The Night's Delight - 4. Breaking Through To Berries

When I wake up, the only thing I feel is warmth. Not the kind of warmth that makes you mewl like a kitten and sigh in contentment. No, this kind of warmth is bulky, strong, and familiar...

Then I feel breath on the nape of my neck and twist around to see Erebus watching me through cautious eyes. He lifts his long arm from around me to touch my face and I realize that I am snuggled up against his chest. Humiliated and comforted at the same time, I wiggle away and prop myself up so that I can face him more easily. His eyes never leave me as I do all of this. "Good morning," he says huskily while tracing my body with his eyes, and causing me to blush.

“I am glad that you are awake and well. The rest of the pack has left to give you some privacy and hunt so that we will be rejuvenated for the continuing journey.” Erebus stands up and stretches, causing me to get a full view of his naked body. I feel my throat moving as I gulp in air, but the sight of those muscles and that beautiful tool have got me frozen like a rabbit.

Then I look up and notice Erebus grinning at me while I gawk at his body like some women stares at an attractive male statue at a museum. I stand up also and work the kinks out of my body.

“So,” I huff in my embarrassment, “When will we be leaving to continue on?”
“As soon as you get your ass in that waterfall and wash the stink of you, and then we will eat. Let us worry about how we are going to reach your brother.”

I close my eyes hearing his reproachful tone, and watch as he picks up a bundle of clothes and hands it to me. “Put this on after you wash up.” He nods his head towards the woods, “I will be catching up with you after you are done.”

I take my time washing, letting the cold water chill my muscles and calm myself. I realize that my mind keeps drifting to Erebus and how he saved me when he could have escaped himself. As a dreamy smile transforms my face, a horrible realization crosses through my mind.

Laurence, the bastard, had been claiming that people would be looking for me, always hunting for me and my “powers,” the one’s which I do not have. Is that why Erebus took me away from that place?

I shake myself out of it and climb onto land, putting Erebus’s own clothes on my body, where they glide over my muscles, but hang on my figure. The smell of him wafts up and I pick up the edge of the shirt and inhale deeply before putting it on.

“They usually eat the kill in wolf form, and so we have not cooked for ourselves or others in a long time.” I had not heard Erebus come up to me and I jump into the air. “Gods, you scared me!” Erebus just grins and waves his hand towards the people, or werewolves, surrounding us.

“You can talk to any of them, you know. I understand that you are scared of me, but we are really all very kind people.” Erebus looks at me sadly as he says this and I feel my heart snap in two. I reach out to take his hand and tell him that I care about him, but he is gone.

As I watch him walk towards some of his pack members and laugh at their poor attempts at making a feast, I feel as though I am watching my love walk away. Love? How can I even think that when I am running for my life away from a man who was evil and abusive, and with a man, however hunky he is, that I have only known for a very short time.

Just now a boy looks up, only around the age of eighteen, and bounds over to me. His golden hair hangs into his eyes and he whips it off impatiently, his light green eyes shaded with happiness. There was a spring in his step and he was obviously a very happy person, you could tell just from the sparkle in his eyes and the aura of golden energy surrounding him...

Wait, an aura of golden energy surrounds him? How am I actually seeing this? That vanishes from my mind when the boy approached me, though. “Hello!” He sticks out his hand and a pearly white grin is flashed in my direction. “My name is Tom and I was wondering if you wanted to help me collect some berries for the feast?” I was surprised that such a small person would be the first guy to come up to me. I looked intimidating to humans, but obviously not to werewolves.

“Of course, I would love to help.” I said this with, what was hopefully, a friendly smile.

The boy smiled back at me and once again made me feel as though I needed protective sunglasses from his disarming smile. “Follow me and make sure to watch your step”

As I walked behind the boy, I admired the forest and the beautiful, lushly green vegetation that encircled trees and covered the moist ground. The canopy of beautiful leaves waved in the wind as if saying hello. I smiled and let the sunlight sink into my bones and melt the worry away.

“Here we are!” We were standing in front of a cluster of bushes that carried red berries.
“There are Redford berries, sweet and tart at the same time and safe to eat!” Tom smiled at me again.

“Wow, you love to smile, don’t you,” I muttered under my breath, not bothered by it.
Tom just smirked and nodded, then went about in a scampering swiftness, collecting almost two pints of berries in the time that I had collected only a half pint.

“So, how do you know about berries?” I asked the question before thinking and wanted to smack myself! Dumbass! Of course, they live in the forest, why wouldn’t they know?

But Tom just smiled and kept on picking while talking. “I loved learning about plants, herbs, and berries when I was younger. My mother used to be a healer and taught me everything there was to know on being a doctor and plant species. It has come in use during fights with the pack and when times have been tough in finding food to feed all of us.”

He paused carefully. “What about you? May I ask what you did before now?”
I nodded slowly and replied, “Well, I worked for the army. Killing people didn’t really thrill me, but I wasn’t much into being smart when my father was killed. I just... wanted to help people, you know?”

Tom nodded sagely and was just about to speak when the sounds of howling and roars erupted into the beautiful evening. “What is going on?” My voice sounded low and nervous, giving away the fear that I was keeping on the inside. When Tom turned to me, he look angry and upset.

“Someone is attacking our camp.”

I am so sorry for the amount of time that has passed by from my posting each chapter. I promise that I will post a chapter every Wednesday from now on and post chapters in between too, for your hungry eyes! 
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