Dawn's Innocence

In his eagerness he all but dressed her, tugging her arms into the sleeves of the windbreaker. Kacie swatted at his hands and eased the jacket over her shoulders. "Tristen, I swear if you don't tell me where we're going," she gritted. Adorable as he was, sometimes, he was so annoying. It was easy to see what he'd been like as a kid. Hyper. Eager to the point of exhausting. Curious. Trusting. And so damn loving it hurt.

"On a date." Tristen announced proudly as if he'd thought of the whole thing without a little help from Mouse. He tugged the zipper up tightly under Kacie's chin. The air was still a little cool and she had on nothing but a thin, cotton long sleeved t-shirt. He didn't want her to get cold and besides, the more layers of clothing he put between the two of them, the better.

"A date?" Kacie scoffed at the idea. She'd never been on a date in her life. Dinner and a movie? Holding hands like a couple of high school kids? Yeah, right. That was so not her gig. Tristen didn't seem like the candlelight and romance type. His version of romance probably involved something with an engine and four tires. And his wolf liked to hunt and kill things for her and leave them at her wolf's paws as an offering.

"Yeah, an official date." Kacie batted his hands away as he smoothed his fingers through her tangled hair. She stared up at him as if he'd spoken in a foreign language instead of in plain English. Despite the fact her green eyes were tinged with curiosity. She was skeptical of him. He could do romance. Ok, ok, so the picnic wasn't exactly his idea. But, he could be very charming when he wanted to be.

Besides, Kacie wasn't one of those mushy girls easily won over by a flower or a few sweet words. She could swear like a sailor on shore leave, ate rusty nails for breakfast, and was prickly as a hedgehog. She was suspicious of everyone and trusted no one with one hundred percent certainty. But, for all that she had a softer side she rarely admitted to. She was at odds with who she thought she had to be and the kind of woman she actually wanted to be. Pretty things made of lace and silk and glittery baubles caught her feminine eye. But, she could load a Glock and hit a target dead center with her eyes closed. To him, she was the best of both worlds. Soft when she let her guard down and hard when she needed to be. And damn, when she kicked ass and took names and when he stroked those softer sides and made her purr like a kitten, she was sexy as hell.

Tristen dragged Kacie through the house out to the car. He remembered his manners and held the passenger side door open for her. Which earned him a hardened, disdainful glare as she slid into the seat. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, he kept with the role of prince charming he'd decided to play. "My lady."

Kacie fastened her seatbelt and shifted her weight to watch Tristen as he climbed behind the wheel of his classic 1968 Camaro. She snickered when his lips curled in a smile and he exhaled a shuddering ecstatic breath at the sound and the rumble of the engine under the hood. His fingers roamed over the dash and the steering wheel gently as a lover's heated caress. The car was still a dull shade of primer gray and had some bodywork he hadn't finished with yet. But, the proof of his love for what he called 'his baby girl' was apparent.

Tristen was a total gear head. Backing out of the garage and spinning the steering wheel to navigate down the driveway without sending a spray of white rock flying from the rear tires was killing him. He was trying so hard to put things in their proper perspective and it was obvious he was out to make a good impression. "I didn't think there was anything to do in this town," she said.

Tristen draped his arm over the seat and backed out of the garage. His fingers toyed with the ends of Kacie's hair as he slid into gear and navigated down the narrow gravel lane. He was as happy as a pig in shit. The car, Kacie, the picnic, the open road and a perfect springtime day, what more could a guy possibly ask for? "There's not. But, that's the idea. Not to do anything. We're going to spend the afternoon lounging on a blanket and soaking up the sun. Working really, really hard at this idea of doing nothing in particular. We're going on a picnic."

"A picnic."

"Yeah, and I know the perfect place." Tristen tightened his fingers around Kacie's shoulder and guided her into the crook of his arm, resting his fingertips lightly on her arm as he drove. "A quiet place where we can be totally alone, just me and you."

"Just me and you?" The idea sounded like heaven. They were going to spend a whole afternoon alone, just the two of them and a blanket, miles away from everybody. No noise? None of the chaotic confusion of the house? No witnesses? She shifted nervously in her seat. Was he hinting to her that he was finally ready and now was the time or was this really their first date and simply a picnic? Her toes curled in her tennis shoes at what he might actually be proposing.

