HAPPY SNOW DAY KIDZ! 

18/03/2018 We are currently snowed in. No work for me today! And nothing to do but eat and write. Pure bliss. As always, this is very rough and very unedited, but I was too excited to not post this chapter (I know it's been a long time.) Hope you enjoy. Events wise - this chapter is pretty uneventful, but it's necessary. After this, Darcie will return to Oxford, and the fun shall begin. ;) 

P.S I've now changed the actor playing Bash (Picture Above). Chad White is lovely and very handsome, but he was always a little too 'pretty' for the part.

Anyways, without further ado:

(c) Copyright SJCLewis2018

Darcie woke early the next morning to the sound of animated barking.  She lay in a state of groggy confusion for a moment or two, rubbing her eyes and yawning, before the events of the past 24 hours tauntingly accosted her, and the reality of her situation sunk in again.

Well Shit. 

With a tortured groan, she thumped the feather comforter with a white knuckled fist. 

 I'm still here.

Molly had marched her back into the house, up the stairs, and into the bathroom. She had stood by while Darcie had washed the blood and dirt off her face and hands, and then pressed a pair of pyjamas on her, ordering her to change. Darcie had obliged, feeling far too hopeless and defeated to resist her demands. When Molly had told her that the pyjamas were Artia's, she'd been too preoccupied with jealousy to ask precisely why Artia kept clothes at Bash's house. She had eaten the sandwich she was offered without protest or enthusiasm, and then meekly allowed herself to be led back to bed. Molly was a shrewd, no-nonsense woman, and Darcie felt that to protest would have had little effect.

"Sebastian's a good boy." Molly had told her, sparing Darcie a look of compassion as she turned to leave.  "But he can be a little too soft for his own good. And I suppose he's isn't used to having a girl around the house again. "

Darcie had only clenched her hands together beneath the duvet and returned Molly's expectant look with a blank stare. Sometime between Artia's pyjamas and the sandwich, she had resigned herself to the fact that she really was quite out of options. Throwing another tantrum would be pointless. She was well and truly caged in, and she was all cried out.

Fuck.

The barking was getting louder.

Darcie screwed up her face and turned over again, cursing.  Alongside the dog, she could now hear the unmistakable crunch of footsteps on gravel and the sounds of muffled conversation. Darcie felt her stomach lurch as she recognised Bash's already too-familiar drawl . The other voice - definitely a man's - she didn't recognise.

"...but...she's a human!" the other man was saying, his tone laced with incredulity. "You're not really going to let her leave!?" 

Darcie froze. She heard the footsteps advance to the porch below her window, and then pause while someone - presumably Bash-turned a key in a lock. The barking continued, though it sounded more distant again now. Someone coughed, and she heard the sound of feet being stamped on the porch before Bash spoke again.

"I'm aware she's human. And yes, I am. Today."

His voice was low, but the tension in his words was unmistakable. Heart in her mouth, Darcie propped herself gingerly up on her elbows and inclined her ear towards the gap in the curtains beside her bed, straining to hear more.

The other man murmured something in response that she couldn't quite make out. When Bash spoke again, there was a distinctly venomous inflection to his words.

"Of course I appreciate why you're here, Jaxx." he began sharply, and Darcie shivered slightly at the menace of the tone. "But i'd thank you to remember your status. I am Beta of this pack. Just because we're colleagues does not exempt you from subservience."

There was a pause before other man let out a sort of delighted giggle. 

"Careful, Bash." he warned, rather good-naturally it had to be said. "You're already showing weakness. Don't worry, I know you're all above board...but you know I'm not the one you need to convince."

Bash mumbled something in Spanish, and the other man laughed.

"Alright alright!" he began, and the dog let out another playful yap in the distance. "I'll leave you alone now. I just...wanted to be the one to take the case. The others...well they may not be so understanding. But, of course, your secret it safe with us. Any...well...any interference just let us know..."

"Right. Thanks." Bash replied sarcastically. "I'll see you at work then."

"See you at work!" 

The gravel crunched again as a single pair of footsteps began their retreat.  Well and truly awake now, and curiosity usurping her, Darcie threw back the covers and leapt out of bed. Dropping to her hands and knees, she crept over to the window, very slightly drew a curtain aside, and peered over the sill into the drive below.

