Dark Side of the Moon (16 page)

Instead, as the song ended, I softly said to him, “I’ve got something for you in the car, London.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me, confusion on his face.  When I didn’t move, London took my hand, and led me out of the gym, out of the school.  If anyone said anything to us, I didn’t hear them.  My heart pounded so hard that I was sure London could hear it as if it was a drum.

I was very nervous when we arrived at his car.  After I opened the passenger door so I could retrieve the drawing lying on the floorboard, I opened the backdoor, and slid across the bench seat so he could get in, too.  After he closed the door, he turned and looked at me expectantly.

But I wasn’t exactly sure what to say to him.  So, taking a deep breath, I just told him what first popped into my mind.  “The past two months have been really hectic for me.  I had to leave the only home I’ve ever known, my friends and family, and was attacked during my first week here.  And it was even more difficult for me when you told me that a werewolf bit me and that we were mates.  And though I’m afraid about what all’s going to come next, I’m not completely opposed about being your mate, London.  I just…wanted to let you know that.”  Looking away from him, I placed the scroll in his lap.  I mostly didn’t meet his gaze because I felt my cheeks warming, and I had never said anything like this to any of the guys I had dated previously.

I mean, I just essentially told London that I was going to spend the rest of my life with him, and that was a pretty big deal for me.

When I heard him take the ribbon off the scroll, I glanced at him.  He was focused on unrolling the paper instead of me.  He looked over my drawing for a moment before smiling and turning to me.  “This is absolutely amazing, Selina.  Is this why you haven’t been drawing in class?  You didn’t want me to see it until now?”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything.

London looked at the drawing for a little longer before rolling it back up and replacing the ribbon.  Then he set it down between the front seats, and took my hands in his.  “There’s nothing to be scared about what’s going to come next, Selina.  I want you to be comfortable in the pack to where being around everyone and being their second alpha is second nature.  You won’t officially be the other alpha until after we’re mated, but that’ll be completely up to you.  I don’t want to rush us, and will wait, Selina.  And though Channing said that it was too early, I wanted to let you know that I love you, Selina.”

My heart skipped a couple beats.  He loved me?  Yeah, I knew we were mates, we had been spending a lot of time together, and I had given him something to show him that I accepted the idea of us being together forever, but was that love?

Before I could attempt to say anything, he leaned into me, and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips.  One of his hands cupped my cheek as the kiss intensified.  Now my heart skipped for different reasons, was thrilled to have him show his affection toward me.  He said that he’d wait until I was ready for us to officially become mates, and I hoped that he meant it.  Because this was as far I was willing to go with him right now.  His hand fell to my shoulder, then ran down my arm, and I pulled away from him before it could wander any further.

Then I whispered, “I love you, too, London.”

Chapter 18

After sharing a few more kisses, London took me back home.  I was practically in a daze, thinking about both of our little confessions.  But he broke me out of his thought’s when he said, “I think me bringing you home early will show your parents I’m responsible, which will come in handy next weekend.”

Curious as to what he meant, I asked, “Why?  What’s next weekend?”

“The full moon’s on Saturday.  I was thinking you could stay over at my place for the weekend.”

My eyes widened.  What was he suggesting?  And I couldn’t exactly ask my parents if I could stay at his place; they would definitely say no, so there was no point.  “L-London—”

“Just ask your parents if you can stay with Artemis, Selina.”

“Why do you want me to stay the night?”

“Because I want to spend time with you, Selina.  And it’ll help with the aches,” he added, almost under his breath; I was able to hear it with my heightened sense.

“I don’t know if I can convince them to let me ‘stay’ with her.  They don’t know her or her parents very well, which is a major factor for them.”

“We’ll think of something, Selina.  We do have a week to come up with something after all.”

Before he could say anything else, we pulled into my driveway.  Looking at the clock, I saw that it was almost nine.  My parents had told me to be home by ten, so I guess this was okay.  But the aches were going to be awful until I saw London in the morning.  After London turned his car off, he walked me to the front door, and took me into his arms.

We shared a few kisses before telling each other good night.  He waited until I had closed the door to return to his car.  My parents were sitting on the couch, watching TV.

“You’re home awfully early, Selina,” my mom said, turning her attention to me.

I shrugged as I headed to my room.  “London just wanted to make sure I didn’t get home late.”

“Did you have fun?”

I nodded.  “Dances just aren’t for me though,” I said as I ventured to the bathroom I shared with my brother.

After showering and washing away the little bit of make-up I had put on, I returned to my room to my phone ringing.

