Waxing Gibbous

Chapter 4

Tegan clawed at the muddy ground, fighting to get away. She tried screaming but the weight on her back pushed down, cutting off her oxygen supply. She squeezed her eyes shut, twisting her arms around her head to protect it from the snapping beast above her. Its jaw clamped down on her shoulder and twisted her body around so that she was on her back.

No, that couldn’t be right. She didn’t feel any teeth digging into her flesh.

“I’m not going to hurt you!” hissed an angry voice from above.

Slowly, Tegan uncovered her head and unwound her arms to look up at who was on top of her. Soren’s fanged faced leered down at her.

“You bastard!” Tegan shouted, trying to twist out from under his bulk. “Why the hell are you attacking me?”

“Why the hell are you snooping around where you don’t belong?” he snarled right back.

“Snooping? I wasn’t snooping. I was taking a walk, you asshole! Now get the hell off me.” She put her muddy hands against his naked chest and hissed when she pushed, having skinned them when she had tried to break her fall. He didn’t budge as she struggled against him. Soren just snorted and shook his head as he rolled off of her.

Tegan took a calming breath in, trying to get her heartbeat to settle and her lungs to stop working overtime. As her body relaxed, she became aware of all the little aches and pains, and even how her clothing had become thoroughly soaking wet and caked with mud. Shivering, she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

“You really hurt me, you know,” she complained. “And look at my clothes! Why do you hate me so much? I’ve done nothing to you and you just attack me out of nowhere.” Now that her body was settling down the effects of the adrenaline rush were starting to kick in, making her shake from more than just the cold air against her wet clothes.

“I told you. You shouldn’t be here…in this graveyard or the island,” he got up, showing her just how naked he was.

“What is it with the people in this place? That’s twice in two days I have been accosted by a naked guy,” she complained, staring at the ground away from Soren.

“You don’t change with clothes on. That’s a good way to ruin them. So when you change back from a wolf, naturally, you are going to be naked. Why? Does it bother you?” Soren asked with mirth, holding his hand out to help her off the ground.

Tegan looked at it then turned her head to the side, choosing to ignore him and get herself out of the oozy sludge pit she landed in. It stunk to high heaven. She curled her nose as she finally got to her feet.

“You owe me a new outfit, jerk-face! This is completely ruined, thanks to you,” Tegan muttered, trying to shake some of the oily grime off. What pissed her off even more was the fact the he seemed to be perfectly all right with no filth on him whatsoever.

“You’re bleeding,” he stated.

She turned, pegging him with a heated scowl. “Yeah, because of you.”

“Look. I shouldn’t have tackled you. I was just pissed you were here. I still am actually, but I didn’t mean to hurt you. Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up,” he offered, taking a step in her direction.

“I’m not going anywhere with you. You’ll probably try to do something else to me,” she accused wiping her hands on the back of her jeans, the part that wasn’t affected by the mud. She bit her lip, trying not to whimper in pain from the burning sting as she tried to clean them as best as she could.

Soren rolled his eyes. “If I wanted to hurt you, I could tear your throat out right here and leave you to bleed to death. Wild animals would be picking your bones clean by the time someone found you.”

She gasped. “Like that is supposed to inspire my confidence. Death threats…how charming. You really are an ass.”

“Oh, come the fuck on,” Soren snipped, grabbing her by the arm and all but manhandling her through the woods. When she had been running through the forest, she hadn’t been paying much attention to where she was going. Maybe it was best that she go with him after all. She didn’t fight his hold as they maneuvered under branches and over twisted shrubbery.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, trying to keep her eyes off his rear end. He had a cute butt, but she was certainly not going to admit that to anyone, ever. Her cheeks heated to an even darker red. She must look like a strawberry at this point.

“Back to my car. I have a fresh change of clothes and probably something you can borrow since you are covered in filth. I don’t need you tracking that muck in my car,” he sneered.

“Excuse me, wolf-boy, but you are the reason I am covered in this stinking mud. And if I got in your precious car – which, by the way, I am so not doing – and tarnished it, then it would be all your fault,” she argued.

