Falling to Pieces (9 page)

He took the key off me nodding his gratitude and dropped it back in his pocket, all the time his head making sweeping movements around the large open courtyard as if searching for someone.

“You ready?” The helmet muffled his words.

I nodded my response and watched him swing his powerful long leg over the bike. A beauty on top of a beast—the vision before me made my stomach lurch with desire.

The engine boomed into life before calming to a powerful popping noise, full of potential and promise and inspiring my sudden excitement, swiftly replacing my earlier apprehension.

He playfully patted the seat behind him. I still refused to think of the patch of leather as a seat. Nonetheless, I straddled the machine within a split second causing Marc to jolt with surprise.

“I’m not sure I’m ever going to get used to that,” he said with a chuckle over the powerful roar of the cycle. Even I struggled to hear him.

I had a face splitting grin plastered on as the Harley took off, my arms encircling Marc’s muscled torso. I squeezed him gently as the power of the engine hummed beneath me and a power I’d never felt before overflowed in my heart.

Here we went again, heading towar
ds another unknown destination.

We rounded a tight corner. I followed the tilt of his body, clinging to him with the excitement of the ride. Marc applied the brakes slowing the Harley right down and indicated a left turn.

He brought the machine to a stop and took something out of his pocket. The black wrought iron gates opened slowly, and we proceeded through them, the cycle’s tyres rattling noisily over the gravel lining the driveway.

The house we moved towards was detached and surrounded by the same red brick wall the house was made of. We’d passed a sign at the front of the house declaring that it was recently sold.

As we drew to a stop, Marc quickly killed the engine. The silence was deafening due to the roar of the engine assaulting our ears for the thirty-five minute journey. 

He’d parked in front of a white PVC door with full-length glass panels either side of it. The moon was high and brightly illuminated our reflections in the glass.

“How was that for you?” he asked after bringing the cycle’s stand down and climbing off.

“Amazing. I loved it. The thrill. The speed. I’d like to say danger but I know I wasn’t putting my life on the line. But—I felt sort of human.” I grinned at him after my babble, even though he couldn’t see my mouth through the helmet.

I had no idea why everything bashing round my mind left my mouth without a thought. ‘
How and why am I so incomprehensibly comfortable with him?
’ The thought got to me, but I’d decided to go with the flow of it. Everything I’d seen and experienced when I’d been with Marc was new to me. I wanted to embrace everything, not push it away.

I climbed off the bike and stood opposite him. As we removed our helmets at the same time, a pang of emptiness washed over me. I’d been pressed against him for the entire journey out of London.

“Well, you’re a natural on the bike,” he said, revealing his pearly white teeth. “You should learn how to ride one day.”

“I’m sure I will. So, is this place yours?” I glanced up at the large modern house that seemed like it was styled on a Tudor property.

“Yes, the sale completed two weeks ago. My family own property in the area, but I didn’t tell anyone I brought it, so we’ll be safe here,” he said. His grin turned into a frown at the mention of his family, his gaze appeared distant as he looked away from me.

He held out a hand for my helmet, took it and hooked it over his arm. He strolled to the front door a few metres away and unlocked it before opening it enough to place the helmets inside and then closing it again.

I ran my hand through my messy helmet hair. “We’re not going inside?” I asked, peering around the small circular driveway.

“No,” he replied and grabbed my hand. It felt hot and damp over mine. I peered up at him as we crunched our way over the gravel back towards the open gates. Marc cleared his throat for no apparent reason.

“Where are we going?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

He stared straight ahead and let out a sigh before continuing to stride out onto the sidewalk. “We’re going to do what we came here for.” He gulped after he spoke.

As endearing as his obvious nervousness was, I was getting pissed at his constant riddles. I ran through the earlier call on his cell in my mind, the admission of how Gabriella following me ‘explained a lot’ and his overall secretive behaviour.

I’d bared my soul to this man. Showed him what I was. Felt things I’d never known were possible. All of these things bubbled inside me as we walked down the street towards
another
unknown destination.

My anger surfaced and I threw his hand off mine, speeding in front of him and extending my arms out straight with my palms out flat. He walked straight into them so my hands pushed flat against his chest. I’d moved so fast he’d failed to notice I’d even left his side.

