The Lunam Ceremony (Book One), page 6
The morning sun is bright behind my eyes as I creep back into consciousness. I stretch my arms over my head and kick my legs free from the sleeping bag. I’m sort of surprised to find myself in a tent, dressed in the tank top and shorts I always sleep in. I’m even more surprised to see that I’m alone. I try to remember what happened after I walked through the Lunam canopy. I remember holding hands with Dillan, his smiling eyes through the smoke, and the sting in the center of my palm from where I fell then everything goes blank. I turn my hand over. The scratches are gone, just like my memory. I don’t know how I got here or where I am. I don’t hear anyone rustling around outside. I do smell something. Bacon. The smell of breakfast makes my stomach growl. I find the bag with my clothes and bathroom stuff strategically placed so I wouldn’t miss it. I put on my Vans, sling my backpack over my shoulder, and head to find food. The air is cool and feels nice. My tent is a few hundred yards away from the picnic area where the Lunam Ceremony was held last night. The canopy has been taken down, and tents have been set up all around the edge of the clearing.
The Sierra boy that danced with Cassie passes by me with Leah on his arm. “Morning,” I say and wonder where Cassie is. I need to find her. Leah and the boy smile and mumble good morning as they walk into the woods.
I don’t find Cassie in the clearing where we ate and danced last night, so I head to the locker room. The room is humid from the showers. There are ten or twelve girls waiting in line; none of them are Cassie. I should probably shower too. I check my cubby and find my dirty dress, along with the necklace Layla gave me. I put my backpack in the cubby and take my toiletry bag with me. I use the restroom and brush my teeth. The line for the shower has grown by the time I’m done. I grab a towel from a bin and take my place at the back of the line. Clio is the next girl to come out of a stall; her towel is wrapped tightly around her head instead of her body.
“Morning, Clio. Have you seen Cassie?” I ask her as she parades past the line.
She stops abruptly and blushes. “Hi Kalysia, I didn’t see you.” She pulls the towel off her head and wraps it around her naked body. I don’t understand why she is suddenly embarrassed just because I’m in here. The other girls sneer behind her back. Clio tells me she hasn’t seen Cassie and asks how my night was. I tell her it was ok. My less than enthusiastic reply causes strange looks from the other females, but none of them comment.
“Are you waiting for the shower?” Clio asks. I hold up my towel and toiletry bag, stating the obvious. “Why don’t you go next? Rachel won’t mind.” She turns to the girl prepping to enter the stall she just used. Rachel looks less than thrilled, but nods in agreement and gets back in line.
“No, that’s ok,” I tell them. “I’ll wait.” Now the entire line insists I go next. They don’t just insist; they beg me to go ahead of them. Their pleading is so desperate that I finally agree, just to make them happy. I wash my hair and face quickly. I’ve never had to shave; we don’t grow hair on our legs or under our arms. It’s one wolf perk I always liked.
After my shower I dress quickly in a pair of chino shorts and a white quarter-sleeve button-down shirt. The material is thin, so I wear a blue bra with white and yellow daisies printed on the cups underneath it. Layla always hated this outfit, but now that I’m a woman, she can’t say shit.
The picnic area is crowded with people when I leave the locker room. I spot Layla at the same time she sees me. A smile spreads across her face. We meet at the buffet table, and she hands me a plate filled with my favorite things—pancakes, sausage, and a banana. I pour myself a glass of orange juice, and we sit at one of the empty tables in the sun. I bite into a sausage link and pour syrup on my pancakes. I feel her eyes on me as I take a bite. Syrup drips down my chin and she whips out a napkin. “That’s classy,” she smirks.
I take the napkin from her with a dramatic eye roll. I know she wants to talk about last night. Even if I could remember, hashing out the details with Layla is the last thing I want to do. I eat my entire stack of pancakes and another piece of sausage before I look at her again. “Look, I don’t remember what happened.”
“I know. It will come back to you slowly, and after you phase a few times, your recall will be quicker.” She pushes my juice towards me. “Drink, you need to hydrate.”
I take a sip. “Why is it all so fuzzy?”
