Looking up at Noah in his arms I gave him one last peck on the lips before pulling away from him, waving goodbye to everyone because I was finally going back home. Even though Noah didn't want me too I missed it and since the rouge problems have been going down I figured it would be fine for me to go back. So I walked out of the house into the driveway, seeing Conner's truck sitting there as he and Ally were both already inside and waiting for me.
"I gave you shotgun Squish." Ally said from the back seat window.
I opened the door to the passenger side, hopping up since Conner owned a tall truck, and sat down on the worn leather seat. As soon as seatbelts were on Conner pulled out of the driveway of the nice mansion and we were on our way back home.
"I can't believe it Squish. I mean, werewolves?! Who would've thought they would actually exist?" Ally exclaimed from the back seat.
Conner usually drove one handed so his right hand rested over the center console. I reached for it and took it in mine, tracing over his soft skin like I always did if he drove me anywhere. Conner smiled but kept his eyes on the rode.
"Yeah, I couldn't believe it at first either." I say to Ally, "I locked myself in my room for a few days because I thought I was going crazy."
"Don't worry, I probably would have done the same thing."
Conner shifted his hand on the wheel to make a turn, pulling his other hand out of my grip momentarily.
"It seems like you and Noah are getting along though." Conner says as his hand came back so I could play with his fingers again.
I chewed on my lip for a second, "Well, I mean, I'm not exactly sure where we stand yet relationship wise but yeah...we get along."
Conner's jaw clenched but it went unnoticed as Ally giggled.
"I could see that from the way he looked at you. But what did he say you guys were? Mates?"
"Yeah. A mate is basically a soulmate. For werewolves it's like finding your other half. They can find out who their mate is because there is like a specific smell that leads you to who it is."
"And their mates can be werewolves or human?"
"Yep, like with me."
Ally squealed with excitement, "You guys are so cute together! Have you kissed him yet?"
"Can we not talk about this?" Conner asked, clearly annoyed with our conversation.
"Oh?" Ally leaned forward as much as her seatbelt would let her, "Is someone jealous?"
"I'm not-!" He cut himself off and took a deep breath, "I'm not jealous. I'm just worried. This guy who is basically your...boyfriend is a werewolf. Does that not bother you Celia?"
He gave me a quick glance before looking back at the road. I stared down at his hand and continued playing with his fingers.
"It does bother me a little bit but Noah has protected me through this whole thing. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me."
He glanced over at me again, lacing his fingers with mine and giving my hand a squeeze. He didn't respond to me though, making it obvious that he was dying to say something but kept it buried.
The next little while was filled with silence. Everything began to look familiar around us as we got back into town, driving by the small cafe where I first met Noah and that held lots of memories with Ally and Conner. We turned down the road into our neighborhood and got to Ally's corner house to drop her off.
"I love you Squishy." Ally said as she pinched my cheek from behind before hopping out of the truck.
"I love you too Ally." I call back as she walked up her driveway.
"Be careful and watch out for goblins or whatever else that could be in your backyard!"
I laughed, "Okay!"
As soon as she got back into her house Conner backed out the driveway and drove down the road to my home. His thumb stroked the back of my hand as he pulled into my driveway. I beamed when I saw my home, feeling like I haven't seen it in years when in reality it had been only a few long weeks.
"Can I come inside for a minute?" Conner asks as I let go of his hand to unbuckle myself.
"Of course you can, you don't have to ask."
We both hopped out of his tall truck together. I almost fell in the process though when I landed on the ground.
"You're car is too tall!" I shout, making my way to the front door.
He just laughed as he followed behind me, "Or maybe you're just too short."
"Hey! I'm not that short!"
When I got to my front door I tried to open it but it was locked. I reached for my pockets for my keys out of habit but quickly realized that I didn't have them on me. The last time I was here was when I was first almost kidnapped so I obviously didn't take my keys with me.
"Here." Conner came up behind me and took out his car keys which had my house key on it.
"You are a life saver." I say as I grabbed it from him, "I'm glad I gave you my house key."
He smiled, "I'm glad you did too."
Ally, Conner, and I all gave each other our house keys in case of some sort of emergency or if we just wanted to hang out. When door was unlocked we both stepped inside the small little front room. It was a little weird when I looked around, everything still looked exactly the same as it did when I was last it, it sent a chilling feeling in the air but at least I was home.