And of course, it was Miranda.  I contemplated answering it and getting everything over with or ignoring her for the time being to see if she’d leave me alone.  Taking a deep breath, I decided to go ahead and get it over with.  “H-Hello?”

“Have fun with the boyfriend?” she asked, her voice a little hard.

“Yeah, actually.  Are you going to berate me for not telling you before today?”

“Of course.  How could you not tell me, Selina?  When did this happen?  How did it happen?  What makes him so special?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache coming on.  “We’ve been dating for almost a month,” I quietly said, hoping she wouldn’t hear me.

“Do what?”

I took a deep breath.  “I said that we’ve been dating for almost a month.”

“Are you serious, Selina?”

“Yeah, and before you say anything, Miranda, the last couple of times I had tried to call you, you never answered.  So don’t try to say that I didn’t attempt to tell you.”

She was quiet for a moment.  “I just can’t believe that you didn’t tell me when it happened.”

I rolled my eyes.

“So, how did it happen?”

“He had slipped a drawing in my locker between classes, and we got to talking about it and found out we had a lot in common, and he asked me out.”  That was the simple, extremely condensed version, pretty much the only version I could tell her.

“What kind of drawing?”

“It was of a wolf.  He had seen me drawing one running, so he figured I liked them.”

“He gave you a drawing of a wolf after you were attacked by one?”

“It wasn’t that bad, Miranda, honestly.”

“Then why were you drawing one, Selina?  I know it’s a form of getting over something traumatic, but I don’t get why you’d accept a drawing of one from him.”

There was no way I could tell her the truth; London wouldn’t let me.  “I’m actually kind of interested in them now.  From what I’ve gathered their pack structure is complex and often times close-knit,” I said, hoping she would change the subject.

“God, you’re a weirdo.”

I rolled my eyes, growing frustrated with her.  “Well, if you’re going to insult me and my choices, then I’m going to go ahead and go.  Talk to you later, Miranda.”  Before she could say anything, I hung up.  I had wanted to tell her about what happened to me after the rogue attacked me, but I couldn’t because of London.  Now, I knew she and anyone else just wouldn’t understand.  And it was only going to get harder to talk to her and basically lie and leave out many facts about my day or life.  I needed to hang out with more pack members; they’d know what I was going through because they had to live the same lifestyle as me.

I was about to set my phone down on my nightstand when it buzzed with a message.  I figured it would be Miranda berating me again, but it was from London, asking if I wanted to go see a movie tomorrow.  After I sent a yes, he told me what time he’d be picking me up.  Then, we texted until I fell asleep.

I spent almost all of the weekend with London.  If we weren’t out on the town, we were in his room.  We had gone to the movies, and out to eat, but the rest of our time together was spent all over his room.

We lay on his bed, talking about nothing in general.  He asked about my childhood in Charleston, and I asked about his childhood here.  Where I had a few close friends, he had been a member of the pack since he was born, and was always around a large group of people.  And even though he was raised with all of his pack members, he was closest to Channing, and spent most of his time with him, so much so people thought they were brothers.

I also looked around his room.  He had paintings and drawings on the wall, but I didn’t see any sign that he painted in his room.  He did have a lot of video games, enough to rival Dan’s collection.

When I asked about where his drawing supplies were because they weren’t visible in his room, London took me to the next room over.  He had canvasses, paint cans, brushes, oils, charcoal pencils, and almost everything else one would want in an art studio.  Tarps were placed all over the walls and floor to keep the room clean, and I couldn’t tell what color they originally were they were stained so much.  If I was going to stay here next weekend, I think all of my time would be in this room.

For most of Sunday, London and I were in his studio, me watching him paint.  At first, I had no idea what he was doing on the canvas.  Then, after a while, a triangulated dragon took shape.  When he was finished, I took a closer look to find that the lines were very precise, and he didn’t even use a straightedge.  It boggled my mind that he was able to do that.

Then, he told me that someone had commissioned him to paint it.

London showed me his website where he uploads photos of his artwork for people to buy or submit commissions.  I was astounded that he actually did something with his work rather than it just being a hobby like it was for me.  He usually had a request a month, mostly due to him also being in school, and he wanted to do a good job on all of the work he was asked to make.

By the time I returned home that night, I was inspired.  My work was mediocre at best, was children’s drawings compared to what London could do.  So until I went to bed, I looked up some tips to help improve my drawing, and practiced for a bit.

