Mine...Yours Pt. 09

I felt her head butt me...

My shield held.

I felt her claws try to dig in...

My shield held.

She tried to knee me, to break my hold she wriggled like a snared snake!

My shield held!

Then I heard it, a quiet whisper from her lips.

"My...Greg..."

Her safe words!

I immediately let go and dropped the shield. I fell back on the ground panting like I had run a marathon! I looked over and saw that my succubae was in the same shape, though her armor seemed to have hair line cracks in it around her biceps and chest. She was grinning at me from ear to ear though as that black armor began to sink back into her.

"That was SOOO much fun Master!" she crowed and flopped back to stare up at the morning sky.

"You had me thinking that you were serious!" I tried to yell but it came out as a wheeze. "I thought I was fighting for my life! I thought you were really going to kill me!"

She wiggled her hand in the air in a "Maybe" gesture.

"I thought about maybe breaking your arm or leg, then just decided to push you hard to see what you could come up with when you were really pressed." Lucretia sighed and stretched, her arms over her head, her back arching pushing her breasts up. I could see her nipples were hard and she ran one hand down over her chest and belly and down the inside of her thighs. I blinked and looked away.

I found out that combat for some reason made Lucretia as horny as a cat in heat! Well, minus the mewing and the clawing and so forth. Well...she does the clawing I guess now that I think about it!

"Hey! What the hell is going on over there?" I heard a voice yell over the fence and a blonde head peered over with an angry scowl. I was looking upside down into Hildy's face. I saw the werewolf scan the yard and shake her head as she saw burn marks and holes from explosions and so forth all across my backyard!

"You guys keep it down! We got a meeting happening here soon...okay?" Hildy said.

The leader of the Gatewatch had been avoiding both my roommate and I for the past month. I know that Lucretia had spent time with Jemima and Gwen on several occasions now, but Hildy was always absent. Hildy also avoided me, and since I had been wanting to talk to her about what I had seen of her feelings for me...I was getting annoyed.

"You know Hildy...from this angle, I can see up your nose? You trim very well, can hardly see a thing!" I said in a slow drawl. Lucretia snickered and the large blonde wolf frowned down at me.

"Come on Hildy! Lighten up!" I said with a smile. Hildy glanced back and forth between me and my roommate and raised her lip in a silent snarl.

I made a snap decision and said, "Lucretia, please go inside...Hildy and I have to talk." Lucretia stood, looked Hildy over casually and then started to move closer to me. I stopped her.

"Not now Lucretia. I need to talk to Hildy." I said firmly. My roommate stared at the side profile of my face as I kept eye contact with my neighbor. I saw her nod once and then walk back inside. Within a few steps she had changed back to her human appearance, but her clothing had shifted to include a long sleeved T-shirt in dark blue and skinny jeans...skinny jeans!

Hate skinny jeans! We were going to have a talk later.

Hildy kept staring at me and we kept up the eye contact for a while. I knew it was ticking her off, that is kind of what I wanted. Just like Jemima she gets off balance when she was ticked. I didn't want to attack her though, didn't want a fight. I just wanted her to talk to me! Communication is the key to any relationship. Whether it's with your parents, your children, friends...hell...even your barber! Don't tell your barber what you want, you get a lousy haircut. Hence why I buzz my head every other week.

"What did I do to make you hate me Hildy?" I asked quietly. Hildy looked startled at my question. I guess she was expecting me to say something else. I pressed forward more, while I could tell she was off balance.

"Is it because I have an Outsider? Is it because I tried to survive an impossible situation? Or is it because I am trying to teach her to play nice with others? What is it Hildy? Why are you avoiding me? Why do you move away when I try to talk to you? Why do you leave the house when Lucretia and I come over?"

I got up and then put my hands on top of the fence and gave a little jump and yanked myself over to land in her yard. Darn arborvitae sticking to my clothes!

I kept on talking and her eyes were getting bigger. "Ever since you all came over to my house and we talked about the binding and everything that happened, ever since I told you we needed to talk..." I shook my head.

"Can we talk now Hildy? Just tell me what's wrong? I know you got a meeting soon and I don't want you to miss it... How about you just tell me what the problem is and I will go home and think about what I can do for my part? Then we can talk again and...MmmMPh?"

