Chapter 49 - forest rains

They spent the rest of the morning in bed, cuddling and dozing.

They eventually had to leave the bed, albeit reluctantly. They ordered food and lazed around in the living room like they used to.

A knock alerted them to a visitor; Faun looked up from where he was straddling Declan, continuing where they left off cuddling.

Declan looked just as lost as Faun did. Did the delivery guy forget something?

"Wait, what day is it?" He shot upright, his hands tightening around Faun's waist.

"Uh? Saturday?" Faun frowned. He was dressed in nothing but Declan's shirt and had no interest in entertaining visitors.

"Oh no…" Declan muttered darkly at the same time that the front door was slammed open.

Isla burst in at the same moment, brandishing a large branch which she waved around menacingly. "I'm here to save you!"

"I thought we agreed that you'd stop breaking in." Lou stood behind her in disbelief, holding a picnic basket.

They both faltered when they got a good look around and found Declan and Faun all over each other, Faun still straddling him.

"Ah… we might have come at a bad time…" Lou was quick to retrace her steps but Isla wasn't having it.

"You could have at least answered your phones." She stomped over after yeeting the branch outside the open door. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?" She sassed them.

"That's all you're mad about?" Declan couldn't help but ask.

"Of course." She hmphed, flipping her hair over a shoulder. "Now are we having our picnic or not?"

There was no saying no to Isla so she hounded them to go get dressed up, unfazed at the fact that Faun was dressed in nothing but Declan's shirt or that they both had glaring hickeys.

It was very much like her that they didn't even mind being dragged out to have a picnic, the same way it was expected that she would blurt out something like this.

"So you're both together?" Isla nodded to herself like she was making a statement. "We should go on double dates then." She immediately added, lights in her hazel brown eyes.

Lou had an apologetic face on, letting her girlfriend cling to her.

The interest in Faun's eyes was loud, so even though the first thing Declan was about to say was to decline her offer, he changed his mind. "Fine, that sounds like fun."

Faun's face lighting up was worth it.

Isla nodded, swallowing back the teasing retort that she was about to let slip. She really wanted them to go on double dates, she wasn't about to ruin her quick progress.

Instead, she hurried over to Faun's side to show him restaurants that they could go to, both of them bickering about the food choices.

"Well, this is a surprising outcome." Lou drawled, leaning back on the picnic blanket with her hands behind her head to support it.

"I'd say yours is more surprising." Declan pushed a hand through his hair, not bothering to hide the fact that he was staring at Faun.

"No shit." Lou chuckled. The colour was fading out of her hair, leaving a soft brown shade behind.

"I know that both of you require several working days to recover from socialising so instead of a picnic again next week, we should go on the date instead." Isla decided after quietly conversing with Faun for the longest of times over her phone.

"What was that about another picnic?" Declan raised a brow.

"Unimportant." She waved away. "We can discuss it on our date."

Lou blinked up at the sky, frowning. "Rain clouds are rolling in, we might want to wrap this up, we can talk over the phone."

"Yeah, if they would actually pick up." Isla nagged.

Faun winced, colouring up slightly when he remembered why they couldn't answer their phones. "We will this time."

The sky darkened quickly so the rest of their conversation was cut off as they diverted their attention to packing up as quickly as possible so that they could leave.

Declan frowned at the sky, there hadn't been any forecast of rain. It had come so abruptly too, like one moment it was a bright and sunny day, and the next, rain clouds were gathering at an alarming speed.

It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he wasn't even superstitious but he couldn't help it.

Lou and Isla were quick with their goodbyes, the only upside to the sudden downpour.

Faun waved at them from the door with concern on his face, he really hoped they would get to Lou's car before it started to rain.

Declan slipped behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist. "They'll be fine, a little water never hurt anyone."

Faun threw him a look, shaking his head. Declan was right though, there was no need standing here worrying, they would both be fine.

He spun around in Declan's hold, placing his arms around his neck to bring them closer. He had to tiptoe a bit to reach but he placed a fleeting kiss on Declan's lips.

"Guess where we're going for the date?" He asked sneakily with barely restrained excitement,

Declan's quirked a brow, deciding to take the very obvious bait. "Where?"

"Not telling." He swept out of Declan's arms, his tail brushing his arm. "It's a surprise."

Declan just watched him leave the living room in disbelief. "But you asked…"

Faun had already stepped into the hallway, Declan could guess where he was headed.

Hesitating a bit, he placed a hand on the healing bite on his neck. It still stunned him every time he remembered that he was mated, which was all the time.

He didn't regret it, far from that; he just couldn't wrap his head around it, was all.

The rain started abruptly, shaking him out of his thoughts. It fell against the roof of the cottage a tad violently, making Declan frown briefly.

He was more content staying here in the cottage in the woods with Faun than anywhere else.

When he first made his way to Oakwood, he had no long term plans but now he saw himself doing just that.

He finally strode forward, heading straight for his room where he knew that Faun was waiting for him.

He was simply overthinking and worrying for no reason, everything would turn out just fine.