Chapter 3: Chapter ☾ III ☽

I was at the library, trying to find some SAT prep books. The next exam is in a month and I think everyone is taking it at the same time. That’s why all the prep books were gone...

There was one more that I was about to get but someone’s hand was there first.

I quickly turned to see who it was but...

I didn’t recognize them.

I’ve never seen him before.

He had to have just moved here because I’ve usually seen everyone at least once.

“Were you going for this one, too?” He asked, a smile on his face.

His eyes are so blue. But not like icy blue...like ocean blue. I could drown in them.

“Uh...” I’m such an idiot. I couldn’t even speak. “Y-yeah, but you got it first.”

He’s blond. The way his hair was shiny, I couldn’t explain it. And his face was radiant. I didn’t know...

Who is he?

“Taking your exam next month?” I asked him.

“Unfortunately.” He sighed. “Not really into the whole standardized test taking but that’s how college works, I guess.”

“Did you just move here?” I haven’t seen him before and I had to know if he’s new.

“Oh!” He remembered something. “I forget that I’m not from here.” He laughed.

The way he smiled, it was like looking at the sun.

“My name’s Henri. My family just moved into Wren’s Grove.” He introduced himself.

Wren’s Grove is the newest neighborhood, the most recent of Conrod’s project before the whole issue this past fall. There are plenty of houses still for sale so I can’t be surprised if more people find themselves here.

“Gabriel.” I said politely to him.

“You’re Gabriel!” He looked shocked.

I didn’t know what to do with that. “... Yeah-”

“You got shot!”

Oh. Someone got him up to speed on everything that’s happened already. I can’t believe people are still talking about my accident. Then again, I guess that’s the best way to identify me now, the kid who got shot.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized for his abrupt statement before. “Someone was telling me about everyone at school and they mentioned you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I did get shot but that’s because I was playing around at a construction site.”

“I heard that, too.”

Well, seems like he knows everything that’s been happening.

“I’ll try not to take too long with this.” He lifted up the prep book. “I’m not good at this stuff anyways.”

I was sort of distracted by him. It’s not the same as being distracted by someone who’s attractive. This was different. This made me...tense. Even then, his smile made me relax in a way I didn’t have control over.

“See you around, Gabriel.” He said.

Henri.

He seems nice. I’ll probably see him at school tomorrow. I think. But he seems nice. I got this lingering...happiness from him. He’s like a ray of sunshine.

Huh.

I should get going.

Ty’s waiting for me.

I walked outside with a few math prep books. Ty told me I wouldn’t need to get them, but he trusts me to understand algebra for some reason. When I walked up to him, I saw him wrinkle his nose. That’s something he does when he smells...

“Why do you smell like that?” he asked me.

I sniffed my shirt. I smell the same as how I left. I don’t know why he’s like this, but I wasn’t particularly happy with what he said. “Nothing happened in the last ten minutes to make me smell different, Ty.”

He didn’t believe me. “You smell...” he sniffed me. “...rusty-”

“I came outside for you.”

He wrinkled his nose again. My eyes widened when I saw how he had to hold back an expression of disgust. The worst part about this is that I’m going to have to take another shower because he won’t shut up about it.

I walked on without him.

I didn’t smell anything rusty about my shirt. I did my laundry yesterday, by myself might I add. And I know I did it right. My clothes are clean. I know my hair doesn’t smell rusty either. He likes my shampoo. So I don’t understand what the problem is. It’s not like I stepped in something. I didn’t touch anything I wasn’t supposed to. At least I think I didn’t.

I probably touched a book that he’s allergic to.

So when we got back to my house, I had to take a shower. I washed my hair again, too. I don’t want to hear him complain about how I smell.

“Okay...” I pulled the towel off my head as I got closed to him, unnecessarily close. “How about now?” I looked up towards him.

Maybe I shouldn’t have put my clothes on. Then again, knowing Ty, he has a lot of restraint. I can bet that we won’t have sex today. If we do, then its a win win for both of us.

He didn’t want to sniff me, but I heard him breathe. This time, his nose didn’t wrinkle. His nostrils flared this time. I was expecting him to grab me and put me on my bed, but he was holding back. I watched him and waited quietly, hoping to myself that he can’t control himself and we have a little fun this afternoon.

“If I...” he took another breath. He was trying to calm himself down, but that was making it worse.

I could see his control was breaking and that’s what got me excited. I could only imagine what it would be like to feel him in me. As if we don’t do it enough already.

“One hour.” I reached up to kiss him slowly. “We can study in an hour.” I placed his hands on my waist and kissed him again.

When he started to hold me, my attitude changed. I wanted him so badly and this was the greatest opportunity. He can’t resist my smell. And my skin is warm. He has to want to make his mark on me.

He got me on my bed and started to remove my clothes.

He didn’t take his time at all.

He has his moods. Some days, he doesn’t mind taking things slow. It just means we have all night. Or until I fall asleep. Then there’s when he can’t wait, when all he wants is to be inside me even if it’s for five minutes. He tells me he doesn’t want to make the latter a habit, but it doesn’t help when I tease him.

He gave me one hour.

And like clockwork, he knew exactly when time was up. That’s the annoying thing about Ty, his persistent self control. No matter how much I break it down, he does well to build it back up again.

I struggled to sit up in my bed. I was a bit dizzy and dazed. My head swooned with so much love and lust that it was hard to see. I think I was swaying a bit, but I had trouble holding myself up. My hair was over my face and when I thought about lifting up my arm to push it back, I felt the soreness over my shoulder.

Ty bit me again.

I feel like he’s marking me, so everyone knows I’m his. And that was a turn on for me to think about. It’s just that Ty was already getting dressed, and he wasn’t going to change his mind unless I annoy him.