“I’m beginning to get extremely pissy with you Marc.” My fangs were bared. “I’ve put up with your fucking secrets for longer than I should have. I’m not some silly little girl,” I hissed, my feet planted apart, my hands balled into fists against his leather jacket. My eyes were narrowed so severely they sliced right through him.

His eyes flew wide, gazing into mine with horror. “I—um—I—” He stutteringly sucked in a breath, relaxed his face and pushed his shoulders back, so he towered over me. “All will be revealed…come,” he said crisply and took a right turn onto a muddy trail running between two houses.

He took me by surprise when he started laughing. I wanted to slap him, but he made a come on gesture with his hand and quickened his pace, breaking into a run.

I tried to stop my mouth twisting into a smile. I was still standing on the sidewalk watching his body move into the black distance. ‘
Boy, you have some nerve
,’ I thought as my boots sped onto the track behind him.

His scent trailed behind him like a delicious roadmap. I caught up with him in five seconds smiling at him as I slowed my pace to match his.

“Bitch,” he said, his breath hitching in his throat his mouth drawn up at the corners.

My cackle rang out through the night air as I ran on ahead, not at full speed but enough to show him how fast I was and how easy it was for me to beat his ass.

We continued a race through the trees. I kept slowing down to let him catch up only for him to fall behind again. The wood thickened and the dirt track gave way to thicker tufts of grass, showing this wasn’t a route many people took.

I stopped and admired the confetti effect of the moonlight cascading through the leaves of the thick branches above me. I heard his heavy breathing in the distance behind me and turned in the direction he came from.

He stopped in front of me about a metre away. “Look at you.” He waved a hand towards me, his chest rising and falling erratically. “You’re not even out of breath.”

I smirked as he started his speedy recovery from the sprint. He reached up to his zipper and slid it down.

“A little warm are we?” I said sarcastically through my satisfied smile.

He remained silent as he dropped the jacket on the grass beside him and tugged at the hem of his t-shirt before lifting it over his head and dropping it on top of his discarded jacket.

My hand flew to my chest as he unbuttoned his jeans. “What are you doing?” I breathed as he pulled them down his thick thighs and kicked them to one side along with his boots. My heart clattered against my fingers still touching my chest, and I licked my dry lips. I was unsure whether to be turned on or horrified. What he was, or how he was going to show me somehow involved removing his clothes? I’m not sure if it was fear or apprehension that began to jolt in my stomach.

“Teagan.” He spoke my name as a warning in a low voice. “I want you to know that I don’t care
what
you are. To me, you’re you. Vampire or not, I want you in my life. I only hope you will still want me when you see what I am.”

I scrunched up my face at his pained expression. Of course I’d still want him, what more could I possibly want? Ever. I tried to offer myself some reassurance.

Freckles of moonlight gleamed over his body as he shook and hummed with a vibration, dropping down to the grass on his hands and knees.

My hands quivered, my mouth hung open and I fell to my knees, unaware whether my shock had made me do so or if I was aiming for a better view.

I sat back on my calves, wringing my hands in my lap as the vibrating figure sprung fur. It was snowy where is arms had been, they had slimmed into sleek front legs, his hands had now morphed into powerful paws with black talon nails sprouting from them.

The ebony hair on his head spread in a line down is back. I used the grass in front of me to steady myself, gasping as I clutched the green blades with both trembling hands.

His golden eyes glowed in the darkness meeting mine as I carried on watching his transformation. Marc’s chiselled jaw elongated jutting out and springing away from his human face. His nose changed shape, becoming round, as black as coal and mottled in texture.

The vibration finally stopped. Only the wind fussing the leaves of the forest made a sound along with my quickened breathing. Running was easy in comparison to this, only Marc took my breath away.

My knuckles were a painful white as I gripped the damp grass harder.

Before me, in Marc’s place, stood a strong, powerful beast, a sacred animal, magical and beautiful. A wolf. Not just any wolf. My wolf.

I slumped forward, my abdomen rested on my thighs as my nose pressed against the earth, the freshness of the dewy grass filled my nostrils as I attempted to steady my breathing. My heart still pounded as my limbs shook violently.