The 6am sun was just dawning over the crest of the hilly landscape, half illuminating her room with cold yellow light. A handsome, bearded man was stood before the porch in the middle of the driveway, half turned towards the house. He looked like he was about to address Bash again, who was lounging against the porch railing, but as soon as Darcie had lifted her head above the window sill, he paused.  Reacting as if she had announced her presence with a knock on the glass, the man jerked his head to stare up at her with a look of wide eyed surprise. Bash too, had glanced round at the same time, and was now surveying her peeping face with faint amusement.

For a split second Darcie stared, wide eyed back at them, before the man quirked a sarcastic smile and raised his hand to wave at her. Darcie immediately crouched down behind the curtains again, heart hammering, her face burning with mortification. 

 She heard the bearded man laugh before the gravel crunched again. 

"I'll leave you to it, Beta Seb." he crowed, raising his voice - Darcie suspected - for her benefit. "Enjoy the rest of your weekend."

As far as Darcie could tell, Bash did not reply. After a split second, the porch door below her window was closed and locked again before footsteps stamped across the room below. The steps grew louder before they faded away into nothingness, lost in the depths of the house.

 Darcie held her breath, embarrassment pinning her to the floor. She remained like that - crouched against the curtains, before a creak on the stairs indicated that Bash was ascending, and she snapped out of her trance with a jolt. 

Scrambling to her feet in a panic, Darcie threw herself across the room and seized the clothes which Molly had laid out for her. She dressed quickly, wriggling into Artia's rather too-small jeans with resentment, before hastily running her fingers through her hair. 

By the time she heard Bash making his way down the landing she was stood, fully dressed, in the centre of the room, arms folded expectantly. 

"Come in!" she called emotionlessly, when a knock sounded at the door.

Bash entered cautiously, and then stopped, visibly surprised to find Darcie staring him down with cool appraisal. 

He blinked at her.

"Um..." be began, rubbing a hand over his chin and looking rather uncomfortable. "Good morning."

Darcie quirked a sarcastic brow but did not reply. Instead, she offered up a grim smile and fixed him with a glare of marked disgust. For a moment, she noted that he looked a little flustered, however her satisfaction at this was short lived. 

Steeling himself, Bash raised his eyebrows at her, folded his arms, and met her eyes with a challenging gaze. He was so intimidatingly handsome that Darcie felt herself go red instantly. She made a valiant attempt to maintain eye contact, but he was suddenly  radiating that same, dark power which had captivated her back at the club, and all at once, Darcie felt incredibly self conscious. Cursing him and herself, she looked away towards the corridor over Bash's shoulder, and rolled her eyes in an attempt to disguise her discomfort. 

"Do you want something?" she mumbled sarkily, very much aware that her face was now tomato red with embarrassment. "Or are you just going to stand there and stare at me?" 

Bash blinked at her and then returned a grim little smile. 

"Look." he began, leaning one shoulder against the door frame, his expression unfathomable. "Here's the deal. About last night...Well I've spoken to Maya about it and I know I said I'd take you home tomorrow. But..." he paused, scratching his chin. "If you come and have a...civilised talk over everything with me now, if you cooperate, I'll take you home later today."

Darcie blinked at him, momentarily stunned. When she didn't immediately reply, Bash raised his brows expectantly at her.

"Well?" he prompted, and Darcie flushed. "Do we have a deal? After last night i'd have thought you'd be jumping at the chance to get home earlier." 

Darcie flinched at his rather patronising tone and her resolution hardened instantly. He was right; she would have given almost anything to be back in her damp, grotty student house in Heavitree road, but she wasn't about to make things easy for him.

"Yes." she snapped back at him, sticking her nose in the air and regarding him with a look of lofty superiority. "Fine!"

Bash eyed her haughty face with a shrewd expression and quirked his brow at her again.

"Fine." he repeated coolly, inclining his head in a sardonic fashion. "Breakfast? Molly bought croissants. Or we can walk over to the pack house. Whatever you'd rather."

Darcie bristled. Bash was already turning to leave by the time she'd formed a coherent retort.

"No thanks." she replied waspishly. "I'd rather just get this over and done with."

Bash turned back and frowned at her. 

"Well, I need to eat." he replied in a cold, businesslike tone, unfolding his arms before turning fully on his heel and setting off down the corridor. "Or i'll waste away. We can talk at the same time. C'mon."

Darcie glowered at the empty space where he had been. Balling her hands into fists, she hurried through the doorway after him. 

"Who was that man?" she demanded, stalking after him and feeling a little braver now he wasnt staring at her anymore. "The one you were with outside?"

