A Surge of Green

"'Monin', beautiful," A bulky guy greets me as I hop out of my car with my stuff. His dark grey eyes kind and familiar, full of good humor and flirtatious wit.

"Good morning, Yuri." I smile at Blue's huge cousin and give him a tight hug. Which he returns with a challenging grip, his boa-constrictor arms pressing me so tightly into his heavily muscled torso that I think my head's about to explode from the pressure - when someone else pulls me from the behemoth's grasp.

"Scarleeett!" Comes a high pitch squeal in my ear as the someone, proceeds to lock me into another - more wiry and much smaller body's embrace. Almost as strong as her brother, Misha's hugs tend to drive the breath from my body as she likes to practically choke me. But I know she doesn't really want to kill me. She'd have done it already.

"Hey, Misha." I manage to wheeze, bright lights dancing as my vision blurs.

"That's enough, Misha, you're killing her." Cole, a slightly younger and more scholarly version of Blue reminds his cousin. His glasses sit on the end of his nose as he shuffles through a few papers that look a lot like reports - what with their coagulated typed-out script and charts on every other page. He comes to a stop in front of me and finally looks at me, his slate-grey eyes the only real differentiating thing between him and Blue - aside from the age, demeanor, and glasses. "Good morning, Scarlett." He greets me coolly.

"Morning, Cole." I give him a small, rather hesitant and close-lipped smile. We're still not on the best terms, despite us both being hybrids- though I still don't know what kind is his other half - he still hasn't warmed up to me since the treaty. Not that I blame him. He knew I was the root cause of the war and wanted the Alpha to kick me out before things got crazy. He told me that, rather directly, after Caly had been mauled by Craven last year at the Halloween dance.

"How're you doing, Red?" Warmth blossoms all over me as familiar arms lock around my waist and pull me into a firm body. Shivers of anticipation and longing slide over and under my skin, making my entire body thrum and heart gallop. I know without looking who's holding me, though I couldn't sense him before.

I lean my head back and shrug, looking into the endless grey eyes flecked with shimmering silver that glow slightly when our eyes lock. His thick, black hair is longer than when I last saw it, hanging over his eyes in the usual messy disarray that almost looks too-purposeful and disguises the hypnotic affect of his gaze. His lips are twisted into their usual smirk, just this side of roguish. There's a new zinging sizzle between us, beginning at the mark on my shoulder and ending somewhere in my core as I try not to spontaneously combust in his arms.

Red. My nickname, and Blue his. Like we're two parts of a whole, opposites meant to be one.

"Hey," I breathe out, unable to get much more out as his hand comes up to brush a stray red curl from my face. My heart gives a lurch as his rough skin scrapes along my jaw, trailing to thumb across my bottom lip. The whole world seems to freeze and fall away around us. Not in the way it would when we had visions last year - a phenomena that seems to have only arisen as a way for our future selves to warn us. But just as jarring, the connection in our heads widens, letting the coiling heat of his emotions flow over me like a wave.

He's happy to see me, so filled with the emotion and an overwhelming sense of completeness deep inside that my knees almost buckle under it. And beneath it all, the barely restrained need to be even closer to me, a longing to be one - so fully and utterly cemented to each other that nothing could ever come between us - not even age or death or-

As his thoughts begin to become more solid, he blocks me.

The mental equivalent of a one-way mirror smacking into place and muting the vibrancy and need in his mind.

"Blue?" I breathe out with a frown as the world slams back into place around us. Hurt twists at my chest, the hurt that always comes when he uses his Wolven ability as a Sensor to sensor his mind from me. The defenses between us were always an issue, but after the Blooming last year the wall he'd built between us had been destroyed. Looks like he's managed to rebuild it. And now I feel like he's hiding more than just his emotions from me.

"Don't worry about it." Blue murmurs to me, pressing a quick kiss to my temple before releasing me. The moment over, I let out a sigh and shoulder my back pack, heading into the school and ignoring the confused and questioning looks from the other Azures. I don't push Blue away as he follows close behind me to my assigned locker. I fight to ignore him instead and proceed to fill the metal thing with my new textbooks and a few folders. "Red?" Blue asks me softly, leaning so his face is almost buried in my neck, the heat of his breath bringing a whole new and annoying cascade of emotions to the surface. I slam the door to my locker - just a little too loud - and continue to ignore him. "Red," He keeps up with me as I begin a fast-paced near-sprint up the staircase to my homeroom class. The impatience and edge to his voice reflecting the burning emotions in my own head. "Red-"

"What?" I hiss at him, my annoyance clear in my voice and, I'm sure, my face. Blue told me last year that I had a 'shit poker-face'. But it's not like I could stop him from reading me anyway, which is part of the reason why I'm so frustrated. He can read me like a book - wether I want him to or not - but whenever I explore the bridge between us - the mate-bond that links us - he shuts me out. It's getting old, and I don't have the time or patience to wait for him to open up to me.

I'm all but shouting the roiling tangled mess at him so he gets it without me having to verbalize the private thoughts aloud. The prospect of forever hangs between us, the connection all but binding us together, and he's still blocking me. After everything that's happened. Everything he's said. The promise he made last year-

"I haven't forgotten my promise," Blue assures me, taking a step closer to me to bridge the physical distance between us - but the wall's still in place. I grimace at him and turn my eyes to the ceiling.

People are filtering up the stairs around us, but I ignore their stares and curious glances as they try to get to class. I'm five feet from the top of the steps and can see the classroom waiting for me at the end of the hall. Right across from where Ms. Jin's room is. Like mini visions, I can almost see the next few months playing out before my eyes. Me jogging up and down these steps, around the whole school to get to my classes on time, doing homework and getting good grades. Not missing a whole semester because of shit happening in my life. A normal existence for a Wolven. A life I can envision spreading out in front of me. One that slowly being to flicker like candle light the more I think of adding Blue to it. His blocking and the pain he's been causing me because of it. Adding in trying to work that out on top of trying to be normal...and I don't see it.

I take a long deep breath, the reverberation of my next words managing to fill me and shiver through the bond before I can speak them.

"Maybe it's best you do," I tell him without actually looking at him, my chest aching and eyes stinging as I walk up the remaining steps and merge into the crowd.