His only response was deep grunt.

After about ten minutes of tromping through the woods, they came to a clearing splitting the trees apart. It was a road. Pulled off to the shoulder was a pitch black Mustang. Letting go of her arm, Soren went to the passenger’s door and popped it open.

“You keep your car unlocked in the middle of nowhere?” What idiot would leave a car like this unattended while they went and frolicked in the woods? All of his stuff could have been easily stolen.

“No one on this island would dare break into my car,” the boy explained to her.

“Scared them with the threat of ripping out their throats, huh?” Tegan heckled, refraining from crossing her arms and cocking her hip.

“I don’t have to scare them at all.” He went rooting around in the glove compartment and fished out a ring of keys. He went around back and unlocked the trunk. After shimmying into a pair of jeans, he came around with a pair of basketball shorts and a tee shirt in his hands, as well as a plastic grocery bag.

“Change into this and put the muddy clothes in here,” he commanded, handing everything over to her.

Tegan turned around and started to go back to the wood to find a bush or something to change behind.

“Where are you going?” he questioned, blocking her way with his arm.

She looked up at him, her eyebrow arched high on her forehead. “You don’t expect me to change right here in front of you, do you?”

He exhaled, shaking his head slightly. “It’s not like you have anything I haven’t seen before.”

“I don’t care if you’ve seen a million naked women. You are not going to see me naked. Now, outta my way.” She pushed passed him and headed back in the woods. After a quick change, she trudged back to where Soren and his car stood. The clothing was very loose and she had to tighten the waist of the shorts with the string, but she would admit that it was better than being soaked to the bone…even if they were his clothes.

“Come over here and sit down for a minute,” he said, motioning to the passenger seat. He had put a shirt on and there was a bottle of water clutched in his hand.

“I said I’m not getting in that car with you,” Tegan stated defiantly.

“Your hands are still bleeding. Let me clean you off,” he said, waving the water in front of him.

“I don’t want you touching me,” she snapped.

“Stop being so fucking obtuse,” he said, coming over and dragging her to the car then pushed her into the passenger seat.

“Well, hello pot. My name is kettle. It’s nice to meet you!” She smiled, taking joy in the fact that he was annoyed. That surely made two of them.

He gave her a pointed look, unscrewing the cap on the bottle. “Hold your hand out. I’ve got to wash the mud off so you don’t get any kind of infection.”

Tegan huffed, but complied. She stuck her hands out in front of her and he gently poured water on the palms. He used a napkin from some fast food restaurant to wipe away the dirt and whatever else that was there. He repeated the process until he cleaned away everything from the ripped skin. It surprised her that he was being notably attentive with her injuries.

“I’m going to stop the bleeding, okay?” Soren told her.

Blood welled in the cuts and torn flesh then started trickling down her hands. Tegan looked away from the red ruin and looked up at Soren, meeting his brown peepers with her own. “How are you going to do that?”

“Listen, don’t get freaked out or anything, but my saliva has healing agents. I can lick them. They will stop bleeding and you’ll actually heal a lot faster than if you just let them heal on their own,” he explained.

“Ew. Don’t you just have a band-aid or something? I don’t have any diseases or anything, but still. Aren’t you afraid that you could contract something and get sick?” Tegan asked.

“Jesus,” he said, crouching down on the balls of his bare feet. He grabbed her hand and licked up the red mess as Tegan watched on, horrified. She had to force herself not to pull away.

Soren paused after only one lick and looked up at her. “Damn,” he whispered faintly.

“What?” she asked in a worried tone thinking that something was wrong.

“It’s your blood,” he whispered. “I can taste the magick coursing through it.”

He took another lick and she noticed that the wound was no longer stinging. He ran his tongue against her flesh again and again until it stopped bleeding altogether. When he was finished with the one hand, he leaned against her knees as if he couldn’t hold himself up any longer.

Tegan was worried that there was something really wrong with him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to get his attention. “Soren, are you okay? You’re kinda shaky and weird looking. It doesn’t have anything to do with my blood, does it?”

