Red and her Wolf Ch. 07

Emily

Dawn has just colored the horizon when I'm jarred alert by my phone vibrating. A text from a number I don't recognize. Three words slowly register as I blink my sleep-fuzzed eyes at the screen.

Busy little bee.

With a groan, I hurl my phone to the other side of the bed. This is Kade's promised text? I guess he's really drawing a line in the sand. Keeping things as distant and neighbourly as possible. I'm not sure what I was hoping for but the wifi password that I already knew was definitely not it.

Despite my frustration with the message, I end up spending the morning putting that wifi password to good use: watching Youtube videos to learn how to repair my leaky sink. After over an hour of labouring under the dripping pipes, I emerge triumphant. I finally fixed something in this cabin all by myself. I am not completely dependent on other people out here.

The triumph is short-lived. After setting down my wrench on the kitchen table, I notice Kade's jean jacket hanging off the chair. I stare at it for a good ten seconds, an insistent reminder of what I cannot have.

I decide to face the music then and there. Return the jacket to it's owner, humiliation be damned. I'll get it over with and keep my distance from now on. Something I should have done the moment he called me city girl.

Jacket under my arm and head held high, I leave my cabin. Twist around the oak trees and walk with determined legs up Kade's driveway. The black Volkswagen is gone, only the blue pickup truck shining over the dirt.

His gnarled front porch makes my palms sweat as I approach the steps. A stag skull looms above the doorway, antlers huge and sharply pointed, holes where eyes once peered now glaring at me. A dried-black bouquet of roses hangs upside down from the window. Clean animal bones sit in the center of the small coffee table in front of the rocking chair. Bird skulls and claws. Sinister beauty.

I knock on the wooden door. No one answers. Another knock and still no answer. I wander back down the steps, veer around the side of the house and pass through an open garden gate.

Kade is on the opposite side of the yard, that strong back to me like our first meeting. Except this time there's a beekeeping veil over his head. Arms gloved to elbows. Hive before him as he extracts a frame gooey with honeycomb.

Before I can greet him, I'm met with a husky "Hey, Red." first.

I pause in the center of his lawn, squinting at the broad back still facing me. Was I really walking that loudly? I'm barefoot too, a new habit I seem to be taking on as the days pass."Hi, erm, sorry to trespass but...I have your jacket." I cautiously stay where I am. Not exactly confident around beehives. Or Kade, for that matter. "Where should I put it?"

Kade leans to inspect the guts of the hive, bees circling overhead. "You can bring it over here if you want."

Yeah, right. "Uh." I take a step forward, then back, fingers wringing denim. "Do you have a hazmat suit I can borrow first or...?"

Kade answers with a chuckle, sliding the frame back down, gently closing the hive. He lifts his veil, removes his gloves and sets them down on a nearby table. With long strides he closes the space between us and takes the jacket from my arms, sliding it on his own lean body.

What's left of my confidence crumbles, all goosebumps and heart flutters again. I struggle to not lower my eyes, wondering what he must think of me now. The pathetic girl that couldn't keep her lips to herself.

"Did you get my text?" His question punctures my frenzied thoughts.

My teeth worry at my bottom lip. "You mean, the the wifi password?" I sound more disappointed than I probably should. "Yeah. I did."

"Good." He clears his throat and lengthy silence follows. A chicken rustles past.

Awkward. This unresolved tension between us was less excruciating before the cat got out of the bag and he discovered how stupidly desperate I am. I shift from foot to foot, preparing to bolt. "Well, I should be going back now." I spin towards the gate. "Have a nice day-"

"Hold on a sec." His fingers brush my arm and my breath catches. Our eyes lock and I am sucked in far too deep. "Are you busy right now?"

I am profoundly un-busy. Kindergarteners have a more stressful schedule than I do. "Kind of..."

"It's just-" He glances towards his house, face turning a bit distraught. "My sister was supposed to help me with the hives and the garden today but she bailed. I was really counting on a second pair of hands."

"Your...sister?" I go very, very still. Mind sputtering.

He nods. "You've probably seen Phoenix around. She's been living with me for the past month or so. Said she was going to lend a hand on the regular but you know how teenagers are."

"Teenagers," I echo dumbly. Rendered stupid by the cyclone of confusion and relief whirling in my stomach. "You have a teenage sister..."

