SWNOVELS Chapter 10
He woke up when the door creaked, looking ready to kill something but then relaxing again when he saw Kia standing at the door.
"Something wrong, princess?" he asked, using that damn nickname Kia hated so much.
"Again, not a princess. But I couldn't sleep." she said as she walked farther into the room, desperately trying not to look at Tobias.
He chuckled and looked down at his body, "Yeah sorry, Timber makes it impossible to sleep in clothes, he's got some insane body heat going on." he joked. "But I'll get dressed if you want to stay?" he said making a move to het up.
"No!" Kia whisper/yelled. "Wait..." she got on the bed, sitting on her knees, moving closer to Tobias where he still lay on his stomach, his behind only slightly covered by the blanket. He eyed her slowly, watching her every move. She reached a hand out, "Tell me about them." she asked, lightly running her fingers over his tattoos.
Tobias let out a soft growl, clearly liking Kia's hands on him.
"Where do you want me to start?" he asked, laying back down so again so his back was flat for her to look at.
"This one..." she said, pointing to a large tattoo of a howling wolf in the middle of his back, a soft red glow flowed around the wolf and between its legs a small child peeked out.
"That's my mother. The little boy there, is me." he said, exhaling. "My father was very abusive, especially to me and my mother. For some reason he just didn't like me, maybe I looked to much like her, maybe I got her personality, I don't really know... But he always chose my brothers over me." he explained as Kia gently traced the outlines of the tattoo with her fingers. She stopped at the little boy, looking closely at him, she saw so much of Tobias there, especially those illuminating blue eyes of his. She focused her attention back on the wolf. "Golden fur..." she whispered. ".. She's beautiful."
"I nearly had a meltdown the first time I saw you shift. You look so much like my mother in wolf form, aside from the eyes of course. But seeing you, the way you look, it's like I got a piece of her back." he said, smiling up at Kia. "My mother was always my protector, she died because she was protecting me." he said, tears filled his eyes.
"You don't have to..." Kia whispered, seeing his distress.
He shook his head. "I want to. My father came home from training one day, one of my brothers lost a fight against some low-born wolf and he was livid. When my father needed to let off steam, I usually ended up his punching bag. I was seven. Long before that my mother's wolf kinda just gave up on her, because she refused to fight back when my father would hurt her, so she stopped healing my mother, because of that she was much weaker than she normally was.
"My father came storming into the room where I was busy helping my mother drink some water, he grabbed me by my hair and threw me clear across the room. Broke four ribs from just that." Tobias said, sadness filling his eyes, Kia held her breath, her heart hurting for her mate. "He picked up a baseball bat and started walking over to me. My mother knowing that look in his eyes, threw herself between us the second the baseball bat came down towards me. My father had swung with so much force that he cracked open her skull, killing her instantly. She fell limp on my lap, blood streaming down her face. I screamed as loud as I could trying to get her to wake up, but it was useless.
"He just stood there, you know. The bond between them breaking must've hurt like hell, but he just stood there, staring at her. After a while he looked up at me and said 'This is your fault.' and then he turned around and left. After that my father never hit me again, to be quite honest, it's like he forgot about me all together. I started looking after myself from that day on because I didn't have any parents left. " he said, looking away.
" I'm sorry you had to go through that. You know her death wasn't your fault right? "Kia asked, squeezing his arm.
"Yeah, it took a long time but I eventually saw that I wasn't at fault. She did what any mother would have done, she protected her pup." he said, sighing. "Next?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at his back.
Kia looked down and studied his back, trying to decided which one she wanted to know about next. She moved over to his shoulders where long tattoo sleeves were visible.
"Tell me about your arms." she said, looking closer.
Both his arms were covered with a nature scene, both the same place from what she could tell just in different seasons.
"That's basically the woods I grew up in. The one on the left is in summer time - that's when I was born. And the one on the right is in autumn - that's when my mother passed away." he explained, lifting his arms so she could see better.
"It's beautiful there..." she remarked, he scrunched up his nose and a look of disgust crossed his face. "I'm sorry.." Kia mumbled after seeing his expression.
"No its not that, it's just. Yes, it's a beautiful place, but it's filled with so much hatred and darkness, it's almost unfair." he said, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Who's Evangeline?" she asked, running her hand over the name at the bottom of his neck.
Tobias visibly tensed and Kia moved her hand away. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to..." she started, trying to calm him down. It's like he had forgotten that the name was there.
He blew out a breath and relaxed against the bed again.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have scared you like that." he said, looking at her again. "It's not a pretty story..." he said, but Kia moved closer and took his hand, showing him she wanted to know.
He sighed, "Evangeline was the little girl that lived next door to me, when my father practically abandoned me, she was there to take care of me. It's funny, cause she was only about two years older than me, but she instantly took me under her wing. I blame it on any females natural instinct to protect young. Anyway, my father found out that she had been giving me food, and letting me sleep in her room when my father locked me out of the house, he wasn't pleased to say the least. " Tobias clutched the sheet between his fingers, his jaw tight.
"He dragged her out of her house by her hair, ripped her clothes right off her body and whipped her until she crumbled to the floor in a heap of blood and bones. Through all of that, she tried her best not to cry out, but the more she tried the harder he would hit until she was practically screaming her lungs out. When he was done he forbade the pack doctor from helping her, it was left to her parents to try and fix her broken body. I of course volunteered to help immediately but her parents refused, they told me that I had caused enough trouble. She died a few days later, infection that they couldn't stop." he said, a few tears dropping down his cheeks.
