Page 50 of Supernova

When Griffin still hadn’t arrived, I started stretching out my legs, focusing on my calves and shins that definitely needed the extra attention after running on concrete. He returned a few minutes later, a satin black ribbon dangling from his hand. As he approached me, he held it up between us, pulling the two ends of the material until it was taught, a wicked smile playing on his face. As he looked at me amused, his eyes flashed silver for a second. I on the other hand did not look amused. “Do I even want to know why you have that?”

“Probably not.” His smile grew, showing off his gorgeous pearly whites and his ever so slightly pointed canines. Weirdly enough it was something I noticed on him. He was just one of those people that had that natural sharpness there. But River, being an actual wolf, had no such thing in his human form. Another pointless observation I had made.

He walked behind me, reaching over my head and lowering the ribbon in front of my eyes as he held the ends.

“Um, excuse me?” I said, my tone laced with concern and frustration at his lack of explanation. His breath tickled my neck as he began tying the ends behind my head, the fabric now completely covering my eyes. His mouth was close to my ear when he spoke next.

“Often we need to dim one sense in order to access another.” His voice was smooth. Calm. “By removing your sight, your other senses should be heightened, including your intuition and hearing.” He was right about the hearing, his voice was already the only thing I could now focus on as it travelled the centimetres to my ear and vibrated through my entire body.

“Now I want you to try to use your sixth sense to predict where I’m going to come at you from.”

I braced, not knowing what to expect. I couldn’t hear his footsteps. The guy moved like a ninja. So I just took a blocking position.

“Clearly you have experience with this sort of technique,” I accused while I waited. I knew he’d catch what I was implying.

“I can show you a few other ways the blindfold can come in handy,” he volunteered. I tried to listen to where his voice was coming from but his words distracted me.

When I replied, I tried to sound like I was joking. “Mmm, maybe later.” But that was my pathetic attempt at actually trying to drop hints that I was finally ready to take this flirtatious banter one step further. He was silent and I swallowed nervously. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. I was seriously no good at this.

Before I knew it, he struck, hitting my ribs gently with his fist. I wasn’t quick enough to block. He struck again, this time getting my upper shoulder from behind. I had no idea how he got behind me so quickly and how I didn’t hear anything.

“You’re not trusting your senses, Cosmo,” he blandly stated. “Feel the air around you. Feel where my presence is, where the air feels different.”

I concentrated. Calming my senses. Putting aside my thoughts. I visualised what the space in front of me looked like. I had started off facing the boxing side of the gym but now with the few movements I made, I was pretty sure I’d be facing the front door. I pictured what the wall in front of me would look like. I imagined the few pull up bars along the grey concrete wall, one higher than the other. I imagined the two black ropes that hang from the ceiling towards the left corner that I usually tried to avoid. Once I had the area in front of me painted in my head, I started paying attention to the air like he had said, thinking of the particles that made up the space. From there, I honed in on my hearing, listening for his breathing or any movements from the material on his clothes. I caught the slight rustle of his shorts as his leg extended when he went for a kick this time, aiming for my side. In the seconds it took for him to make contact with me, I noticed a slight gleam in the mental vision I created. The particles shimmered in the morning light to my left––he hadn’t moved from where he had struck my shoulder, which I would have never expected. But I instinctively turned, throwing my arm out and making contact with his strong leg, blocking his kick.

“Good.” I obviously couldn’t see his face but I could tell he was smiling. I liked the hint of pride I heard in his tone.

With the next few hits, I was getting more and more comfortable in trusting the glimmer where his presence was without needing to listen out for anything. My body was just able to know—the hair on my body slightly sticking up on whichever side he was on, giving me a minuscule warning to look that way to catch the change in the air. I blocked each attack: an undercut punch when he moved back to my right, causing me to spin towards the door again; a jab at my face; and then another round house kick once he’d moved a full hundred and eighty degrees to my back.

Now that I had got that part somewhat down and was listening to my senses, I also started hearing his breathing. Even though it was calm and controlled, I could pick it up ever so slightly. We were facing the gym section now and my own breathing was not so calm. I waited for the next attack, seeing the shimmer moving towards to me. Slowly.

But as it got closer, the movement was harder to detect and I couldn’t tell if his fist was moving towards me so I kept my blocking position up just in case. I started to panic a little, listening out for his breath again which was close, and this time slightly hitched. I had no idea what move he was planning next so I readied myself to take the hit.

To my utter surprise, his fingers gently traced up my bare waist, stopping just under my sports bra. I froze, holding my breath until I felt the loss of contact with my body. He moved and it took all my effort to try to focus, watching the purple-tinged glimmer in my vision dance to my left. I stayed facing forward, not bothering to go on the defence. Griffin was on my side now and his fingers shot out to trace along the small of my back. His breathing became a little harsher.

This time when he moved, I was suddenly incapable of using the newfound abilities to predict his whereabouts. From behind me he grabbed both of my wrists which I had relaxed to my sides, no longer held in front of my face ready to block. With his body flushed against my back, he held them in his hands for a moment and then slid his fingers up the side of my arms, up to my shoulders.

His body warmth left mine again as he changed his position. My mind was a jumbled mess as I looked to my right, my body still facing forward, leaving the side of my neck wide open for him to trace with his fingers as he stood right in front of me. My body jumped ever so slightly at his touch before I relaxed into it. He slid his fingers up to the back of my neck, holding me firmly in his grip as his remaining hand found my hip, wrapping around it and pulling me closer to him.

He was a hundred percent right about the heightened senses because mine were going ballistic right now.

The adrenaline that overtook my body was eager to see what he’d do next. He slowly but firmly angled my head back so I was facing him. And then the shimmering particles in my vision went crazy—rapidly bouncing and colliding into one another before they morphed into one glittering male form that moved closer and closer until his lips touched mine.

The particles that made up my body surely exploded.

When his lips moved away, I pulled the blindfold off my face. I needed to see his expression. Needed to try and gauge what he was thinking or feeling and try to make some sense of what was happening.

I had just been kissed by Griffin Gray and my whole world just fucking changed … again.

His eyes were hooded as they bored intensely into mine. As he contemplated me.

His mouth twitched upwards into a brazen smile when he saw the surprise on my face. Surprise and a fuck-tonne of unveiled pleasure. It was likely that last part that he was smiling at.

I wanted more.

I was still in his grip. He didn’t bother to let go of the back of my neck or waist. I subconsciously grabbed the front material of his hoodie, pulling him ever so slightly back to me in an attempt to encourage him to do it again. The encouragement was well received.

He obliged.

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