Chapter 41: Only for Tonight

“It’s not good,” Willow said, biting her lip hard. Garin watched her from the couch as she paced across the living room. He was growing used to this habit of hers, she paced and chewed her lip when she was stressed.
“So they are going to have an all-out war, then? Is there nothing we can do to convince them to not?” he asked, grasping for straws. Willow shook her head, her red curls spilling around her.
“Short of your parents leaving town? No. They have had enough. They are tired of always having to run when the Red Hoods come. They want this fight.” She flopped down next to him on the couch and sighed heavily. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into him.
“Maybe I can do something. I don’t think my parents will listen to me, but I don’t know. It couldn’t hurt right?” he rubbed her back and kissed her temple gently. She looked up at him, her ocher eyes sorrowful.
“I think they will kill you if you try to stop them,” she said flatly, tears began to brim in her eyes. He wiped away a stray tear with his thumb and took her face in his hands.
“I won’t let them hurt me. They did teach me a thing or two about fighting when I was younger. They seem to have forgotten that I went through the same boarding school as my siblings,” he said against her lips. She pulled back a fraction.
“Boarding school? Where they teach you to kill wolves?” she was disgusted.
“Not…exactly. They can’t put “Killing Wolves 101” in the syllabus since there are many kids that attend, not just Red Hoods. But the school teaches what they call life skills: hunting, tracking, combat, firearms, what have you. They also teach mythology which, looking back, is their cover for explaining, well, you. There is advanced training that you can attend, after graduation. My brothers went there. I left as soon as I turned eighteen and moved to Montana. I didn’t think that they would follow me all the way here,” he explained, looking a tad sheepish.
“That is so…bizarre,” Willow said, feeling sick. She knew that the Red Hoods must go through some type of training to be able to hunt her kind but a boarding school? They were worse than she thought.
“It really is. That is why I got out of there the second that I could. It always bothered me. They have a twisted brand of loyalty too. If you take one step out of line or show any mercy at all to wolves, you are cut out. I’m surprised my parents haven’t stormed here by now,”
“Then why do you think they will listen to anything you have to say?” she challenged. He gave a small shrug of his shoulders.
“I have to do something. At least try, right?” his eyes were troubled but she found comfort in his goodness. Despite the danger to himself, he was willing to walk into the killer’s den to help stop a war.
“Just be careful.”
“I will,” he replied and placed a kiss on her neck. She turned to look at him, a coy smile on her lips.
“And what do you think you are doing? We are trying to stop a war here,” shivers rippled down her body as his lips moved to her ear.
“They can wait a few hours,” he said huskily in her ear and laid her down on the couch.
“We shouldn’t. What if..” she trailed off as he pushed up her shirt and kissed down the flat plane of her stomach stopping at the waistband of her jeans. He stopped and looked up at her.
“From what you said, tomorrow could be really bad. People could get hurt. For tonight, let’s not think about that. Let’s think about just us. Since we met, we have always had other people hanging over our heads. Tonight, it’s just me and you,” his voice was thick with emotion. Willow reached out and traced his nose with the tip of her finger and smiled.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“Good,” he replied and pulled her up and into his lap. Her curls fell around them, curtaining them off from the rest of the world. The light from the fireplace danced across her face as she gazed down at him, tracing his lips with her fingers.
She kissed him deeply, hungrily. She nipped his bottom lip, hard. With a yelp, he pulled away, a small bead of blood drawn on his lip.
“Whoops,” she said and licked it away. His pupils darkened with desire and his hands hurried pulled off her sweater and he threw it away onto the floor. His fingers traced her curves, causing goosebumps to rise across her pale skin. Willow reached one hand behind his head and brought his face to hers again.
His hands snaked up her back and unclasped her bra. With a tug, she pulled it off and threw it over her head with a laugh.
“Your turn,” she said and tugged at his collar, accidentally ripping it open. Her desire was blurring the lines on the control of her abilities. She needed to keep herself reeled in so she didn’t accidentally hurt him.
He didn’t seem to care about the discarded shirt, instead standing with her legs around his waist. He carried her to the bedroom and lay her gently down on the bed. She tugged off her jeans and lay back. His eyes roamed over her nakedness and came back to her face. She smirked slightly and motioned for him to join her. He happily obliged.
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They lay panting next to each other, a sheen of sweat covering them both. Willow looked over at him and smiled.
“Don’t look at me right now,” Garin groaned back. “I can’t handle another round.” She giggled and swatted him.
“Ouch!” he exclaimed. The smile vanished from her face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting up.
“My back. It feels like it’s on fire,” he said, groaning with pain as he rolled over.
“Let me see,” she said and turned on the lamp. Eight large claw marks were raked down his back. They weren’t deep enough to be serious but they were bleeding a bit. She felt her stomach drop. She needed to get a better handle on herself. She didn’t know what was happening to her.
She looked at her fingers. They were her human fingers but how did they do that?
“So what’s the damage?” he asked, watching the emotions play across her face.
“I scratched you. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened,” she apologized profusely.
“It was totally worth it. I have a first aid kit next to the bed if you want to put some band-aids on it,” he replied and lay face down on the bed. She got up and opened the drawer, spotting the first aid kit. Next to it sat the box of condoms, unused.
She quickly counted weeks in her head. They should be fine. She slid the drawer shut, not giving it another thought.