‘
Why have I never been told this magic exists…Thomas surely knew?
’ His reaction to Marc’s scent, Victoria’s words and haste to get rid of me began to slip into place. Everything shifted and tilted in my brain so I made sense of all that had happened as of late.

The grass rustled as I sensed the beast moving closer, his paws tip-toed towards me cautiously.

He nudged my shoulder, but I was unable to move, my body failed to respond to what my brain ordered it to do. He started to lick my face along with the cloak of hair falling around my face.

The grainy roughness of his tongue on my cheekbone awakened me from my paralytic disadvantage.

I raised my head and my torso, sitting back on my haunches again, cautiously placing a wobbly hand on the top of the beast’s head before trailing a single digit between his thick black rimmed golden eyes. The coarseness of his oily fur calmed my nerves. It was so right under my fingers. Marc fitted the wolf form perfectly.

“You’re beautiful,” I said breathily, thinking it was important to let him know I wasn’t going to run away, that this in no way scared or deterred me from wanting him. I wanted him in whatever form. I’d loved him since the moment I’d seen him. It was as if fate had brought us together, we were meant to be. We would overcome adversity and forget what each of us is, because all of that simply failed to matter. Together we are magical beings. This would only be a perfect thing. A perfect and true love.

He bared his teeth, sharp as knives in his strong jaw.

I threw my head back and laughed as I allowed my own incisors to slide down.

He yipped and bounded away from me into the trees and I giggled. “Oh, you wanna’ play do ya,” I said, leaping up off the grass and weaving amongst the thick bark of the trees.

I caught up with him after a couple of seconds. I ran on ahead of him, using my intuition to guide me through the treeline as I glanced back at him.

His velvety ears were the same colour as the ebony fur on top of his head. Leading out of the darkness, the fur lightened to a rich caramel before turning whiter on his belly and legs.

His paws thrummed on the dusty floor of the wood, leaving the ground altogether and drawing in almost meeting before springing back out to meet the ground and using the floor as leverage to bound off.  He was fast, very fast but still not as fast as me.

I stopped, leaning against a tree, running my hands over the rough bark, peering up through the speckled leaves before closing my eyes and taking in the scent of the wood. Moisture clung to the air, the grass smelled so green and alive, the mice and other creatures that made this their home rustled around my unmoving figure before scurrying away.

I caught another scent. Fresh sweat intermingled with lilies. Marc’s scent. He’d smelled mustier in wolf form so I assumed he’d changed back.

“Why did you stop running with me?” His rumbling voice came from behind me as his fingers traced my jaw.

I kept my eyes closed, curling the corners of my mouth up into a smile. “I’m enjoying the forest. I miss being surrounded by nothingness like I was in Montana. It’s refreshing to be here.”

“Oh,” he said before kissing me on the forehead, trailing his kisses down my cheek before meeting my lips. “You’re not going to leave are you?”

“Of course not,” I scoffed.

“Come on, let’s go back to the house,” he said, finally pulling away from me and entwining his hand in mine. We traipsed back over the mossy floor of the wood. I tried to stifle a giggle.

“What you laughing at?” He smiled at me.

“I’m walking through the woods with a naked man,” I said, raising an eyebrow and glancing sideways at him. We reached the pile of clothing and I sighed as he let go of my hand and started to get dressed.

“Awww, do you have to?” I traced my tongue over my parted lips while admiring the muscles of his back flexing in the pale bluish moonlight.

“Err, yeah, unless you want me to get arrested.” He laughed, dressing quickly.

We began to amble back to the house, no more racing. My mind was filled with questions.

“Is everyone in your family a wolf?”

“Yes, but only me and my dad can change without a full moon.”

“Oh, how so?” I asked, furrowing my brow.

“Because, we’re the first born children of first born children.”

“Well—that sounds complicated,” I said.

He smiled, a far away look in his eyes as he spoke. “Not really. My brother gets annoyed about it. He was only a few minutes behind me, but I got the gift and he didn’t. I think people told him they thought that both of us had the chance of being able to change without the tie of the moon. But, it proved that the gift works on birth, not conception.”