Amnesia - The Matlock Pack: Book One

Friday 18 December

~*Nat’s POV*~

“I can’t believe you did that during Capture the Flag this morning!”

I raised an eyebrow at Bells in question. “Why? Surely someone has done it before. I mean, it was kind of obvious.”

“Well, yeah. But it’s been a very long time since anyone’s decided to take the risk. And then to follow it up by splitting our defence like you did?” Bells sat on the edge of his seat, replaying the match on the table between us at The Gap, using the salt and pepper shakers as miniature players. “It was ingenious!”

I shrugged, but grinned. I didn’t quite see the big deal about it, but if he wanted to go on about it, I wouldn’t stop him. Watching him move the ‘players’ around the table, I frowned when I saw how many gaps we had left in our offense. The match was a good start, but it definitely had room for improvement.

I had to admit, though, beating Kadin and her besties in the match had put me in a wonderfully cheerful mood for the rest of the day. I could still picture their scowls once they realised what our team had been planning. It was glorious. A smile emerged on my face every time I thought about it.

“Don’t get cocky, kid. There’s still two weeks of these to go.”

I looked up from studying the mock field. “I’m not being cocky…” Bells still had his head down studying the ‘field’, but there was no-one else at the table.

Bells glanced up, but didn’t stop moving the ‘players’ around the table. “What, Nat?”

“I said, I’m not being cocky.” I swivelled in my seat to look around. The Gap was full of people tonight, and the ambient noise was almost overwhelming, so maybe my ears had picked up the tail end of one of the other conversations going on around us?

He frowned at me. “I never said you were.” He placed a hand over mine to bring my attention back to him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I think so…” Even I wasn’t convinced by my words, but I shrugged and went back to strategizing our next Capture the Flag session on Monday while we waited for our dinner to be brought out and for our friends to show up.

~~~

“So then, I said to her ‘because if they flew over the bay, we’d call them bagels’!”

Everyone sitting at our table let out groans at Owen’s terrible joke, including me. Cody even threw a french-fry at him.

“What?” He caught the fry and popped it into his mouth, still laughing at his own joke. “It’s funny!”

“Owen, that is the worst dad joke I’ve ever heard,” Murph said, shaking his head in mock disgust. “And I’ve heard some truly terrible ones. But that? That takes the cake.”

“None of you have any sense of humour.” Owen picked up a handful of his own fries, pointed them at everyone around the table, then shoved them in his mouth. “Just like my date. She didn’t think it was funny either.”

“Good lord, he’s so full of shit, the toilet’s jealous.”

I burst out laughing, but slowly came to a stop when I realised everyone was looking at me with curious expressions. “What? That was funny.”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been saying!” Owen shoved more fries into his mouth. “Glad you caught up, Nat.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not you, you idiot. The toilet joke.”

“What toilet joke?” Cody frowned. She looked at Bells, who was now sitting next to me. He shrugged.

“You know,” I looked around, picking up some fries. “He’s so full of shit, the toilet’s jealous?” I popped the fries into my mouth. “It was funny.”

Everyone burst out laughing except Owen.

“Well, I never, in all my years,” he said, splaying a hand over his chest in indignation. “This is the thanks I get for creating a jovial atmosphere? Hmph!” He turned his nose to the roof, folded his arms over his chest, and shook his head. “I don’t even know why I try, sometimes.”

“Oh, get over yourself, Casanova.” Bells punched him on the shoulder lightly. “She was just mucking around.” He turned to me, raising an eyebrow, then nodded at Owen. “Weren’t you, Nat?”

“What?” I was completely lost. “It wasn’t me who said it. I just repeated it cos you asked me what I was laughing at.”

“You repeated it?” Cody asked me. “The first time I heard it was from you.” She narrowed her eyes in thought.

I looked around the table to see everyone staring at me, making me feel decidedly uncomfortable. “No… I heard it. Someone said it before me.”

Everyone shook their heads.

Bells leaned his shoulder into mine. “Sweetheart, no-one heard that line before you said it,” he said softly.

I turned to face him. “Well, you all must have stuffing in your ears, because I definitely heard it. It must have been someone at one of the other tables.” I pointed my thumb at the surrounding tables, all still full.

Cody tilted her head to one side as she studied me. “Or you could have been hearing your wolf…”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Cody. You see how crowded The Gap is tonight?” I shook my head at her in dismissal before lifting the last bite of my burger to my lips. “I just heard it from someone in here.”

Cody shrugged but didn’t look at all convinced. “Okay, Nat.” She looked pointedly at Bells, who also shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

“So…” Owen said, looking around the table at everyone’s now empty plates. “Who wants dessert?”

~~~

“What did you think?”

After finishing dinner at The Gap, everyone else stayed back to have drinks, but Bells and I called it a night and headed to his apartment to watch a movie.