Tristen drove like a perfect gentleman. His need for speed wasn't nearly as important as the approval of the woman in the passenger seat. He drove with the caution and care of an old lady on her way to bible study. And it was frustrating as hell. What he really wanted to do was put the car through her paces and put on a show for Kacie. He'd spent years and a small fortune on fixing this car up. No aftermarket parts were under his baby girl's hood. She was one hundred percent genuine American steel, praise the Lord, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet, exactly as she'd been built.

He drove out, way out, past the flat, stubbly cornfields yet to be plowed for planting. The narrow two-lane highway stretched out ahead of him in a flawless ribbon of gray. A bullet hole riddled, rusted, metal sign reminded him of the speed limit. His foot was like a lead weight and despite all his good intentions he gave her a little more gas. The woods flashed past his window and the sun glinted off his windshield. If Kacie minded the extra speed, she gave no hint of it. The cool breeze lifted her hair off her neck and tossed the curls in a mass of dark velvet to and fro.

He couldn't help himself. He slammed on the brakes and then with one foot on the brake and the other on the gas, laid down a trail of black rubber, squealing the tires as he took off like Bo Duke with Roscoe P. Coltrane on his ass. That one earned him an annoyed eye roll from Kacie. He immediately slowed down and putted the rest of the way to the turn off. There the road ended and there was nothing but a path winding up into the hills. Kacie...his car...Kacie...his car, he debated. The path wasn't impassable by four-wheeler, but a Camaro wasn't an ATV and there was no way in hell he was burying her up to the quarter panels in the soggy, muddy ground. "We'll have to hike from here."

He killed the engine and pocketed the keys, hopping out from behind the wheel in anticipation. Practically skipping around the front fenders to open Kacie's door for her, his heart pounded in his chest. They'd been totally alone together before, but this time it was different. They hadn't been tossed together by some cosmic twist. They were together because they wanted to be. And this time, he was a man with a definite plan. Stealing a few hours alone with Kacie to do whatever their minds concocted. He couldn't wait.

Tristen reached into the backseat and grabbed the cooler and the blanket while Kacie had a look around. Slinging the cooler over his shoulder he snatched onto Kacie's hand and gave it an eager squeeze. He knew the way. They could shift forms and let their wolves get them there in half the time. But, he wanted this to be about them, not their dual natures. The hike wasn't going to be a party. Up hill the entire way, but the view and the privacy the remote location and rigorous climb provided was worth it.

The sun was warm on Kacie's shoulders and she'd shrugged out of her jacket and tied it around her waist about a mile back. She sighed and lifted her face up into the sunlight, soaking in the heated rays and the burst of life blooming around her. The woods were filled with the chattering of birds and scrambling sounds of squirrels dodging for their burrows in the trees high above.

The air was fragrant and fresh with the essence of growing things. The terrain beneath her feet changed from muddy, gentle lowlands to hills and then higher up to sloping towers of steep gray rock. Scrambling behind Tristen she climbed the outcropping of shale and limestone formations weathered smooth by the constant battering of the changing seasons. Grasping his hand and puffing from exertion, she let him pull her over the ledge of rock and onto a wide and rolling meadow, alive with a carpet of soft, new vibrant kelly green spring grass. "Oh," she said sucking in a breath of much needed air, "This place is beautiful."

And it was definitely worth the climb. The meadow, surrounded by tall cliffs of smoky, gray colored shale, rusty veined granite, and the pale, luminescent, moon washed white of limestone, was a splash of green and vibrant life. The steep tumble off the edge of the bluffs looked down, way down into a valley nestled deep in the embrace of dense bristly evergreens and the thick arms of hardwoods yet to bloom into spring's glory. The rooftops all shingled in some variant of gray, brown, green, and some, in rusty red, lined the spider's web of twisting roads that made up the town. Off in the distance, there was the flat yellow-brown of cornfields and beyond them far as the eye could see, more of the same.

"You've been here before. We just came in from the other side. Besides, everything was covered in a foot of snow," Tristen said. He loved the expression of absolute awe on her face as she stared down into the town below. The fresh green grass was the color of her eyes. Splashes of color from the early spring flowers, the purples, the pinks, and the vibrant reds were the perfect backdrop for the setting and yet, somehow paled by the beauty of her presence among them. He spread out the blanket and set the cooler on an edge.