“Your mind needs time to adjust. We think differently when we phase; our actions are based on instinct. We do what comes naturally, without question or doubt. Unlike a human, who overthinks, plans, predicts.”
“How did I get in the tent? Who dressed me?”
“I left your bag in the tent, do you remember finding it?” Layla’s question jogs my memory.
I see the tent; I smell my clothes. The next thing I know I’m standing at my bag pulling out my t-shirt and shorts. I don’t see myself do it; I just see what’s in front of me, the door to the tent, my hands unzipping the bag. “I guess.”
“Do you remember anything else?”
I concentrate harder this time, and I see Dillan. We’re outside; the moon is behind his head. He smiles at me and we kiss. The memory is like a scene from an adult movie. He’s sitting on a bed, I’m on his lap. I feel his hands on my bare back; my fingers tangled in his hair. “No.”
Layla smiles like she knows I’m lying and stands. “I have to help Jessie in the kitchen. Make sure you eat and drink. Phasing takes a toll on your body when you’re new to it.”
I give her a fake salute and gulp down the rest of my orange juice. I wait around the picnic area a little while, hoping to see Cassie. I eat the banana and have two more glasses of orange juice before I spot her walking towards the parking lot. I bolt from the table and call her name, but she doesn’t turn around. I pass through a group of couples making their way to the food when his scent stops me in my tracks. I turn and find Dillan standing behind me. He wraps me in his arms and lifts me off the ground. I bury my face in his neck and inhale. His smell is tainted with soap. I hate it.
“How did you sleep?” he asks as my feet land back on Earth.
I barely remember anything that happened after I passed through the Lunam canopy, but I feel connected to Dillan. Comfortable and connected. “Good, I guess.”
“Why didn’t you stay with me?” He pushes the hair off my face and tucks it behind my ears. His movements are so natural; like he’s been doing it for years even if we’ve only known each other a few hours.
“I don’t remember.”
He accepts my excuse with a kiss on the lips. He tastes familiar. “Well, that will be the last night I ever spend without you.” To think I will spend the rest of my life with someone is overwhelming. I thought I would fall into some wolfy love spell and become smitten with my mate. I like that I still feel like me, but it scares me, too.
I sit across from Dillan while he eats his breakfast. He mows through a dozen sausages and two stacks of pancakes in record time. When he goes back for thirds, I look around and realize that nobody is mingling with each other. Couples sit side by side, eating and speaking in private conversations. When I see Drake and Leah together, I remember what I was doing when Dillan found me.
“I’m going to look for Cassie,” I tell Dillan when he returns with a fresh plate. “I saw her walking towards the parking lot earlier, and I want to check on her.”
Dillan sits down and pours syrup on his pancakes before speaking. “You’re sweet,” he says. I’m offended by his somewhat condescending tone. “But she’s probably in a tent with one of the Shasta.”
“How do you know?” I challenge.
“Look around, Kalysia. Everyone is either here or in their tents.” He smiles and takes a bite. “Which is where I’m taking you as soon as I’m done eating.”
Does he really think I’m just sitting here waiting for him to ravish me? My body tingles at the thought. I look at the other females fawning over the males; they look like desperate little puppies waiting to be played with by their masters. That is so not me. “We’ll see about that.” I smirk.
Dillan takes my statement as a challenge. He leans over and kisses me. Suddenly a memory flashes in my mind. Dillan is above me. I feel him everywhere. My body is consumed by him. He pulls back with a smile and my heart kicks into overdrive. I do want him, more than air, but I’ll be damned if he thinks I’m waiting around for him to finish eating. I stand and start walking away from his table, unbuttoning my shirt as I go.
“Hey,” he shouts. “Where are you going?”
I spin around and my blouse swings open, exposing my bare stomach and the blue, daisy-covered bra. “I’m done eating,” I shout and keep walking backwards so he can see what he’s missing. Dillan drops his fork and leaps over the table; he reaches me in two steps. The couples cheer as he lifts me over his shoulder. Once we are out of the clearing, he whips me around and cradles me in his arms. Who’s the boss now?
