Not once looking back, the shadowy figure pulled a glass bottle from their pocket before taking a large swig of an amber liquid. Once they had a mouthful, they tossed the bottle over their shoulder, where the sound of glass breaking was heard as it landed. Swallowing with a hiss as the burning liquid made its way down their throat, the screams of individuals were heard as chaos broke out. Flames licked the building, engulfing it in an out-of-control blaze that had more to do with the shadow's prep work than their recent actions. In this part of a large city, there was very little presence of surveillance for a reason. It was, after all, underground for a reason…
Back to the cabin in the woods…
The two young lovers were still oblivious to the time and most external attempts to get their attention. Multiple times Liona's phone rang and notifications came and went, but all were ignored in favor of their inner selves, being free to roam and explore the other in an unhurried fashion. Although the two were getting dangerously close to going beyond external exploration. But the one thing that unexpectedly put the brakes on was a chime. But it wasn't just any old chime, it was the deep reverberating sound of the grandfather clock in the living room going off. As the count sounded, Erik froze. His hand? Halfway up Liona's skirt.
Not wanting Erik to stop and wanting what was just out of reach, in all her clouded judgement, Liona wrapped her legs around his waist, preventing him from pulling away. "Er! Keep going! Please!" She practically begged as she tried to scoot down and make contact with the hand that was just tantalizingly out of reach of contacting her more intimate area. However, as the count of the clock's chimes started adding up, the hazy but vague sense that she was forgetting something dawned on her.
Slowly, as if in a dream-like state, Liona came to her senses as she wrestled control back from her very heightened omega who was reluctant to let go. Erik, on the other hand, was looking like a deer in headlights. He had this look of fear, like he had done something wrong again. As the last chime sounded, the sound of her phone going off made Liona scramble for her handbag that had been tossed aside. The time on her phone matched that of the clock and caller? Alli.
As Erik was reeling and struggling to come to terms with what he had been doing, Liona answered her phone in her half undressed state. He was sporting a near painful extension that he was trying his hardest to will away as he tried to calm down. He had no idea how he had lost his mind, but it was clear he had been really close to doing something that he was sure he had sworn to Lia that they wouldn't do until they were ready, and he wasn't sure that he or she were really ready yet. But a part of him was trying to argue that her urging meant that she was absolutely ready to go further. As he argued with himself, he heard Liona exclaim as she spoke briefly on the phone.
"What?! How many times?!" Liona was shocked as Alli briefly told her she and Chloe had both been calling and texting her multiple times, to no avail. But the more dire news that Alli had shared was that her parents had called both her and Chloe and were taking their stalling and excuses for now. "Oh no, Momma and Dad are going to be so mad when I get home!" Liona was panicking as she hung up the phone to briefly scroll through the many messages and calls she had missed.
"Er!!" Liona looked nearly tearful as she turned back to him. "I'm so sorry for pushing you into this!" Erik was a little stunned. Had she? Had she actually pushed him to stay and turn this into another near miss of what started as a simple make-out session? He didn't think so. This was really on him for being such a horn dog for her. He rose from the couch and steeled his resolve to apologize to his teary-eyed mate.
"No Lia, this is on me…" Before he could finish his apology, Liona came up to him and gave him a gentle hug, which silenced him.
"No, Er, I think this wasn't either of our faults. We shouldn't apologize for this to each other, instead we should just accept that this is going to be a fact of our lives. We discussed this before, but I think, if you're willing, that we should be prepared to accept our desires and the next time this happens, we just let it happen…" Liona took a moment as she hugged her mate to express what she hoped would be acceptable to Erik, since she was selfishly wanting to take that step with him now. That feeling, that desire, it was just too much for her to not want more of it, especially since she felt even closer to her mate than ever before after this evening.
Taking a moment to process what Lia was saying, Erik held her close, ignoring the desire to pull her in for another kiss that could put them right back where they started. He also sensed her desire, yet he questioned their readiness for such a commitment. He knew that if they were to take that step; they had to be absolutely prepared for it, and that meant he had to be the responsible one. There were questions he had, though, but before he could ask, Liona's phone went off again. It seemed to be an alarm of some sort.
"Erik, we need to get a move on. I'm already out past my curfew and it's a bit of a drive back to town. I also need to drop you off back at your place, so my parents are going to be furious at how late I'll be getting home." Liona pulled away from Erik and hurried off into another room before returning shortly with some sort of packet in her hands. He also noticed that the faint whirr of a fan had started, but couldn't be sure what it was for.
"Here, this is a pheromone patch and a generic suppressant, to help with your pheromones." Liona handed over one patch and a small blister pack labeled suppressant on it, before heading toward the kitchen. "If we go home smelling like we are now, I'm sure our parents will freak out more than we did." Liona called this over her shoulder and seemed to attempt a joke, which elicited a small chuckle from him.
"Yeah, my mom would grill me until the end of time if she knew what we had been up to!" Erik chuckled lightly as he looked to the kitchen to see Liona return with a glass of water which she had just finished taking a drink out of, likely taking her own suppressant.
After taking their suppressants, Liona and Erik righted their clothing while Liona fixed her disheveled hair before they headed out. The cabin was once again locked up, and they headed back home to the city. During the ride, they attempted to talk about their desires and feelings but almost as soon as they started, Liona's car kept chiming with alerts about an incoming rain storm and to use caution. If that wasn't bad enough, her phone kept ringing incessantly, or when the rainstorm hit, the thunder was so loud it made talking near impossible. Luck just wasn't on their side tonight.
By the time Liona dropped Erik off, it was close to two in the morning and when she finally got home; it was around two-thirty in the morning. Her parents were going to be uber pissed off at her blatant disregard for curfew. Entering the house quietly was not an option as, of course, her car entered the garage and the alert from the house security would let her parents know she was home. They were waiting for her in the kitchen as she exited the mudroom.
"Where have you been, young lady?!" Vivian crossed her arms with the sternest expression on her face. She was not happy with her daughter right now.
"We have been worried sick about you! Is this how you show us you want to be treated as an adult?!" Leon was trying his hardest to not let his anger show at his daughter's behavior this evening.
"You ignored all our calls, and those of your Aunt Yui, Allison, and Chloe couldn't reach you. Now, do you want a chance to tell us where you were or what you were doing so that you couldn't let us know you would be late? Or do we have to check your phone's GPS?" Vivi was angry, but mostly worried and relieved her beloved daughter was home and unharmed.