“I’m fine,” he panted like he was trying to catch his breath.

She pulled back a little and looked down at him, then turned her head away, her embarrassment bubbling up once again. “Oh,” she whispered after she caught sight of the erection pushing against the dark blue denim. She thought that she had been uncomfortable with his nudity before. That was nothing compared to this. She was completely mortified. It was surprising that her cheeks didn’t spontaneously combust.

“I think I was wrong about you,” he said softly, once his labored breathing had settled down a little. “After tasting your blood, I can sense the power mixed in with it. It’s strong. It’s…intoxicating.”

“Look, maybe we should just go back to the house,” Tegan suggested. Suddenly, this island seemed way too small for the both of them to be on it. It made her want to get as far away from him as she could. And as soon as possible.

“Let me finish cleaning you.” He grabbed the neglected hand and began to bathe it in long strokes of his slick muscle. Soren shuttered, his chest pumping up and down as his breathing became labored once again.

Tegan was confounded with his peculiar behavior. She watched on as he gave her hands and arms a tongue bath. She could feel something within her shift as she watched him delicately clean up any trace of her blood that had been spilled.


~*~


It was like drinking in a life-force. It grounded and electrified him. His skin tingled and chills ran over his body. Tegan’s blood charged him, embodied him with a thousand different sensations and emotions at once. The one first and foremost in his brain was lust. He was rock hard and ready. He slowed his lapping, sliding his tongue over her palm, trying to draw out the experience. Once the blood flow was stemmed, he pulled back from her and planted his ass in the ground while he collected himself.

“Yeah, I definitely take it back. You may very well be our healer, witch. I’ve never swallowed anything that has made me feel so…alive,” he murmured, heavy lidded, drunk off the little half-breed.

“Well, I can tell you enjoyed it,” Tegan mumbled, her cheeks blazing scarlet. It was dark enough that it matched the changing trees around them. Her utter humiliation was rather tempting.

He chuckled low in his chest. “It’s nothing to be ashamed about. It’s just something that happens. Haven’t you ever seen a man aroused before?” he asked tilting his head slightly.

“That is none of your goddamn business,” she snapped, going right back to being angry. The only emotional range she was capable of seemed only to consist of fury and fear.

He sighed and stood up off the ground. “Let’s get you back home. Where is your little pet anyway? Off fetching mice and moles?”

“If you are referring to Storm, he is not my pet. He is my familiar. And I made him stay at the mansion so I could be alone for a little while,” Tegan retorted, sticking her nose up in the air at him.

“Ooo, all not well in the love department, I assume,” Soren said as he crawled into the driver’s side and put the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life and with the shift of the stick, they were off.

“Our relationship isn’t like that. He lied by omission and I’m pissed off at him right now. Not that it is any business of yours,” she added as an afterthought.

Soren shrugged. “Not like I really care what you do with him.”

“Then why the hell did you ask?” she questioned.

“Wasting time,” he said nonchalantly.

Tegan grunted and gave him a dry look. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told…countless times by you,” said as he reached down and fiddled with the radio knobs, flipping through stations to find something that wouldn’t make his sensitive ears bleed.

“Someone needs to tell you these things. You are on a high horse and someone needs to seriously knock you off it,” she retorted.

“I suppose you think you are just the girl to do it.” He smirked, glancing at her then back at the empty, windy road ahead. He could feel the anger radiate off her. And to be honest, he rather enjoyed fighting with her. No one except his father and mother would stand up to him. It was sort of refreshing in a twisted way.

“I know I’m the girl to do it. I don’t care if you are the omega or whatever –”

“It’s beta,” he grumbled, trying to correct her but doubted she was even listening to what he said.

“ – I will tell you exactly what I think of you, buddy. I’m not going to cower in fear just because you have some high rank position in your little pack,” she said, moving her hands around while she talked.

Now it was his turn to do a little scoffing of his own. “The way you describe me, hell, you are like the female version of me. I feel the same way about your attitude. If I hadn’t tasted it for myself, I would have still denied that you had any kind of strength within you except the ability to run off with the mouth.”