Bash's rubbed a hand over his shorn head and sighed quietly. "Jaxx?" he replied, absently switching a lamp off  he passed it. "Oh, just a friend."

Reaching the end of the corridor, he rounded the corner which lead towards the stairs and disappeared from view. Bristling, Darcie scurried after him.

"It didn't sound very friendly to me." she called, fighting the childish urge to obnoxiously switch the lamp back on again. "You woke me up!"

She turned the corner just as Bash reached the top of the staircase. Here he paused, passing his hand over his eyes in a fatigued gesture. After a moment's silence, he sighed again.

"Well...he's sort of the government." he admitted at length, in that same quiet, emotionless tone. "Checking to see whether you're being taken care of."

 Darcie blanched and stopped dead in the middle of the landing. Bash glanced back at her.

"The government!?"  she echoed in a funny little squeak, all of a sudden feeling very hot and lightheaded. "They know about...about you then?"

She supposed it shouldn't have surprised her. After-all, If there were werewolves in the police, there could be werewolves in the government.  

Bash's expression was as stoic as ever as he turned back to examine a notch on the banister. "We'll...not exactly." he began carefully, as Darcie swayed unsteadily on the spot. "We have Lycan directorates and an embassy within your human government - yes. But those directorates are governed wholly by us. They do damage control; make sure we stay secret from the humans. So on the whole - no, your government don't know about us. As far as your government are concerned, guys like Jaxx are just...ordinary mortals."

He spared Darcie another unfathomable glance before proceeding to descend the stairs.

"C'mon." he said again, when she didn't immediately follow. "Lets discuss you and me first. Then I can give you a lesson on Lycan ministry."

Darcie swallowed back her snarky retort and followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen. The promise of getting home again was too much to gamble. The room was warm; a fire was burning in the log stove. Bash indicated the breakfast bar before rounding it, crouching down below the sink, and beginning to rummage around in a cupboard. 

Darcie squirmed. The silence was suddenly, palpably awkward.  She dithered on the spot for a moment or two, glaring at the top of Bash's head,  before steeling herself and selecting a chair with a resigned sigh. 

"Back here, again, are we?" she asked him drily, noting that someone - probably Molly -had cleared away her uneaten carbonara from the night before. "Deja vu."

Bash chose not to answer.

"Coffee?" he asked instead, throwing a glance over his shoulder at her. 

"Sure." Darcie replied tightly, visibly forcing herself into reciprocity. "Why not."

Bash placed a mug and a plate of pastries infront of her, and then sat down opposite, his own cup clasped between his hands. His posture was casual and his expression as stoic as ever, yet his hands were gripping his mug so tightly that his knuckles were white. 

"Erm. Okay." he began, pursing his lips and fixing his gaze upon the table between them. "How are you feeling today?"

Darcie fought against the urge to give a scathing reply. Reminding herself that her cooperation was the key to her ticket home, she merely pursed her lips in a sour smile.

"Fine." she replied hollowly, taking a sip of her coffee. "Looking forward to getting home now."

Bash glanced up and searched her face for the briefest of moments before looking away towards the kitchen window. The morning sun illuminated the strong planes of his face and the tensions in his large hands and Darcie swallowed nervously. He was so handsome and suddenly she was hyper aware of herself. She flushed red, squirmed, and blinked at him in bewilderment.

"How...are you...?" she began confusedly, before she could stop herself. "...Erm, feeling?"

Darcie cursed inwardly.

What was that!? Don't be nice to him! 

Bash glanced back at her again in some surprise. "Fine." he replied, taking a gulp of his coffee before seizing a croissant and beginning to shred it distractedly between his fingers. "I think..."

He trailed off and indicated the plate of pastries. "Help yourself." he said, nodding towards her. "Or don't. But I can guarantee Molly will drop by before lunch to check I've been feeding you. "

Darcie grimaced, and reluctantly picked up a croissant. She did not want another telling off from Molly today and besides, she was hungry.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, Darcie staring determinately at her plate, even as she sensed Bash glancing over at her every few seconds. After she had counted the seventh time Bash had looked away from her and back again, she bristled. 

"Shall we get on with it, then?" she began, rather sourly, draining her coffee mug and setting it down with a little too much force. "As you said - the sooner the better."

She glanced up and met his gaze. His eyes were the deepest grey, ever so slightly rimmed with violet. Darcie's chest gave a faint throb of pain and she looked determinately away again, towards the patio doors.

Bash cleared his throat.