I am a pretty big guy. Pretty solid and thick. I am not moved easily. Then again, having a 7 foot tall Nordic Werewolf grab me in her arms and kiss me hard was a surprise!

For several seconds I felt her lips on mine and she tasted...well...not all that much experienced in kisses. Lucretia's were the best in my book, but Hildy's was a close second! She let me go and gave my lips a quick lick with her tongue before stepping back.

"I'm sorry, just wanted to do that once to see what it was like. If this conversation doesn't go well I wanted to at least know what it was like to kiss you." She said firmly, her hands on her hips as she looked me over.

I wobbled once on my feet and steadied myself with a hand on the fence. Okay...maybe that kiss was a little more than second...! I shook off the feelings I felt.

"So you want to know my problem Greg? You want to know my issue?" She said sternly. I nodded and rubbed a hand on the back of neck.

"I am jealous!" Hildy snarled. "I am jealous that...that I can't have you!" Hildy raised her right hand from her hip to cover her eyes and groaned.

"I can't believe I even SAID that out loud!" She sighed. I couldn't believe it either! I mean, look at her! Then look at me! If ever there was an unexpected response that was...I mean...what the hell? Hildy is tall, blonde, stacked and smells really good. I am short, squat, and I smell only alright. There is something wrong with this picture!

"Ah...uh...Hildy? Why in the world would you want ME?" I asked incredulously. The very idea that this beautiful creature would want me was...the look she gave me as I asked the question was almost as disbelieving as my own.

"You're kidding right? Greg? You're not kidding. You really don't see it?" Hildy asked in surprise. I shook my head and shrugged.

"You are a beautiful woman Hildy. I am...not. I mean I am not a woman or beautiful obviously but I am not, you know. I am not in your class of...you understand what I am saying here?" I asked, upset with my own lack of articulation.

She laughed and shook her head in response. "I get it but you're missing the point." She motioned to me to follow and we walked up onto her back porch passing the pool that I had helped put in a few months before. Jemima waved from inside the house where she was vacuuming and Gwen was putting together plates of appetizers. Hildy directed me to sit in a chair at the patio table. She sat across from me and seemed to gather her thoughts.

"I am the daughter of the Alpha of this area. It includes all of the Portland Metro Area, extends to Tillamook down to Eugene and as Far East as Bend." She told me. I said nothing but on the inside my stomach lurched...that was a large tract of land!

"Being the daughter of an Alpha, I was constantly being courted until I became a member of the Gatewatch, for seven years we dedicate ourselves to protecting our world from people who try to tear the Veil either on purpose or just from ignorance. My Father did it before me, and Jemima's Sire, and Gwen's Father...a warlock did it before her." She sighed and I waited for her to continue, I didn't want to ask any foolish questions and show my ignorance.

"Gate Watchers do not have relationships, we do not need the distraction. Actually, Jemima and Gwen didn't really need to worry about that...but that is their story to tell if you want to ask them about it." She leaned forward and put her elbows on the table.

"Being who I am, who my father is, and now my position of a prestigious role in the community...I could have anyone I want. I have too!" She said with a slightly predatory grin. I gulped, then raised an eyebrow at her. She chuckled at that and rubbed her fingertips over her lips.

"Then I met you...or rather I saw you through the window of your house. We had just moved here, shortly after we all met and swore our oaths. The house had opened up on the market, the original owner complaining they needed to sell it and fast! They took a massive loss on it too. We had it checked out but everything was on the level and we moved in." She rubbed her throat and didn't meet my eyes.

"I don't know how much you have read or how much you know about our kind. We do not have "soulmates" as the romance novels like to say. We do not smell someone and then our souls call out to each other! That's a load of horse shit!"

She met my eyes again, "That is not to say we can't like the way someone smells and want to get to know them better."

I shifted uncomfortably, then had a thought that made me start to chuckle...then laugh and laugh hard! Hildy looked at me in surprise and I tried to explain but it took me a few seconds to get my laughter under control.

