Inhumane

020

PAIGE

"I'm headed out, do you need anything?" The Wolf found me in the kitchen where I sat at the island reading and drinking coffee in the early morning light. He had some thick canvas pants on and a wool flannel, looking ruggedly handsome leaning up against the door frame. I licked my lips. It had been two weeks since the dinner at the Alpha house and the night that Damon and I had fallen asleep together on the floor. Since then, we had been dancing in an awkward and unnecessarily shy territory where neither of us quite knew how to proceed. A tension was growing between us, constantly forcing us closer and closer.

"I think I'm good," I responded, noticing the way his eyes watched my mouth. He swallowed and knocked on the wood of the frame, nodding. It looked like he had more to say but chose to keep it to himself. His eyes found the book I had in my hands and a smug little smirk crossed his mouth, just a flash, making me think I may have imagined it.

The wolf turned back to leave and then paused, "If anything comes up, you know where to find me." With that, he gave me a small smile and left.

With him gone, I could breathe a little easier. Rhia was busy that day, which meant I could relax by myself. It had been a long time since I had been left completely alone in the cabin. I wasn't quite sure what to do with my new found freedom.

After I finished my coffee and a few more chapters, I set my book down and washed the mug out. I meandered into the den where I stoked the fire and organized the wood pile. There was a blanket laid out across the couch so I folded it and set it on the armrest. The CD player sat on a little end table near the window with a stack of alternative rock beside it. I wasn't much of a fan of music, but the silence was getting to me so I popped a disk in and coaxed a scratchy tune out. It was then, as I listened to the music and stared out into the snow, that I realized I didn't really know how to relax.

I decided to rustle through the drawers around the house to pass time. Though I wasn't sure what I was passing time for. Eventually, I did come across a sketch pad and a pencil, which reminded me I did have a sort of hobby.

Settling back down at the island, pencil in hand, I hovered over the sketchbook for a few minutes. The blank page stared up at me, waiting for something. I began to draw without thinking, mindless sketches transferring from my brain to the page. At first, it was the wolves that made it on the page, something I didn't usually draw. They ran, played, and stood proudly across the lined paper. The wolves morphed into trees, and then mountains, and then... The curvature of the Wolf's jaw. The rigid line of his shoulders. The way his lips parted. His lupine eyes with dark, heavy brows. His hands, strong and deft, relaxed, one palm facing up...

I pulled my pencil away from the page, staring over the work I had done. There was a twinge in my gut, inexplicable, hot. I hadn't meant to draw him, but I had. He was all over the pages, from beginning to end. I couldn't get him out of my head.

Tearing the pages out, I hid them away and paced before the windows. The snow had stopped and an icy sheet coated every surface. The clouds hovered low, promising more snow and cold and misery. I ran a hand through my hair and decided on a shower.

The standing glass shower fogged immediately with how hot I had the water. I stepped in and then sat down under the stream, resting my forehead on my knees, arms wrapped around my shins. There wasn't a lot on my mind, and that was a bad thing. I wanted and wanted for something I wasn't sure if I was ready to have.

After a while of fighting the feeling growing inside of me, I stood back up and got to washing. My hair had grown out since the bear attack, it reached my tailbone. I grabbed the body soap and began lathering up when the thoughts of him came to the forefront of my mind once again.