During my morning classes, I drew in my sketchbook instead of taking notes.  Thankfully, none of my teachers said anything to me.  And I also caught London trying to look at what I was doing in the classes I had with him.  He’d just give me a smile and go back to taking his notes.

At lunch, while London talked to his pack members, I was texting Artemis, asking her if there was a way our parents could meet so mine would be more comfortable if I were to “stay” over at her house.  She had guessed that I was going to really be over at London’s, and said that she would let me know what day worked best for her parents.  I then suggested to London as he walked me to my next class if our parents could formally meet each other, too.  Sure, our dads worked together, and I was sure that they had met his mom for the Christmas party at the firm, but that was just as associates.  He then suggested that our families should meet with Artemis’ and Channing’s families since I’d be around them a lot.  After letting Artemis know, she was all on board with it when her parents said they had a free night.

After school, my mom was the first to arrive home.  I waited until she was cooking dinner to ask her about having dinner one night with London, Channing, and Artemis’ families.  When she asked what the special occasion was, I told her that I wanted her and Dad to get to know my friends’ families and that Artemis and I had been planning a sleep over for this weekend.  I needed her to say yes or else I’d have to sneak out for the full moon, and I really didn’t want to do that again.

Whenever I had some free time, I was practicing my drawing.  I was determined to improve it, wanted my work to be somewhere close to London’s level.  It was going to be a lot of work.

On Wednesday, Artemis told me that her parents would be free Thursday night.  London and Channing said that it wouldn’t be a problem for their parents, so I just had to see if it was okay with my mom and dad.

Thursday night, I had to take a break from drawing.  After my dad came home, we loaded up into his car, and drove to the restaurant where we were all meeting.  I became a little nervous the closer we got to the restaurant; everyone except London’s dad, my parents, and Dan were wolves.  And while Mr. Fairbanks knew about his son and mate’s other side, my parents and brother were completely oblivious.  Hopefully, none of them would give anything away about it tonight because I had no idea how my family would react to it.

London and his parents were already there.  I made my way over to his side, while our parents spoke.  Dan was playing a game on his phone, clearly thrilled to be here.  Right as we were about to be seated, the rest of our party arrived, which included Artemis’ and Channing’s younger sisters that I didn’t know they had.  Channing’s sister, Dakota, was almost thirteen while Artemis’ sister, Diana, just turned ten.

For most of the dinner, our parents all talked about their interests around town and what that had done before moving here.  Dan continued to play on his phone, Dakota and Diana chatted and giggled, and Channing, Artemis, London, and I were on the end of the table, talking about nothing in general.  I saw them every day, and already knew them pretty well, unlike our parents.

After we all had parted and were on our way home, my mom told me that she was fine with me staying with Artemis over the weekend.  I sent a text to London, telling him the news.  They probably assumed that I was texting Artemis, and since Dan was focused on his phone, he thankfully couldn’t call my bluff.

We had decided that after school on Friday, I would drop Dan off at home, pick up my overnight bag, and head over to London’s.  When I was about to go to bed that night, it hit me that I was going to be staying the night with my boyfriend two nights in a row.  What was he going to want to do?  We had only been together for about a month, which wasn’t nearly long enough, to me, for us to take our relationship a step further.  Hopefully he’ll be able to understand that and respect my decision.

As I go ready for school the next morning, I packed my overnight bag to last me three days; it was always better to be over-prepared rather than under-prepared.  I also packed up some of my bathroom supplies because I had no idea what he had in his shower.  I also got a bag with some art supplies in them for something to do other than sit in his room all the time.  When I zipped up the bags, my nerves kicked in.  I really hoped the next two nights would go well.

School went by in a blur.  I tried to hide my nervousness, and apparently succeeded when no one asked me if anything was wrong.  After I dropped Dan off at home, I grabbed my bags, and headed over to London’s, my heart pounding the entire time.

After I pulled into his driveway, I saw the front door open.  He met me at my car as I was getting my bags out, and took the heaviest one from me.  Then, he gave me a confused look at the fact that I had two bags.  “I brought some of my art supplies,” I told him.  “You of all people should know that inspiration strikes at any given moment.”

He nodded, and showed me into the house and up to his room.  “So, do you want your art stuff here or in the studio?”

“You don’t mind some of my stuff in there?”

“Why would I mind, Selina?”

“Because it’s your workspace.”

“I don’t mind if your supplies are with mine.  Do you mind?”

I shook my head.

He quickly carried my bag into the next room, and returned to me.  I was about to sit on his bed when he asked, “Would you like to go for a run?”

Cocking an eyebrow, I asked, “Like a jog?”