Dillan’s tent is deep in the woods, away from the others. It’s cool back here under the cover of trees. He sets me down and unzips his tent. I step inside first and kick off my sneakers. His tent is bigger than mine and holds a large rollaway bed. I stare at the disheveled bed covers. Was I here last night?
“Don’t worry, the wheels are locked,” he jokes when he sees me looking. He zips the tent and kicks his shoes off.
I didn’t realize how nervous I am until now. This isn’t my first time, not even my first time with Dillan, if the flashes in my mind are real. Dillan moves behind me and pulls my blouse off my shoulders. He kisses behind my ear and makes his way down my collar bone to my shoulder; all the while he holds my arms inside my shirt. When I try to turn to face him, he wraps his arms around my body and holds me in place. “I’m the luckiest man here.” I feel his thoughts in his arms, his lips, his moist skin. Dillan Dukes really cares about me. I don’t know if I can say I care about Dillan, but the sexual attraction is undeniable.
He lets me go to pull his shirt off, and I turn around and kiss his chest. I run my hands along the muscles in his back. My body is on fire. The burn, itch, whatever you want to call it, is raging inside me. We fall onto the bed and stay tangled up in each other for hours. We sleep, wake, talk, and make love until it’s so dark inside the tent we can barely see each other. Dillan tells me about his childhood. He was raised in Napa. When he turned fourteen, his father sent him to a prep school in Santa Cruz. That is where he realized he loved to surf.
“The first time I stood on a board, it was on an eight-foot wave. I ate shit at the end, but I was hooked. I was in the water every chance I got. My dad didn’t like it, but it kept me out of trouble.” Dillan was sent to school with a guardian, Othello. He was a beta, super loyal to Dillan’s family. After a couple of years, they bonded and Othello stopped reporting every detail of Dillan’s life to his father. In return, Dillan didn’t tell anyone Othello was dating a human girl. Even though Othello is a beta and will never phase, dating humans is considered a taboo. Othello still carries the gene. One that can be passed to his children.
“Two summers ago I was surfing, and this dude asked me if I ever thought about competing. I never had until that moment. The guy signed me up for a competition in Huntington Beach. Othello and I drove down; his girlfriend even came with us. We told them he was my guardian. He was my guardian, just not my legal guardian.” Dillan smirks and my heart jumps out of my chest. He is so damn sexy. It’s difficult keeping my mind on his story when I’m lying naked in his arms.
“How did you do?” I ask as I nibble his chin.
He leans his face to mine and kisses me slow and deep. I moan, and he moves me on top of him. “Do you want to hear this story or not?” He holds me by my waist, threatening to take me.
I feel the control he has over me and I back down. “Finish your story,” I say and slide off his stomach.
“I won the whole fucking thing and was offered a sponsorship.” His face is beaming.
“Holy shit! That’s amazing.” I kiss him on the cheek.
“My dad didn’t think so.” Dillan’s tone turns dark. “He freaked out on me, and I don’t even know what happened to Othello. My mom said he was fired because of his girlfriend. But I know it was me.” He squeezes me close, like I’m going to be ripped from his arms. Dillan says his father wasn’t angry at his accomplishment. But surfing wasn’t part of his future. He had family obligations. Something I’ve heard my whole life, too. “My dad said I would have to revoke the contract. Only he didn’t want to get lawyers involved and draw any more attention to our family. So, he had me fake an injury.”
“How did you do that?”
“A pack doctor put a cast on my leg and produced x-rays that showed a break in my ankle that would prevent me from surfing for at least a year. That was enough for them to drop me.”
“We have our own doctors?”
“Yes, what do you think we do when we get injured? It isn’t like we can stop by a clinic for treatment. We have our own doctors, lawyers, you name it. We can’t all get by on our good looks.” He kisses my forehead.
“So pack members go to college?” I perk up at the idea of having an actual career.
“Yes. Of course.”
My heart does a happy dance and I snuggle up to Dillan. Is it possible that I can have this man for the rest of my life and still go to college? This means Krystal can go to cosmetology school. This Lunam thing isn’t as bad as I thought. We all still get what we want. “Do you still surf?”