"Well, she'll be twenty next month," he confides. "But she's just an overgrown baby to me."

I'm still reeling as the pieces click together. "I thought she was, like, twenty-six. My age."

"She's always seemed older than she is. It's a blessing and a curse." He pauses, sucking his teeth. "Not to pressure you, but I could really use a hand." A grin suddenly bewitches me. "Maybe we could consider it a fair exchange for the free wifi."

I take a moment to consider. "I suppose I could help out for a little while." I have to admit. I've always been curious about what beekeeping entails.

Then a stark question hits me. If Kade has a sister, and he likes me enough to give me constant hungry looks, flirt with me, be extra helpful...why is he not available?

"Here." He reaches for the veiled hat, places it on my head. Hands me the gloves before he guides me towards the hive.

The gloves come on, far too big for my hands. "Is this really enough to not get stung?" I don't like the thought of my arms and legs still exposed.

"You won't." He gives me an assured glance. "I promise."

The conviction in his voice soothes my nerves, muscles loosening slightly. "What about you? What if you get stung?"

"I've only been stung once in over two years of doing this. I just wear the gear for kicks." He grabs a strange looking metal contraption from the side of the hive. Something that looks like a cross between a frenchpress and half an accordion. "Hold this."

I take the weird device in my hands. Watch as he opens its lid to stuff the inside full of dried herbs. "What's this for?"

"It's a smoker." Kade holds a lit match to the kindling until a sweet-smelling haze fills the air. He deftly shuts the lid. "Lavender smoke. It gets the bees sleepy. Makes this whole process a lot easier." He turns to open the hive and my pulse escalates at the rising buzz. "Now pump the bellows and aim it towards the bees."

I step closer, dutifully aim the spout at the hive, pushing the accordion-looking side in and out. Smoke fills the air in languid plumes.

He removes a screen of honeycomb. Golden, oozing, rich. I salivate inadvertently. "It looks amazing." A few more pumps of smoke. Fat bees slowing to a waddle across the screen. "I've never seen honey straight out of the hive before."

"Wait until you taste it." His gaze touches my lips.

Those words shouldn't make my mind race towards sin but there it goes. "This is kind of fun," I say with a nervous laugh, words thick and syrupy in my mouth.

He scrapes honeycomb off the screen with a knife, waxy chunks falling into a plastic bin. "It's a lot more fun with two people."

Later, Kade and I are in his tiny, dark shed. Half-light streams through dusty windows. Lavender bundles hang from the rafters. Cupboards are stuffed full of homemade canned goods. We transfer honeycomb into a hand-cranked machine that spews out a glistening amber.

"This is more complicated than I thought. Also, more fascinating." Honey pools into a large bucket below and I watch, entranced.

"Want to try some?" Kade retrieves a spoon from a mason jar of cutlery. He dips it in the filling bucket and hands it to me.

I take the spoon to my mouth, swallowing as our gazes meet. Kade's jaw muscle ticks, shoulders holding tension as he watches me. Cool nectar travels down my throat. A sensual glide. "It's delicious." The truth, but my mind isn't on the honey right now.

The corner of his mouth lifts. He takes the spoon from me and licks the spot I missed.

Lust ripples up my spine.

"Did you draw anything today?" Kade asks me as we cross his yard towards the garden beds. I keep close behind him, stopping to watch him inspect his plants. He rubs a leaf of thriving rainbow chard between his fingers, weeding dandelions around the perimeter.

"A little. I added to a sketch I already made." Of him. The portrait in his truck.

"You've got a lot of talent, Red." Honesty lights his voice. "Glad you're able to get back into your art out here."

"It's an inspiring place," I admit, face heating at his compliment. "Actually, the more you bring it up, the more I want to draw my surroundings."

"Well, feel free to draw anything you want back here." He gestures to his plot of land, his free-range chickens, a rabbit disappearing into the brush. The overflowing flowerbeds competing with the beauty of the sky-high oak trees. "Or if you want anything from the garden, just ask. That way you won't have to go into town too often."

This is becoming too much. It's so hard not to take his kindness as an invitation to get closer, to break the barrier between us once more and kiss him hard.

Once the seal breaks, it's hard to pretend it never happened.

"And if you ever want to come over to play guitar for me, you're welcome to any time as well," I say boldly.