I handed Conner his keys back and stretched my arms upwards in the air to stretch.
"It's so good to be home."
Suddenly his arms came around my waist from behind as he blew a raspberry on my neck. I giggled, scrunched up my neck trying to protect myself from the ticklish feeling, and rested my arms on top of his.
"I'm happy you're back." He says from above me, "Who else was I supposed to watch movies with?"
I hummed happily and leaned back against him, "You could've watched movies with Ally."
He shrugged, "I guess but we don't hug or anything."
"Aw? Do you need more cuddles?" I cooed, rubbing his arms that were around me.
"Maybe." He pouted, resting his chin on my shoulder.
We stood there together, holding each other for some time. I was happy because his embrace was warm. But his arms tightened a little around me, like he didn't want to let me go. I figured something was wrong.
"Conner? Are you okay?"
"Celia..."
I gasped softly at the sound of his voice in my ear. It was husky and serious, completely catching me off guard. Then he turned me around so back me up into a wall, hands at my waist and looking down at me.
"C-Conner? What are you-mmm."
I was cut off with his lips smushing against mine. My hand hesitantly came around the back of his neck as he continued his feverish kisses. It's been so long since Conner and I have shared a kiss, his kisses would drive any girl wild. Soft and warm while his hands rubbed firmly against my waist. But to me it felt like Conner was trying to re-light a dying fire.
A few years before I had met Noah, Conner and I were already best friends but everyone had teased us that we were basically a couple, I did have feelings for Conner like that back then but didn't know if he ever felt the same so I never said anything about it. Then one day Conner randomly showed up at my house and asked me to officially be his girlfriend. Of course I screeched out a loud yes and attacked Conner with a hug, sending us both flying down into the grass of the front lawn. But for some reason after we became a couple we didn't connect with each other as well when we were friends. It was just, something about being a couple threw off our balance with each other so I broke up with Conner and we agreed to stay as friends. Since then we have gone back to goofing off and being comfortable around each other again, more okay with being titled something casual as just being friends instead of being labeled as a couple.
"Conner." I call out to him, breaking the kiss between us.
"You shouldn't be with Noah." He said quietly against my lips.
"What?" I shook my head slightly, "What are you saying?"
"You shouldn't be with Noah." He repeated as he leaned back a little, "He's not good for you."
"How would you know that?"
"He's a werewolf Celia! And you're a human."
"Noah has protected me and kept me safe! He would never hurt me."
"Never hurt you, huh? Then what's this?"
Conner curled his fingers under the collar of my sweater and yanked it down past my shoulder to my arm, exposing the skin there and my mark. The healing teeth marks were still visible as the iridescent wolf gleamed in the leftover sunlight coming through the glass squares in the front door.
I covered it up with my hand even though Conner clearly saw it already, "That's just a mark. I let him do that."
"You let him?!"
"It's not that bad! It's just a way to tell other werewolves that I'm with Noah. It will heal soon."
"Celia please..." His voice held so much loneliness as his hand came up to cradle my cheek, "I still love you."
My eyes widened in shock at the confession, "You what?"
"I still have feelings for you. Letting you go when we broke up was the worst thing I ever did."
"Conner..."
"Please."
He pleaded silently with his eyes as he gazed painfully at me, asking me to accept him again. I felt a tear slip from my eye as I watched him, examining his hurt expression. I couldn't accept his feelings for me again...I broke up with him for a reason. We worked better as friends, not in a relationship.
"I can't." I whisper.
Conner furrowed his eyebrows, "Why not?"
"Conner, I just don't feel that way about you anymore. I love you as a friend and now everything with Noah..."
"Of course." He scoffed and pushed himself away from me.
"Conner I'm...I'm sorry." More tears fell down my cheeks, "Please don't be mad at me."
"I should go." He turned to the door and opened it.
"Wait!" I grabbed his hand to stop him, "Even though I don't like you in that way does not mean your friendship means anything less to me."
"I know. I just...I should just go. See you later Squish."
And with that, he left out the door. I stood in the same spot for a while and listened to the sound of his engine start then slowly growing fainter. I didn't move for a while, only being able to sink to the ground on my knees. I hated fighting with my friends, it made me scared that I would lose them over some stupid argument. They were the only things I had left in my life, I needed them.
