Forbidden Fantasies (Darkest Desire Book 2)

7. Explanations and Consequences

Mauw! Hey there! I know the last chapter left you guys with a bunch of questions, and that wasn't entirely the intention. Therefore, in this chapter, I'll try to make the best of things and explain what happened in the last chapter so you guys know what I meant... sorry if that sounds kinda vague.... Anyways...

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When I came to it was because Tonks was poking me. She was kneeling next to me, her hand brushing away strands of my knotted blond hair and feeling my neck-for a pulse-I realized with a startle.

"Aurora?!" she sounded like she was about to panic "Please wake up!"

I groaned.

She exhaled abruptly in relief, before continuing her examination of my persona. She seemed to be tacking stock as to my current condition.

"Thank Merlin that you're alive..." she cursed under her breath "Do you have any idea what happened?! What kind of crazy thing happened here last night?!"

I groaned again in response.

She was turning me over now. I had been lying face-down on the sand, my legs stretched out behind me and my arms curled under my head protectively. The strong smell of ashes invaded my nose, and I figured I was next to the remains of the bonfire. The sunlight seemed too bright, too strong, and I closed my eyes rapidly, shaking my head a bit as if to clear my thoughts.

Suddenly Tonks stilled beside me.

"Aurora..." her bearth hitched in her throat, as if she was sudennly unable to speak.

That roused my curiosity. Tonks at a loss of words...that was new.

With a little bit of effort I dragged myself into a sitting position. I became acutely aware of my damp clothes, and memories from last night flashed in my minds eye. Had I really jumped off the fucking cliff? I couldn't remember being so bold and brazen-or stupid, for that matter- during my previous Bloodmoon Rituals. Sand was cacked to my wet clothing, and my whole body was sore and aching.

First I thought Tonks was just shocked because of my tattered appearance. I looked like hell, after all. But her eyes were fixed on something. My hands. Then I took note of what exactly Tonks was looking at.

My hands.

My fingers.

More specifically, my nails.

They didn't exactly look like nails anymore.

...well...

Not like human nails.

Where normally the pale, rounded edges of my usually manicured nails were, now pointy tips remained. Like the claws of some animal, they curved inwards ever so slightly, maybe two inches long and pretty lethal-looking.

Blinking I tensed my fingers, watching in amazement how my hands-so foreign looking and strange- reacted to the motion, creepy nails included.

"What. The. Hell?" Tonks gritted, her eyes rising to meet mine.

I held up my hand in the early morning light, flexing my fingers and watching my hand curl into a fist, before slowly unclenching it.

"I guess...." I said pensatively "I guess I owe you an explanation"

"Aurora.... what the hell happened last night?!" Tonks hissed as I stood on shaky legs on the sandy shore of the Still Lake.

My hair was falling in front of my face, but with the newly-aquired nails/claws I was reluctant to push the blond tresses from my face.