Particularly watching him get in his truck. She loved that damn truck. Had grown up climbing in and out of it. It was beaten to hell and back, but it had big tires, a loud engine, and she loved watching him climb in and out of it. It made her want to climb him.
It was stupidly, absurdly unfair that they couldn’t touch, because she was desperate to touch him in every single way humanly and supernaturally and paranormally and every adverby way possible.
She was desperate for him, which was why her head was spinning, and why she only realized, as the sun began to fade and the moon grew bright, that it was a full moon.
It was a full moon, and the grin on Henrik’s face as he approached the shop was looking rather..wolfish.
“You’re looking a little excited today.” She was careful with her words, knowing that both Berk and Teddy had clients at the moment. She had accidentally informed her next client that she needed them to come in thirty minutes later than their appointment time, so she was still free to give Henrik all of her attention, rather than being a terrible person and slipping away with a lie.
“I got somethin’ scary as shit to tell you,” Henrik answered, his grin still in place. “Fuckin’... terrifyin’. Scarin’ the shit right outta me.”
“You don’t look scared,” Violet answered with a laugh. “You look happy.”
“Real happy, but real scared,” he corrected, and shook his head slightly. There it was, the head shaking that looked like a dog. He had done that before. “Can me and you talk somewhere private? Promise I don’t need much time. Got somewhere to be.”
“Where do you...”
Where would a wolf shifter need to be on a full moon... when they were currently unable to shift?
Was this... could he somehow... was he—
A wave of jealousy slammed straight into Violet, stealing the air from her lungs and all other thoughts from her brain. Henrik, able to shift again? Able to be who he was meant to be? Able to return to his most basic self?
She had never thought about it much, that he was unable to shift while she was unable to use magic, save to assume it was related to their bond, and the distance between them and where their power was based, since she had never fully grown into her own, but if he was suddenly able to shift once more...
Once again, she was falling behind. She was the one failing. She was inadequate, lacking, and unable to perform.
And she was jealous. Jealous of him. She didn’t have confirmation, but the idea that he could tap into his abilities once more, while she was still keeping them separate from her own lack of control...
Was this her fate? To forever never be good enough?
“Violet... Little Witch... I can smell it on you. Somewhere to talk?”
“Yeah, come on.” She didn’t look back at him as she quickly rushed down the hallway, past each of the smaller studios where artists were working, to the small sitting area where she normally passed the time. It would be an acceptable place for them to sit, but if he was about to tell her something big, she wanted to be away from things that she could easily set on fire.
Rather than heading up the back steps to her apartment, she led him out the back door, out into the parking lot behind the strip. From there, she led him to a path she knew well with only the light of the moon and a few flood lights on the back of the building to guide her. It was crispy cold outside, what with the sun having set and the winds of fall moving in, but she barely felt it. He was too close, so close to her she could almost sense him, as though if she reached back or paused in her step for even a moment, he would be right there, touching her, holding her.
She walked until the floodlights’ sensors turned off, and then it was only the moon to light them. She turned around and saw him, a few steps away, with his eyes glowing as he looked down at her.
“You can shift, can’t you?” She wanted to get it out there, to rip off the band aid. If he could do it... she needed to know.
Henrik chuckled, low and deep, the vibrations of his voice rocking her to her very core. He moved closer a step, not so close that they were touching, but enough that if she reached out, and he did as well... their fingertips would surely brush.
“Oh, Little Witch. Bein’ around you again... it’s been messin’ with my head in a way I never... I can’t shift, not yet, but I can feel it. Can feel the wolf in me. Every time I reach out to touch him, to shift my form... It’s like I can’t wrap my fingers around it, but I’m touchin’ it, reachin’ for it. Thought I might just lose all control what with the moon and all, but... but standin’ here in front of you now, I—”
He took another step forward, and another, and another, and then he was hovering over her, looking down at her. He was close enough that she could smell the sweat on his body, and the cologne he had used that morning. She could smell him, could sense him. Her fingertips burned at the need to touch him, but she didn’t. She didn’t reach out. She just... waited.
Waited for him to close the distance. Waited for him to cease all of their waiting. Waited for him to kiss her, to hold her, to burn them both alive.
“Your throat is so fuckin’ pretty,” Henrik growled, the warmth of the sound soaking her underwear. “Looks like it was made for my hand to wrap around it... for my teeth to sink into it.”
She gasped at the thought, her eyes closing as he moved in closer. She could feel his hands hovering over her hips, not touching, but close. So close. He was breathing on her skin, on her exposed neck. Her hair was up in a high bun today, save for a few framing pieces in the front, and she felt a piece move as he must have brushed it, not playing with it, but...
She wasn’t on fire, not yet, but the temperature was hot enough she felt sweaty.
“I’m losin’ my shit, Violet. Losin’ my fuckin’ mind. We keep at this much longer—”
“I’ll call her again,” she breathed out, eyes still pinched closed. “My mom. I’ll... I’ll find a way—”