Kade pauses. An air of caution as he slowly assesses me. Then he reaches to stroke a tendril of my hair. Caresses the auburn lock between thumb and forefinger before his knuckles graze down my arm. A trail of fire. When he moves his hand away, I nearly moan at the loss.

A gruff sigh. "What am I going to do with you, Red?" On the surface, his tone is teasing, but underneath there's taut frustration.

"Whatever you want to do with me." Boldness strikes again, shocking to my own ears. This is not how I usually act but I like how it makes him break. How it makes the roles reverse. I'm nearly vibrating with the adrenaline of it. Now with the girlfriend confusion out of the way, all I want to do is dive in. See what happens, if he'll pull back from me again.

I don't get why he keeps pulling back from me.

Kade looks away as he massages the back of his neck. A nervous tick I'm beginning to recognize. He takes a long breath."What do you have planned for tonight?"

Is this really happening? Is he going to ask me out?

"Nothing." I keep my gaze steady on him.

"I made this honey mead last year," he says with a light shrug. "I was thinking of playing some music on the porch tonight with my sister and trying out the first batch. Do you want to join us?"

My face lights up with a grin. Yes, his sister's in the mix, but maybe there's hope for me after all. "I'd love to."

Kade grins back, and there's no mystery or aloofness in it. Just genuine warmth, like he can't wait. It melts my heart into the softest taffy.

*

Kade

If I thought I was a shitty wolf, I am a far shittier human being.

What the fuck is wrong with me? I'm acting like some pining asshole. No, worse: a pining asshole whose words don't match his actions. I told myself I'd stay away from Red. I told her I couldn't be involved. So why am I only getting closer and closer?

To be fair, I did genuinely need help with the honey. But asking her to come over for a drink? I am digging myself into a deeper and deeper hole, enslaving myself to my own selfish desires.

Before my last girlfriend, I wasn't like this. Wasn't so concerned about self-restraint. I was a hedonist. A wanderer. Going from town to town, job to job, girl to girl. Drifting and aimless, not caring who I fucked or hurt. For years it was just sex and more sex. A blur of rushed orgasms, shared cigarettes and messy bedsheets. Girls who vanished in the morning light like magic. A hollow exchange of meaningless pleasure.

Then everything changed: I fell head over heels and committed myself to a human woman. My first real relationship.

It was a disaster.

I betrayed her trust by simply being what I am, eventually no longer able to hide both sides of myself: witch and wolf. When she finally found out my true nature, she left me. Over a year of love down the drain in the blink of an eye, poisoned with bitterness. She ripped my heart into ribbons, scattered the pieces and stomped on them. Now it's been two years since I've been with any woman.

The reality is quite simple: humans and shifters don't mix. They never have. They never will. It's a fragile combination that can only lead to suffering. My own parents are a great example of this. Even my sorceress mother couldn't handle a shifter. And for the years that she could, she lived a life of fresh bruises and tiptoed steps, slipping belladonna in my father's booze to calm his mood swings. Afraid of her own sons as they grew into beasts.

Her life was one of pain before she escaped.

I don't want to bring any woman pain ever again. Especially Red. Especially now that Brethren might be on my doorstep any day now, howling and keening under the moon, thirsty for a kill.

I should be keeping my distance. Better yet, I should be getting her out of this town, far away from me and my dangerous past.

Yet, I can't seem to stay away. Can't seem to be near her without inching closer, touching her, dying to taste her. It took all my will power to pull back when she kissed me. Brutal effort, especially when I could smell how fucking wet she was.

She wants me.I want her. It should be simple-No, not just want her, I genuinely like her. Want to make sure she's okay. Worrying about her more than I should, which frankly hasn't happened before between me and anybody but family.

It should be simple, but it's not. Things could never be simple with us.

But when I'm near her again tonight, if I touch her skin or meet that doe-eyed stare. If I feel her sweet laugh twirling around me like goddamn butterflies, I don't know how I'm going to restrain myself.

Wolves aren't exactly known for their self control when they're hungry.

*

Emily

I won't lie. I'm bordering on giddy as I approach Kade's porch this evening.

Darkness has fallen. I walk towards the sound of folk-infused guitar, the swell of crisp violin. Wearing a low-cut white lace dress, fabric flowing around my thighs, my sketchbook nestled under one arm.