"Well...We need to discuss what's going to happen next." he said firmly, hunching forwards to clasp his hands upon the table between them. "Establish some ground rules. I'll be looking out for you, but you can't go out of your way to put yourself in danger."

Darcie scowled, indignant. She opened her mouth to tell him that she didn't have to do anything he told her to, but Bash cut across her again.

"No more partying. Don't go out alone, or at night. Don't go to any secluded places - stick to the town but stay away from the Cowley Road. There are a lot of unregistered lycans living there. I won't be able to protect you from them all. "

Darcie gaped at him. Bash's focus remained trained on his clasped hands, the tendons along his arms standing out beneath his tattoos. There was silence between them for a moment or two, before he cleared his throat again and glanced up at her from beneath his stern brow. 

"I'll be with you as often as I can but you need to promise me you wont put yourself in any danger."

Darcie bristled.  Slapping her hands down upon the bar and stooping so that they were both at eye level, she glowered at him.

"I don't need a body guard." she snapped "What is this?"

Bash's eyes were ever so-slightly narrowed.

"Yes you do." he told her steadily, furrowing his brow at her. "You don't know what these people are capable of..." he trailed off, his mouth set in a grim line of determination.

Darcie could feel herself going red.

"So, that's it, then?" She demanded nastily, scowling into Bash's face and hating him. You think you're just going to follow me around for the rest of my life? Like a dog."

Bash's eyes were practically glowing with anger in his otherwise stoic face. He paused for a moment and appraised her again before heaving another sigh.

"As much as i'd like to follow you around like a dog, all day every day." he began coldly, leaning back in his chair again and stretching his arms over his head until his shoulders cracked. "I'm a busy man.

Darcie scowled at him and clenched her hands together on the table top in front of her. Bash considered her expression of hatred for a moment or two, before sighing and looking away towards the window again.

"I have another friend I'd like you to meet." he continued patiently, and Darcie rolled her eyes.   "Audrey. She's a pack member and currently studying at Oxford. She's also agreed to check in on you from time to time. And Tito's agreed to stay with you when you're at university.  I'll only be be with you the rest of the time..."

Darcie scoffed at him and Bash looked back at her again, anticipating her sour retort.

"You are a freak." she informed him, speaking slowly, as if to a child. "You all are. I hope you understand how creepy all this is. Setting up a team of people to stalk me on your behalf."

Bash fixed her with his steely gaze. His jaw flexed, but his expression remained otherwise impassive.

" Looking out for you is in Audrey and Tito's best interests. If anything happens to you, it could destroy the integrity of my entire pack. This is bigger than just you and me. I'm afraid there are quite a lot of people depending on us...getting along."  

"You've already mentioned that." she ground out through gritted teeth. "But honestly...how do I even know you're telling the truth?"

Bash pursed his lips, fighting for patience, and his jaw flexed again.

"You're just going to have to trust me on this one." he drawled, his accent sounding a little thicker in his irritation. "I'm an important part of this pack. And letting you leave without marking you is going to put my pack in danger. They're my responsibility."

Darcie snorted.

"Trust you." she repeated with a hollow laugh. "Great.  Really helpful. And we really can't just... pretend that this weekend never happened? Just leave each-other alone? No-one needs to ever know. You can carry on with your life. I can carry on with mine. Pretend we never met or whatever. I won't tell anyone that werewolves exist. I mean, no one would ever believe me anyway. No one else has to know and no one gets hurt." 

Even as she voiced the words, she knew it was no use. Bash fixed her with a shrewd look.

"Look." he began with a sigh, leaning forwards and fisting his hands upon the table top. "Right now the options are; sit around and wait for a rival pack to sniff you out, or... well mate with me. Or we can work together to figure out a system that works best for both of us. We can keep you safe, but - this way - you can still retain a degree of your own freedom. But I need you to work with me here. Whether I leave you alone or not, other wolves will know that you're unclaimed. Lycans can...well we can tell... if a wolf has mated or not. Whether I'm around you doesn't matter. Once they know you exist, they wont stop hunting you until I've marked you. I know you don't understand now...but our cooperation is going to give you the best chance."

Darcie's stomach gave a panicked lurch and her chest throbbed painfully again. Bash offered her an embarrassed, pained sort of smile, before retraining his focus on the half eaten croissant in front of him. He began to push the crumbs around his plate with a finger, his brow furrowed thoughtfully.