“Ugh, I’m sick of fighting with you. Can’t we just call a truce for now? All this arguing is getting us nowhere and I’m getting a permanent headache whenever I’m around you,” she said.

“I’m down with that, but I don’t think it will last long,” he said knowing for a fact it was only a matter of time before they got under each other’s skin once again.

Tegan glanced at him. “You’re probably right.” She looked down at her hands. “Hey,” she said excitedly. “Look how much they have healed.” The skin on the palm was smooth and shiny. It was the beginning stages of skin re-growth. “Wow, you may shoot off with the mouth all the time with your constant brooding and complaining, but at least you can do one good thing with it.”

“Oh, that’s not all I can do with it, sweetheart,” he laughed. Truth be told, he was getting a kick out of teasing her.

“Swine,” Tegan mumbled.

He laughed again. Though they were arguing as much as they ever did, the tension wasn’t as thick as it once had been. And though he wouldn’t be quick to admit it, perhaps the two were warming up to one another by an ass-backwards approach.

They rode the rest of the way to the mansion in silence. The car hadn’t even come to a complete stop before Tegan jumped out and stomped her way into the house. He pocketed his set of keys and headed in after her. Her pet was squeezing the life out of her as he entered. He was pale, feverish even. It was easy to tell that he was shaken up about something. He wondered what the hell was up with Storm. He had never seen him looked this freaked out.

“What’s the matter, birdbrain? You look like you are about to toss your cookies,” Soren said.

The familiar glared over at him with steely grey eyes. “You had something to do with this, didn’t you? You hurt her. I could feel it. I will beat you to a bloody pulp,” Storm vowed. He started to cross the room to where Soren stood. But Tegan jumped in front of him, stopping the brute from coming over and making good on his promise.

“Storm, please. He didn’t do anything too bad and he did try to fix it. See?” She held out her hands for her familiar to check out.

He looked down at what she was showing him then glanced back up to her countenance. “I still want to hit him,” Storm growled. “This beast could have seriously injured you.”

“But he didn’t, okay? I’m fine. All in one piece and standing right before you, no worse for wear,” Tegan said. Soren was a little surprised that she was actually defending him when she claimed to dislike him so much.

Storm’s cool gaze swung back in Soren’s direction. “I swear, if you do anything to harm her again. I will ever so kindly return the favor, you foulmouthed thug.”

Soren took a step toward the pair. They were only about an arm’s length apart. “You better watch it, bub. You might be hers, but you are in my den, on my island. Keep disrespecting me, and I will cut your tongue out of your head,” he snared through gritted teeth.

The girl stepped up between them and put a hand on both of their chests, the only thing that kept them from going toe to toe.

“You two need to simmer down. It’s really not that serious. Now back away from each other.” Her worried eyes traveled from his face to Storm’s. “Please,” she added when neither of them moved.

After a tense moment, the two men took a step back and then another.

She fully turned to her protector and looked up into his face. “Storm, if you could tell I was in danger or hurt, why didn’t you come looking for me?” Soren heard Tegan ask.

Storm shifted his stare down to her, sadness filling up in the unsettled depths of his eyes. “You forbade me from following you. You told me to stay in this house. I was only following your orders.”

“All right. I’m sorry about earlier, but you should have been upfront with me. Don’t keep stuff like that from me again, we clear?” Tegan admonished.

He hung his head low. “Yes, I am sorry, Mistress.”

Soren would have said he looked heartbroken at the reprimand. He shook his head, disgusted by the creature. It was pathetic, really.

“Hey,” Tegan whispered. “None of that ‘Mistress’ crap.” She leaned up on her tiptoes as she pulled his head down to her so she could give him a kiss on the cheek. He brightened at her gesture, and Soren let out a sound of revulsion. “I just don’t like being kept in the dark.”

Next thing you know, his father strolled into the room with a grim look etched into his puss. “Tegan, you’re back,” he said sounding a bit surprised.