"From that day on, I refused everyone's help. I just couldn't bare the thought of anyone else dying for me."
Kia climbed over him and straddled his back, slipping her arms underneath him and around his chest, she hugged him tight, leaning her head against his neck.
They stayed like that for a long time, before Tobias gently lifted her off as he turned around to lay on his back. He had absolutely no shame in his nakedness as he laid there uncovered and without a care in the world.
"You see this?" he asked her as he tapped a tattoo on his chest, it was right above his heart. A tattoo of a huge tree with golden and bright green leaves.
"Yeah?" Kia asked, sliding her fingers over it.
"That's you..." he whispered, looking at her reaction closely.
Kia smiled, realizing that it's the same tree she had forced him to climb the day they met. The golden and green leaves were representative of her, her green eyes and golden wolf fur.
"Close to my heart, where you'll always be." he said as he rubbed his thumb over her cheek. She gave him a dazzling smile, one of those rare ones that actually reached her eyes.
"Thank you..." she whispered, still tracing the tree with her fingertips.
All over his right frontside was vines, beneath them and sticking out in the middle was a scull that had a few cracks in it, covered with blood and smoke, Kia looked at it for a moment before she met Tobias' eyes.
"Let me guess, that's you?" she asked and he nod his head, urging her to continue.
"I'm guessing that the vines represent everything that tried to hold you back throughout your life, the blood being those who tried protecting you, the cracks being your suffering but also leasons learned and the smoke? I'm guessing you're a bit ill-tempered?" she said and he gave her a big smile.
"Not bad, I wasn't aware you knew me this well?" he joked, raising his eyebrow. Kia giggled.
"I don't, I'm just observant." she said, giving him a wink.
"Ah, well you're mostly right. But I'm not ill-tempered, I'm just hot-headed for injustices. I have a lot of anger in me and I hate when I have to see someone go through the same thing, you know? So whenever I witness something like that, I tend to lose my shit." he said, laughing.
Kia nod at him in understanding. She loved his ink, she loved the stories it told. She loved how he was so undeniably honest about who and what he was. She hated admitting it to herself but she loved him.
"What about the mark on your neck? Is it a birthmark?" she asked, slowly sliding her finger over the red blotch on his skin.
"Yes, it's a birthmark, my mother had the same one you know." Tobias said with a smile on his face. "Can I ask you something now?" he said, turning on his side to look at her.
"Sure?" she said.
"Why did you chose to accept me as your mate? I thought you didn't want a mate?" he asked, his eyes soft and full of love.
"I didn't, but I came to the realization that I needed you more than I wanted to admit. You're the balance that's been missing from my life since I lost Lay and I needed that back, my wolf needed that back. I was stubborn and I kept pushing away the one thing that could ultimately save me... Your love. So after our little fight and you stepping up to be there for me emotionally and getting me through what I was dealing with, I decided that I was being unfair towards you, by denying you the one thing you've always wanted. A mate. " she smiled at him.
"You have a lot of love to give and I didn't want to continue hurting you, I have come to care for you much more than I ever expected to and it scared me, that's why I kept pushing you away. But when I woke up this morning and I felt calm and Niri felt calm, I realized that I needed you, probably more than you needed me. And when I realized that I was feeling sad that you weren't in bed with me anymore I knew what I needed to do. I needed to accept our bond, I needed to accept you, I needed to accept your love. But mostly I needed to start giving you some of my own. " she said reaching out to touch his face, he leaned his head into her palm and sighed, closing his eyes to the feel of her.
"I love you, Tobias." she whispered, causing him to snap his eyes open and stare at her.
"You love me?" he asked, disbelief written all over his face.
"Yes." she said.
The smile that lit up his face was one Kia would never forget, he jumped on her in a crushing hug, kissing her all over her face. Kia laughed and tried to get out of his hold, somewhere along the line she had ended up with her back to his chest, causing Tobias to growl at her when she squirmed against him.
She frozen as he pushed her down on the bed, hovering over her. His eyes were pitch black again, Timber fully in charge.
"Beautiful mate." he said in a husky voice.
Kia smiled and touched his face. "Hey Timber." she said.
He brought his lips down to hers, pausing for a second to look at her eyes before going in for the kiss. Kia groaned into the kiss, the sparks she felt all over her body too much for her to handle. Everything in her came alive and she wanted him, all of him.
His hands traveled over her body and slowly up underneath her shirt. She wasn't wearing anything else besides her panties. Goosebumps broke out over her skin as his rough hands moved towards her breasts, he cupped one and she gasped. He took this as his opportunity to claim her mouth with his tongue. She wound her hands into his hair, relishing in the feel of him against her, smiling whenever a growl would rip through his chest.
Kia pushed him off and onto the bed before she straddled him. She looked into his eyes and rubbed her nose against his, making him smile. His hands were on her ass now, slowly moving down between her legs. He rubbed over her sensitive spot and she shivered involuntarily. He smirked at her, "I love how responsive you are to my touch." he said, the smirk never leaving his face.
"Oh, yeah?" she asked, giving him a sly smile before she lowered herself down against his hard-on, rubbing herself over him in a seductive way. His grip on her ass got tighter as he growled and groaned at the same time. Kia smiled, enjoying her victory. "Seems like you're pretty much the same." she said smugly.
Tobias opened his eyes and gave her a loving look.
"You.." he said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. ".. are going to be the death of me." he said as he pulled her down to lay next to him. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent. "Get some sleep." he said, before closing his eyes and drifting off.