 "I want to try and make all this...as normal for you as possible." he continued awkwardly. "This is really happening. Life is going to be very different from now on, For both of us; and we need to adapt. What this means for you is horrific. And i'm so sorry. It makes me sick to think about it and i'm sorry that this is how things are now. I just want to make it work as best as I can for you. I want you to finish your degree on campus; I want you to feel safe. And I want to pursue our relationship like a normal couple."

Darcie blanched.

"But I don't want a relationship with you!" she all but shrieked, and Bash looked up again, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Why wont you get that!? Do you not get how creepy this is? You can't just take one look at someone and decide you're going to completely take over their life! "

Bash picked up the remainder of his pastry and resumed shredding it between his fingers again, his jaw clenched.

"I understand." he replied with infinite calm, after a moment of tense silence. "You don't want this right now. Honestly I'm not sure whether I want this right now. But we will want it, trust me."

Darcie gaped at him indignantly, feeling at once both hot and cold and incredibly nauseous. Her chest gave an obnoxious throb and she rubbed it distractedly.

 "You're a freak."  she threw at him, her heart thumping a panicked tattoo in her chest. "You're..."

"In the meantime." Bash cut across her with a sigh, turning to gaze out of the window again and rubbing his own chest a little impatiently. "I just want to keep us safe. I want you to have your freedom. And I want us to get to know each-other. As friends."

He turned back to her again and met Darcie's wide-eyed gaze imploringly.

"I don't want this to happen because we're under threat." he continued, and Darcie shivered. "I wan't this to happen because we want it to. And until then, I need to keep you safe."

Darcie grimaced and shot him a look of irritation and disgust.

"You just dont get it, do you?" she groaned, screwing her fists into her eyes in an attempt to force back the tears. "God. I should never have gone to TG. I could have picked any other club! Literally, any other club. I should never have gone after Tito."

Fisting her hands in her lap again, Darcie threw her head back with a little anguished moan and glared at the ceiling. Bash did not reply. After a moment of awkward silence Darcie groaned again and looked back at him. He was as emotionless as ever.

"You know..." he began, sounding as if he were struggling to form the words in his head. "It's not just coincidence that you and I met on Friday night. It was...well, fate I suppose. It was always meant to happen and it was always going to. Mates are drawn to eachother. The mate -pull focuses on bringing two people together at the right place and the right time. If you hadn't followed Tito...it would have found another way for us to have met. It was our time. Not necessarily on the same night; but around the same time. I came to Oxford that night to find my cousin. You being friends with Tito..."

 "Oh stop it!" Darcie all but sobbed, digging her fingernails into her palms in the effort to control her hysterics.  "Don't you understand how sick that sounds?  "

Bash didn't immediately answer. Instead he fixed her with another one of his shrewd stares.

She looked back at him, blinking back tears of anger and exasperation. Bash steepled his hands beneath his chin and studied her agonised face with his steely gaze. After a moments pause, he sighed.

 "Ok." he began slowly, rubbing his chin. "Ok. I know...How about this? I'll stop mentioning the mate thing," he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers - "We'll forget all of that for now if you work with me. You stick to the rules;  look after yourself,  keep out of harms way, and i'll not mention it again."

Darcie swallowed and  considered him for a moment. A large part of her wanted to maintain resistance - to be as awkward and unaccommodating as possible, but she was tired of this adventure now, and she would promise almost anything if it meant he'd take her home. Feeling rather overwhelmed, she nodded.  

"Fine." she snapped, her voice pure venom. "Fine."

She squeezed her hands together to stop them shaking and met his gaze with what she hoped was a convincing look of honesty. Once she was back in Oxford again, she had no intention of seeing either him or Tito again. 

Bash furrowed his brow at her.

"And you'll meet Audrey?"

"Yes."

"Tomorrow?"

Darcie paused a fraction of a second before nodding. Her expression appeared to reassure Bash, who nodded gravely back at her.

"Fine." he echoed,  holding out his hand for her to shake. "Then we have a deal."

Darcie jerked in alarm and gave the offered hand a look of disgust. The memory of the last time she'd accepted it bloomed tauntingly in the forefront of her mind and she grimaced, recoiling.

"Um, Nope!" she shuddered, stuffing her hands beneath her thighs for good measure. "Not again, thanks."

Bash appraised her for a split second with narrowed eyes before he let his hand fall again. He sighed wearily, and began pushing the crumbs distractedly round his plate again. 

"Probably a wise decision." he rumbled, more to himself than to her, Darcie thought. "Well - I suppose you've kept up your side of  the bargain...we'll leave this afternoon."