Moving out of the city was not her idea. Moving to the middle of nowhere in a foreign country was definitely not her idea, and leaving everything she knows and loves behind is the farthest thing from what she wants; since living with a Father, who h...
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Lily was wrapping lights around a giant Christmas tree she'd erected in the living room and so focused on not getting tangled up in the lights and tinsel that she didn't realize Damien was in the room for a good long minute.
When she finally did, she nearly fell over. He was at her side in a second, steadying her.
"You should be more careful, Lily." She blinked. It was the first time he'd said her name in a long while.
"I really should be." She grinned up at him. "Thanks for the rescue. What brings you by all alone?" She wondered, turning back to the tree. He was there to see her, she could sense that much, though why he wanted to see her, she couldn't sense. He watched her in silence for a good long time.
"I cannot decide if you are very innocent or if you are calculating." She shrugged in response as she began to put bulbs up on the tree.
"I suppose that would depend on the situation at hand. What do you mean?" She turned to face him and found him closer than she'd expected, eyes boring into hers, the strength of his will so prevalent in the room it was like the charge of electricity before the storm.
He framed her face in his hands and moved even closer.
"Do you know that with every action you take you are asking me to court you?"
"Court me? That's pretty old school." She paused. "But yes, I know what I'm doing. Klaus explained it to me a little."
"Why are you doing this?"
"I like you." She admitted, blushing but not looking away.
"How, you do not even know me." He growled, clearly not believing her.
"Does liking begin with knowing? In my experience, it starts with a look. What if I want to get to know you better?" She couldn't quite believe how bold she was being, but there was something about him that brought it out in her.
"I would say you are foolish and know nothing about what you are getting into." His voice was gentle yet firm.
"And how would you know that. Perhaps you're just what I should be getting into." She felt herself flush slightly at saying that but there was really no turning back at this point. She couldn't pretend now that it was all in his head. By pack law, she had officially been coming onto him.
"I am not interested." He stated, and then without further ado, he turned and began to walk away. She furrowed her brow and thought back to when she'd first seen him staring at her from the tree line on the day she and her father had come here.
"Bullshit." She blurted without thinking, then her eyes widened when he growled and was on her in about five seconds flat, all too fast for her to react to. His canines were at her throat before she managed to control her body's reactions and go limp in his grasp. She turned her head so her neck was bared, showing her submission to the Alpha. He backed off slowly, but only a little. He was still very close to her.
"Did Amara not tell you to never challenge your Alpha?"
"I didn't so much mean it as a challenge. But while I submit to your authority, I still stand by what I said. You lied just now, Damien. "
"How did I lie?"
"By claiming you were not interested. "
"What makes you think I lied?"
"Men don't look at women the way you look at me if they aren't interested." She murmured. "You think you look at me that way when I'm not paying attention but I notice more than you think I do. You do it from a distance, and you try to hide it. But don't look me in the eye and lie straight to my face. There is something between us here." She gestured between them.
"What is it you want from me girl? Do you expect that I should hold your hand in the park and bring you flowers?" He growled. She rolled her eyes at him and started to untangle the lights that had tangled when she'd tripped in them.
"First of all, would that be so bad? Second of all, no I wasn't expecting any of that. I don't know what to expect. I only know that I'm interested in finding out with you."
"You are moonstruck."
"What does that mean?" She wondered, looking up from the lights she was untangling.
"When one joins a pack for the first time, sometimes they can become moonstruck, meaning they will develop an unusual attachment to the alpha male or female. Sometimes both. It will wear off by new years."
"I am not moonstruck." She murmured.
"Can you tell me that for certain?" He asked. She thought long and hard about it. Her feelings for him had begun only after she'd been initiated into the pack. Could she honestly say she wasn't moonstruck?
She studied him carefully and examined what she felt for him. There was plenty of lust going on here, but he was right, she knew nothing about him. She had a cerebral appreciation of him, and a sexual desire for him that was off the charts. But so far that was it.
"No, I suppose I can't be certain." She bit her lip as she gazed at him. "So what do we do about it? You want me and I want you, and it seems that we both want more than just wanting." He nodded and smirked a bit at her words.
"You are correct. If I am to mate a female, she must be my Luna. I will waste no time on lesser females."
"You think I could be your Luna?" She wondered.
"Have you not spent time trying to show me you could be?" He countered.
"Fair enough. Have you ever had a Luna before?"
"Two in my history. The last one died several decades ago."
"So you do let yourself, love?" She turned back to the tree and kept hanging lights.
"I do not know that I would call it love, Lily. My pack needed a Luna. They need one now, and I find myself ...interested in you."
"And when enough time passes that we all know I'm not moonstruck?"
"Then perhaps, we shall see what can become of us." He admitted, almost begrudgingly. She turned to him again.
"And what about Christmas with the pack? Everyone will be here for the gift exchange. Are you making an appearance?" She fixed him with a look that said he'd best show up. He smirked again.
"You have taken well to the pack and the pack to you. This is nice, what you are doing for them. We have not had a pack Christmas in a very long time, indeed.
Lily tossed him a package of lights. "Then help me set up yes? Enjoy this Christmas with your pack. Even if I am moonstruck, can't hurt to get to know the newest member of your pack can it?" He smirked.
"Prepare yourself new member. At moonrise on Christmas, we all shift and sing to the moon." It is a tradition among us.
"That should be quite something to witness." She murmured. For the first time, since she'd joined the pack she found herself really wishing she could shift like everyone else. "Damien? Do you think the gene is strong enough in me, that you could help me shift?" He cocked his head and came forward, one hand resting on her head, and the other spanning her flat belly.
Warmth filled her body, suffusing her being and she nearly purred at the feeling. After a time he stepped back a little way, leaving that warmth behind to dim gradually.
"The gene is indeed strong in you. I may be able to bring it forth. Are you sure you want this? Once the wolf within awakens there is no going back. "
"I get this strange feeling Damien, that there has been no going back since the day I moved here."
