Chapter 4
Boon stood in water that hit a couple of inches below his knees, his fishing pole in hand, the line submerged twenty or so feet from him following the creek’s flow. He scowled as Angelle called out to him.
“I got another!”
“Shhh! You’re scaring the fish,” he whisper-screamed to her.
Angelle burst out laughing, almost falling into the water they fished in.
It was difficult, but he did manage to hide the wide grin that threatened to show itself across his lips. “Give me a minute. I’ll catch up,” he said, in the same raspy ‘whisper’ she could hear though she was fifteen feet or so away from him.
“I told you you should be fishing in the pond with me,” she finally said as she managed to get her laughter under control.
“That’s cheating. They’re resting there,” he said, forgetting to feign a whisper.
“It’s not cheating! This is where they are. If they’re moving through the creek, they’re ready to move on, not eat.”
He let his hands drop to his sides, pole grasped in one of them. “You didn’t say that.”
“I shouldn’t have to.”
“Fine,” he said, wading out of the water to move toward her on the bank. “Make room for me.”
“No problem.” She lifted her line and hook from the pond the clan had installed to make sure they would have a place to fish, and moved farther toward the opposite end of the pond.
“Now we’ll see who’s the best fisherman,” Boon said.
“Fisherperson,” Angelle corrected.
“No, I meant fisherman.”
“I know you did. But you’re wrong. You’ll see.”
Ten minutes later Angelle shouted triumphantly once again. “Got one!”
He glared playfully at her, but kept fishing.
Fifteen minutes later, he got a bite. “I got one!” he cried out excitedly as he started reeling it in. All it took was two cranks to lose the fish. It pulled free and quickly swam away.
Angelle watched, waiting to see if he truly caught a fish.
He gave her a bit of side-eye, along with a very real pout as he reeled the hook the rest of the way in and checked his bait before throwing it back out again. “It got away.”
“Aww. I’m so sorry,” she said.
“No, you’re not,” he accused.
Angelle laughed again, and the sound delighted him. “No, I’m really not.”
Not a full five minutes later Angelle was pulling another fish. “Got one,” she singsonged.
“Alright. Give it up. What are you doing to catch so many fish?” he demanded.
“I’m just the better fisherperson,” she declared with a smug grin.
“I feed myself, and more than a few others by fishing and hunting. I know I’m a decent fisherman. Why am I not catching any now?”
“Maybe they know you’re not from here.”
“Seriously?” he asked, not believing she’d even tried that.
“Okay, you want to know why you can’t catch any fish?” Angelle asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“You’re using the wrong bait.”
“I’m using worms! All fish hit on worms!” he exclaimed.
Angelle shook her head and smiled at him so brightly that her nose wrinkled up with the smile. “Not when they’re used to hitting on bologna and cheese.”
“What?”
“Bologna and cheese.”
“Oh, I heard you. I’m just wondering why you fish with bologna and cheese.”
“Because when I was little, I didn’t want to hurt the worms. So, Uncle Maverik started using bologna and cheese pressed around the hooks. Turns out fish love the smell and taste of bologna better than they do worms.”
Boon started laughing. He shook his head in what Angelle thought was disbelief as his laughter finally died off.
“What? You don’t believe me?” she asked.
“No, I believe you. I’m just picturing a little girl with a heart so big she doesn’t want to hurt the worms so her uncle finds a way for her to fish anyway.
” He looked at her with the adoration he felt for her shining in his eyes.
“I wish I’d known you back then. I bet you were just as kind as you are now. ”
“It’s funny,” she said on a shrug as she took the fish off her hook and tossed him back into the pond, “I don’t see myself as kind. I just see me.”
“I see it. The more I get to know you, the more I see.”
“Is that a good thing? The things you think you see?”
“It’s hard to explain, but while we’re very similar, you have all the soft edges and quiet strength I wish I had. I come in like a bull in a china shop.”
“I’m a little stubborn, though. Not in a bad way. But… for example, I’m really good at working with people, but if I have to ask for something, even cooperation, I’d rather just do it myself.”
“And I’ll call out everybody that’s not pulling their weight until they pull their weight,” Boon said. “See, soft edges. I’m pretty much like gangbusters.”
