To Love an Incubus

Chapter 24; Sweet Complexities

Auric stares at me through dark lashes, his blue eyes were electric and shockingly bright against his pale skin. They drew me in and I felt lost inside of them. He definitely had the incubus beauty and lure. It would bother me sometimes, knowing that everyone saw his luring qualities and he wasn't yet mine. Not completely, not yet.

We laid on opposite sides of the bed on our sides and his hair falls against the pillow, the roots of the white strands were dark. His body was no longer under the stress and he seemed to be getting better.

"Dorrian?" He murmurs. I hum back in response.

"Was that you in there? Or was it just your wolf?" His question doesn't surprise me. It was easy to not be able to grasp the concept of being a werewolf.

"It was me but with a more wolf-like influence. We are one with our wolf, but in that form we're more in touch with our wolf side," I tell him. He nods and I want to move closer, but I didn't want to push him.

Auric seems to lose himself in thought. His eyes seem unfocussed as he succumbs to his own world. I want to know what he was thinking. I wanted to know what went through his mind and what he thought about.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I ask. His eyes snap back to mine and he shrugs. I stick my lip out in a pleading manner and his eyes flicker. I have to hold back a grin, knowing what went through his head at that moment. The demon part of him was easy to read, the human not so much.

"Just about being a demon I guess. I already did some...questionable things before, but now," he trails off. I knew what he was talking about. I hadn't introduced myself to Auric the first day I saw him.

"I know Auric," I tell him. He looks into my eyes with a questionable gaze before something seems to click. His eyes widen in realization.

"Wait, did you stalk me? Do you know what I've done?" There's a slight panic in his voice and I sit up. Auric follows and turns to sit in front of me on the bed.

"We fled north from Arkansas in mid-August due to some problems with our land. We ended up in New Hampshire about a week and a half later and something told me we had to stay, so I convinced Holden to get land here.

"I saw you maybe two days later walking home from work. I watched you and often stuck by to make sure you got home safe. You looked anxious all the time, like you had to be in a million places at once-"

"-So you've seen what I've done and you still chose to pursue the bond? Jay told me you could turn it away before it formed. Don't you think I'm a bad person?" I grab his hands and the skin tingled and warmed pleasantly. Auric looks at our hands but doesn't pull away.

"Of corse not. I never once thought you were a bad person. Yes, I could have left and moved on, but I didn't want to. Sure, you stole a few watches, but you had good intentions. You wanted to provide for your family, which is a noble thing. I mean sure, I wasn't a fan of it but you were so complex and sweet in your own way, I couldn't not want to be with you," I tell him, being completely honest.

When I saw Auric steal for the first time, it was a shock. I was annoyed and bothered at first, but that faded with my first encounter with him. He looked like he just wanted to survive and protect his friends. He was strong and focused, it was a good quality for living in a pack.

The silence stretches on as Auric takes in the new information. "My bond formed when we were at the Quarry," I tell him and he looks at me once again, tearing his gaze from our hands.

"So there really isn't any going back then?" He asks in a quiet voice. I shake my head and a part of me felt like it had to apologize. I shouldn't have dragged him into this, he would never had to have know about any of this if I hadn't pursued the bond for my own pleasure.

"Listen Ric, I am sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have-" Auric squeezes my hand before removing them from mine. He runs a hand through his hair with a shaky sigh.

"No don't do that. It's not-it's not your fault. It happened and I should know about myself anyway," he jumps off of the bed and looks around the room as if looking for something.

"I just need to go. I need to go and talk to Jackie and try and get my job back and-and I need to check on Corrin-" he stops and starts patting his pockets. He finds what he's looking for and pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pockets and sticks one in his mouth. He grabs the lighter, but holds it in his hand, not yet lighting it.

"Uhm, I'll be back. I know you want to keep an eye on me so I'll be back sometime tonight." I want to say something to make him stay, but I know he's panicking and needs to talk to his friends and sort things out in his head. I know he needs his space and I trust that he means what he's saying; that he'll be back.

Auric stops for a second and looks at me. He opens and closes his mouth for a second, wanting to say something else but not having the words. He walks back over me and places a hand on my shoulder and stares at me for a minute. He's trying to get something across but I don't quite understand. Then he wordlessly walks out of the room, lighting his cigarette on the way out.

After Auric had left, I spent time making plans about what to do with Vance and his rogues. The issue with them had been put to the back burner while we dealt with other matters. It was clear that something had to be done about them. They posed a threat to both the pack and my mate.

"While we're at it, some of the pack member have a few concerns regarding your demon," Holden says from the other side of his office desk. "He's your mate, what do you want to do?"

While the alpha position was meant for the eldest son and his mate, Holden often asked the families opinions on certain matters. He made a good alpha along side Jen.

"Call a pack meeting. We can address some of their concerns, but avoid questions about his control. He isn't quite there yet and I don't want any misconceptions or empty promises. We'll keep him away from the pack for now," I say. Holden nods and writes a few things down on a sticky note.

"He needs to be apart of the pack soon. The wetland packs are getting restless and our word alone won't hold them off forever," Holden advised. I nod. Auric needed to join the pack before it causes a rivalry with surrounding packs. We were a smaller pack just over thirty, we didn't have the numbers to go against the wetlanders.

"I'll talk to him," I assure. Holden nods and we continue on working out what to say to the pack members before we called the meeting.