When my lips met Zale's, I felt him tense in shock. As one of my hands traveled just below the back collar of his shirt, feeling a few of the shallow temporary marks I had made on his skin, I felt him gently draw away from me. His breath tickled my cheek as he held his mouth close to my ear. "Hey, what's wrong with you? Are you still with me?" Zale mumbled as I kept my arms hooked around his neck. "I mean, it's not like I'm complaining, but you are still in heat. I'm just asking this to make sure you're...you right now."
"You...You're so annoying," I sighed, placing one hand on my forehead with a frustrated laugh. I pulled back and pulled my knees up to my chest, covering my flushed face with my hands. "You say you have these so-called feelings for me, but you won't tell me what's going on with you when I actually want to get closer to you. And the thing is, I actually care! I think I actually care about you." My head ached so much, and I felt so dizzy that I couldn't even correct myself when those shocking words came out of my mouth. I laughed at myself in disbelief and plopped down on my bed, placing my forearms on my forehead. "Geez. I don't even freaking know what I'm saying anymore. I hate this." It was silent for a second until I drowsily pulled myself up to my knees, running my fingers through my white hair. "You know what, forget about it. It's really not my place to say anything."
"Mae," Zale immediately stood up and gently turned me toward him by my shoulders. His voice was gentle but taken aback, while his expression held a look of wonder and disbelief. "Can you repeat what you just said?"
I furiously flushed as I sat up and looked away from Zale's face when he stepped closer while affectionately brushing his fingers against my cheek. "I said just forget about it. If you don't want to tell me what's wrong with you, I can't make you say anythi--"
Before I could finish my sentence, I was stopped by the feeling of Zale's hands sliding on each side of my cheek and then the shocking sensation of his mouth colliding with mine right after I let out a tiny gasp.
Zale's mouth lingered on mine a bit before we began testing the waters with another couple of careful kisses, moving closer and closer to each other every time. The feeling was gentler and sweeter than how it was in the past. It was almost as if Zale was being extra careful with me as if I could break at any moment.
One of Zale's hands traveled from my cheek down to my shoulder, then my arm to my hand as he kissed me again, his fingers intertwining with mine as my free hand instinctively moved to his broad shoulder. A wave of his pheromones engulfed me, making my headache vanish, the dizziness remaining. This felt good. The feeling of his mouth on mine and the way his skin felt against my own all the way down to how he smelled--like freshly ground cinnamon and a faint hint of his cedarwood body wash and shampoo.
"You really," Zale mumbled the moment we briefly parted, unable to finish his sentence.
Without a response, I kissed him again, pulling him onto my mattress and wrapping my arms around his neck. What on earth was I doing with this idiot? Did I really care about him? Either way, we were already kissing, and I couldn't deny that I didn't want to keep going, so all I did next was shut my eyes and immerse myself in his warmth and pheromones.
Zale let out a shaky sigh and whispered, "Mae, wait," as I moved my mouth to his jaw and throat, wandering around his neck and back up to his mouth again. Our kisses got rougher as I pulled him closer, digging my fingers in his hair to pull Zale with me while I made my way up the bed so my back was up against my bedframe.
The moment I slid down the frame and lowered my head into my pillow, Zale pulled back and scoffed, looking down at me with disbelief. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "I really want to be a gentleman, but you're making this very hard for me. Mae Astor, where on earth did you learn all of this? It's really starting to bother me with how experienced you seem—and hopefully aren't."
"It's not like I've never been kissed before," I mumbled, sliding my fingers out of his hair and pushing him back so we both sat up. We were getting a little too heated, and we both knew it. I was just surprised Zale was the one that called it first. "Just call the rest human instinct."
"Who kissed you before I did? Don't tell me it was that blonde punk?" Zale furrowed his brows, brushing his fingers across my neck on my temporary mark, seeming genuinely irritated.
"Wouldn't you like to know," I scoffed, plopping back down on my bed and crossing my arms.
"Uh, yeah. I would," Zale tensely spoke, hovering over me with a put-out look on his face. "I'll rip whoever taught you these things in half."
I almost laughed at that, knowing that he probably could but wouldn't dare. My first kiss was actually right before my fourteenth birthday with a boy I barely knew during grade school, and my second kiss had been with the guy I was crushing on at a party that was thrown by a random group of betas right before we left for the mainland. Both of them were not extremely intense nor anywhere near as hot and heavy as Zale and I had been. This was the first time I'd gotten myself into anything so confusing and complicated.
When I looked up at Zale's tense expression, wondering what the heck I had just done, I closed my eyes and covered my hands over my face. I had no excuses now. We both very well knew I was sane enough to know I initiated this entanglement, so I couldn't blame my confession of interest in him or the fact that I jumped him first. This wasn't good. I didn't even know what I wanted, so how was I going to explain myself?
"Hey, Bambi," I heard Zale laugh, grabbing my wrists and pulling my hands off my face. I opened my eyes in shock, and he gave me an unnecessarily gorgeous smile, his blue eyes glimmering with amusement. "Calm down. I know what you're thinking, and I'm not going to harass you. The fact that you were worried about me and that you want to get closer to me is enough. I'm not trying to force you to say you want to be my mate or anything, although that is what I would like you to say. Just don't dine and dash on me again, alright?"
"What do you mean dine and dash?" I mumbled, looking away, extremely embarrassed.
"I mean, when you wake up in the morning, don't go back to being all cold after being so intimate with me like last time, got it?" Zale raised his eyebrows, lifting me on his lap to pull my covers down. When he laid me back down, tucking me under my covers, he hovered over me and raised an eyebrow. "Because that would be a really crappy thing to do after making me fall in love with you."
When I pressed my flushed cheek against my pillow, taking in Zale's pheromones, I closed my tired eyes and accidentally slipped out a small smile. "I'll do my best."
"Well, that sounded convincing," Zale scoffed, ruffling his dark hair and rolling his blue eyes. "What can I do to make it a solid yes?"
"How about telling me why you were so shaken up while leaving the hospital? Otherwise, either come lay down with me and give me some of your pheromones for the night so I can sleep in peace or if you want to, you're free to go home and finish whatever paperwork you were doing before you came here. It's your choice," I shrugged, looking up at Zale.
"Well, all of my paperwork is done for the day, so I guess I'll have to stay." Zale sarcastically sighed and leaned over to my bedside table, clicking my lamp off. Then he slid under my covers with a shake of his head. "Come here." He looked down at me and opened his arm, gesturing me to come closer. I eyed him, then let myself get pulled into his arms, laying my head on his chest. I needed his pheromones anyway. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and looked up at my ceiling with a smirk. "Just don't jump me in the night, okay? I know it's a little tempting all snuggled up in the dark like this, but restraint is good sometimes."
"Speak for yourself," I mumbled in his chest, already half asleep. The last thing I remember saying before drifting off into a peaceful sleep was, "I'm still not going to give up on figuring out what you're hiding."
YOU ARE READING
Claws
Romance"We are warriors of the night, lycanthropes as some would call us, but we go by an altogether different name. A more significant name, one that we wear in the highest of honor. A word that describes one of our most prominent features. We are Claws...