“You’re not that way with me.”
“I’m very solitary. People think I’m not a happy male. I wouldn’t be surprised if some felt sorry for me. But they shouldn’t. I’m not unhappy. I’m just… not like them.”
“Me, too!” she exclaimed. “There’s nothing I need, I just wish sometimes that I wasn’t the only one without a partner.”
“Have you ever tried to find one?” Boon asked.
“No, but Tempest knew it was on my mind. She told me to be patient, that it would happen in time, that my mate was out there waiting for me.”
Boon smiled. “She told me the same thing.”
“Were you patient after she told you I was out there?” she asked.
Boon’s gaze snapped to hers at her implying that she was the mate Tempest had told him about, but didn’t seem aware of it, so, he didn’t point it out. “Not really. But I’ll be honest with you. I thought I’d found the one a long time ago. I was wrong.”
“What made you think you’d found the one? Did she feel like your mate?” Angelle asked, her mood suddenly cautious.
“Yes and no. I think I was attracted to her, and I was only a boy, mind you. But for some reason, I settled on Saige. Turns out that my sister and later on, Tempest, were both right. They kept saying that I was focusing so hard that I’d convinced myself that she was it.”
“So, what happened?”
“She said her life was going to be exciting and extravagant, not lived on the edges of a swamp in a cabin surrounded by wildlife that would later serve as dinner. She said that I would never be able to take her everywhere she wanted to go, and share the experiences she wanted to have, so there was no way I could possibly be her mate.”
“That’s horrible.”
“The life?” he asked, suddenly concerned.
“No! That she’d say such a thing to you! A good male, a beautiful male, fully capable and willing to take care of her, provide for her, protect her, offering himself for just that, she belittles him.”
“Saige was always a little high-maintenance.”
“Sounds like she was more than that, but I’ll be diplomatic about it.”
“I think I just wanted to be a part of something bigger than I was so badly, that I wished it into my head. In fact, now that I know what it feels like to actually come face-to-face with your mate, I know it wasn’t her.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Absolutely. You’re so much more than I ever imagined. I don’t know how I could have been so stupid to think she was — for so long, too.”
“It was a long time?” Angelle asked.
“We knew each other as children. I used to bring her family meat from my hunts. I gave food to others, too, but especially them. I still do, but not as blatantly as before.”
“Because you thought she was yours and you were providing for her.”
Boon nodded. “Her parents are my Uncle Destroy and Aunt Rowan. I still take them meat even though she’s no longer there. It’s just the way I do it for everyone, now. But maybe not as much as I do for the older people in our community.”
Angelle smiled, and reeled in her line.
“Are we done fishing?” he asked.
“I think so,” she said. “You can keep fishing if you’d like to.”
“I’m just here because you are. If you’re ready to go, then let’s go.”
“I’m not ready to go yet, I’m just done with fishing for now.”
Boon nodded again as he, too, began to reel in his line. “So, you smiled when I was telling you about giving food to our community…”
“You’re a good male,” Angelle said. “I was just pleased that I was right. I don’t have the instincts that you or most of my family have, so when I’m right, I get a little excited.”
“Oh, I see,” he said with a small smile.
“Plus, like I said, you’re a good male. As good as I thought.”
“Oh, yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah. You’re hard, and strong, and self-reliant, and independent, but at the same time, you’re caring, and kind.”
“I’m not kind. I’m a Gargoyle,” he teased.
“You know you’re kind. And you know you’re a good male. You’ve never been anything but that with me.”
“Because you matter to me.”
“I also get the feeling you have a strong sense of right and wrong. You wouldn’t hurt anyone, or take advantage of anyone intentionally. Like I said, you’re a good male.”
He walked over and rested his pole next to hers, leaning it against the same tree stump she’d leaned hers against, then followed her over to the grassy bank and sat down beside her before leaning back on his elbows as he looked out over the small pond that was fed by the creek.
“I think that in this life you truly only have your actions to speak for you. If you’re someone who takes advantage of others, you obviously don’t have a lot of integrity.
But at the same time, you can’t be someone who’s so weak they set themselves up to be taken advantage of.
