Amara – Reunion

Author's note: this is from Seraphina's point of view

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When kids settled with their tasks, I turned to the man who was smiling my way. "Pick a color for us."

Duke reached into the box and pulled a scarf that was blue in color. It matched his eyes.

"I will get a backpack. You get the envelope.", Duke said, and I saw him tying the scarf to the backpack, just how the kids did.

I opened the envelope and read the clue: "I belong in the tall ocean of green, yet I stand above it all."

My eyebrow twitched. Somehow, this reminded me of our make-out session from that morning, in the canopy of the tallest tree with a breathtaking view of the sunrise.

Duke was getting the map from the backpack, and I waved him to stop.

"We don't need a map for this one."

Duke looked at me questionably and a sly smirk appeared on his face while he read the clue.

He flung the backpack over his shoulder and offered me his hand to take.

Our fingers interlinked flawlessly, and we made our way toward the forest.

"We enjoyed the sunrise, we can enjoy the sunset in the same way.", he said.

I knew that he was suggesting us climbing the tree and kissing up there, but I had to burst his bubble, "The sun is down already."

"That's fine. We can enjoy the moonlight."

I giggled at his cheeky tone.

Oh, how much I love him!

As we walked further from the villa, I realized that the absence of light will be problematic. I wanted to suggest using the flashlight, or maybe cracking a glowstick, but the way Duke walked, it seemed like he has no problem seeing the way with the scarce light the crescent moon provided.

He is amazing.

A few minutes later, we were surrounded by the darkness, and my eyes adjusted enough to vaguely see where I'm stepping on. The sounds of branches and leaves cracking under our feet was eerie and unusually loud, yet Duke's warm hand holding mine made everything better.

"Thank you for coming here.", I said.

"No need to thank me.", he responded. "I technically crashed your party. I knew you had your reasons, but I thought that if I don't see you I will go mad. I'm glad you didn't send me back no matter how selfish I was."

I bit my lip guiltily. "I'm sorry, Duke. I would invite you myself, but I feared that we won't be able to keep our hands in check and that my condition might flare again."

Duke chuckled. "I thought that my hands are not the part of my body that worries you."

"Ha… ha… ha…", I laughed dryly.

I did say something like that. Every part of his body is deadly for my heart that skips a beat when I think about him, but this was not the time or place to get lost in heady thoughts.

It was just the two of us, in the darkness, and it was stimulating, but there were also eight teens somewhere in the area and I can't allow them to catch us red-handed.

I needed something to talk about.

"Did you have your mysterious chat with Zoe?", I asked.

"Not yet."

"I'm glad you are getting along with kids."

"What can I say? Teens are crazy about me.", he said jokingly.

I am crazy about you also. I kept that thought to myself.

"They are good kids.", Duke said. "I can see that Ash is serious about the possibility of being an intern at Eclipse. If he maintains that enthusiasm and backs it up with hard work, he will do well."

I was happy to hear Duke praising Ash. Ash is usually the troublemaker, and these praises were like a fresh breeze. It made me feel a pang of pride.

"Tell me more about your first impressions related to Zoe, Luca, and Ash.", I demanded.

Duke hummed and started telling me about his interactions and conclusions.

I was lost in his deep voice and vivid explanations, and I didn't realize the time passing.

The evening with Duke in the forest was magical.

We held hands and chatted, and it was relaxing.

Duke led the way and I followed, confident that he knows where we should be going. He always knew.

We found our first stamp and the next clue at the base of the tallest tree, the same one we climbed that morning.

Shortly after collecting our second stamp, Duke halted his steps and gestured to me to go down. We crouched in the bushes and after a few seconds I heard some crunching and voices, and the moonlight revealed two outlines.

Hugo and Violet.

They were holding hands and chatting, and Violet's giggles told me that the mood was good. I saw them sitting next to each other earlier, on the beach, and now it seems they are closer to dating (if they are not dating already). Do teen werewolves date or…? I didn't want to think about it.

I know from Fynn's group that several couples are mated, like Vito and Tessa, and they are religiously committed to each other, absolutely enamored, and unable to look at anyone else.

Others engage in casual relationships that are mostly for satisfying physical needs, without romancing or a promise of monogamy. Aldus told me that such behavior stems from werewolves' increased libido (compared to human's) and different understanding of what's socially acceptable.

Also, the fact that they end up removing (or ripping) their clothes every time they shift into their wolf form makes them exposed to a lot of skin from young age and they don't think it's a big deal to go au naturel which provides super-easy access when the carnal needs hit them. I heard that in some of the packs, werewolves don't bother dressing up unless they are interacting with outsiders.

I'm doing my best to understand and not be judgmental while telling myself that they are werewolves and that different sets of rules apply to them, but I really hope that Zoe, Luca, and Ash will find meaningful relationships. If any of them end up sleeping around, I don't want to know about it.

I realized that Duke heard Hugo and Violet approaching us at least several seconds before I heard anything. He really is amazing.

Hugo and Violet passed about ten steps away from us, and I wondered if they could pick up our scent. They should, but everyone smells like smoke and grilled meat so maybe that mixed things up.

I could smell myself of smoke, but Duke still had his scent of pine trees mixed with the ocean. That's my favorite scent.

"If you keep staring at me like that, I will kiss you, and we will not collect any more stamps."

I blinked at Duke's words. Was I staring at him? Probably.

"You didn't kiss me since this morning.", I said sulkily. Well, we kissed before lunch, but it felt like ages ago.

Duke cupped my cheek and smiled. "Are you keeping track, my dear?"

He was teasing me, and I wanted to protest, but he called me 'my dear' and his touch was warm and soothing, and I ended up leaning into his palm.

"Don't you want to kiss me?", I ended up asking.

"All the time.", he said longingly.

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