After a while I was able to find the strength to get up and go to my room. I wanted to call Conner and ask if he was okay but I figured it would be best to talk to him tomorrow. Right now I just needed to get some sleep.
I changed into one of my favorite pair of pajamas which was a dark blue green matching shorts and tank top with white lamas all over them. I settled into bed, hugging a plushie close that Conner had given to me for one of my birthday's.
But before I got too comfortable I remembered to call Noah first before I fell asleep. I leaned over to grab my phone from the nightstand where I had set it down when I changed and scrolled through my contacts to find his number.
When I pressed my screen to call him my phone didn't even go through a full ring before it was picked up. Noah immediately bombarded me with too many questions to answer all at the same time.
"Celia! Are you okay? Did you get home safe? How long have you been there? Do you feel okay? Did anything happen-"
"Whoa whoa!" I waved my free hand around even though he couldn't see me, "I just saw you a little while ago."
Noah sighed deeply, "I'm sorry. My wolf is going just a little bit nuts without you here."
"I'm fine, I told you that I would be fine."
"I know I know. I'm just worried. What if something happens and I can't be there to protect you?"
"I didn't notice anything wrong when I got dropped off. I'm okay."
"Okay." He took another breath, "Did you lock all the doors in your house?"
"Oh my gosh, fine. I'll go check just for you."
"Hey, I just want to make sure you're safe."
"I know."
I left my bed and made my downstairs to the front door, checking out the peephole quickly before checking the lock, "Okay, front door is locked."
"How about the back door?"
Walking over to it I realized that the door was not locked. I got flashbacks from when I was almost kidnapped for the first time when all of this started, I had saw the door was unlocked and then the man was behind me. I turned to look behind me to see no one there so I locked the door and double checked outside to see nothing and nobody lurking around my back yard.
"The back door was not locked. You said you came here after you had took me to your house right?" I asked Noah.
"Yeah, I went by to get an update from some guard wolves that were around your house at the time. I had gone inside to get your phone for you but I swear I locked the back door when I left. Maybe I just don't remember."
"Okay whatever, it's locked now."
"What about the windows?" He added.
I made the long journey around my house, making sure every single one of them was locked which they each were, "Yep."
"Good."
I walked around the house again to check places where someone might be able to hide, "And there is nobody in the closets or behind any walls."
"How about under the couch?"
I paused as got a weirded out look on my face from Noah's question, "What kind of person can fit under the couch?"
"Hey! You would be surprised how many things can hide in a couch." His voice was suddenly brought down to a whisper, "The couch's themselves are monsters. They eat everything!"
I laughed, holding my stomach at how ridiculous that sounded. But I went over to the couch anyway and looked under it.
"Nothing under the couch." I informed him.
"Good."
With everything locked up to Noah's satisfaction I went back upstairs to snuggled back in my bed, "See? Everything this fine here."
"And you got home okay?"
"Yeah. Well...for the most part."
"What do you mean? What happened?"
I laid down on my bed again, holding Conner's plushie to my chest again. It was a big fluffy grey bunny, all cute with its floppy ears and cuddly body. I remembered Conner and I had gone to an outdoor market to just look around when I noticed the cute bunny handing up one one of the displays. I wanted to get it so bad, freaking out about how adorable it was to Conner but neither of us had enough cash to pay for it so we left. About a week later when it was my birthday Conner surprised me by giving me the bunny I loved so much, saying that I can always hug it whenever I felt lonely.
"I got home okay but..." I trailed off, fiddling with the stuffed toy's ear.
"But what? Tell me." Noah urged on from the other side of the phone.
I let out a shaky breath, "Conner and I had a fight."
"You did? What about?"
With another breath I decided to lie so Noah didn't have to worry about me. Also I wouldn't think he would have a good reaction to Conner kissing me.
"It was just something stupid." I ended up saying.
"It doesn't sound like it was just something stupid."
"It was."
"Okay well...I trust you."
"Thanks."
"Alright, go ahead and get some rest. Have sweet dreams. I love you."
"You have sweet dreams too."
