Love conquers all

It was a question that had the answer from the first time. It had waited a long time to be revealed. Damn yes!

“Yes, I want it!” We both had happily dazzling smiles. His lips rested on mine. The kiss was full of feelings: excitement, belonging, completeness.

“Do you want to sit with me for a picnic, little bird?” He asked and walked away a little to reach out to my hand.

“With real pleasure”; I answered by taking his hand.

“Did you prepare the things that are in the basket?”

“Yes... No, that’s not true! Silvia helped me. To tell the truth, she did everything by herself”; he admitted giggling, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“This is child exploitation, you know it?”

“No, I didn’t know”; he said sincerely and to justify it, he added immediately afterwards: “She loves to cook, so we let her do all the experiments on us!”

“So I’d say it’s the right punishment for you two!”

“Today you will share our punishment!”

“To tell the truth I’m not very hungry, I ate a lot for lunch!”

“It would be rude of you not to eat what Silvia has undertaken to prepare.”

“Let’s open the basket, maybe I see something I can’t give up tasting!”

“Let’s see what it is ...“; he said, opening the basket.

“They are sandwiches with something inside ...” I said with uncertainty, I couldn’t understand what was in the sandwiches. A cream of some kind orange color and a salad leaf.

“Do you feel brave to try it?”

“Let’s do it together, on my three, let’s take a bite!” I suggested taking a sandwich in my hands and handing half of it to Nathan.

“Okay, count.”

“One, two, Three”; I took a bite of the sandwich, Nathan didn’t.

“It’s not fair ...” I said with my mouth full and he chuckled: “Sorry for once I wanted to have some feedback before tasting it.”

“You took advantage of me!” I threw a playful punch in the pecs and he pretended to fall and pulled me on top of him.

“Excuse me, little bird! Tell me what can I do to be forgiven?” I looked at him for a moment pretending to think about it. I don’t know if it was the scent of him, the warmth of his body, or just the position we were in, that he made me turn on. He sniffed the air and a grin appeared on his lips. Could he feel my excitement? There was no other reason for him to grin.

“I can smell your scent of excitement.”

“Can you read my mind?”

“No, I can’t do that. ” He smiled at me and I tried to get up, but he pulled me tight into his arms again.

“Do you want to fly away from me, little bird?”

“This position is ...”

“Interesting!” He said brushing aside the tuft of my hair that had fallen on his face.

“Compromising, was the adjective I wanted to add”; Nathan suddenly rolled our bodies so that I was under him.

“What do you think about this one?”

“I don’t think I have a rational answer to give!” He said nothing more, he came down on my lips and kissed me. It was amazing how I felt in his presence. Everything was in his place in the world, everything was perfect, everything was very clear. It was increasingly clear to me that if I hadn’t been his Mate I would have suffered; and if I was his Mate I would have suffered the same. The very clear thing was that in any case I would suffer. Now was not the time to think about the future. The present was what I had to dedicate myself to and in that moment the present was fabulous.

The next morning I discovered that from that moment on Nathan would never leave me alone. When I left my room ready to go to school, I heard someone chattering and laughing in the kitchen. There was Nathan who was biting into a slice of bacon, while my brother Val was laughing, as they saw me they fell silent.

“Oh no please, go ahead, when you are done you will explain to me what the hell is going on here!”

“Good morning little bird! I came to get you to go to school together.” Nathan said, placing the slice of bacon on the plate.

“Do you realize that I just need to go through the corridors and I’m at school?! I don’t need an escort.”

“Of course you’re a little rusty about what it means to have a boy and girl relationship!” Val said with a sarcastic note in his tone of voice.

“I don’t have time to feel your unsolicited pearls of wisdom, brother!”

“Where has my sweet little sister gone?” I didn’t answer him but gave him one of my sharp looks.

“I thought it was nice to go to school together.” Nathan said touching the back of his head a little embarrassed.

“Sorry, it is. It’s a very nice thing. I didn’t mean to be rude guys.”