"You mean this is where...?" She couldn't finish the sentence. This was the place were Jan and Thomas had battled for his life. She couldn't imagine that a place of such beauty and wonder had been the scene of such a horrible, bloody fight. Meekly, she cleared her throat. "It looked a lot different then." There'd been nothing breathtakingly beautiful about that place. Covered in ice and snow, the wind cutting and sharp as any blade, the rock the washed out gray-black of a gun's barrel, and the crimson of spilled blood as the only contrasting color, that place didn't resemble this peaceful beauty at all.

Tristen grinned as he led her to the edge of the blanket and set her down. "Its all just a matter of perspective," he said patiently, as if he were explaining it to a child. Kacie was a big believer in what she could see, touch, smell, and hear. The things she had physical proof of. She wore blinders when it came to the bigger picture. She shunned the unseen and anything that took a leap of faith beyond the empirical.

His internal thermostat leapt off the charts. Whether it was his wolf, the girl beside him, the nature surrounding him, or the sun beating down on his shoulders, or a combination of all of them he didn't know. Suddenly burning up, he pulled off his shirt and let the sun beat down on his bare shoulders and the cool breeze wash over his skin. His fingers wrapped around her bare upper arms, desperate for the feel of skin on skin as he guided her into his chest. Dipping his head, slowly coaxing her face up to meet his with his chin, he stole a kiss.

Kacie kissed him back. Hotter than any sun could burn, her mouth formed and molded to his lips. Her tongue skated across his mouth as she worked her way between his lips. His grip on her arms tightened and he pulled her closer, opening his mouth to let her explore him in greater depth. He lost himself to the nature surrounding them and in the power of her kiss. His tongue rolled across hers, answering, tasting, and sampling the depths of her mouth. His fingers slid up the backs of her arms and settled around her shoulders. Easing back he stretched out on the blanket and guided her on top of him, cradling her hips in between his thighs. Nature was a more powerful aphrodisiac than anything his sister had packed in the cooler. Or maybe it was just the knowledge that they were finally and one hundred percent alone.

Kacie rested her pelvis against the bulk of Tristen's growing erection. The surroundings made her feel wild and unfettered. Overhead, the sun was warm against her back, but not as hot as the touch from the fingers trailing down her spine to settle on her butt. She balanced her weight on her palms and stared down at him. His eyes were dark with passion and need as they matched her stare. She was drawn to him, helplessly, like a moth to a flame. And with no desire to stop her descent and no intention of doing anything but allowing the flame to consume her, she dipped her head for another kiss.

Tristen gripped her belt loops with his fingers. He didn't bring Kacie all the way here for a hot make out session. Although, he wasn't complaining about it, he withdrew anyway. He was a man on a mission to win her heart. Gently, he eased her up off of him and slid out from beneath her, coming to sit cross-legged on the blanket. "Let's see what we've got in the cooler." He grinned as she shot him a confused and protesting pout.

"Strawberries." He sat the container on the blanket between them. "Dark chocolate." He opened the wrapper and broke off a piece, slipping the wedge into her mouth and stifling a groan as her lips wrapped around his fingers as she took the piece. "Two salads and fresh bread." He set the salad beside the strawberries and kept digging in the bottom of the cooler. "One bottle of very dry white wine." His little sister was some piece of work. The only thing missing was some cheesy violin music, a couple of candles, and a red rose.

"Strawberries. Chocolate. Wine. Tristen, did you bring me up here to seduce me?" Kacie asked as she savored the bittersweet taste of the chocolate melting on the tip of her tongue. She was touched, genuinely touched by the amount of thought and effort he'd put into this picnic lunch. Food, however, was the last thing on her mind though. Tristen struggled awkwardly with the cork in the bottle of wine. With a hard twist of the corkscrew bottle opener and a sharp pop, he managed to work the cork free. He dipped one of his long fingers into the bottle and brought it to her lips for a taste. She didn't know shit about wine. The sweet, fruity taste was lost on her palate. But, licking it off the tip of his finger, savoring the warmth of him in her mouth, made the wine absolutely decadent and divine.