We had ended up in his bedroom as we weren’t sure what time Tatum would get back from his night out with Zelda, and Bells hadn’t wanted me to be interrupted watching what he claimed to be a ‘masterpiece in cinematic storytelling’. He said that he was curious to see Jaws through the eyes of someone who had never seen it before, so we had camped out on his bed with a tub of popcorn and watched all two hours of it in one go.

The credits were now rolling, and he was desperate for my verdict.

“It was good.”

“Good?” His jaw dropped open. “Good?!”

“What? It was good.”

“Nat, you wound me.” Bells rolled over onto his back so he could stare at the ceiling. “Jaws was undoubtedly the best film ever made until Star Wars was released two years later, and you’re saying it’s ’good’.” He put his hands up in the air to make air quotes around the word ‘good’, then dropped one arm down onto his stomach, and the other over his eyes. “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”

I snickered as I shuffled over the bed to lie on my stomach next to him. “I liked it. The shark looked fake as fuck, but the story was awesome. I loved the soundtrack too. Those minimal beats? They gave me shivers.” I rolled onto my side, positioned my elbow out to the side, and rested my head on my hand. “Is that more to your liking?”

He removed the arm from his eyes, turned his head, and gave me a slow, sly grin. “You know, the reason we didn’t see more of the shark is because the props kept malfunctioning.”

I rolled over onto my back with a groan. “God, don’t tell me I just opened myself up to hear you give me all the behind-the-scenes details.”

He rose above me, his eyes eager. “There are four hours of special features we could watch on the disc in the player. Just say the word.”

I rolled my eyes at him in exasperation. “Maybe another time? You mentioned Star Wars. How long does that go for?”

“Which version?” His eyes lit up with excitement.

“What do you mean ‘which version’? Isn’t there just one movie called Star Wars?”

“Oh, Nat! I’ve got so much to teach you!” He jumped off the bed to eject Jaws from the player before switching the system over to his streaming service. “I’ll show you the ‘maclunkey’ version. That’s the most recent…” He grabbed the remote before coming back to sit on the edge of the bed, his focus entirely on finding the film on the screen.

I groaned again. “Why do I feel like I’ve just opened up a whole new can of worms?”

He glanced over at me before refocusing on the TV. “Just you wait, Nat. You’re going to love it. There are droids, and lightsabers, and spaceships, and…”

I got off the bed to stretch, letting him drone on about stuff I would undoubtedly understand once the movie began. “You saw Tiergan and Raf on our way out, didn’t you?”

“Got it!” Still concentrating on the TV, he started the movie, but paused it when he realised I had asked him a question. “Oh, yeah. I did. They were near the door, yeah?”

I nodded. “Tiergan was watching Cody again.”

Bells shifted further up the bed so he could lean against the bedhead, stretching his legs out in front of him and crossing them at the ankles. “He knows she’s with Murph, doesn’t he?”

I chewed my bottom lip. “Honestly, I don’t know if he does. Do you remember what happened between Cody and Tiergan at her birthday party? The last thing I remember was seeing them dancing together before I left, but she’s been with Murph all week, so…?” I shrugged. “Tiergan and Raf said that they were going to start their Warrior shifts last Monday, so they wouldn’t have seen Cody and Murph together until tonight. And let’s be honest, Murph isn’t great with public displays of affection.” I climbed back onto the bed. “Not like you are.”

I crawled up the bed and knelt next to him, leaning forward until our lips met. Softly at first, until a low growl reverberated around the room when Bells responded. He brought his hands up to my cheeks to hold me still as he slowly increased the pressure.

The pulsing sensation was back with a vengeance; my whole face feeling like it was tingling wherever our skin met. I sighed in pleasure, my eyes closing at the same time as my lips parted ever so slightly. His tongue darted between my lips before retracting quickly; a test to see how I would respond, just like the first time we had kissed.

My hands drifted up to Bells’ face, one softly resting on his cheek, the other running through his hair, before grasping the back of his head and pulling him closer to me. I opened my mouth further, my tongue making its own way to massage his.

My eyes opened wide, and I pulled back from his lips slightly, staring at him as I held his head still.

Holy cow… the pulsing sensation extended to our tongues as well. Anywhere his tongue explored, the most glorious feeling reverberated. For the first time, I wondered if he could feel what I was experiencing.

Filled with desire, he slowly opened his lids halfway to look at me. I brought the hand that was still resting on his cheek forward to brush against his lips. “Are you feeling this?”

Bells nodded slowly.

“Is this normal?” I whispered.

“Not for me.” His voice was so low and filled with longing I could barely hear it. He let his hands drop from my cheeks to my shoulders, massaging them while he watched me. “I wasn’t sure if you were feeling it, too.”

My shoulders relaxed, and I let my head tilt to one side in pleasure. “I don’t know what it is… but it’s like coming home…”

He leaned forward to kiss me again. I was quickly learning that he liked to start off softly to test my boundaries, then slowly apply pressure when I gave the inevitable okay. He talked a big game, but when it was just the two of us, he was incredibly sensual and loving.

