Chapter Twenty-three: Not possible

I silently swim towards him to see if anyone else was around. I see no one in sight, but when I start to get closer I hear him…weeping?

I get to shoulder height in the water and I try to go towards him as quietly as I can, trying not to move my body parts roughly to make the water flail about. The water ripples around my body as I move silently through the water. As soon as I get to about waist height, I start to walk through the water but can’t help but make noise as I push my legs in front of each other, causing small waves to pool around me. As soon as my thighs are pushing through the water, th water level rises higher causing waves to roll onto the sand not too far from where Lukas is. Lukas looks up.

“Oh, Moon Goddess!” I hear him exclaim and see the relief wash over his face as he starts to get up from the spot he was kneeling at.

He runs towards me and before I even get a chance to say anything he embraces me. He puts his nose in the crook of my neck and takes a deep breath in. We stand there for minutes and I just put my arms around him and hug him back. He hugs me tighter as I do this.

“I’m so sorry Aliana. Please forgive me.” He pulls me back before I even get a chance to open my mouth. I look at his face and can see that his eyes are red….has he been crying?

He drops to his knees and bows his head to me, eyes to the floor. “I can’t lose you, after I’ve only just found you. Please don’t leave me....please.” His voice breaks as he begs me and my heart breaks knowing he’s been looking for me.

I look at him unsure what to say. I’ve feel like I’ve been away for a few minutes, not hours. I look up and see the Sun starting to disappear. I look back at the water. Why didn’t he just come after me?

I stroke his hair with one hand as I tug him up, trying to pull him up from the floor. Both of our anger has obviously dissolved.

“I’ve just been at the bottom of the lake, thinking. Did you not want to come in after me?” I ask, confused.

He looks at me, then over my shoulder to the water as he stands up, completely baffled at what I just said. “You’ve been to the bottom?”

“Well, yes. I’ve been there seemingly most of the day. This is where I came after you….after our argument.”

He bows his head in shame after I said that, but then he looks at me curiously. “You’ve been down there this whole time?”

“Yes…” I say back to him, unsure what he’s getting at.

“You’ve been down there for hours?” he repeats.

“Well, yes. Is that not normal for a werewolf?” I ask.

“Aliana…no. Sure, I guess it’s normal that we can last longer than an average human can, but maybe not past twenty minutes…you’ve been there…hours.” He says with a frown on his face. “I thought you had…I thought….I was worried you tried to do something stupid.” He says, his voice cracking once again.

I sigh as I pull myself away from him and look him in his red-rimmed eyes. “I’m not so fragile that I would do that to myself…but I had to get some clarity. I get that you’re the Alpha here and I respect that. What I do not respect is you trying to boss me around, or command me as you call it. I am not a pack member and I will not have you command me like one of them.” I say, and he winces at my statement.

He nods his head, defeated. “I know. I don’t know what came over me earlier. I’ve been having some issues with the pack and unfortunately the backlash landed on you and Mandy, and I apologise for disrupting your day. I do wish that she would have linked me though.” He says in reference to his sister. He’s right, I should be more considerate and tell him where I’m going, but there has to be work on both sides.

“And I apologise too, for not telling Mandy to tell you where we were going. But, you will have to remember that I am my own person.”

He smiles, finally. “I know, and I’m starting to learn more about you and I can honestly say I love that you’re so strong willed.”

He seems to finally notice that I am only in my underwear and I hear a deep growl come from his lips. Before I know it he’s taken me into his arms and I can feel him breathing down the right side of my neck, making me tingle in that area. I start to feel hot and before I know it, Lukas is trailing kisses up my neck, along my jaw and I gasp at the touch, which is making me and my core heat up.

He picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, which he seems to love and I hear a growl vibrate trough his chest again. He continues to kiss my neck and I moan in response, enjoying his actions. Finally, he pushes me up against a nearby tree I didn’t realise we were edging towards and he stops kissing my neck and jaw line. I anticipate the next attack when instead I get nothing.

Pouting, I open my eyes to see him staring at me intensively. We just stare at each other for a few moments more before he comes in and kisses me slowly, seductively on the lips. He pushes past my lips with his tongue and our tongues collide and start to do a slow dance with each other.

This is my first kiss, at least, my first proper kiss. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

He pulls away from me, and I find I need to catch my breath. Wow, didn’t have to do that in the water. I can feel both our hearts beating as one.

Before we go into another round of kissing, he places me down and I pout once again.

“I’m sorry little one. You’re so alluring right now in only your underwear and I swear I would take you right here and now. But I want it to be special, so I would ask you to put your clothes on please.” He asks, with a grin on his face.

I can feel my cheeks grow hot after that little scene. But I sigh as he is right. It is getting late and soon it will be cold, and I want our first time to be special too. Lukas walks towards my clothes and picks them up, handing them to me.

I take my clothes and put them on, watching him as I do as I can see he licks his lips as I pull up my jeans. I try to put my top on in a seductive way but fail at this miserably, ending up making him laugh. I giggle along with him too.

After I put my shoes on, we start walking back out of the tree line and back onto the path.

Before Lukas shows me which way we go, he turns to me. “Aliana, I really think we should go see the Elders….I won’t force you to go, but I think it will be the best plan for you. After what I’ve just seen you do, I think we need to try and find out what you are….exactly.”

I scrunch my face up slightly. I remember my thoughts from earlier about being braver and just going with the flow. So I nod my head.

“I’ve been thinking about it too, and I agree. I do need to know why I did not grow up here, why I got my wolf so late….and why I can breathe underwater for ages. I just hope they have at least some answers to this madness.”

He gives me a big smile, and picks me up and twirls me round. “That’s my girl.” I feel giddy as he says it, with a big smile on my face.

As we walk, I remember the way he spoke to Mandy earlier. “Did you apologise to Mandy earlier?”

Now it’s his turn to scrunch up his nose. “No, Alphas don’t go around apologising to their little sisters.”

I raise my eyebrow at him. “You got your goons to barricade her so she couldn’t pass to get to me. That’s rude and childish, don’t you think?” I say, making him grimace.

“You’re right. I will apologise when I see her next. Will that make you happy?” He says, being sincere.

“Yes. We can do it after we’ve seen the Elders and we go see your home.” I say. Damn I’m full of surprises today.

His face lights up with the biggest smile I have ever seen from him. He takes my hand and we are basically running towards wherever these Elders live.

I think about what had happened at the bottom of the lake. I felt at one with the water and at peace. I didn’t drown, and I could see so clearly through the murky bottom. The fish didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence and my body felt calm and relaxed.

If the possibility of being down there so long wasn’t because of me being a werewolf, then how was it even possible?