Chapter 39: Chapter 38 - Auden

Saturday 19 December

~*Auden’s POV*~

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Auden. You won’t believe it, but I actually slept late.”

Nat rushed into my office, flinging a hand out to grab the door frame upon entry to slow her trajectory, before skidding to a halt.

I shut the book I had been reading, blinking in shock at Nat’s admission. “You slept late? The nightmares didn’t wake you up like they normally do?”

Nat beamed at me as she settled herself on the couch opposite me. “I didn’t have any last night! First time ever!” She wiggled in excitement as she found a comfortable position. This was the happiest I’d ever seen her.

“That’s great news!” I truly was delighted for her. Knowing how much she had struggled with her sleeping, this was a definite turning point. “Do you know what changed? Have you started remembering something?”

“No. Nothing like that, but I do have a thought about why I slept so well…” Nat trailed off, her face flushing a light pink.

I knew that blush all too well. I carefully placed the book on my desk and leaned forward. “Ooh… I recognise that blush. There is so a story here.” I watched her blush deepening. “Spill it. What happened?” I could almost feel my eyes twinkling with excitement. Nat’s blushes always gave me the juiciest stories.

“Okay.” She leaned forward to meet my excitement. “Let me first preface this by saying that absolutely nothing happened between us—”

I couldn’t help but cut her off. “Really?” I raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. “I don’t believe you for a second.”

Nat frowned at me in mock disapproval. “Honestly! I swear to God.” The smile on her face grew ever broader with excitement. “So, I went on a date last Saturday—”

“Oh, that’s right! You did. How’d it go?” I was getting excited now. She was going to give me gossip. And not just any gossip. Juicy gossip. The kind that Cody always thoughtlessly deprived me of. “Come on, spill the details! Let me live vicariously through someone half my age.” I winked at her.

“You know, I would tell you about it if you didn’t keep cutting me off!” She clenched her jaw and let out a low, throaty growl in annoyance. She sat back on the couch and crossed her arms in disgust.

I laughed. She had me there. “Okay, fair point. Do you want to tell me about it?”

She uncrossed her arms and leaned forward again; her actions revealing her excitement. “He’s one of the Campers. We had dinner and went to the movies last Saturday, and we had dinner with the rest of our friends last night at The Gap. We ended up at his apartment last night—”

“Ooh, really?” I waggled my eyebrows at her. I just couldn’t help myself. Her excitement was infectious.

“Gah!” She threw her hands up in the air before leaning back into the sofa once more and crossing her arms again. She looked off to the side in an attempt to ignore me. “If you’re going to keep cutting me off, I won’t tell you anything!”

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop my laughter from erupting. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’ll be good now, I promise.” I motioned with my hand to keep her talking.

Nat glared at me from the side, a tentative grin gradually appearing on her face, then she turned back to me and leaned forward again. “So, we ended up back at his apartment and we were just talking, you know? Nothing in particular; just chatting away about anything.” Her blush redeveloped on her cheeks. “And he said his wolf wanted to meet me, so he shifted into his wolf, then his wolf wouldn’t let me leave, and then he stole my phone so I couldn’t call anyone for help, so I thought ‘fuck it, I’ll just watch a movie’, and then I fell asleep, and the next thing I know we’re both waking up in his bed.” She took a huge breath in to catch up on the air she’d lost in her rapid-fire explanation of what had happened last night.

I sat there, blinking, trying to piece together everything that she had just said to have it make some sort of sense. She had started off in her typical cadence, but as she went on, it sped and sped until she was almost completely out of breath. Once I felt like I’d wrapped my head around what had happened, I asked the only thing I could under the circumstances: “But nothing happened…?” I basically sat on the edge of my seat, waiting to hear the next juicy detail of her night.

Nat sat there, panting from exhaustion. Or was it confusion? Excitement? I couldn’t tell. “When I woke up, I was still fully clothed. I assure you nothing untoward occurred between us.” Her cheeks pinked again, this time blushing to a deep scarlet tone.

I grabbed the opportunity with both hands and ran with it. “You said you were still fully clothed. I’m guessing that he was… umm… not…?” My eyebrow rose of its own accord again. This was finally getting interesting.

“He went to sleep in his wolf form and woke up in his human form. He forgot he wasn’t wearing anything.” She shifted her eyes away from me in embarrassment. “But I swear to you, nothing happened between us.” She raised her hand and placed it over her heart.

I sat back and pouted. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

Nat’s jaw dropped wide open, her eyes darting back to mine in shock.