“That’s not fair.” I mumbled as I looked over to him.

“You look tired, Gabriel.” Ty pulled his shirt down. “We’re supposed to be studying.”

“I can study later.”

I just wanted to be close to him. I know he feels the same way I do, but he wants to control himself more, to not get out of hand.

He came over to me, and I saw the look in his eyes, the same kindness he always has. He smiled at me as he lifted his hand to my face, pushing my hair back so I could see.

“Why are you like this?” He asked me when I thought he was going to give in.

“I love you.” I began to pout.

“I love you, too. But I can’t take advantage of you.”

“Having sex is not taking advantage of me.” I groaned and laid back in bed. We have mutual feelings for each other. I’m pretty sure sex is just the result of that. “When you bit me, I felt like I loved you even more.”

“See? Saying things like that is what makes it hard for me to control myself.”

I guess I shouldn’t do that either. I know how Ty’s emotions are, how certain things I do makes it difficult for him to stay focus. I shouldn’t use that against him. Especially with how he thinks he’s the one taking advantage of me.

“Okay.” I gave up.

He got into bed and laid down next me. I know he wasn't trying to go for round two so I wasn't going to ask him. I looked at his face, watching him stare up at the ceiling. Already he was thinking about something deep. He's always so pensive about everything.

"You'd say something if I hurt you, right?" he finally looked over to me.

"Definitely." I assured him. "You know I can't hide how I feel."

"I mean..." he sat up. "Not physically, but also tell me if I do that, but-" he was thinking of how to phrase what he wanted to say. "I know how much you want us to figure all this out, and I...I don't want my resistance to make it seem like I don't want to work on this."

I felt bad. I pester him a lot to tell me what he's feeling and what he's going through. "I already know you have a lot to deal with, Ty. I should be more considerate and let you deal with one at a time."

As pleasant as I know life isn't, I know that Ty does better when he can handle things in a manner that doesn't overwhelm him. I do want him to think about us, I do want us to figure out what we're going to do when it's our next move, but I also have to consider that it's not just us that Ty has to think about.

"Also..." I added slowly. "I have scars on my body that I don't know how to explain to my parents. If you're breeding-"

Ty got out of bed and left my room. I thought he was being dramatic but I heard him going downstairs, so that meant he was actually going to leave. I rushed to put my clothes on and go after him just as he was walking out the door.

He doesn't like when I talk about mating. Well, he doesn't like when I joke about it. I know he takes it seriously, as much as he doesn't want to, and I can tell by the various bite marks I have on my shoulder. I need to figure out what that means cause he keeps doing it.

I think he's marking me.

He was especially aggressive today.

Before I could complain about him being dramatic, we both stopped abruptly on the front steps.

A pale pink wolf was lingering outside. Ty was just about to leave when he saw the wolf sniffing around his car.

“I feel so bad for him.” I said quietly.

I feel like Brendan got the worst part of it, the part that everyone wanted to avoid. He has this uncontrollable urge to be here, he can’t stop it, he can’t break it. I know I was laughing before, because he likes my dad, but what Brendan is feeling, he can’t stop it. He didn’t have the choice either.

Ty didn’t say anything as he watched his brother sit in the snow. The waiting was going to begin now. My dad comes home in few hours.

“I’ll take him home.” Ty sighed.

“Leave him.” I didn’t want to make Brendan upset. “How would you feel if you were being forced away from me?” That question put things in perspective for him.

I saw the look on his face soften up. Ty is the only one that can understand what Brendan is going through.

“You look clammy.” I put my hand to Ty’s forehead.

The sky was getting dark with clouds. There was a sharper chill in the air, too. It’s going to snow later.

“I’ll be fine.” Ty sighed.

He’ll have a fever tonight. He’ll be lucky to get out of bed tomorrow.

I put my hands in my jacket pockets as I smiled at him. “I had a great time today.” I said. He sighed and looked away immediately after I said my comment. “Oh, come on-”

“I really wish you wouldn’t do this.” He said, almost desperate.

“Okay, no more hints to anything sexual.” I promised him.

The Martin brothers didn’t show up to school. That was no surprise. It was snowing. I stayed bundled up in my jacket and scarf, even after being inside the building for a few hours. Ty did get a fever. He has been trying to fight his urges all morning. Brendan has been outside my house, at least, he was there this morning when my dad left. I can’t imagine what the other brothers are going through.

I walked to third period on my own. It's kind of weird walking to my class by myself, though I've been doing that for the past two years. Apparently, one semester of tagging along with Ty -on the days that he actually shows up to school- really changed my routine. I felt weird.

I wonder if he's doing okay.

Someone abruptly grabbed me before I could turn the corner. It was so sudden and wasn’t sure why someone would be so aggressive.

But then I saw Henri’s smiling face.

He has a strong arm.

I even stared at him in shock because just the way he grabbed me was jarring.

“Sorry!” He laughed and ran his hand through his blond hair. “I have this habit of grabbing people’s shoulders.” He apologized sincerely for abruptly grabbing me.

“You have a strong arm.”

“Yeah.” He laughed again.

Not nervously, but like he has a lot of life in him. His laugh was reassuring, and kind...and hypnotizing. I couldn’t look away.

“So I got my way to my first two periods, but I have no idea where this class is.” He showed me his schedule.

I couldn’t help but skim through to see what his classes were like. We have sixth period together. But other than that, all the classes are different. I had to remind myself to show him where his third period class.

“It’s upstairs.” I handed him his schedule back. “If you take those stairs-” I pointed “-and turn the first corner, it’s the first room on the right.”

“Gotcha. Thanks, Gabriel!”

He gave this big wave as he followed the crowd of others going to their classes. He’s such a bright person. Like the sun.

Ty would hate him.