Ch. 30: Kiss and Tell

CHAPTER THIRTY:

My first kiss! Alarms were going off in my head. Everything felt totally electrified, and his kisses had made everything fade into the background.

He let go of my lips and sat back just a little, still holding my cheek. I felt like I was on fire. My heart beated like I had come from running a marathon, and I took a big breath in. His kiss had totally startled me and I guess I hadn't remembered to breathe.

Eyes shining he whispered, "I've been dying to do that." Then he dropped his hand, and my own hand went up to touch my lips which still buzzed like a live wire.

I was totally flushed, and when I looked around we were rounding the corner back to the park. Sean sat there, clearly very pleased, and I continued to be in so much shock, I still had my hand at my mouth.

The horses slowed and the pony guy came around to open the gate for us. Sean was first to move and he hopped down gracefully, turning around with his hand offered to me. Still in a bit of a daze, I moved forward and took his hand, feeling electrified all over again, as he helped me down. I nearly lost my footing and he just chuckled a little at that.

We headed over to a line for barbeque and I floated back down to reality as we moved up in line. I noticed a few adults I knew looking between Sean and I since he was still holding his hand. Some of them nodded in some sort of community approval which made me want to laugh. Small town life. Everyone in town would know all about him by tomorrow.

We ordered and chatted while waiting for our number to be called. We re-lived some games from earlier and I mentioned wanting to walk around at the sales booths to look at crafts and other things people had brought to sell. Our number was called and we walked over to the benches just as some people were leaving. We sat in a comfortable silence as we munched on chips and ate our burgers, with Sean pointing out something funny every once in a while from his people-watching. By the time we were done eating he was narrating voices for the little kids playing on the playground next to our bench.

"Oh no! You jerk!" he squeaked, imitating a little boy's voice as we watched these three boys making sandcastles. "My mini subjects! They're droooooowning."

I laughed at his impersonation of this boy as his friend dumped a full bucket of water on his creation. It was all fun and games until someone's mom came running over, needing to calm down the victim's crying.

"Are you still thinking about our kiss?" Sean asked me abruptly without looking back at me. "I know I am."

I looked shyly off to the side.

"That is just adorable," he decided, glancing back to see my reaction, watching my embarrassment rise in my cheeks.

He turned back to the scene unfolding in front of us and he mumbled ever so lightly, "Bet you've forgotten all about that Jacob…"

I sucked in a breath, surprised by what he said. Was he that upset about Jake? And 'Jacob' really? I stared at the back of his head, puzzled. He didn't just kiss me because he was jealous, did he? I honestly didn't know.

I had to know. Something in me wanted to protect Jake's reputation or something.

"Sorry, what was that?" I asked him.

He cleared his throat, "Look. I just need to be honest with you," he paused, "I just really don't like the idea of you hanging out with other guys-"

I opened my mouth to interrupt this ridiculous statement, when he held his hand up. I had the sudden urge to close my mouth and let him finish.

"I know, I know. You probably don't mean anything by it, and I know I was late. I know-," he sucked in a breath, "It just doesn't make me feel good about myself, or about us. You can understand that right?" I found myself nodding.

"I mean, you wouldn't want to make me feel bad would you?" he asked, in a leading tone.

I found myself upset that I had made him feel this way.

"No, no - of course not," I reassured him.

He reached for my hand on the table and held it again. I felt more electricity moving up my limbs.

"Great," he said at last, smiling.

Evan~

Holy sh*t it had been hard to not run at that pompous jerk when he kissed Rachel. I don't know what it was about her with him that had my wolf whining like that. Xavier wasn't giving me any clues either. I did know for a fact it wasn't just Rachel herself that was doing this. I wasn't into her. I mean don't get me wrong, she really is a natural beauty, but I didn't feel that way for her. When Jake was with her, it actually made Xavier really happy. I didn't know why for sure, but I had my suspicions. Maybe because Jake, our future Alpha, had been crushing on her for years and my wolf liked seeing our Alpha happy. But I worried it was more than that. Nick had been trying his best to control my reactions through this whole thing, and I was grateful for it. Who knows what I would've said or done back there. Xavier was really pushy about this. I had just shifted for my first time a few weeks ago for the first time, and while he has made plenty of comments on all sorts of aspects of my life, he has never charged forward like he tried to do when that clown had his hands on Rachel.

"Dude, now you really need to tell me what the hell that was back there," Nick walked over to me, finger pointing at me accusingly, "What is going on with your wolf?"

Nick wouldn't totally understand, having not shifted yet. But, he was my best friend, right alongside Jake.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, affirming to myself that I was the one in control right now. I had felt the sudden urge to shift back when Ally and Rachel were at the cotton candy booth, and Jake had pushed for our exit, recognizing the signs. Up in the mountain I shifted and he had come after me on two feet, thankfully arriving just in time to stop me from running at that creep on Rachel.

"I really - don't know, man. I've been asking Xavier and he refuses to tell me anything," I finally say, exasperated.

He eyed me for a moment then dragged his hand down his face.

"Goddess, please don't tell me you like her too, I can't juggle all this. I'm not built for it," he whined.

As future Gamma he was more attuned to caring for people, organizing things, and maintenance of details. He was of course worried about what my weird behavior could mean for our future Alpha.

"No, no Nick - really. No worries there. I know that for sure. The other things, I just don't know…" I looked off. Thinking about feelings and stuff was really not my strong suit. I was a future Beta. I was the muscle, the second in command, the one in charge of security and training - the one only in charge when things went to sh*t.

"Explain," Nick demanded. Although I technically outranked him, the three of us never pulled rank on each other. We hoped it would remain the same when we finally took the places of our parents in a few years. We had no problem calling each other on our sh*t.

"I know that I care about her. I know that when Rachel is with Jake my wolf is very happy. I know that when she's on her own like today, Xavier wants to keep an eye on her and protect her. I know Xavier f**king HATES that Sean guy. Especially when he touches her, and you saw how I basically saw red when he kissed her," I finished, growling at the last part like it was happening again right in front of me.

"Theories?" Nick asked simply.

I rubbed my hand on the back of my head, "I don't know! I-" he motioned for me to continue, "I want to say that Xavier is happy when Jake is happy, and that the two of them being together makes Jake happy. Simple." A strangled sound escaped my mouth as I finished.

"But you're worried. You think somehow that human girl could be Jake's mate?" Nick asked. I shouldn't be surprised, he'd always been incredibly perceptive. "You just don't want to say that outloud. Because you know how dangerous that could be."

I nodded. It was incredibly uncommon in our world for werewolves to get a mate who was anything other than another werewolf. But over the last few decades our numbers have been dwindling, and I knew from overhearing our parents in meetings, that this was something they were worried about. Couples all across the world were having a harder and harder time trying to conceive. There was a time a werewolf couple would have at least three pups, but it wasn't that way anymore. Jake and Nick didn't have any siblings, and I had a much younger sister, deemed a miracle.

Nick looked at me gravely. He didn't need to say anything else. We both knew what kind of danger Rachel would be in if she were really Jake's mate. From outsiders, yes. But also from our pack.