Female ✔️

10: home again

"Montana, holy shit! Montana!"

My eyes slip open in shock and I'm pushing myself up, trying to blink the heavy sleep from my eyes, blankets sliding down around my waist.

"Oh, Goddess. You're home! And... You're naked.." Jack is still stumbling on his words. I realize I have missed his mossy eyes and dark hair full of curls. I reach out and touch one of the strands before withdrawing my hand.

I wipe my hair away from my face instead, looking down at him as he lays on his back. "Yeah, guess I am." I drink in the languid sight of him as he studies me back, as if he hasn't seen me in years. I know that look, but instead of the happy side, it's upset. The look I know is tinged with disapproval and shock. A look from my father.

"You're home."

"Yeah." My voice is so unused and thick  with the morning hours.

"Are you going to kiss me?"

We both grin and I can see the wolf in him, the wildness in his look. I can feel the happiness from the point of my toes to the crown of my head. I'm suddenly glad I came home.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Tana, I asked if you were going to kiss me."

I lean down and press my lips to this male's, I don't feel so cold in this skin when I am next to him. Such a feeling is comparable to roaming the forest in my fur. In this moment I can't think of Blu.

"That's better." He grins that primitive grin again, but this time it is more sated. "No, we aren't mad. Dad called it actually, Kieran owes him fifteen dollars. But you were gone longer than we thought. Didn't know you had it in you, or maybe thought you were dead. Dad spent a lot of time out there looking for you once Asher came back."

"I'm sorry." I say, looking him in the eyes, feeling the guilt well up again.

"For what, Tana?" He runs his fingers through my hair and cups my cheek. I wonder where he learns these soothing gestures. "You're a wolf. You belong out there."

I stare him in the eyes, I'd be lying if I didn't believe him. I didn't belong anywhere but out in the bush.

"It was so fun, Jack." I say excitedly, taking his hands, getting close to him. "I want to take you to the places I saw, I want you to live with me in those woods by the sea. We could do it. We could run away!" I'm so hopeful, talking so fast my words are spilling into one another.

"I can't, Tana." He says, running fingers through my hair, combing it back. "I have to take over the pack when I'm old enough." His eyes hold this distance when he brings up leadership.

"But-"

Jack cuts me off with a kiss to my lips. "I'll spend everyday in the forest with you, but by nightfall I have another life to lead. My training is already going well. My father says I am right on track." I notice this too, even in the short time I have been gone, he is already growing. The density of him increasing, lanky muscles building up beneath young skin.

I smile at him the way he loves; all teeth. "I notice."

Grinning right back at me, crashing his lips to mine, he inhales the skin of my neck deeply. A low growl rumbling in his chest. "You smell of pine and wilderness, Tana. My favorite."