“No,” he answers quickly, like the thought pains him. “I had to wear the cast for six months. I had to play it out in case anyone came around, so I decided to leave school. My father got me a private tutor, and I used the extra time to learn about the business. It wasn’t like I was going to go pro or anything. I always knew I would have to come home for this.” Dillan waves his hand in the air. “And you.” He kisses the top of my head.
I roll my eyes. “You didn’t even know I existed until yesterday.” I kiss his neck and work my way across his chest.
Dillan sits up and brings my mouth to his. Even though we’ve been kissing for hours, he still feels new. We break away, and he focuses on my eyes in the darkness. “I’ve always known you were out there waiting for me, and that I would love you.”
His words, those words, cause a lump in my throat. “Did you just say what I think you said?”
Dillan kisses me in reply. I can’t get lost in the kiss the way I want to. Not with that four-letter word looming between us. Hearing Dillan Dukes tell me he loves me so quickly worries me.
I wake to hushed voices and feel Dillan’s warm body missing from the bed. I open my eyes and see his silhouette outside the tent. “Ok, give us a few minutes, we’ll be right behind you,” Dillan says. Then he unzips the tent and climbs back inside with a lantern.
“Who was that?” I sit up and look around for my bra. Dillan tosses it to me along with the rest of my clothes. “Thanks.”
Dillan has on a pair of shorts. He slips on a tank top then sits down to put on his shoes. “That was Drake. He brought us a light and said they’re going to clean up dinner soon. So, if you want to eat, you better get up.”
I need food. I feel like I can eat a cow.
Twinkling lights guide us back to the picnic area. Our arrival doesn’t go unnoticed. I blush at the attention. We’ve been holed up in Dillan’s tent all day. Everyone knows what we’ve been doing; they were all doing the same thing, I think. Dillan releases my hand to grab a plate and I move to the other side of the buffet table. Dillan looks wounded, like I abandoned him or something. I smile, comforting him, and load my plate with food.
“Do you want me to heat that for you?” Layla’s voice calls from the kitchen door. I appreciate her distance. Being mothered after spending all day in bed with Dillan feels weird.
“No, I’m fine,” I tell her. When I look up from my plate, I find Dillan standing in front of me, clearly agitated. “What?”
“Maybe I don’t want to eat cold food?” I don’t know him well enough to know if he’s joking.
I wait half a beat to see if he breaks into a smile. He doesn’t. He just continues to load food onto this plate. Wow, really? Dillan is probably the hottest and more powerful guy here, but I’m starting to think he’s also a bit of a crybaby. “Sorry,” I say in a way that sounds like I’m not sorry at all.
Dillan doesn’t seem to notice. He mistakes my sarcasm as a real apology. “It’s ok.” He picks up a fork and napkin then heads to an empty bench.
I’m confused. I don’t know if he really was upset or just messing with me. I grab a napkin and a diet soda from the cooler and offer one to Dillan. He declines and motions to the Sierra boy near the keg. The boy pumps him a fresh beer and brings it to our table. Dillan thanks him, and the boy retreats back to his table. I wonder if Dillan is accustomed to being waited on because his family is rich, or if this is an alpha thing.
Dillan digs into the BBQ ribs on his plate like he hasn’t eaten in days. I guess it’s because of the phase and all the sex. I eat a piece of chicken and a heaping scoop of potato salad. When I pop open my soda, it fizzes all over the table. I look around and laugh, but nobody is paying attention to us. Tables are full of couples, but like this morning, none of them are socializing. “Why is everyone so quiet?”
Dillan shrugs. “Do you want to hear some music?”
“Sure.”
Dillan takes a gulp of beer, wipes his mouth with his napkin, and then scans the crowd. “Hey Drake,” he calls across the clearing. “Get that DJ booth going. Kalysia wants to hear some music.”
“No, it’s ok,” I protest. I want to kill Dillan for putting me on the spot. “You don’t have to do that.”
Drake leaves Leah’s side and crosses to the DJ table. “It’s no big deal, Kalysia. You’re right, it’s too damn quiet.” He smiles at me and flips on the speakers.