A slowly twirling lantern reflects stars over the front door and patio. Kade and his sister play off each other in the shifting light. Him, seated, playing a black acoustic guitar. Phoenix, standing, with her dark beauty, her agile bow. Both of them skilled, making the hairs on my nape and arms rise to attention. Kade sees me with glinting eyes, nods towards an available wicker chair next to him. I take my seat quietly. Clutch my drawing pad to my chest, breath held, not wanting to disturb the magic.

The song soon winds to a melodious end. Silence falls. Kade sets his sight on me and my stomach does that familiar backflip again.

"Hey there, neighbour," Phoenix cocks a hip, eyes running up and down me to analyze. "I've been looking forward to officially meeting Kade's special mystery girl."

Kade shoots his sister a glare. "Emily, this is my little sister, Pheonix. Phoenix, Emily."

"Hi." I wave a cheerful hand, tingles in my stomach at Kade saying my real name. Phoenix sets aside her violin, reaches towards that taxidermy covered coffee table for a metal jug of what I assume is mead. "You guys play so beautifully"

"We try." She pours me a wine glass full of golden brown liquid. Then pours her and Kade a serving. She lifts her drink high between us. "To getting drunk off our asses."

I clink my glass to hers, then to Kade's. "I won't be getting drunk tonight."

Phoenix flashes a knowing smile as I drink up. Cobalt eyes catch the lantern light, a magnetic quality glittering in her that reminds me of her brother. "Then you're going to want to only drink half of that."

She's right. This stuff is strong. A spicy floral honey that burns down my throat. "It tastes great." I hold my glass between my thighs and watch in awe as Kade breaks into a series of guitar licks. Cunning fingers travelling up and down the frets. An ease in it that makes me realize this is his calling. Gardening and bee-keeping are nice and all, but this is what he was meant to do.

Phoenix rolls her eyes as his notes get increasingly complex. "Alright, Kade. Settle down." She perches the violin under her chin. "Let's do Elk River Blues."

I don't know the tune but it's perfection. Speaking their own language. Lulling me, tranquilizing. All of a sudden I feel homesick for a life I never had. Nostalgic for a time that has never existed for me. I sip my mead, drifting, dreaming while awake.

The song finishes. I clap maybe a bit too enthusiastically, not sure whether the euphoria is coming from the booze or the music at this point. Three small gulps and I'm already lightheaded. My near-empty stomach probably doesn't help.

Phoenix drinks more than her fair share. She pauses to pour herself another glass and I'm a tad disturbed at how she can hold her liquor so well for someone so young. Eagle-eyed and steady. Kade and I seem to be drinking at the same pace. Slow and careful sips.

Not that being careful matters. I can feel reality slipping, melting. A childish giggle escaping when I catch Kade eyeing me.

"You got enough light to draw with over there?" He reaches for the porch light switch.

"I wasn't planning to draw. Just needed a place to hold my...oh!" I remember why I brought the drawing pad now. "Your portrait." I flip through the pages. Pull out the loose sheet of paper with Kade's face gracing it. I hand it over to him, leaning close enough for my shoulder to push into his arm. The friction is heavenly."I don't expect you to pay, obviously. I just wanted you to have it."

"Of course I'll pay. It's your first commission." Kade shifts in his chair, fingers burrowing into his jean pocket before he pulls out a crumpled bill. "Is a fifty good?"

That's extravagant. I would have been happy with a dollar. "I feel weird taking that much money."

"Just take it, Red." His hand slowly swallows my wrist, the other pressing the bill into my palm. A short moment of contact that has me feeling dizzy, and not from the mead. "Everyone deserves to be paid for their work."

I can tell that the latter point hits close to home for him. I remember him writing on that business receipt in the truck and wonder if he's very shrewd about all of his income streams, his money, how he spends it. Something I never really considered until now. I was never really good with my finances.

"It didn't feel like work..."

I hear a loud slurp. Phoenix smiling coyly at me from behind her wine glass. "I think I'm gonna hit the proverbial hay." She tosses her dark hair behind her back before opening the front door. "Don't stay up too late, you two." A naughty wink followed by the door shutting behind her.

I sit there, tongue-tied at how clearly she saw the energy between us. I realize then that Kade's chair has somehow drifted closer to mine over the past hour. Our bodies sharing heat.

There's a moment of stillness. Night silent around us besides crickets chirping. Kade sets his guitar to lean on the wall of the house and passes me a look so hungry I'm grateful his sister just left.