A Blood-Like Rain

— Kaden —

I took a careful step in her direction.

She didn’t try to stop me this time.

I took another step, then another.

I could see she was hesitant, so I walked cautiously, but I kept walking.

I think she only processed my proximity when I got within arm’s length. She put a foot back, I stopped. She extended her arms to give me back my bandana. I took it and in the process my skin touched hers.

It was like a lightning bolt of shivers. I didn’t take my hand away. I wasn’t sure I could. I heard her breath caught in her throat, her body sway lightly towards mine. I took one step closer. One long step that got our bodies nearly touching. My hand was still on hers, the bandana forgotten and lying on the grass now.

The moon was rising, it was a bright night tonight, but not bright enough to see within that hood. It was just shadows.

I wanted to ask her a million questions. Her name, to see her face, where did she live? But all those questions crumbled in my mind. It was like trying to hold water in your hands, constantly slipping away. I should use restrains but my body didn’t want to listen to me. I lowered my head barely catching myself in time, barely holding back. But in respond she bent hers back, and it was all the invitation I need.

I lowered my head further and pressed my lips on hers.

I’ve kissed a woman before, I’ve done plenty of things with a woman before, but it felt like, all these years, I had no idea what kissing could really be. There was, at this very moment, and entire universe opening before me.

The only way for me to release my hold on her hand was to wrap my arms around her waist.

She mewled and it was the sweetest little sound I’ve ever heard. I pressed her harder against me and her arms went up over my body to give her fingers access to my hair. Her grip was strong but not painful and she tugged at me to deepen the kiss. Which I willingly obliged.

We were taking short breaths in between caresses. Our lips never truly apart. Our breath intermingling. Our heartbeats deafening.

The intensity was such that it took me a little while to realize something was wrong.

— Elaeya —

My heart was becoming painful, my feet faltered. I was starting to think I was about to be sick. I opened my sense to decipher what was happening to me. That’s when a sound got me out of my head and back into reality.

Steps.

Someone was coming. Someone close.

And suddenly my malaise took a whole new dimension. Was someone doing this to me? Was someone hurting me? Attacking me?

tried to extend my senses further do

and easily saw the large figure close by. Too close. How did

had dark clothes, dark hair. The faint dusk light gave me a glimpse of his face.

with purpose and the

in alarm

guess at his intentions, but

I panicked, raising one hand to tell him to back off. My left. The

“What are you doing to me?” I dared ask.

his head to one side

him sniff slowly the air then get his

gesture. I focused my eyes on him, opening my senses up, but my instincts said nothing. He

More confused than ever, I

Should I refrain from touching it. I didn’t feel any magic, any energies stirring when he did this. I didn’t sense negative energy from the

my attention completely off him, but I turned my focus some. And I got a smell. A new smell. It wasn’t strong olfactory speaking, but it grabbed my full attention.

couldn’t stop myself from inhaling the fragrance, deeply.

right away what I was smelling,

got my eyes back on him. I couldn’t see his eyes, like he probably couldn’t see mine, but I know our gaze met. And there was knowledge there. He knew, and now

I heard very few tales of mates, and most not good ones. My father said a little to me, when my mother wasn’t around, that most wolves valued mates more than anything. Some could go to great lengths to find their mates. That rejections were rarely done. That it had an impact on someone’s

for the first time after I was born. That it’s like the world tilts, the axis changes, and now gravity

stranger was coming closer until I could finally see his face properly. His eyes were dark and searching for mine.

But he stopped moving. I could see he was worried. His expression was hard to read, it was guarded, but I could also see that he didn’t want to stop. I didn’t

when I first laid eyes on him. Now I understood he was himself a poison far deadlier than anything I could have ingested. All of a sudden, the cloth in my hand felt like

to give it back to him, but

skin touch, never realizing the lethal potential something so simple

mind, and as he grew closer—his heat palpable through

lost my mind, but never so much as when he kissed me.

a warning. Something for me to be wary of. Not

had never been one to be so reckless, so impulsive. I knew restraint and control. But not tonight, not anymore. And the enchanting attraction of

were probably both out of control, the temptation irresistible.

me by surprise, and I tried with all my might to focus on it instead. Like someone drowning in rapids, trying to hold on to the rocks.

hilt. I didn’t need to see it to know it was that of a sword. And next to it was another weapon, I

focused on that knowledge

He was armed and I

was just there

my right hand until it lay

gain