Ursanthropy
14. Flow

Jack

I still don’t know how it is possible that one moment I could catch that wonderful scent, and the next it was gone. But even though that was still a mystery, I wasn’t going to give up on making her mine.

It is going to be a lot harder to convince her now, and going on dates wasn’t particularly a normal thing for us shifters, because we have no use for it. Once you see and smell your mate, you know you are destined to each other, you don’t need dates to make yourself sure that she could be the one.

Of course, shifter-mates have their fun nights out, but never with the purpose to connect to each other, it was only to strengthen what they already knew.

And I know too, except she doesn’t…

Humans don’t have this particular mate-scent, but since she does have one, every now and then, it made me wonder if she is completely human. It could be that she is perhaps a shifter, but how could it be that she doesn’t know about her being one then?

Vic apparently had a conversation with Doreen, making her somehow not wanting to ask questions, but I know that it is almost tearing her apart. Doreen is curious and smart, yet she keeps this oath to Vic, to not ask about the things that happened.

She is such a faithful and innocent creature, which makes it hard to figure out what has happened in her past. She still hasn’t said a thing, and I haven’t spotted any strange figures in town, nor does my pack. So, the mystery around her, was still something to be uncovered.

As much as I like to uncover her naked body, from under those thick layers of sports gear.

“Where are we going?” She asked me, looking around her, while clutching her ever present bag with her.

She has become more and more agitated and watchful, with each passing day. I guess she is still afraid that her attackers could come out of the bushes anytime now, so I hoped that my idea of a ‘date’ was going to break the ice with her a little.

I don’t want to downplay her fear for whatever she is running from, as it must be something real, at least to her. But I was hoping that her guard would lower down just a little, to have some fun. With me.

And besides that, I have my pack running constant perimeter checks, in fact, I can hear them running through the forests surrounding us now.

“It’s a little further.” I said to her.

She suddenly sprang up, almost jolted her way closer to me, when she heard something. Could she have heard my men running? But they were like three miles away!

“What’s up Doreen?” I asked her, wanting to call her ‘sweetheart’ or ‘love’, but that’s not appropriate for her. Not now.

“Nothing, I’m just a little on nerve lately.” She said, releasing her bag to hang at the side of her body again.

“You don’t have to worry about that here, these forests are pretty dense for people to find their way through. No one will find you here.” I said, trying to reassure her.

She stopped walking, and clutched her bag again. I looked behind me, and saw her looking at me, more feared than she was before.

Oh shit.

“Not that I want to hurt you, besides, no one would find you in days if you would try and run!” I said smiling, and kept on walking again.

“You do realise that your explanation doesn’t comfort me at all, right?” She then said and I looked back again.

Now I was confused, didn’t I just tell her that I wouldn’t hurt her? What is she referring to now?

“You really don’t know what you say right?” She asked me again. “You just said that if I would run from you, no one would find me in days! It doesn’t get through your skull, that you have taken a woman with you, into the biggest forest I have ever seen, while that same woman declined your request for a date over several times already? A woman who was spooked by your statements a few weeks ago, when we were upstairs at Bertha’s apartment, and now is here with you, hearing you say these words?” She ranted.

Fuck sake, this was going to be a lot harder than I was currently thinking! I rubbed my face with both my hands. Any other person from my pack wouldn’t have been spooked by any of those words, they never have! But I guess that Doreen isn’t used to my way of words, I have to tread carefully, if I am going to make her trust me.

I hate going soft.

I took a few steps closer to her, making her hands clutch her bag even tighter, whitening her knuckles from the tight grip she has on it.

“You have made a deal with Vic, right?” I asked her.

“Yes…” She dragged out that answer, probably unsure of admitting to me that fact.

“What if you trust me that I would never hurt you, trap you, lock you up or even leave you here in the middle of nowhere? If you do trust me, I’ll answer one of the questions you have, right now.” I said, hoping that she wouldn’t ask me about shifters directly.

But on the other end, she might just find out about us eventually, so I decided to deal with whoever isn’t agreeing to my judgement, after they find out she knows.

Doreen’s knuckles relaxed and she let her bag drop down at the side of her body again.

“Deal, but I’ll keep that question a little longer with me. I’m not sure what I want to ask yet.” She said, as if my offer was something so valuable, that she didn’t want to spend it on something trivial. She was going to think about it, and come up with one hell of a difficult question to ask, I suppose.

I’m not sure if I had made the right decision right now, but at least she was a bit calmer again.

“Fine by me.” I chuckled and walked towards the spot of our date again. “Almost there.” I said.

Doreen

Over the last few weeks, I have beginning to trust Vic, and kept my end of the bargain by not asking for questions, but it actually made me even more curious about those answers. And now Jack was promising the answer to one of my questions. But which one? And what if it was just my own stupid imagination? What if he didn’t have an answer, because it hadn’t even happened?

Yet, because I trusted Vic, there shouldn’t be a reason to not trust Jack. I mean, they are siblings and she speaks highly of him, but with the things he said just now, about me not being able to run from this place, it frightened me slightly. Alright, a lot!

I have been on edge for days now already, having this awful feeling that danger is really close, so I didn’t need Jack to frighten me more. I needed him to comfort me.

Just like that moment when he had me caged against the wall at the motel, that first time when he was smelling so great! He had made me feel at ease, and comfortable enough to touch his chest. That’s the man I wanted to have, that’s the feeling I wanted to have. But right now, I’m just feeling tiny and easily to spook, even though I normally am not anything like this!

I am strong and determined, not weak and scared!

I took a few deep breaths and tried to focus myself on the trees in front of me. The sounds of the rustling of small animals, the smell of the trees, damp earth and moss-covered-bark, was easing my nerves a lot.

It was getting dark already, as I had ended my shift two hours ago, but the artificial light that shone through the trees made it easy to see where we were going.

Jack’s huge body was blocking my view, as I tried to look past him. But when we entered a clear area, I saw something that I hadn’t expected to see, as a place for our first date.

That’s why he wanted me to wear sports gear!

Is this his way of fun?

In the distance there stood a large tent, and underneath there was a square platform, surrounded by tons of obstacle courses, benches to lift weights, punching bags, racks filled with more weights and even a rack with swords, axes and what not more!

I had to think about how Jack talks, and how he looks. He is bulked up, broad arms and legs, as he must be training here every day. He is a rugged lumber jack, pun intended, and he doesn’t like going easy or soft. He just says what his mind comes up with, and his words aren't carefully chosen when he speaks. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

This is actually his way of fun, I suppose. So, let’s just embrace what he wants to do with me, and just go with the flow...

“So, you wanted to make me sweat on our first date?” I asked him.

“Well, I’d rather make you do that in a different setting, and use those ice cubes I spoke about, but I can’t have it all on my first try, can I?” He said, without any form of restraint.

My jaw dropped at that remark, at which he chuckled.

Go with the flow! Go with the flow! - I ranted through my mind.

“Nope, you can’t.” I replied, while dropping my bag close to the square platform. “Where do we start?” I said, trying to muster up all the confidence I had.

A/n: This could be fun, right?

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