Walking around the lake, hand-in-hand with Cade, felt like forever since we had been together. It’s funny how fast your life can change. This morning, I was completely miserable and felt like I had been in the octagon with a world-champion cage fighter, this afternoon I passed clean out in the cafeteria, and now… now I was starting to think that this could just be the best day of my life. I needed to remember to give my mom a huge hug when I got home, since she was the reason Cade came over tonight. The farther we walked, the better I began to feel. I guess being near Cade was just what the doctor ordered, and I guess now I knew why.
Cade and I may have been wandering in a comfortable silence through the estate, but my mind was on over-drive. True mates… what did that really mean? Together forever? Would he really always be mine? Obviously we couldn’t stay apart, but did that mean we would have to spend the next eighty years attached at the hip or risk looking like victims of Aiden’s werewolf virus.
Out of the blue, I felt the warmth of Cade’s breath in my ear as he whispered, “What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”
The way the mere sound of his voice sent tingles down my spine, the way his warmth seeped its way inside me, made it difficult to walk and talk at the same time. My feet stopped on their own accord as I look up into his eyes, “I don’t know, Cade. I just can’t believe this is all happening.”
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. “Me neither, Alli… me neither.”
“Where does this leave us? There’s Kendall… and your dad. What is everyone going to say?” I asked.
“At this point, there is nothing anyone can say. Not even the elders of our pack would interfere with a mated pair. True mates are rare and their bond is sacred… our bond is sacred,” he added just before he pressed his lips to my forehead.
We continued walking farther and farther from my house, both seemingly lost in our own thoughts and feelings, when the first drop of icy rain fell. It took only seconds for the heavens to completely open up and we were drenched. Cade grabbed my arm and began to run, “Hurry! We aren’t too far from the old hunting cabin.”
By the time we made it inside the cabin, I was literally shaking, not to mention dripping rain water all over the tiled floor. But all I could do was stand there and shiver. My brain and frozen body didn’t seem to be cooperating. Thankfully, Cade could think and move, or we would have surely frozen to death right there.
Cade went straight to the linen closet and grabbed a few towels, and to my surprise two fluffy, pink robes. He handed me one of each and pointed toward the bathroom. I smiled, thinking how weird it was to have girlie, pink robes in a very manly hunting lodge. Cade saw my smirk and said, “My mom makes us keep these here for the women in the pack.”
No matter how frosty I was I couldn’t help but jest, “Uh huh, likely story.”
With a gentle shove toward the restroom, Cade said, “Shut up and go get warm before you get frostbite!”
***
I walked out of the bathroom in my big comfy robe, feeling a little less like a Popsicle, only to find Cade bent over the fireplace with his pink, fluffy butt in the air. A very girlish giggle escaped before I could stop it. Not missing a beat, Cade turned toward me and began to model his new look.
“Uh-huh, you think this is quite comical, don’t you, Alli? Never thought I could pull off pink? Well, I guess I will have to prove it to you.” My hand flew up to my mouth, and I couldn’t stop giggling if I tried as he danced around the room in what could only be described as part Demi Moore from Striptease, and part 1985 Miss America jazz routine. It was kind of funny and kind of hot at the same time.
Imagine my surprise as Mr. Serious himself began parading around like an old-school burlesque dancer, showing just a little and then taking it back. I didn’t know whether to laugh or grab him by the pink, fuzzy robe, and kiss him until my lips hurt. He wiggled and giggled himself my way and tried to grab my hand, but there was no way I was taking part in his little version of Soul Train.
“Come on Alli, dance with me!” he said as he shimmied around in front of me.
“No way. You’re doing a great job though. Really, keep it up,” I told him still laughing.
He took my hand, spun me around, and wrapped his arms around me forcing me to sway with him to the imaginary music. I decided, well, screw it. If he was willing to act like a fool, who was I not to join in?
I wrenched myself out of his grip and danced around just out of his reach. Every time he took a step toward me, I took one back. I should have known better than to start a game like this, cat-n-mouse with a werewolf? Already, things weren’t looking so good for the mouse. I saw that glint in his eyes just before he attacked. Before I knew it, I was pinned to the couch and Cade was staring down at me.
It was at that moment that I realized just how little we both had on. And the look in Cade’s eyes had changed; we weren’t playing anymore. Time slowed as he leaned down and brushed his lips across mine. He took his time kissing me, exploring my mouth, until he deserted my lips to nibble on my neck. I didn’t have time to think or even to doubt what we were doing, because as he made his way back to my lips the kisses changed.
Suddenly, our kisses were urgent, desperate, necessary. Cade was like the oxygen that I needed to live. My hands had a mind of their own. They ran up his tight chest and pulled the silly, pink robe off his shoulders. I wanted… needed to feel his skin on my skin. I felt him hesitate and pull back a little.
“No Cade, don’t stop,” I whispered as I pulled him back to me. I wanted this. I wanted him.