The Right Choice - Chapter 5

Ren, loving the use of Twilight =]

A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea.
Honore de Balzac
~*~*~*
I woke up to find Stephan leaning over me, calling my name. Just for the record, I am not a morning person. I grabbed his face in my palm and pushed. He fell back and landed with a thump. Satisfied I turned around and closed my eyes.

But then I heard him mumble something to himself and all a sudden my mattress was flipped and I landed on the carpet tangled in my duvet.
"What the fuuuuck?!" I moaned, still not bothering to open my eyes.
"The beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeach!" he mocked answered.

"Fuck off, I'm asleep". He chuckled, grabbed under my arms and pulled me out of the mini wreck.
"Come on you need to get -" he stopped. I was hanging off his neck, chest pressed against his and still muttering for him to piss off.
When he said nothing I reluctantly opened one eye and peeked at his face. He was staring down at me, smirking.

"What?"
"You...you really need to get dressed" was all he said. I groaned and slowly dis-entangled myself from him and slouched off to the bathroom. When I got to the door I heard him wolf-whistle, and I really had no idea why.

Looking in the full – length mirror I was suddenly embarrassed. I was wearing some French lingerie type bed thing that my mum insists on buying for me and which I had no recollection of putting on last night. It was all lacy and skimpy, revealing and now, transparent. I had no bra on and, even more cringe -worthy, it seemed I was extremely cold. I cursed quite loudly and heard him laughing. My hair was roughly cornrowed back so that it didn't annoy me in the night and my face was covered in lines which I put down to the book I had under my pillow.

All in all, I looked a state.

Stepping under the hot shower I relaxed with a sigh. And when I picked up the shower gel I had a flash back of yesterday.

~*~*~*~*
When I could finally bring myself to pull way from his mouth, there was no longer sunlight coming through the windows but moonlight. I giggled and turned around. Full moons have little to do with Werewolves but it's still beautiful to us anyhow. We are all children of the moon.

"It's pretty" he whispered in my ear and I shivered.
"It's beautiful" I corrected.
"Okay. So...what are we?"
"What do you mean?" I was puzzled.
"Are we friends...what?"
"Um...i guess we're friends with benefits" I smiled.

"Yeah, okay," he laughed "Now can we please get something to eat. Looking at drawings for hours has made me really hungry"
I nodded and in the kitchen Graham was cooking some noodles.
"I hope you like noodles Nikki" he asked and I grinned.
"Love 'em". While we were eating Stephan was cracking jokes that made me laugh so hard I nearly choked.
"Do I have to give you mouth-to-mouth?" he warned cheekily. I swatted his creeping hand away and carried on eating.

After we ate it was around ten and I had to get home. So I said goodbye and then Stephan walked me home.

~*~*~*~*~*
I was snapped out of the flashback when Stephan literally banged on the door.
"Can you hurry up please? Theres gonna be heavy rain later on and it's nearly two. I don't wanna get caught in a freaking storm or whatever" he yelled.

Sighing, I pulled the shower curtain back and wrapped the big fluffy towel around me. When I opened my room door slightly aggressively he was sitting on my bed, well, bed frame. Pointing to the hall way I told him to get out.

I pulled some jean shorts and a red tank top over my black and white polka dot bikini. Then my red converses and finally I pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Downstairs Stephan was talking to the my twin brothers; Dallin and Dallon. As I entered the kitchen I heard Dallon tell Stephan "We weren't here yesterday because we were" he stopped and Dallin carried on " staying at our friend Damian's house". Stephan raised his eyebrows and turned to look at me.

"They do that a lot, either finish each other's sentences or talk in unison" I grinned and looked at my brothers. They were incredibly cute and baby faced for two ten year olds. Both of them about 5 feet which isn't really surprising because all werewolves are slightly taller than they the average human. Dillon, older by one minute had long black hair that came to his chin and intelligent hazel eyes. Dallon had short spiky black hair and big round blue eyes. Of course them being ten and not yet had their first transformation meant they had no silver outline yet.

"Nikki!" they cried and flung their arms around me. I laughed and cuddled them. I am extremely fond of my brothers and I will do anything to ensure their happiness. They let go and went to sit back down.

"Where's mum ?" I asked as I put some bread in the toaster.
"Upstairs, with dad" Dillon answered and wrinkled his nose. By that I knew what they meant and tried not to feel sick. Yes my parents still...had their moments of fun and we all knew about it. Stephan started chortling and I glared at him. It didn't stop him though until I chucked a packet of oreos at him. He ducked and just as they were about to fall to the ground Dillon stretched his arm out and caught them.

"Nikki! You know these are my favourites!" he moaned and dropped them on the table.
"Whatever. Sorry" I mumbled through a mouthful of toast. "Come on lets go" I grabbed Stephan's hand and a bag and pulled him out the door.

"Bye Deez" I called back which is what I call the twins.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I tucked my clothes into the black bag I had brought along with Stephan's. The sun was out and it was really nice and warm. There was only a few families and a jogger so moved down to a part of the beach where it as silent. We put down a big towel, and he brought out his drawing pad and pencils.
"I'm going in the water" I smiled and then ignoring his pleas to wait, I took a run and then dived in. It was cold and kind of murky, but if I closed my eyes I could imagine I was somewhere in the Caribbean and that the water was warm and clear.

People had always said I had a good imagination. I could see the multi-coloured fish and the crabs and other amazing things. If I reached out they scattered and I laughed at how it looked. Then there as a big splash beside me and the dream shattered just like the fish had.
I looked up and Stephan was opposite me grinning. I splashed him, slightly annoyed.
Then he jumped on me and started tickling me.

