Chapter Twenty

"You obviously want to ask me about it." I teased him again when I caught him staring at my phone again.

He looked away instead of replying and I smirked.

"I won't tell you until you ask me." I poked my finger against the side of his arm.

When he still didn't reply, I continued. "Fine then. You won't get to know who I was talking to."

When he looked over to me, I shrugged, trying to suppress my laughter. His expressions displayed clear curiosity and slight worry, it made me want to burst out laughing.

"I don't need to know." He whispered, a moment later.

I tried to cover my chuckle with a cough when I saw him looking at my phone again. His gaze stayed fixated on the blinking screen and my cheeks hurt from trying to control my laughter.

"Still don't want to know?" My voice cracked and a giggle slipped in between my words.

"No." He resisted again, looking away from the phone placed in between us.

When my phone started ringing again, he visibly stiffened. He straightened his back and folded his hands in front of his chest.

I picked up my phone in a sluggish motion and kept my eyes on him the whole time.

Much to my dismay, Nicolas neither looked back at me nor did he try to sneak a peek at my phone's screen. His obvious disinterest dampened my mood instantly.

"Hey..." I answered.

"Tomorrow?" Tay questioned, reminding me that I was going to leave in less than a few hours.

"Yeah." I sighed, looking at the back of Nicolas' head.

"You'll be coming over straight away, right?" He asked.

"Of course." I copied his cheerful tone, narrowing my eyes at Nicolas.

"Finally." Tay let out a sigh of relief from the other side.

Nicolas lowered his head, but still kept his face turned away from me.

"Yeah." I answered dejectedly, preoccupied by the one beside me.

"See you soon then." He said, sounding more happy than I could've pretended to be at the moment.

I didn't bother responding to him with words. I just hummed in agreement and cut the call before he could've said anything else.

Resting against the tree, I wondered out loud. "Aren't werewolves supposed to be super possessive and sometimes unbearable?"

My words finally sparked his curiosity and he turned his head to partially look at me. "What?"

"I expected you to go all Alpha male on me the moment you heard me talking to some other guy." I explained further.

When he didn't answer but continued to stare at me, I added. "Or is that not how you werewolves are?"

"Is that how you want me to be?" He turned around to entirely face me.

"I- I don't know." I lowered my eyes, feeling confused. "I was just asking."

"Blue, look at me." Nicolas ordered in a serious voice.

"Blue." He called my name again when I still didn't look up.

"I just thought it'd be fun to see your other side. I mean, I still haven't even seen your wolf. I get it though, we haven't known each other for long and I'm not even one of you guys; it'd be weird to just trust me right away. Forget what I-" Nicolas gripped my chin, stopping my rambling instantly. He moved my head up until our eyes met.

"Above everything else, you're my mate. And these past few days have made me realise how lucky I am to have found you." His hand moved to grip my face and he rubbed his thumb near the corner of my mouth. "You've every right to just ask me for whatever makes you happy. Just say it and I'll do it."

His face moved closer to me and my breathing stopped. His lips rested right between my eyebrows and my eyes closed on their own accord.

"Keep your eyes closed." His lips moved over my skin and a shiver ran through me.

"Please don't run away." His words were barely audible and if he wouldn't have been so close to me, I totally wouldn't have heard him.

"Promise." I uttered almost instantly even before realizing what I had said.

He kissed my forehead once again before his warm lips and hold vanished. I kept my eyes tightly closed and heard my heart loudly pounding in my ears.

I let out a gasp when something cold touched the back of my hand. My eyes closed even tighter as if on instinct until I felt the touch again. I took a few deep breaths before opening my eyes.

A light brown wolf laid a few feet away from me. The wolf had his head resting on the front paws and the mesmerising hazel eyes stared back at me.

"Nicolas?" I let out in shock, just to make sure I wasn't mistaken.

The wolf slightly nodded his head and it seemed like a weird gesture for a wolf to even know about.

My eyes refused to leave the huge figure laid in front of me. It was one thing to know about it and wish for it to be real, but it was a totally different thing to be experiencing it at such close distance.

Just looking at the length of the wolf and the huge tail fanned out in the back made my mouth dry. I wiped my palms on my jeans subconsciously and tried to swallow past the anxiety bubbling inside.