I have no problem being whatever the situation calls for, dependent on who it is I’m dealing with.
I’m often told I’m too blunt, too short with people.
There are a lot of people that think I’m rather intimidating. ”
“You? Intimidating? Not at all,” Angelle said with a smirk.
Boon chuckled. “I hope you don’t think I’m intimidating. There would never be a reason for you to fear me. I’d rather remove my own head before I caused you even one tear, much less caused you physical pain.”
Angelle turned her head to look directly at him. “I’m not afraid of you, Boon.”
Boon gave her a slightly sad smile. “I have to admit I thought that you might be.”
“I’m not the least bit intimidated by or afraid of you. I grew up with a Dragon for a father, and Wolves and Bears and Lions as family. I know that’s not exactly the same as you and some of your people, but it’s as close as it can be, I think.”
“You’re right. I have to admit, though, that I’m more than a little intimidated by you,” Boon confided.
“Me? You’re afraid of me?” Angelle asked.
“I am.”
“But I’m just a human! What could I possibly do to hurt you?”
“You could break me, Angelle. Shatter my heart, split my soul right in two.”
“I would never do that on purpose.”
“I don’t think you would. But all the power is still in your hands. And I’m trusting you. I have to, I have no choice.”
Angelle scooted over a little more closely to him and leaned her shoulder against his body, her head balanced on the curve of his shoulder.
“I’m trusting you, too. Because I really want this, more than anything.
And the thing I need most to secure it, is the thing that could break it apart all around me. ”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Allowing you to figure out that all that I really am, is all you see. There’s nothing terribly exciting, adventurous, or glamorous hidden beneath. There’s just me. And I’m as simple and plain as they come.”
Boon pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You are the most perfect female I’ve ever met. You are more than I dared dream existed. You’re all I want, and I want you exactly as you are,” he whispered to her.
Angelle took a deep breath, then slowly let it out, as her eyes closed and she relaxed against him. “I caught more fish than you,” she whispered.
She felt him smile as the skin of his face tightened with the movement against her hair. “You did, though I’m not sure it was fair and square.”
“It wasn’t my fault you don’t know how to fish with bologna and cheese.”
“True. That is true.”
“Do I still get whatever I want?”
“You will always get whatever you want.”
She turned her face up to him. “I’ve never been kissed.”
“Okay.”
She huffed a little. He was going to make her actually say it out loud. “I want to be kissed.”
He leaned his head closer and angled his head just enough to place a soft, chaste kiss at the corner of her mouth. When he pulled back he saw the slight smile cross her lips before she opened her eyes and looked at him.
“I want a real kiss. I’m twenty years old and I still don’t know what a kiss feels like.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
Slowly, gently holding her head still with one hand, he pressed his lips to hers. He softly kissed her lips two, three times, before he slightly separated his lips and pressed them against hers again.
She mimicked his actions, just slightly parting her lips to be able to press them to his, savoring each kiss, his lips resting longer and longer against hers as they caressed hers just as surely as if they had a mind of their own.
When she opened her eyes to gaze up at him, he smiled at her. “Close your eyes,” he whispered.
She did as he asked, and closed her eyes. Almost immediately she felt his lips on her again, but this time the tip of his tongue just barely licked the bow of her upper lip. “Open for me.”
He heard and felt her sharp intake of breath, but she opened for him.
Boon took the opportunity to really kiss her, his tongue stroking against hers, as his lips caressed hers.
He pulled back a little and nibbled at her bottom lip before plunging his tongue inside, holding her head in both hands now as he turned her to the angles he wanted to fully devour and taste her.
When he could tell she was completely breathless, he returned to the gentle nips and soft touches of his lips chastely against hers, before fully stopping the kiss.
He still cradled her head in his hands, his face only inches away when she finally opened her eyes and looked at him.
She stared into his eyes in complete silence.
“Are you alright?” he asked quietly.
She shook her head as much as she was able with him still holding her steady.
“No?” he asked.
“I am so screwed,” she murmured.
Boon smiled at her. “Good. So am I.”
“Again?” she asked.
“Are you sure?”
“Oh, yes.”