“Yeah, I needed to cool down. Soren found me actually,” she revealed.

“Oh,” he looked over at his son, an expectant look in his eye.

“Nothing bad happened. We actually agreed to wave our white flags…kind of” Tegan explained.

“About that, dad, I’ve tasted her,” Soren confessed.

That’s when the strain in the room became an insufferable thing. Both his father’s and Storm’s heads snapped in his direction, one with a hostile look and the other surprised. Tegan grabbed a hold of Storm before he could start over toward Soren again.

“It’s not a big deal. I just cleaned some wounds she got,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Wounds that you created!” Storm yelled, getting all riled up again.

Ulrick looked back and forth from the one boy to the other. “What are you two going on about?”

“Look,” Storm said, holding up Tegan’s scraped up hands so his father could take a gander.

“Storm, it’s okay,” she said when she noticed Storm getting amped up again. “They are healing. Don’t make a big deal about it.”

“But he hurt you,” he said as if trying to talk sense into her.

“Not intentionally,” Soren snipped.

“What did you do to her, son?” his father asked, trying to keep his anger in check.

“He attacked her,” Storm grumbled from the background.

“Is this true?” Ulrick asked, looking to Tegan for an answer.

“Yeah, but it’s not as bad as it seems,” Tegan replied.

For the second time that day, Soren was surprised that she was sticking up for him, especially to his father. He would have surely thought that she would start whining to Ulrick as soon as they came back here. God already knew that he wasn’t his father’s favorite wolf right now. No matter her good intentions, it still wouldn’t save him from getting admonished later.

“What did he do?” Ulrick questioned in a calm voice, however, you could tell there was rage lurking beneath.

Tegan’s tongue darted out and nervously licked her lips. “It was my fault, really. I went to the graveyard and stumbled upon him in his wolf form. I was caught off guard. It’s not every day you wander upon a wolf – maybe for you folks it is because that’s what you are. Naturally, I ran from him. He caught up with me and I sort of tripped, skinning my hands a little. He helped them heal is all,” she enumerated to the pack’s alpha.

It was pretty close to the truth anyway.

“He was actually kinda nice about it. I was covered in muck and he did give me something to change into, which is a lot more than I would have expected,” she admitted. Why she was sticking up for him he hadn’t a clue but he would definitely get her alone and ask her about it later.

“Don’t protect him, Tegan,” Storm said.

She gave Storm a sour look. “I’m not. I don’t like the guy. You think just because we called truce I’d protect him, think again. Anyway, we have more important things to do, like help that little girl. Now, come on. Tell me what I need to do, Storm.” Tegan lead her familiar by the arm out of the vestibule and up the steps to the bedroom that she had stayed in the night before.

Soren thought that leaving was a really good idea and was just about to beat feet when his father’s thick voice stopped him. “Soren,” he said in a warning tone.

Shit, he thought to himself.

The young wolf sighed and turned to fully face his father. “Yeah, dad. I know already. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare or hurt her. That was never my intention.”

“If you do anything to harm her, I’ll –” Ulrick started, but was cut off by his son.

“You’ll what, dad? Cast me out or something?” he asked, his tone drained of any emotion.

“No, Soren. You are my son and I love you, but I can’t have you doing anything that will hurt her, either. She is too important to us,” Ulrick said in a pleading voice.

“I know what she means to our pack. If I hadn’t tasted it in her blood, I would have still not believed it,” Soren said. “I can’t promise you that I won’t fight with her, but I won’t purposefully do anything that would cause her to be in danger.”

“You should try working on your overall attitude, too,” Ulrick told him.

Soren gave him a look then shook his head. “Yeah, yeah. I happen to like my attitude just fine. Anyway, I’m going to go take a shower.” Soren took the stairs two at a time. When he got to his room, he went to the adjoining bathroom to turn on the water in the shower. As steam billowed into the room, he peeled his clothes away and stepped under the hot spray. With all intentions of not thinking about the little witch, he couldn’t stop his mental from flashing all kinds of images of a certain loudmouthed half-breed.