RETRACTING THE TALONS

Damon's P.O.V

She says with a different type of smile, a polite one that didn't warm me nearly as much. I feel my talons extending beneath the table, rage and anger forming inside of me, but for once I felt it for no one else but myself. I nod and return the smile, retracting the talons before standing.

I walk her to the door, helping her as much as she'd allow me, wincing at the way she limped to her door. She turns around to face me before she reaches her door, giving me one of the smiles I liked, it helped calm the anger a little.

"Thanks again for last night and for this morning, breakfast I mean." She says quickly, hand gesturing wildly to me before she slaps her hand over her face. "Your shrimpless pancakes were amazing."

I smile at that, unable to remain angry when she didn't seem to be. But I could already tell that she wore a poker face better and longer than most. I wanted to see what was beneath it and for that reason, I'd wait as long as I'd have to.

"We should do this again," I say, the offer seeming to take her by surprise. "I don't know much people here and I don't really want to, but you don't piss me off... that much."

Her smile only grows from the teasing as she looks at me, visibly trying to figure me out but epically failing to do so.

"You don't piss me off that much either." She replies raising her chin almost challengingly. "I'll cook next time, any allergies I should know about?"

Your species.

"None," I reply stepping behind my door when she opens her own, I needed to look a whole lot less attached that I felt. "Just let me know whenever you're free."

"Okay." She replies before stepping into her own apartment, eyes still on me despite the way Sassy came jumping against her leg. She leans against the door with most of her body behind of it, heat rushing up her neck while her leg swayed behind her to create the most tempting image.

"Bye Damon." She whispers, looking up at me as she bites her lip right before she closes the door.

I close my own door and manage to make it to the furthest corner of my apartment before I release a groan of frustration and pure joy. I slide down against the way, burying my face against my knees as shivers run through me, the image of Wilona replaying itself in my mind to drive me absolutely crazy.

My mind seesawed between my two, most prominent emotions; unhinged delight and progressing dread.

It made me happy to know that my mate didn't have any immediate issues with me that I could see. She was a little introverted, an enemy to physical interactions and extremely mistrusting but those seemed to have stemmed from her past rather than me. As far as I could tell, she didn't hate me and she didn't know enough about me to fear me. She seemed to be okay with me. That was one hurdle out of the way, but looking down the track, there seemed to be a million more.

Getting her to open up, letting me touch her, even building a single brick of trust all seemed like a life's worth that may still end in a maybe. My biggest hope at the moment was that the mate bond was on my side and would help despite her being human. Then there was the fear that was slowing building the more I got to know her and liked what I was finding, the fear of her finding out about my past.

But even with the chaos that was going on in my mind, I was still smiling against my knees while my heart beat so heart I thought it burst. Goddess, I hadn't had that much fun in a long time. Hadn't felt that comfortable in an even longer time. I hadn't noticed until I was sitting there, laughing and smiling in a way that had escaped me for so long.

I raise my head when I feel Blaze wiggling himself between my feet. I laugh when he clears a path for himself, sending my knees down so he can jump on my lap. He makes himself at home and nibbles on my shirt.

"Will thinks your obese," I tell him but he doesn't reply. "I think you're just big-boned."

I smile at the memory and laugh when I realize I was thinking about her yet again. How was it even possible to think about her this much? It hadn't even been five minutes since she left and I was already reliving moments and hoping for more.

One day and I already knew that I had absolutely no chance against her.

---------------------------

Wilona's P.O.V

"Someone you don't like is trying to talk to you." Blares loudly out of my phone. "I repeat, someone you can't stand is trying to hold a conversation."

I climb down from the small, step ladder in the shop with a string of curses escaping my lips. I had that ringtone set for all the contacts in my phone but Francis so the caller could be anyone.

Once on the floor, I pull my phone out and try to read the saved name. My failure to do so is equivalent to falling flat on your face. I tap the pulsing green phone icon and bring the phone to my ear, face distorting with quickly forming dread.

"Hello?" I say into the phone, my voice showing my disinterest.

"Wilona!" My mother exclaims into the phone, offering unnecessary joy. "Oh, Wilona! It is so good to hear your voice."

"Well not hearing it for a month might do that to you," I reply sarcastically, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

My mother hadn't spoken to me once since I left home. Not once.

Not a single call, text or transmitted message delivered through Francis. Nothing. I knew she wasn't my biggest fan, but I believed she was a good enough actor to pretend to be. Apparently, she couldn't even offer me that much.

It annoyed me that sometimes I forgot about her true nature, it upset me that I still wished for her to actually care about me.

It was a stupid hope. She only put the mask on when people were watching, only shed the tears when it seemed favorable for her. It slipped on from time to time when she wanted to convince even herself of her own act or when she needed practice.

I wondered which of those reasons she could be calling me for.

"I wanted to give you some space and time to settle in Wilona." She replies calmly, pushing aside my anger the way she always did. "And Francis tells me every day that you're doing well."

Shouldn't it be the other way around?

"I'm busy right now mother, what do you want?" I ask getting right down to it.

"To talk to my daughter." She replies and my eyes roll the second I hear the trembling in her voice. "To make sure that you're doing okay out there on your own. You're blind and alone Wilona."

"I hadn't noticed," I reply dryly before sighing deeply. "What do you want mother?"

"I don't want anything, nothing but to check up on you." She protests sounding chocked up. "But I was talking to Christine and she told me that Liam is returning home from university this Friday.

They're throwing him a dinner, isn't that lovely? It's absolutely brilliant. Anyway, Christine wanted to know if you would like to come as well, seeing as the two of you are best friends."

"No." I grind out before reaching for the record case I was wiping before she called. I press the phone to my shoulder and challenge myself, to multitask.

"Wilona, you mustn't always be so crass." She drawls. "It's a lovely gesture to invite you, you shouldn't be so rude as to reject it. I've already had your flight booked, I expect you home by Friday."

"You can expect my shadow and cancel the flight because I'm not coming," I state clearly.

"Wilona." She says in warning, somehow the tears clearing from her tone within moments.

"I am not going to fly home for a single dinner to show your friends and dad's partners that I'm alive and well. That's what you guys really want, don't even try to convince me otherwise. And for the last time mother, Liam and I are not friends."

"You are being dramatic Wilona." She chides with a tired sigh. "It's time you got over yourself and started acting like an adult."

"After you," I reply icily and flourish in the silence which follows after.

"I have been putting up with your attitude because I know life has been hard for you Wilona. But there comes a point when enough is enough." She says firmly from her end. "Your father needs you at this dinner and the Haynes' invitation is more than generous after your preposterous allegations. So you will get on that flight and come home."