GUINEVERE
Damien pulled away from me, his lips just barely touching mine in a gentle kiss. When I looked up into his eyes questioningly he didn't offer up a response, instead changing the subject completely.
"So are you ready for tonight?" He asks with a grin plastered on his face.
"Uhhh not really." I reply honestly, I am excited to meet Sabrina, but I am nervous about shifting. I've heard your first time can be painful."
"Yes, your first time can hurt, but luckily for you, you'll have your mate with you, me being there will help lessen your pain, especially since I am an Alpha wolf."
My heart flutters when Damien calls himself my mate, but I choose to ignore it. He won't be mine soon, so there's no reason to get attached to the thought of keeping him.
"We we'd better hurry." Damien states as he walks towards the door leading into the hallways, grabbing the SUV keys that I hadn't realized he'd hung up until just barely. "We're going to want to get to the spot before nightfall."
I quietly follow Damien out into the SUV. The drive is silent as we cruise through the forest, neither of us knowing what to say to the other. Damien finally pulls up to a dirt trail, putting the SUV in park and turning towards me, "Okay from here we hike."
"Wait? Did you say hike?" I shriek, my nerves rapidly climbing, "Uhh.. I don't know about you, but this girl, yeah this girl don't hike." I reply.
""Really?" Damien asked skeptically. "What wolf , doesn't like to hike."
"Oh geeze. I dunno know." I reply, "Perhaps one that grew up on the outskirts of pack property because of ancient history, a little girl who was a pariah to society, and the perfect victim for bullies. Once I started coming home with torn clothes and black eyes, my parents stopped letting me out of their sight. They took me out of school and homeschooled me. If it wasn't for them allowing me to go to the human village, I would have grown up alone with just my parents.
Leo let out a deep growl at the mention of my injuries, "Who the fuck was it?" Damien asked, his voice not his own, "Who hurt you? Who tormented you?"
"It doesn't matter anymore, it was a long time ago." I reply letting out a sigh, not wanting to recall the traumatic events that made up my childhood."
Sensing my need for a topic change, Damien reaches over and grabs my hand, "Well I am glad you get to experience your first hike with me. I can point out all the little things that one would normally miss. This trail is extravagant."
Damien's hand in mine felt natural, like my hand was made to be held like his. The sun was warm on my back and the air was fresh and crisp, being out here like this with Damien by my side, was relaxing, and even though I know that this feeling won't last, I let myself soak it in for the time being, "Damien, will you tell me about your first shift." I ask, wanting to learn more about him.
He smiles down at me as we continue walking side by side, hand in hand, "I am actually taking you to where my father took me when I first shifted."
I didn't know how to feel about Damien taking me to where he first shifted, it made me feel like I was special and that I was important to him, but that isn't the case. I am nothing to Damien, if anything I am just a nuisance who he happens to be sexually attracted to.
Lost in my thoughts, I continued to walk up the steep trail with Damien, hoping that by the time we reached our destination this weird feeling in my chest would be gone. Blaming my sudden onset of feeling on our nearness strengthening the mate bond, I take my hand from Damien's and take a step back, letting him lead the way. Damien gives me a glance, but doesn't say anything as he continues to lead the way.
As I try my hardest not to check out Damien's perfectly sculpted ass, I find myself tripping over a large unearthed root, my body propelling towards the forest floor. Damien reacts faster than I can, turning his body quickly and snatching me into his arms, pulling me into his chest, breaking my fall.
"You really are a terrible wolf," He murmurs in my ear.
I shove him away from me playfully as I cross my arms and pout. "Don't be mean. I told you I wasn't a much of a hiker." I pout.
Damien lets out a hearty laugh, "You sure are cute when you pout." He steps closer to me, causing me to step back, tripping over the root once again. This time he takes me by the waist and huffs me up onto his shoulders.
"Damien Valencia!" I holler, smacking his back, "Put me down this instant."
Damien laughs again, no doubt find my antics to get him to release me hilarious. "Now now little wolf, there's no need for a fit." Damien states slapping my ass, "I can't have you going and hurting yourself before you even have time to shift. You and I are both safer if I carry you the rest of the way up. You won't have to worry about falling down the side of the mountain, and I won't have to worry about Leo officially disowning me, because I ruined the chance of him getting to know his mate."
Damien did have a point, but I wasn't about to admit that he was right. "Stop manhandling me you brute." I reply smacking him on the back once again. His only reply a quick smack to my ass again.
Finally I let out a sigh of defeat and stopped trying to struggle out of Damien's grasp as he trekked the rugged terrain.