“What?” I lifted my fingernails in front of my eyes to study them. “We’re both adults here.” Buffing my nails on my top, I had to ask. “Is he hot? I bet he’s hot.” I winked at her and laughed at her reaction.

She burst out laughing. “I can’t believe this. You’re so unprofessional.”

“Pfft. You love it.”

“To try and get us back on topic…”

I sighed. “If we must…”

“We must.” She smirked at me. “The thing is, I slept all the night through. No nightmares at all. And I woke up feeling more refreshed than I can ever remember being, so I can’t imagine that I was tossing and turning in my sleep, either.”

I beamed at her. “That’s fantastic news, Nat. Maybe your subconscious is settling. Are you sure that you still can’t remember anything?” I grabbed my notebook and a pen from my desk to take some notes.

Nat shook her head. “Nothing. I’m exactly as I was at our last session. Well, other than these strange sensations I’ve been getting occasionally.” Her fingers went to her bottom lip as she thought. “I figured that they’re just a side effect of the amnesia, or those herbs you gave me, or the meditation I’ve been doing with Kennedy.”

I scribbled down what she was saying. “What strange sensations? Can you describe them?” I didn’t think it would have been the amnesia or the meditation, but it could have been a side effect of the potion that Takeshi’s Bunyip friend had provided. I’d found Nat earlier in the week and told her to mix it in boiling water like tea and drink the concoction before she went to bed.

“It’s like the sensation you get when you’re in the shower when the water hits you. It’s a warm, pulsing feeling. Like what happens when warm water from a shower head hits you, you know?”

My scribbling slowed down as Nat described the feelings, then stopped altogether. It couldn’t be… Could it…? I placed my pen on the notepad and raised my narrowed eyes to study her. I put all joking aside for the moment as I thought about what she was describing. “Are these feelings random? Or are they happening at specific times?” I had to be very careful here.

“I don’t think they’re random.” She paused to think. “They only seem to happen when Bells touches me.” Her fingers absently drifted across her lower lip as her eyes lost their focus.

I grinned widely. “Bells? Tatum’s brother?” I was secretly pleased. Bells was a good kid. He was a good match for Nat.

Nat rolled her eyes. “That’s all you got from that, wasn’t it?”

It wasn’t the only thing I got from what she said at all, but I wasn’t telling her that. I decided to play it dumb and see if I could get away with it. “You know I need the gossip. How else am I going to keep up with the cool kids?” I laughed, then picked up my pen again and started scribbling doodles all over my page, hoping she wouldn’t catch on to what I was doing. I wondered if she believed my acting.

My head was down when she started laughing, so I grinned to myself with pride. It sounded like I got away with it. “I wouldn’t worry about anything, Nat. It sounds like things are progressing exactly the way they’re supposed to.” I paused, both in my scribbling and speaking. Had I just said too much? Would she have seen through my ruse? Maybe I should get the topic back to something she could focus on more. “Are you seeing him again?”

I looked up from my notepad to see her smiling shyly. Damn, she had it bad for him.

“Yeah, I think we might be going out again tonight.”

I smiled warmly at her. “Brilliant! You can tell me all about it in next week’s session.”

She groaned halfheartedly. “You’re going to live vicariously through me, aren’t you?” She pointed at me, then shook her finger, a growing smile appearing on her face.

I let my smile turn wicked. “Of course. It’s all on you until Cody finds herself a partner.” I winked at her but couldn’t help but notice that the smile she was sporting suddenly froze in place. I narrowed my eyes at her, but let it go. It looked like my daughter had some secrets of her own. Huh.

She quickly recovered. “I’ll tell her you said that.” She nervously laughed, not yet entirely at ease as she had been earlier in the session.

Oh yeah. There was definitely something going on with Cody.

Nat rose from the couch and headed for the door. I’m assuming so she could avoid any further questions I had, be they about her or about Cody. She was looking to escape quickly. Very quickly.

“Nat?”

She paused at the door but didn’t turn around. “Yeah…?” Her stance was stiff, prepared for whatever was coming next.

“I’m glad to see you so happy.” I let my voice carry the delight I felt from her finding her own joy.

Her shoulders relaxed. She half-turned towards me, head tilted down and looking at the floor. “I am too, Auden.” I could hear the smile in her voice. She turned the door handle, opened it and was literally halfway out the door when I had to leave her with one last line.

You know. Just to make sure she remembered our session.

“Don’t leave it too long before you sleep with him again, okay?” This time I made sure my voice carried out past her into the hallway beyond.

I laughed as I heard her groan in mortification, shutting the door behind her.

I did so love embarrassing my girls.