“Have a nice day, lovebirds!” Val said getting up and leaving the kitchen.

“Sorry if I didn’t warn you, but I thought ...“, I interrupted him and there was nothing to apologize for.

“You don’t have to apologize, you did a beautiful thing and I’m flattered.” He came over and was about to kiss me when someone clears their throat to make his presence known. I looked behind Nathan and saw my father.

“Good morning dad, we were leaving for school.” I said trying to hide the shame, but it wasn’t that simple, my heart was pounding beyond belief and that caused the loud laugh that hit my father.

“Is that what they say now? When are you caught kissing a boy by your father?”

“No, dad, we are really going to school, Nathan can confirm it”; I said looking at him for some support and he was smiling.

“Yes, Alpha. The answer is yes for both!” I couldn’t believe my ears. I started walking, Nathan followed me and my father started giggling: “Have a nice day guys!” He said screaming so that he could be heard as we walked out of there.

“Can you slow down a little, Myra?!” I didn’t want to talk, I was furious perhaps for no reason, but I was. That male loyalty bothered me and if I said something, in that moment, I could have said something that I would regret.

Nathan wasn’t a guy who let it go so he grabbed me by the wrist and forced me to stop. He took my hands and said: “Do you know your father was joking?” He was clearly expecting my answer but I remained impassive.

“Myra, if your father wasn’t kidding he wouldn’t have laughed but he would have grabbed me by the throat right there on the spot.”

“I know. But this male loyalty of yours gets on my nerves. I asked you to tell a lie for me.”

“There was no need to lie. Are you ashamed of me perhaps?”

“No, absolutely no!” I said sincerely it was absolutely not like that, in fact what others thought was of little importance to me.

“Really? Because this attitude of yours makes me think the opposite!”

“What, do you want me to kiss you in front of everyone? Consider it done, but in front of my parents it’s completely another story.”

“Why? What’s the difference?”

“I don’t feel comfortable, can you please accept it?”

“OK, as you like, as you want.”

“Let’s go otherwise we’ll be late”; I said, taking his hand and starting to walk.

“Have you ever been late?”

“Never!”

“You should do it.”

“Are you suggesting something?”

“Just to let yourself go a little!”

“Are you elegantly offending me?”

“No, I want you to have some fun ...”

“I have fun!”

“What do you do to have fun?” I tried to work out an answer but opened my mouth and closed it again without finding anything.

“I see you are full of fun things that you don’t know where to start!”

“I am very busy!”

“How about one day we skip school and go somewhere together?” I thought about it and it didn’t make a turn. What did I have to lose?

“Yes, ok let’s do it!”

We walked into the school hand in hand and everyone was looking at us. We were the news of the day. The girls joined us and said hello.

“Hello guys! I see your story is in the public domain!” Andrea said mischievously.

“Yes it’s official; he’s my boyfriend!” I proudly said to announce our love story.

“I knew it! It was just a matter of time, I was sure you were meant for each other. I already told you I thought you were Mate. I’m rarely wrong about these things!” Abby said confidently.

“When is your birthday?” Aurora asked turning to Nathan.

“In less than a month!”

“I have to go to class!” I said trying to hide the strange feeling of pain that had assailed me. In a month, I would have another three months. Too few, I had to try to work out a way not to let myself be eaten by fear.

Nathan ran after me, grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms. Right there, in the hall full of boys and girls, he kissed me. The kiss was full of feelings that made me forget everything that was going through my mind. He had the ability to calm my restlessness, to clear my negative thoughts, to light the fire inside me with a single glance.

“Let’s go or we’ll be really late!” I smiled at him and hand in hand we went to our class.

Days passed between heart-pounding kisses, bickering, friendship, and extracurricular activities, headaches. Headache was a constant among everyday things. It was enough for me to follow the therapy given by doctor Leporis to eradicate the pain.

The end-of-year school trip would soon arrive and the school board had chosen Tuscany as its destination. We would have spent four days between excursions, walks, guided tours, friendship and love.