"You like the way I smell and I empty dumpsters for a living?" I saw her start to nod but when I finished speaking she froze and looked horrified at what I was implying. Then she laughed as well! Which got me going again. Hildy for all of her beauty has a funny deep pitched tittering laugh that is almost as funny as a good joke by itself!

"It's not only your smell Greg..." she told me with a mock glare. "...it's also your humor, how you talk. The way you carry yourself." She looked down at the table and idly scratched a neatly trimmed nail on the glass surface.

"It was nice to not have to be the Alpha's daughter or a Gate Watcher with someone...to just be myself. To get to know someone without those restrictions of class keeping everything formal." She paused a moment and swallowed and then looked even further away from me, off to the side and out into the yard.

"Also, you would hide from us...emotionally. It made me...want...to chase you. To draw you out, to see if I could make you want to get to know us. To like us...to like me." Hildy said quietly.

I sat up at that. Being my friend was a game to her? This didn't sound like the Hildy I know...but, it made sense in a weird fashion. What is one thing that a predatory animal will do if you try to run? It would chase you! Duh.

"So...if I understand correctly what you are saying Hildy. You kind of liked me, and when I would want to be alone and would pull back from you it made you want to follow...to chase me?" I asked just as quietly. I tried to keep the bit of anger in my belly out of my voice but I guess some came through anyway. She turned back to face me and gripped my hands in hers where they were resting on the table.

"I know that sounds bad Greg, but that was just my instinct. I liked...like you. I wanted to get to know you better. I wanted to have the chance to become closer to you and see if anything developed." She growled in frustration.

"Then that damned Halloween party! We all were having a great time and then some of us started making out and one of my old pack mates was there and soon we all were having a real party. I remember seeing you come in, then cover your face and step outside again. Then you came back in and I saw the look in your eyes. You were angry, and determined. I saw that new girl who had been invited in by someone talking to you. I saw her change and then I saw you..."

She glanced down at our hands and she released my left one to wrap both of her large soft palms around my right one. "I saw you fight for us Gregory." She said softly. Her eyes were large and warm, her smile was small and inviting like she was sharing a special secret with me.

"In my position we fight for others, it is a rare thing to have someone fight for us...it felt...good!" Hildy said, her fingers now stroking my wrist.

"Then we found out your secret, and saw how you were treated. It confirmed your actions and the reason you were the way you are. We saw your house and then your basement..." Hildy continued, her nails lightly scratching my skin sending pleasurable chills up and down my arm.

"I saw what you were, a man...who once was peaceful, forced to harden himself and just wanted to be left alone. It called out to both the animal side of me to hunt and pursue you. You are powerful in your own way..." Her fingers then began to sooth the small light scratches she had been giving me.

"At the same time though, the fact that you were so broken hearted and undecided on your course of actions called to the woman in me. That, together with how you already were, made me want you all the more!" Hildy raised my hand and kissed the inside of my wrist, her tongue flicking out for a moment to taste my skin with a feather like touch.

I didn't pull away, I was feeling really comfortable...surprisingly so. She continued explaining her thoughts to me, but was now massaging my hand, both of her hands working my palm.

"Then to find you bound to a succubae? I was sure you would be dead soon! Jemima and Gwen both sided with me, we had to act after that night when you stood up for that creature. Then we met your family and watched how you all interacted...I felt despair!" She stopped and looked down at my hand.

"I can smell Lucretia on you Greg!" Hildy said softly in a small voice. "Even doing what I have been doing to your skin I can still smell and taste her on you!" She looked up at me.

"So now you know. I am jealous, and I have been avoiding both you and her because I wanted you and as long as you have her I don't even have a chance. Or she might kill you and that is the same thing as well." She set my arm back on the table and wiped at her eyes, even though I saw no evidence of tears.

"I am not used to losing something when I really want it. Maybe that's my problem. Maybe it's just a blocked goal...I..." her voice trailed off as I got up from my chair and circled around to her side of the table. I crouched down so I was slightly looking up into her face.

"Thank you..." I said to her. "You don't know how special you made me feel knowing that a woman as beautiful and powerful as you wanted me. It makes me feel a lot better about myself. I have not been wanted by anyone in a long time." Then I hugged her.