Just as our kiss was deepening into something more, he pulled back.

“Is everything okay?” I watched him drop his head to avoid eye contact with me, then he removed his hands from me entirely. He moved back from me, but not enough to make my own hands drop from his arms.

He growled, a low rumble. It wasn’t a menacing sound, more a need, a desire for something more. “Wyatt is being annoying,” Bells choked out.

My hands dropped to my lap. “Wyatt?”

“My wolf.”

Ah. It suddenly dawned on me I had never asked about his wolf. “Why is he being annoying?”

“He’s demanding to meet you.”

“Is that all?”

He raised his eyes to meet mine. I flinched when I noticed they were glowing the same shade of copper that Cody had in her eyes when she and Auden had first introduced me to their world. Although I had seen the Campers transform into wolves for their sparring sessions, they had always been separate to me when they did so. It was remarkably easy for me to forget the reality of this world until something like glowing eyes was right in front of me.

Bells dropped his gaze from me when he saw me wince. “It’s okay. I’ve been holding him back because I didn’t want to scare you.”

I reached out a hand to caress his head. He leaned into my palm, a slight hesitation to his movement, like he wanted desperately to feel me more, but he was worried that I would reject him.

“You don’t scare me, Bells. You could never scare me,” I murmured. “I want to meet him.”

He sighed, pausing a moment before lifting his eyes back to mine again, his eyes still glowing. This time I didn’t move a muscle.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” I looked around. “Do we need to go outside, or…?”

Bells considered the room. “If we push everything up against the walls, I can shift here. It’ll only be for a couple of minutes, so I won’t need a lot of space.”

“Okay then, let’s do it.” I got off the bed and started moving some of the smaller pieces of furniture.

Bells hesitated for a second before shaking his head. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this…” he muttered as he rose and started shoving the bed off to the side.

Once enough room was available, I sat back on the bed and crossed my legs. “What now?” I watched him with intrigue as he surveyed our work.

“Well…” Bells stood in the middle of the room and put his hands on his hips. “Now I need to get naked.” He sounded uncertain and extraordinarily shy.

Oh.

Right.

I had completely forgotten that it was less expensive for the wardrobe to disrobe before they shifted. And I hadn’t considered that Bells, my Bells, would need to strip to shift.

In front of me.

I gulped as I felt myself blushing again. Furiously. “Uh…” I lowered my eyes to my palms in my lap.

“Maybe if I lose the clothes in the ensuite and wrap myself in a towel?” Bells muttered, mostly to himself. “That’ll work. Yeah…” He fled to his bathroom and shut the door. “I’ll just be a minute,” he called out to me from behind the closed door.

The panic I heard in his voice made me realise it wasn’t only me that was quietly freaking out about this turn of events.

I briefly tossed the idea of bolting back to my apartment around in my head, but quickly dismissed it. He said that his wolf was desperate to meet me. What a slap in the face it would be for me to disappear when Bells was at his most vulnerable. I would just have to get over my nerves.

And from what I heard in Bells’ voice, I wasn’t the only one. He was obviously working his own way through his anxiety about shifting in front of me.

Regardless of how the next few minutes went, things would be forever different between us.

I kept my head down when I heard the bathroom door open. I heard Bells tentatively shuffle across to the centre of the room. He nervously fidgeted in place. “I’m covered. You don’t have to keep your eyes down.”

The stress in his voice broke my heart. I was so used to Bells being confident and assured; to hear him so lost and exposed, literally, and figuratively, made me realise I needed to swallow my own nerves and be there for him. In any way he needed me to be.

I raised my head slowly, to allow him to get used to my eyes on him. He had wrapped a large white towel around his waist and had the edges of it in a death grip. I had seen his bare chest before, but there was something so different about him standing in front of me with nothing on his feet. I gulped when I realised that the only thing separating me from him being completely naked was a thin scrap of material.

I kept as still as I could but had no way of stopping my jaw gradually dropping at the sight of the god-like figure in front of me. I tried incredibly hard not to drool as my eyes drifted over his firm body.

He truly was a thing of beauty.

My fingers twitched in my lap, itching to reach out and touch him. To stroke along every ridge of muscle, caress every gorgeous plane of his exquisite form.

It wasn’t only his voice that trembled when he said, “I’m going to get down on my knees and crouch forward to shift.” His hands shook as they held the towel around his waist.

I gazed up at his face to see that he had his eyes on the ground in front of him. He was so agitated, he was doing everything to avoid my eyes.

Bells dropped to one knee, then the other. He leaned forward, still holding onto the towel with one hand while he placed the other on the ground in front of him.

Reluctantly, he raised his head and looked at me with worry. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. I promise.”

“I’ll be here.” My eyes filled with concern as the sounds of grinding filled the air.

His eyes held mine as the shimmering effect began to surround him.

“I love you, Nat.”