"I was hoping to make it through lunch before I started with the seduction." He grinned and popped the blue lid off the plastic container holding her salad and handed it to her along with a napkin and a fork. Oh, his little sister was good. Fat, shiny black olives, those fancy ones from the gourmet section of the Super Center along with bits of feta cheese mixed amongst lettuce leaves and Roma tomatoes floated in a spicy, tangy Italian dressing. He winked and took a bite. "Now that you mention it. Is it working?"

"Your seduction?" Kacie asked as she took the plastic champagne glass filled with white wine from Tristen's fingers. Working? Like he had to ask? She was practically melting into a puddle of quivering woman in her denim jeans. "Definitely. But, that isn't why you brought me up here is it?"

"Not really. I just wanted to share this place and the day with you." He tore off a hunk of bread from the sweet, honey loaf and dipped a corner in the herbed butter Mouse had packed in the cooler. Meeting Kacie's eyes, he spread the butter with his fingertip and licked the smear left behind off the tip. He wasn't superstitious, but he urged her to eat the salad, especially the eggs.

Kacie picked at the salad. Salad was for rabbits and her wolf ate rabbits. She dug in and picked off the feta cheese, the blackened chicken, the black olives, and the eggs. Leaving the lettuce and carrots and whatever else constituted a vegetable for the little furry creatures of the forest. Tristen lounged on his elbow munching on a slice of bread and licking the butter off his fingertips, watching her as she ate as if his life depended on her sustenance. "It is pretty out here."

"Yeah, I'm enjoying the view." Tristen smiled as he reached out and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "This place is magical. This is where we come when we want to feel close to our goddess. If you listen hard enough you can hear her whispering on the wind."

Kacie replaced the lid on her half eaten salad and put the container back in the cooler. She took a sip of wine, savoring the cool, fruity, crisp taste on her tongue as she laid back. Sheltered from the bright light by Tristen's shadow. She swallowed and closed her eyes. Imaging the magic that he claimed he felt. The wind whistled down the sheer cliffs and rattled the branches of the trees. Breezes blew across the tender spring shoots, rustling the grass and gently ran their fingers through her hair and over her heated skin. If she tried hard enough, she could imagine hearing his goddess, whispering low beneath the spring breeze, calling her name. "That's amazing."

"Kokumthena is her name." Tristen smiled down at Kacie, tracing the outline of her chin with his fingertips. "Our Grandmother. She is the goddess of creation. Every rock, every blade of grass, the trees, even you and me, all of it and us, fashioned by her hands."

"You believe in her don't you?"

"How can I not when the evidence is everywhere I look?"

"What about the whole big bang theory? Darwin? Surely, you have to give all those great thinkers some measure of credit."

"Oh, I do. I think somehow it all fits together like pieces in a puzzle. The how will always remain a mystery. I don't think we were meant to know or are able to comprehend what we see in front of our noses. Call me simple, but for me, just believing and enjoying life and all the wonders in it is enough. I don't need to know why or how. The buck doesn't ask why. The great oak doesn't question how. The stream doesn't over think its course. A rock doesn't debate why its here instead of there. The birds in the trees don't theorize. The ocean is because it is and for no other reason. The sky and the clouds...the planets, stars, and the moon, they just are. They only know that they are. And sometimes, Kacie, that's plenty.

"I don't ask why you make my heart skip a beat every time we kiss. I don't need proof to justify the way I feel about you. I can't measure it. I can't put this...you and me into words. I only know that I'm in love you. I just keep hoping that someday, you'll be brave enough to admit that you're in love with me too."

Kacie eased up on her elbow and stared deeply into his rich, cocoa colored, eyes. "How do you know that I'm in love with you?" Tristen was so matter of fact about the things he believed in, absolutely certain. He didn't waver. She was the complete opposite, doubting and questioning everything. She shouldn't be. If nothing else her temporary bonding with Carter should have taught her the depths of another's soul. He was quiet, nothing more than a whisper in the back of her mind. But, his emotions, what she'd seen of him in his heart of hearts, how could she ever question the truth of love, what it was, and what it was not.

"I know it here." He pointed to his forehead. "And I feel it here." He took her hand and pressed her palm to his chest, planting her fingertips against his beating heart. Slowly, he brought the hand to his lips and brushed them gently across the knuckles. "Can't you feel my love for you?"