The Garden
"I don't like it here," Celeste said as she stared at the thick wall of trees that ran the length around the farther side of their backyard. Her stepmother came to stand beside her, lazily gazing over the woods.
"It's not bad for something that I have inherited. Have you seen house prices lately? If this house was next to a mount of crocodiles, I would get myself a nice barbed wire fence," Teresa said matter of factly as though the possibility of a wild animal—or worse a stranger wandering onto her property did not worry her, not even the slightest. Celeste had the intuition that whatever was out there, may it be a wild animal or man, she got the feeling a mere fence would do the bare minimum to keep them out. When she had finally run through many scenarios to give herself insomnia for the week, she shut the door in trepidation before sifting through the moving boxes.
"Hey kid," Teresa began, and Celeste looked up at her in acknowledgement.
"Thank you for being so supportive of this move, I really needed it after everything that has happened to us." Celeste smiled and nodded to her statement. She believed it was the least she could do after all that Teresa had done for her. Teresa could not have children of her own and thus took in Celeste when she found her on a park bench in a bread basket, during one of her early morning runs. It seemed that whoever had left her abandoned her after she was a measly 5 months old. She never treated her less, as if she was born from her own womb. There were many times Celeste wondered about her biological lineage. Why would her parents leave her behind? At that, on a park bench. If given the chance, what could she possibly say to them? Would she accept them right away? Did she have to? A small piercing headache interrupted her thoughts. She had better keep those musings at bay as what she had now was beautiful. Still, there were times where it had crossed her mind that perhaps that day when she was found by Teresa, an important part of her was left behind. Teresa seeing the grim expression on her face decided maybe some air would do the 19 year old some good.
"I'm cooking tonight, and you're getting the ingredients," her blue gaze softened before she added, "You should try and make some friends, take a breather or something. I don't want to keep you cooped up here all summer, " Teresa said, moving her hand to idly tousle her deep wavy brunette hair. An act she did whenever she was unsure about something.
Just in case she was to meet a cutie in this strange town, she thought to put on one of those short lavender summer dresses and chestnut colored boots that came up just below her knees. The minimalistic gold jewelry along with the color combo of her outfit complimented her green eyes. She held up her light brunette tendrils as if to debate whether or not to keep it up or down. She decided it looked better down.
Mathew sat on the balcony of his pack house, drinking in the tranquility of nature and the solitude of the back garden his father commanded to be created for his mother long before his death. Of all the treasures his title as Alpha provided him with, he had to admit that the alone time he spent on the balcony, over the expansive ecosystem, a beautiful array of insects and small animals complete with sweet smelling flowers was the best. He had better enjoy the gift of spring before fall took them away from him, and as Alpha of the Custodes Lunae pack (Guardians of the Moon) it was becoming more difficult for him to steal some time for himself. In the abyss of his reverie he heard the iron gate of the garden swing open.
Can't get a damn minute to himself, can he?
His light brown eyes shot open to look over the garden to see who would be so audacious to bother him at this moment. His tawny blond hair had fallen over his eyes, and he languidly used his hand to push it back to peer at the intruder. He saw a flash of purple moving about the garden. They made a very poor attempt to mask the fact that they were trespassing. Slightly leaning forward and squinting, he saw that it was a woman. He sighed heavily at that. Upon becoming Alpha, women within his pack have been making attempts at him, and of course he understood why. But it got bothersome, annoying when one highlighted the fact that he was no more than a status elevator to them—a quick ticket to the top. And while to some of his peers it made him look mad, he never saw the point in taking a mistress when he knew his fated Luna was out there somewhere. Once or twice, he would indulge himself in the earthly pleasures of manhood. He ensured the women he did bed were no more than a memory by the following morning.
But if this female trespasser wanted to impress him, what the hell was she doing in his garden?
Celeste found herself stumbling through a beautiful bloomed garden. It looked as though someone was whispering words of affirmations daily to it, while simultaneously feeding it with copious amounts of water. She was convinced that this garden had no idea what thirst felt like. Usually, when she saw somewhere adorned with vegetation (tied to the fact of where she came from), it was never this colorful, and had mostly stocky thick green forestry that looked as though it would swallow any unfortunate soul that accidentally wandered into it. She shuddered when the image of her backyard came into mind.
"And who might you be? I didn't know the groundsmen were coming in today to work on the garden."
Celeste felt as though she was going to jump out of her skin at the sound of a male voice. She spun around on her heel and was met with beautiful pools of honey caramel brown, where if the late afternoon light had hit them at just the right angle there would be a hint of that unmistakable yellow. Then there was the golden tan tendrils that messily spilled over his light almond colored face that gave her the impression he was out in the sun a lot. He wore a black t-shirt that clung to his frame—and to her disappointment did not reveal much of his torso but rather did justice in emphasizing the largeness of those protector biceps. Her eyes moved even lower and saw that he was wearing loose fit deep blue jeans and black slip on clogs. There was not much to see down there so her eyes moved back up and saw that his arms now crossed his chest and for a moment she wished he was holding her close to his chest in ecstasy and…
And what? She had better get her mind out of the gutter.
"All you have to do is ask," Mathew commented, a sickly sweet know-it-all smile appeared, his dimples stirring something within her. She scoffed, though she didn't know who she was annoyed at.
"I...Uhm..." Celeste was now stupefied. Perhaps his manly charms had robbed her of the ability to speak, for not a coherent thought could leave those blush pink lips of hers.
"What are you doing here?" He began, slightly leaning his head to one side. She licked her lips, blinking as she lamely gestured to the flowers surrounding them, as if it was the most obvious thing. Back where she was from, that looked more like a concrete jungle, spaces that often looked like this were catered to the public. Unless...
Was this private property? Then why was the blasted gate open? Her eyes widened, she looked like a frightened cat and Mathew had to bite back a snort that was coming from his chest.
"Oh gosh! This isn't your home, right? I am new here and this is my first time out and about—"
"It's okay," Mathew interjected as he could feel a wave of anxiety rolling off her. He felt in a way the longer he was in her presence, the more he felt as if he was going to melt into her feelings. In her frantic stumble to get out of his yard before he could accuse her of trespassing, which in reality she was, she had lost her footing and damn near fell into a cluster of dahlias.
She nearly fell. Nearly.
Mathew grasped her frock tail and pulled her flush towards him, and in that moment felt an intoxicating euphoric rush pulsing through him. The bliss he felt was exhilarating and in his 25 years of living, the joy he felt in the past could not be compared to the paradise he gained from holding her in his arms, which could only mean one thing—she's his MATE.