It's just Nicolas. Just Nicolas. I repeated it in my head until I felt brave enough to extend my hand toward him.

"I- can I touch you?" I questioned, but didn't try to move from my spot. I wasn't sure if I could move without revealing my fear.

The wolf - Nicolas didn't move forward. He just moved his head to signify a node, granting his permission.

"I don't think I can move right now." I voiced, feeling utterly embarrassed.

Nicolas still made no move to close the distance between us. He continued to stare at me and I squirmed under his gaze.

"Please." I pleaded, feeling even more flustered under his scrutinizing gaze.

He finally moved and got up with a huff. Standing on all four, his eyes were on the same level as mine and my anxiety spiked looking at such a huge creature walking over to me. He stopped his slow steps as soon as he was a few inches away from me.

Once again he rested on the ground with his head on his paws, but this time he was close enough for me to lean over and touch him if I dared. He closed his eyes and kept his body completely still.

I was glad he couldn't see my hand shaking uncontrollably as I tried to reach over and touch his fur. My hand rested behind his ear and the top of his head. The warm soft feeling of his fur along with his still unmoving body won against my fears. I moved my hand back and forth slowly and applied more pressure than just barely touching.

Another few minutes later, I had gotten enough courage to move closer to him and move my hand all over his back. I was grateful for the fact that he had still kept his eyes closed and body completely still except the obvious movement from breathing.

Beautiful patches of dark brown and black were scattered all over his fur and I was tempted to count all of them.

"Your fur is like what I imagined a cloud would feel like." I wondered out loud.

"That sounded weirder than I thought it would." I confirmed a moment later.

His body shook slightly under my touch and I pressed my hands flat against his back to confirm it. "Are you laughing? You can laugh in this form too?"

His body moved upward and I pulled my hands back. He turned to face me before settling his head in my lap and laying back on the ground.

I hesitated to put my hand on his head until he nuzzled his head against the side of my leg. He rubbed the side of his head against my lap and stopped only when I rested my hand over his head. I moved my fingers through his fur - right between his ears.

His tail started moving back and forth and I chuckled at his blatant joy.

"You can understand me, right?" I asked, just to clear the doubt in my head.

He let out a low growl in reply and drew his body closer to mine.

"Was that a yes?" I questioned feeling confused. "Do that again if it was."

He growled again and I let out a sigh of relief. "I think I'm going to ask you to shift every time I feel like saying something embarrassing. Like right now."

He lifted his head from my lap and his hazel eyes met mine.

I placed my hand in front of his eyes at some distance before saying. "No, don't look at me. Just let me finish first, please."

He rested his head back on my lap a moment later and I placed my hand back on his fur.

"Even if you feel like laughing, hold it in until I'm done, okay?" I took in a deep breath, trying to get over the embarrassment I was already feeling.

"All I want to ask you is to not treat me any different just because I'm a human. I mean, I know we can't do anything about the whole living together thing. But I'd feel better if you don't hide your feelings from me just because you think I was brought up in a different environment. Or because you think it wouldn't make sense to me if you act a certain way." I stopped to take a breath and looked over to see that his tail had stopped moving again.

When he tried to lift his head again, I spoke again. "Wait. I'm not done yet." He stopped pushing against my hand and allowed me to continue talking.

"I know how tiring it becomes to not be able to share how you feel. And I don't want you to experience it, not with me - your mate. Especially since I probably won't be back for the next two months or so. After exams there are so many things I need to take care of before I can come back. And I won't be able to feel okay fearing that you might be hiding your feelings from me."

I chuckled, trying to get over the embarrassing feeling. "I can honestly say much more but I think that's enough for now. Just think of it as a selfish request of mine and just tell whatever is on your mind, okay? And next time, instead of glaring at my phone just straight up ask me. That's all. That's enough embarrassment for today."

"What? Aren't you going to laugh or something?" I asked Nicolas when he didn't say anything for a while.

He still didn't say anything and continued to lay still with his head in my lap.

I stopped moving my hand over his head to check if he was still awake and he instantly let out a low growl as if complaining. I rested my hand back again and resumed my movements again.

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