I said once that there are different kinds of hugs and I had detailed them in two categories. This one definitely falls into the giving kind. I wanted her to know I had heard and appreciated what she had said. She clutched me back and I heard her whisper.

"Would I have had a chance with you?"

"I don't know..." I answered honestly. "I am a lot different right now than I was a month ago. Who can say?"

I pulled back to look in her eyes and I brushed her bangs back out of her face. "I do know that it hurt a lot to not have you in my life. Please don't shut me out again?"

She sighed and looked down at the table. I was standing now and her arm was around my waist her head against my hip. "Alright...I will even try to be around the...Lucretia. I don't know how friendly I can be with her."

"Try for just being civil?" I suggested. Hildy snorted but smiled a little.

"I think I can do that!" She said with a small chuckle.

"Hildy...Alpha Michael is here and...oh, hi Greg!" Gwen said as she was drying her hands off with a hand towel. I smiled and held out my other arm to her and she gave me a half hug.

"Egad!" I heard Jemima groan. "Anymore sweetness...gah! It's all I can take. Careful or a whole bunch of Hallmark cards are going to be born!"

I saw Jemima walking on to the back porch with a small dark haired man following her. Jemima had a couple of bottles of ale which she set on the table.

"The meeting is going to start soon. Trevor, this is Greg, our next door neighbor with the Succubae roommate. Gregory...this is Trevor Malfour, Gwen's Dad and teacher."

I held out a hand and shook his, he gave me a considering look, then smiled and said, "Gwen has talked a lot about you and Lucretia. I guess I should say I am ...grateful? For her to have the experience of working with an Outsider...but I still have some concerns." He shook his head and chuckled.

"I'm sorry! Fathers have the right to be concerned...but I shouldn't be giving you a hard time about it!" He gave me a grin and asked, "Were you invited to this meeting as well?"

A female voice softly sailed through the sliding glass doors to the porch and answered before I could open my mouth.

"Of course not!" A gorgeous red head stepped out in a long dress that had a long slit on the side to expose long...very long legs. Even in the shade of the overhang that covered the back porch from the light of the sun I could see that she was a vampire...how you ask? Nope...didn't need my Sight. She just strutted like she owned the place! I guess she felt it was important to maintain the stereotypes.

The smile she gave me took the sting out of her earlier words, though it did make me feel a little like a fly saying "How do you do?" to the spider before being invited into its parlor for a drink!

"Impressive specimen he may be, he is still not..." her voice trailed off as she smelled me. She choked for a moment. "You know William?" She murmured absently as she took a step back.

"Ummm...if you mean is he my friend then yes I know him. If you mean...well, I have no idea how else you could mean that so yes, I know him."

She peered at me closely. "Do you know who I am?" I shook my head to show I did not. I also was fast coming to the realization that I was swimming in water a little out of my depth!

"I am Suzanne...a one-time disciple of William's. I am Jemima's Sire." She said. I shrugged and held out my hand to shake, which she did not. I looked down at my hand then at her hands and said, "I do wash my hands Suzanne."

She nodded, "Yes, but I prefer to not have William the Terrible's smell on my body. Nothing personal to you...but I would rather avoid that!"

I was about to ask her what she meant by "William the Terrible!" when I heard a deep and melodious voice ask, "Hilda...child...who is this...person?"

The voice did about three different things to me. The first thing it did was make me feel like a small boy in torn jeans and muddy from splashing in mud puddles suddenly meeting the president of the United States. The second thing it did was confirm the fact that yes, indeed I was swimming in deep waters that had sharks in it. The third thing it did?

It pissed me off!

The owner, I assume a male from tone and texture of the voice, was probably a very nice person once you got to know him. The problem was that the inflections used and how words were said led me to believe that this person viewed themselves as a noble of sorts and most others as peasants.

I turned and saw a man...a very, very good looking man! He was dressed in a dark grey blazer with matching pants and black turtle neck. When his eyes met mine they hardened and I almost caught a snarl before his lips smoothed out. In turn I felt my face blanch and I grit my teeth in real anger now! Then I smiled and held out a hand to him.

"Hello Judge Roberts! It's good to see you again now that I am out of jail and outside of a courtroom!" I looked over at Hildy.