Then Noah and I hung up. I put my phone and glasses on the nightstand, laying back in my soft bed hugging my fuzzy bunny. I thought about the kiss Conner and I shared as I laid there. It was needy, like he was trying desperately to convey his feelings to me and hoping I would feel the same way. I didn't feel the same about him as I once did.
When I thought about Noah though, my heart went on a frenzy. My body craves his touches and kisses so desperately it almost hurt. I felt empty without him lying next to me, my hand cold without his to hold onto as I drifted off. I just wanted to be in his arms forever, tackle the entire world with him. Then that's when I realized something...
I think I am in love with Noah Turner.
(Time skip: A few hours into the night)
After a while I managed to fall asleep. It wasn't very comfortable though without Noah by my side or just knowing he was a few rooms down from me. I woke up suddenly, feeling strangely uncomfortable like I was being watched. I didn't know why as I turned to lay on my back to look around my room.
It was dark in my room of course and without my glasses on I couldn't see much around me. But among the darkness I noticed this weird, tall shadow hanging around by my door. I stared at it for a few moments thinking at first it was a jacket or something but quickly dismissed that. My heart rate picked up as I shot up in my bed and grabbed my glasses to see what it was. Having the ability to see now, I could see it was the silhouette of a person.
"You looked so cute when you were asleep." The voice said as they stepped forward.
My breathing became shallower as I recognized the voice of the owner. I leaned over to turn in my bedside lamp to finally see the face of their person who was in my room. With a dim light illuminating the room I thought to myself never in a million years did I think I was ever going to see him again.
"C-Carter?" I stuttered as I saw his face in the light.
He grinned at me, "Finally, you remember who I am."
I scooted up into the corner of my bed as he stepped slowly closer to me, "What...what are you d-doing here?"
I shrieked as he yanked on my ankle, dragging me across my bed and closer to him, "I'm here for you."
The second he let go of my leg I got up to run around him. He was quick enough to wrap his arm around my waist to catch me.
"Ah ah ah, I can't have you running away." He whispered lowly into my ear.
He pulled me backwards and threw me onto my bed. Before I could get up again he straddled my torso and pinned my arms under his legs so I couldn't move or fight back. I tried to scream but he put his hand over my mouth, muffling any sound that came from me.
"Why do you have to make this harder?" He pouted from above me.
I continued to struggle but I already knew I was no match for him due to our last struggle together. I turned my head away as his knuckle dragged across my cheek, wiping away a tear as it fell down from my eye.
"Aw, you look so frightened."
"Why?" I tried to ask but it came out strangled and muffled.
He tilted his head, glaring down at me as he seemed to understand me, "Why? Because you-" He leaned down closer to me, the grip over my mouth becoming tighter, "-you should be my mate."
He reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a needle filled with some kind of liquid. He took the cap off with his teeth and spit it out onto the ground since his other hand was keeping me quiet. Seeing the needle made me panic and attempt to struggle again. Carter only smiled in amusement.
"You don't like needles?"
I just shook my head.
"Don't worry." He leaned down again to place a kiss on my forehead, "It will all be over soon."
I whispered as I felt the needle being pricked into my arm, injecting me with a mysterious liquid. I still laid under him for a minute after he discarded the needle by setting it aside on my nightstand. Only after a minute I began to feel drowsy, my breaths becoming slower as my eyes threatened to shut entirely. Carter smirked at my growing state and finally lifted himself off of me, picking me up bridal style to carry me out of my room.
I was growing too weak to push him away so I fell against his chest instead. He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead as we went downstairs and towards the front door.
"You'll be with my new pack soon."
⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
Question: Do you like to sleep with plushies?
I love plushies, I am so obsessed with them that I get yelled at every time I get a new one. Right now I have three bins packed with stuffed animals, have them covering the head of my bed, and more displayed around my room. I don't necessarily sleep with a plushie in my arms because it hurts my wrists too much unless I spend the night somewhere else like if I was with a friend or go camping. I do however own a big bear plushie that I sleep with often because it's easier for me to hold in my sleep and I like to hug it as if I am holding a person. I am a very cuddly human being. Also my bed is stacked with pillows and blankets which apparently, according to research, tells me I am touched deprived which just means I don't get a lot of physical affection. I'm fine though, I get enough hugs from my friends and such.