"We're here." Damien replies after what only feels like ten more minutes of hiking. He gently releases me, my body sliding down his. He of course still looks like a model. There's not a drop of sweat on his body, and if it weren't for the dirt on his boots, you wouldn't have believed him, if he told you he'd just hiked up a mountain carrying a struggling one hundred and fourty pound woman.
"Of course that asshole didn't even break a sweat." I grumble to myself, pushing my sweaty hair out of my face. Damien raises an eyebrow at me, but I turn away from him, taking in the view of the spot we'd... okay he'd hiked too. "Wow...This is..." The view, is magnificent, it's indescribable and I find myself unable to communicate the beauty of it all.
We're in clearing, the entire clearing shaded by the dense forest trees. Inside the clearing is a natural hot spring the size of a pond, which sits in front of a small cavern, off to the side of a cavern is a small wooden cottage.
"So?" Damien asks.
"It's absolutely breathtaking. That spring looks wonderful. I am kind of sad that you didn't warn me to bring a swimsuit,"
"You won't need one. It's only me and you up here. The only other people who know about this spot are Asher and my father. And they're both busy. Besides, it's better to be nude now anyways. Once you shift you won't want to rip through your clothes." Damien replies.
I guess what he's saying does make sense and the water does look lovely. Ah fuck it. It's not like werewolves are ashamed of their nudity, and it's not like Damien hasn't seen all of this before. I start running towards the hot spring, laughing like a maniac as I strip off one piece of clothing at a time, not caring where they might end up. I am fully nude by the time I reach the spring, and I can hear Damien quickly approaching me from behind. I dip my big toe in the water first, making sure it actually is warm, and that the steam that's coming off the top is in fact steam. The temperature is perfect. I let out a small hum of delight.
Just as I am about to ease my body into the water, Damien comes up behind me and pushes me in. I let out a small scream as I fall into the water, my impact to it's surface causing a small splash, which is quickly followed by Damien's big one.
"What if I didn't know how to swim." I shout at Damien, pushing my wet hair from my face.
"Well there's no better time to learn how to swim, than when you're trying to save your own life." He chuckles.
I glare at him as I swim away, putting some distance between us. Damien doesn't seem to realize what I'm doing or he doesn't care, because he follows me, until I end up cornering myself against the cavern wall.
"You've changed," I blurt out, causing Damien to stop, leaving a small gap between us.
"How so?" He asks,
"You're more approachable, you seem less guarded. Your eyes, instead of being void of all emotion, now have a sparkle of happiness. You look happy. Back at the pack, you seemed withdrawn, but now, you're almost carefree." I reply, letting myself get lost in his scent and the intensity of his blue eyes.
Damien clears his throat, as he stares back at me, his hand reaching up and cradling my face."Guinevere, I'm not sorry we were mated together." Damien states, causing my breath to hitch, "These last few days, they have been some of the happiest days of my life... If things were different.. If... Well there's not point in if's but I am glad that I was able to spend this time with you. I am glad that the moon goddess paired us together. You really are my perfect match."
"Damien," I whisper his name quietly unsure how to respond.
I watch as Damien closes off his emotions once more, his throat bobbing as he takes a deep swallow and lets his hand fall down from my face.
"Alright," He states taking a step to the side of me, and using the lip of the pond to pull himself out of the water, "I'll shift first. Seeing Leo will help you with calling Sabrina forward, and it'll help your body adjust to the shift. Leo being near by will help harness some of your pain."
I want to talk about his confession, but I know now isn't the time, maybe later before we meet with Rose, we will have a chance to rehash this conversation. I nod my acknowledgement at Damien as I follow him out of the pond.
His bones started cracking before my feet hit the dirt, his body effortlessly shifting into his beautiful black wolf.
"Hi Leo." I whisper as he nudges his muzzle into my palm. "It's nice to finally meet you."
'Sabrina, are you ready for this?'
'As ready as I'll ever be.'
I can feel the instant Sabrina takes control of our body. I feel like my entire being is on fire, like my core is burning from the inside out, my body wracked with pain, as my bones prepare to crack for my first shift.
Leo nuzzles in closer, allowing me to drape my arms around his neck and cry into his fur.
"Fuck, it hurts so much." I cry out.
'Just a little bit longer Gwynn.' Sabrina calls out to me, 'I'm almost there now. Try to relax, take in Leo's scent. Big breath in, slow breath out.'
I follow Sabrina's instructions, letting the presence of Leo, calm my pain, his scent providing me the level of comfort my body needed to get through this transition. I can hear my bones start to break, but I can't feel the pain anymore. It's there still, I can hear the soft hum of it, but it's in the back of my mind. My only focus, was letting Sabrina take full control of my body. I can tell the moment my first shift is complete, my sense of being felt off, almost like I was in a dream like state, but with my increased senses, I knew I wasn't asleep. I was finally in my wolf form.