*Stephan's PoV*

We were lying down on the towel drying off. She had her head on my chest, eyes closed and a serene smile on her pretty face. Her hair had come out of the scrunchie and it was pasted across her shoulders.
"Shit!" all of a sudden she sat up and leant forward to rummage around in her bag. She produced a bottle of sun screen. I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't burn but...you can get skin cancer you know! So can you please do my back?" she asked.
"Sure"she squirted some in my hands and I slowly massaged it into her back while she did her front. She threw the bottle at the bag and lay back down in her previous position.
I was staring at her sinewy limbs. She had the nicest body I'd ever seen. And there was a tattoo glistening on her hip. "Hey what's that?" I asked and reached out to touch it. She looked down and saw where I was touching.

"Oh! That's just a..." she trailed off and I raised an eyebrow.
"Really awesome tattoo!" I finished off for her.
"What?!" she snorted. "That's not a - oh yeah, I suppose it is awesome" she switched quickly. I narrowed my eyes. Suspicious or what? But I brushed it aside and craned my neck to get a better look. It was strangely beautiful. It was a crescent moon. A small silver moon about the size of my thumbnail that shimmered in the light. I ran my finger over it lightly and despite the warmth felt her shiver under my touch. I smirked.

That was the second time today. She closed her eyes again and this time a few minutes later she was asleep. She was so beautiful. Slowly I lifted her head and slid the rest of her body off me and gently lay her on the towel, then I picked up my pad, moved around a bit and when I was satisfied I had the best angle, settled down to do my stuff.

An hour later I had the perfect drawing. I was pleased. It was the best one I'd ever drawn. I closed the pad and hid it in her bag. Then lay down next to her and shook her softly. She opened her eyes, and thankfully, smiled.
"How long have I been sleeping?"
"About an hour and a half"

She sat up and stretched.
"God i'm thirsty" she moaned and I handed her a bottle of water.
"Thanks" she gulped it down quick time then fixed her eyes on mine.

"Yeah, I meant to ask. What's the deal with those silver eyes?" I teased. She froze and averted her gaze.
"Um...well...I don't know. I guess it's just one of those inherited traits" she shrugged and then stood up.
"Shouldn't we get back? Before it starts to rain?"
I shook my head and pulled her back down.
"I'm sorry. If me asking questions annoys you then I'll stop" I told her and she visibly relaxed and lay against me.

*Nikki's PoV*

When he touched my 'birthmark' I shivered. I couldn't help it. It seemed whenever he touched me my body betrayed me. The thing with the birthmark is that every werewolf has one. Somewhere on their body. When someone, werewolf or human who is educated in werewolf rules gives birth to a baby they must wait until the next full moon. Then they place the baby naked onto a blanket under the moon for a few minutes and chant. In the tongue of ancient werewolf Lyan (Lee-an) they simply chant 'Show us' over and over again. If the baby is destined to be a werewolf the small crescent moon will appear on their body. The whole 'ceremony' only takes about ten minutes.

The only problem with this is that certain people don't realize their child is a werewolf. Because the first werewolf Lyan was the only one she mated with a human. Therefore anyone descended from Lyan and her husband Byron can either be born human or werewolf. Werewolves can mate with a human if they want, and it's completely up to fate which race baby they end up with. Even if a human mates with a human, if one of them is a descendant of Lyan then there's a chance they will have a werewolf child. It's actually kind of complicated. My cousin on my mum's side is a human and my dad's brother's friend had twins; one is a werewolf and the other is human.

People that know about this usually expect anyone to happen and when it does there's nothing to worry about. But there are certain humans who don't know about their ancestry or werewolves so they don't do the ceremony. Therefore when their children hit a certain age (usually 12 or 13) anything can trigger a phase. And then they're disorientated because they have no idea what's happening to them. And the first time phasing can be terribly painful if you're not relaxed.

I sighed and tightened my hand around Stephan's. It was kinda hard to keep my secret away from him. And there was another problem. I hadn't been able to phase in two days because of him, and I need to phase regularly. I had never gone more than two days without phasing. And it's hard for werewolves to not phase. Sometimes it just happens and the longer you hold it off for, the more spectacular and wrecking it is when it does happen, sometimes in public. I could feel the energy all pent up in the core of my body.

I needed an excuse tomorrow, to have a few hours to myself before I take him somewhere.
He smiled down at me.

This was blissssssssssss.

Then, the skies opened and the rain started pouring down on us. We shouted and jumped up, grabbed my bag and the towel and made a run for the shelter. When we got there we were laughing so hard he was snorting and I was bent over. Somehow getting soaked was funny.
We were the only ones under the shelter which meant that everyone else had left before it had started to rain. I said this to him and it started him off again.

By the time we had calmed down I was staring at him. At the way his eyes crinkled up when he smiled and the way his lips parted. And how strong his piercing green gaze was, as if he were staring right into my soul. Sighing, I dropped the bag and towel and leaned forward. He wrapped his arms around me and wasted no time in kissing his way up my jaw across my cheek and then finally, my lips. Sparks flew up my spine, made me gasp, entwined our souls and possibly our hearts as one. He pulled away and rested his forehead on mine.

"Are we still friends with benefits? Or can we please be more?"
I was speechless, I couldn't have answered even if I wanted to.
"'cause I don't think I can be your friend. I want to be so much more than that Nikki" he whispered. I managed to nod and a beautiful, heart-warming grin lit up his face.
"Thank you" he murmured against my lips.