Elemental Witch

Chapter twenty-two

"Yeah we should probably talk about a few things." He reached up and ran a hand through his dark hair nervously.

"We can do that after you take a shower!" I crinkled my nose in mock disgust, trying to lighten the mood. It worked because he smiled and narrowed his eyes mischievously.

"Give me a hug!" I laugh-screamed and ran away and Collin tried to give me a sweaty hug.

'This could work.' I thought with a smile as he chased me back to the pack house.

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"-and when I looked back, Olivia had Collin covered from head to toe in glitter!" Collin's mom, Megan, exclaimed. My eyes were tearing up from laughing so hard. After Collin went inside to take a shower, Megan invited me in so we could get to know each other. I was nervous at first, but soon enough she had me rolling with stories from her kids' childhood.

"Mom!" I turned in my spot on the couch to see Collin fully clothed, thankfully, in a new navy t-shirt and jeans, "Don't tell her those stories!" He pouted and sat in the seat next to me on the couch. His arm casually slung itself onto the cushion behind my head and I felt my cheeks go red. 

"You know I live to embarrass you, sweetheart." Megan said affectionately. "Now I'll let you two get better acquainted." She winked and smirked as she got up to leave which caused my face to heat up more and Collin to groan in frustration. We sat in silence for a couple minutes and I started to fidget uncomfortably.

"So," I began, "are we going to sit here in silence or speak like grown-ups?" I angled my body to look at Collin and my leg brushed against his causing it to tingle for a moment. This mate-bond thing is so weird. He looked at me and grinned so I knew he felt it too but didn't move away.

"I was waiting to make sure my mom left. I wouldn't put it past her to hide around the corner and eavesdrop or secretly take pictures of us or something equally mortifying." He shivered in mock horror which made me laugh. "She's been waiting on me to find my mate since my sixteenth birthday! You should have seen the way she was pushing girls at me all night." I would have gotten jealous if he hadn't continued to look mildly horrified and embarrassed at the memory.

"Yeah, that's probably not the best thing to tell your mate," I smacked his chest lightly. "But I'll let it slide because we're getting along right now and you look cute when you're embarrassed." The last part came out of my mouth without my consent and I felt my face go red again. The girls would be so proud at my flirting! Collin shifted so his arm wasn't behind me anymore and he leaned forward.

"You think I'm cute?" His tone was teasing but I could tell he was pleased. I rolled my eyes. Of course he's cute! Who wouldn't think a guy with dark hair and piercing hazel green eyes wasn't attractive. Not to mention his body. I felt my mind shift to seeing him shirtless and quickly had to shake those thoughts out of my head. Now was not an appropriate time to think about that.

"Don't get too cocky there, wolf boy." This conversation needed to get back on track. "So what happened with Aaron today? You guys weren't exactly subtle this morning." Now that got a reaction. Collin's face went from teasing to pissed in a second and a yellow gold started to take over his hazel eyes. A growl started to build in his chest causing the couch to vibrate slightly.

'Abort! Not good!' I thought. Acting on instinct, I grabbed his face and pulled it close to mine. His wolf was taking over for some reason and I needed to stop it. 

"Look at me." Golden eyes bore into mine, "Good. Now breathe. I'm here, I'm okay, but you're scaring me and need to calm down." 

The last part worked and gold immediately gave way to Collin's normal hazel. We stayed in the same position- foreheads touching, my hands on his face, and me practically in his lap- for a few moments. His expression was more intense and open than I'd ever seen it.  Collin's eyes started to close and I felt mine try to do the same as we inched closer, closer...

"No!" My eyes shot open as I was slammed back into my senses. I scrambled off Collin's lap to try and compose myself. I looked over only to see hurt flash across his expression before he closed off all emotion. Guilt twisted around in the pit of my stomach but we had things to discuss and I can't afford to get distracted. 

"I'm sorry, Collin, but this isn't the right time to be doing things like... that." I flailed my hands around lamely. "Not that I don't want to! I just think we need to get to know each other more and we still haven't gone out on a date and there's the whole thing with Aaron we need to talk about and-"

"Rosa!" Collin stopped me mid flail. I let my hands fall and started to ring them nervously. He took them in his to make me stop fidgeting. I couldn't help but compare how big his hands looked compared to mine. "Look at me, I agree with you. We have more important things to worry about, I think we just got caught up in the moment. There will be time for all that later." He did the same silly hand flail that I had which made me giggle. He smiled and rubbed his them across the back of my hand. This was nice. This was a Collin I could definitely like.

"Okay," I gave him a shy smile and he grinned in response. "So are you going to tell me what happened at school?" Bye-bye beautiful smile.

"Aaron is a dumbass." Collin deadpanned. I rolled my eyes.

"Well yeah. I got that from him throwing me in a freaking dungeon when I first got here." Hands tightened around mine so I switched positions to be the one soothing him. "What did he do this time?"

"He questioned me in front of the youth pack." He said through gritted teeth. I winged an eyebrow up in question and to urge him to continue. "The youth pack is basically all pack members our age and younger. They are the wolves who will become part of the guard and protection when I take over for my father. I will be Alpha over all but the current youth pack will be the most loyal. Aaron questioning me before I officially take over could cause uncertainty so that devotion wavers." That made sense. Wolves follow whoever can protect them best. If an Alpha is weak, wolves turn their backs to follow the stronger male or female.

"So what did he say?" I had a feeling I knew but I had to ask.

"He seems to think he is wiser than the Moon." He looked at me meaningfully. Yup, I called it. "Aaron thinks having a rogue for a Luna would weaken the pack when that couldn't be further from the truth! He is the one making the pack weak with his scheming and lies. All he cares about is working his way up the pack."

"Why do you let him do that? Devin would have made a great Beta. He's smart, strong, and obviously loyal to the pack otherwise he wouldn't have put up with losing his birthright." This had been on my mind since I learned about Devin's demotion.

"You really think I don't know that?" Collin pulled away and rubbed his forehead. "Devin is my cousin and we used to be like brother's. He balanced me out and we were a great team. I wasn't there when Aaron challenged him but I would have never let Devin accept until he was healed." I  could see the truth in his eyes at that. "Now about that date, do you like pizza?"

"What?" I asked. "Well yeah but why?"

"I know I asked you for a date tomorrow but you're here, I'm here, so why not? Plus I'm pretty positive I could tackle an extra large pizza by myself right now and I need a witness for bragging rights." I couldn't hold back my laugh at that one. Boys always have one thing on their mind, food.

"Well I would love to be that witness," I grinned, "but only if I get to have a couple slices of my own." He beamed at me as he stood up then held out his to me. 

'Yeah,' I thought with a dopey smile as he pulled me out the door, 'this could definitely work.'

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HELLO EVERYONE! GUESS WHO GRADUATED WITH HER BSN AND DOESN'T WORK NIGHTSHIFT ANYMORE! I have a life again and man have I missed this. 

What do we think of the new chapters? I'm still looking for a new cover if anyone is interested! Thank you all for sticking with me and I love you!

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