Wolves Embrace
“Forest Pine and Musk with hints of Jasmine petal, Sandalwood and Cream. The perfect combination for a shifter of the moon.”
- Cressa’s Grimoire
Cressa, Thane and Willow had finally returned to the tarot room. The trio sat around the table sipping a batch of lavender and honey tea from Cressa’s tiny cups. It had taken them a couple of hours to fix the makeshift hospital room and another few to redress the twins wounds.
They sat in silence, all three of them too tired to even actually speak to one another thanks to the amount of energy spent healing Antowonette. Whatever she had been trying to do by getting up had torn open the deep, claw-like lacerations in her abdominal cavity.
Cressa’s sigh was rather audible as she set her cup down on the table. Stretching her arms above her head she slumped into her high backed chair looking between Thane and Willow. A feeling of patience and time passing came over her as she observed the two. Tucking the info away for later examination Cressa cleared her throat and spoke in a rather dismissive tone, “The two of you should go up and rest. Thane the guest bedroom is upstairs to the left.” She picked up her tea cup and finished off her tea. Gathering the floral teapot and surrounding tea ware she gave Willow a mental push to go to bed.
Willow yawned and stretched, “I can show you where, I’m down the hall anyway,” she said through her yawn. Thane eyed Willow oddly if not in a disgruntled manner. A wave of excitement passed through him at the idea of her being down the hall from him followed by a feeling of repulsion. These feelings of attraction he was getting had begun to disturb him. She wasn’t physically what he would normally be drawn to. Cute in an odd way but she definitely did not have the looks he sought when it came to the attraction aspect of a female. Hell he hadn’t even had a full conversation with her. Yet here he was fighting what appeared to be some form of attraction. Thane’s thoughts started to form on his face as he looked at Willow. Looking over to Cressa he realized while she was placing the tea service on the tray she had begun to give him a disapproving look.
“I’m not sure what is going through that thick skull of yours,” she said, “but currently there is nothing any of us in this room can do for the twins. Especially if exhaustion is allowed to run rampant. Now my rooms are just through there,” she said point behind her towards the make shift hospital room. “ If anything more is required to help them,” she continued, “or happens I will be alerted immediately. Now off with you both.” She waved both her arms in a shooing motion at them and picked up the tea tray. Turning and walking away she heard the growl of disapproval that resonated deep in Thane's throat.
Willow burrowed into her chair slightly the primal sound startling her. Clearing his throat Thane stood and waved for Willow to lead the way saying, “ I’ll follow you then.” Willow sighed relaxing in her seat her body reacting to the lax tension with a stretch. Her back at his and lights flashed behind her eyes as the dizzying feeling from the stretch spread through her brain. Coming out of the stretch she had to brace herself on the table as she almost folded over hitting her head. Righting herself and standing up she responded to Thane with a dismissive, “This way.” She walked through the curtained doorway into the shop. She flicked her fingers as she pushed the Goodnight thought towards Cressa, knowing she sensed it.
Willow made her way to the opposite end of the back of the shop where a fire exit door awaited. Thane’s eyes adjusted to the darkened path Willow appeared to have walked quiet often. As they approached the back exit Thane's ears picked up a high pitched sound similar to a dog whistle and winced. Willow stopped in front of the door and turned, “oh,” she started seeing the pain Thane was in, “ I’m sorry I like to lock the door with a few extra precautions.” She turned back to the door and placed to fingers on at the top right corner and moved them along the doors seem in a counter clockwise motion. The ringing died down and so did the slight glow in the building Thane had not been aware was radiating from the door. Willow opened the door into an alleyway. The neighboring building's brick wall a stark contrast to the white of the inside of the shop. Heat blew into the store from outside and the scent of garbage over powered the cleansing scents of sage and dragons blood in the shop. Thane followed Willow out the door. Reversing the process she locked the door both with her magic and the key she kept on the key ring in her pocket. Thane's ears picked up the high pitched noise again and in an effort to not hear it he scoped the alley way. Two cats lay curled together in the trash bags next to the dumpster to his right, their gentle purrs a relief from the high pitched hell assaulting his ears. Willow's throat cleared and he snapped back to the door. “Apologies,” he said. “For what,” Willow asked raising a brow and crossing her arms across her chest. Pointing to the door a shy expression crossing his face he said, “ I can hear your protections for this door and they are rather painful.” “Oh,” Willow responded her mouth forming the perfect oh shape as realization of the pain he may be in clicked in her head. Thane's entire self reacted rather possessively to the face she made. It took everything in him not to grab both sides of her face and claim her lips for himself. Willow watches as his pupils expanded and the disgusted twisted look claimed his face yet again. “You don’t have to apologize,” she started, “the spell works as a protection but is mainly a deterrent for threats.” She eyed him, wondering why the protection spell - her first completed spell ever - was making him uncomfortable and why didn’t he hear it in the store?
Willow pointed out to him a set of metal stairs to her left, “uhm, the rooms are this way.” Willow turned and started climbing the stairs. Unfortunately she didn’t raise her foot high enough not to trip on the first step. The metal stairs in front of her came rushing towards her face. A firm grip wrapped around her waist as she was pulled out of the fall and directly up against Thane’s body. His arm still around her waist, his head nuzzled into her hair as he took in her scent. His lips brushing her ear lobe. His left hand comin up to…. "Are you okay?," Thane's deep voice shook her out of the vision. What the fuck was that?!?! “Yeah,” she responded removing his forearm from around her waist. “Thanks for catching me.” Thane’s senses picked up a more guarded shift in her towards him, a small smile played on his lips. He may not know why she had the effect she does in him but at least now she’ll keep her distance and make it easier for him to do the same. Looking up directly at her ass Thane groaned. Why is this happening to him? She definitely isn’t my type and damn sure not isn’t interested from the way she reacted to my catching her. Willow had reached the top of the stairs and walked through the metal screen door. A small living room greeted them with a kitchenette to the lift and a hallway to the right. Willow walked over to the kitchenette and began rummaging through the fridge. Over her shoulder she told Thane, “the room is down the hallway to the left. Mine is on the right. The bathroom is at the end of the hallway.” She was still shaken by the imaging that ran through her head a few minutes ago and wanted more space between the two of them. That was the first time she had ever had a vision like that and fear had seeped into her bones.
Thane walked down the hallway to the room in the left. It was quaint and a little bare but the room smelled clean and the bed looked comfortable. I need a shower and sleep. Thane thought to himself and moved to go through his bag that was somehow waiting for him at the edge of the bed. He shifted through it and found some cloths. The sound of the shower starting told Willow she could go to her room with out having to worry about close proximity of Thane. Her bed was calling her and sleep sounded pleasant. She changed into some pajamas once in her room and was now laying in her bed on her back. Drifting off to the sound of the shower running.