Flirtatious Friday: Gabriel and Raine's unintentional waterfall rendezvous

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Nine Star Press

The scent of cotton and sunshine still lingered heavy in the air. Raine’s scent, one Gabe had been dreaming about. Sometimes he’d woken in the middle of the night to smell it on his pillow, cuddle the damn thing, and remember the moment he’d determined Raine was meant to be his.

He could hear the falls and knew he was heading in the right direction, the sound growing louder the closer he got. Stepping out of the tree line, he was met with a magnificent sight. A sparkling pool, water cascading down the cliff face. The air was heavy with mist and alive with birdsong.

Peaceful. This was everything he’d hoped for when he’d slipped away from the gathering to find a place to work on his novel. A fresh notebook, a new pen, and a flat rock. He was just getting settled when a loud howl split the air, scaring the hell out of him and the birds, who rushed to the sky in a makeshift flock. He looked up just in time to see a figure leap from the edge of the cliff, body held in perfect diving form, on the way to making a splash in the rippling pool.

His mouth was still hanging open when a grinning face popped up right in front of him, emerald eyes peering from a golden face. No doubt he spent as much time in the sun human as he did wolf. Resting his head on his arms, body still in the water, the guy stared up at him with quizzical eyes.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Writing, or at least that was my plan before you played daredevil and splashed water everywhere.” Gabriel told him.

“I’m not playing, and you’re trespassing.”

“These falls are on pack land, which means it’s open to everyone, including those of us who are only here for a little while.”

“Doesn’t mean the rest of us want the smell of you all over everything.”

“Does my scent really bother you that much?” Gabriel asked, smirking when the other wolf sniffed the air, eyes closing as he inhaled Gabe’s scent.

“No. Just…do me a favor and don’t tell anyone how to get here.”

“On one condition.”

Warily, the other wolf watched him, tensing, hands pressing against the rock like he was about to shove himself away from the ledge and go…where? Glancing around, Gabe only saw one other spot where getting out would be easy, and that was clear to the left of the falls and slick with algae.

“What?” the other wolf finally asked, a hint of a growl in his tone that hadn’t been there before.

“I’ve got some sandwiches in my bag, drinks, and some cake I snagged from the dining hall. Have lunch with me.”

“It’s still morning.”

“True, but I’m guessing you’re not done whatever it is you do out here, and I haven’t even started writing yet, so what do you say to sharing the space, just for the day? I promise I’ll stay out of the water if you promise to keep the bulk of the water in the pool.”

Wariness turned to contemplation, hesitation, too, enough to make Gabriel wonder why such a perfectly innocent request was so difficult to answer.

“And what if I want you to join me?” the other wolf asked.

“What, up there?”

“Yup.”

Swallowing hard, now it was Gabe’s turn to hesitate. “I’d have no clue what I was doing.”

“It’s simple. Just jump. Gravity does the rest.”

There were dozens of reasons it was a bad idea, but those eyes, and the chance of having lunch together and maybe even learning his name, had Gabriel tucking his journal back in his backpack and rising to his feet. The other wolf climbed out of the pool with ease, his cutoff jean shorts leaving little to the imagination. Completing the picture was a washboard of toned abs for the water to stream over, long hair clinging to his skin clear down to the middle of his back.

He wasn’t much for talking. They climbed, and Gabe marveled at the view, making a mental note to work it into his story somehow. Someone had made a stone path in the flowing water, leading right to the edge of the cliff. A common occurrence then, this cliff diving.

“You can see forever from up here,” the other wolf said, cutting the silence with a soft suddenness that left Gabriel pondering his words as they stared out at the horizon: rolling hills surrounded by forests, a river carving a winding path through them. In the distance, a line of wolves ran across an open meadow, stragglers frolicking and pouncing on one another in their wake. 

“There’s more to the world than what you can see from here,” Gabriel told him. “The lands I come from are covered in mountains with jagged snowcapped peaks and hot springs where the water bubbles right up from the ground. We have waterfalls there, though I’ve never considered jumping off one.”

“Well then, now’s your chance,” the wolf replied, turning away from the view.

He was across those rocks and over the edge before Gabriel could blink, leaping into the air with a grace Gabriel knew he’d never be able to imitate. Gabriel watched him hit the water, then pop back up several feet away, waving up at him.

Moment of truth—the rush of water around the rock, the pounding of his heart drawing out the roar of the falls. He was really going to do this, if only to be spontaneous for once. Diving, he felt the wind rush past, the water race up to meet him, colder than he’d thought it would be but oh so exhilarating. He popped up to see the other wolf grinning at him from the ledge Gabriel had occupied not so long before.

“That was amazing!” Gabriel roared, shaking the water from his hair. “Oh my god, I have to do that again!”

And they had, several more times, taking a break to eat the lunch Gabriel had brought and do some sunbathing. His failure to get Raine’s name had nagged at him. He’d only learned it after he’d pointed him out to someone from a distance, after being unable to catch up with him for the rest of the week. His wrist had tingled then too, though no mark had appeared, and as he heard more and more stories about the elusive Raine and how he skipped every gathering, he became more determined to spend time with him again.