The flames usually hovered around them serenely during meditation, held aloft by the balanced flow of power.

It was one of her favorite exercises. But today the flames twitched, flickered, and threatened to vanish, forcing Bonnie to repeatedly center her breath and rechannel her power

"You're distracted tonight," Maya observed, surrounded in the perfect gliding light of her own candle-flames.

"I'm fine," Bonnie exhaled, straightening her shoulders.

"It's Derek Hale, isn't it?"

Bonnie was fairly certain the unbalanced flames would've scorched her hair and clothes if Maya hadn't vanquished them with a quick incantation.

The older witch smiled, "You care about him a great deal."

"It doesn't matter."

I wonder what Elena would think. It was times like these she missed her friend and the closeness they'd shared.

"Clearly it does, if it affects your meditation."

"Let's start again-,"

"No," Maya's voice was soft but firm, "We're done for the evening."

Bonnie was nonplussed. Maya never ended their training early.

"Take a walk and clear your head," her teacher stood, opening the window, "It's a beautiful moon tonight."

"Hey Derek, uhh I appreciate the ride but I'd prefer to get to Erica's alive."

Boyd's voice took a second to register. Derek glanced at the speedometer and swore, easing off the gas.

"Shit."

He felt Boyd heave a sigh of relief and they drove for a while in comfortable silence. Derek appreciated the young werewolf's quiet nature.

"So that Ryder dude," Boyd mused, "He's pretty powerful. It's a good thing we had Bonnie there."

Derek said nothing. He'd been avoiding her since that night, a tactic that was hard enough in a small apartment without the added frustration of actually wanting to see her.

"She's a great witch, and nice too," Boyd continued, "I'm glad she's sticking around."

Derek grunted in response.

"So, what's going on with you two?"

"What?"

"Derek, it's a 35 zone,"

The car slowed again, "Nothing's going on with us," he muttered.

No matter how much he liked being around her or how fucking good she looked in lace.

They turned into the driveway. Boyd paused, one leg outside the door. "Maybe that's the problem."

There were some places so tainted with death and anguish the spiritual energy was knotted like snakes. If disturbed, it could leap out and strangle you.
Bonnie had encountered few such places, but the ruins of the Hales' home was one of them. The moon wove ghostly shadows through the empty windows and blackened walls.

Even the trees look dead.

She thought of the nightmares that haunted Derek. Did he wish he'd been there with them, his pack his family, to die or survive together?
Suddenly she felt like an intruder. Bonnie started walking, then running, putting as much distance as possible between her and the skeletal house.

Almost as soon as she was off the Hale property, she could sense a change in the spiritual energy. The forest was still stained with the horror of tragedy, but it was less suffocatingly focused.

She wandered absently. The shadowy moonlight trapped among dark trees didn't frighten her like when she was a girl. It almost saddened her to remember a time when dark forests were all she knew of fear.

Reaching a small clearing, she sat down on the damp leaves. She was still frustrated about her messy training session earlier.

Compensating for the lack of candles, Bonnie took a breath and levitated a leaf. One. Two. Three. Twenty.

They floated in the sparse moonlight like on a stream, calm and fluid.

Then the waters stirred, the energy ruffled by a new presence.

She stood up, dusting off her jeans, "What's with you and sneaking up on people?"

Derek looked amused, hands pocketed in the black leather jacket "Are you kidding? After your sneaking around the futon this just makes us even."

She crossed her arms, "What do you want? And how did you find me anyway?"

He just looked under his brows at her and shrugged. Oh right. Wolf-senses, nevermind.

Did Derek come looking for her? Did he just happen to be in the woods? The thought of him following her scent made made her warm and flustered all at once. It was a strange intimacy.

She glanced at her feet, "Look, I'm sorry about the other night. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't."

"Could've fooled me."

"Look," he frowned, "I just don't want you to put yourself in dange-,"

"Then what am I supposed to do, Derek?" she cut him off, barely keeping her voice in check, "You think I practice until my nose bleeds every day to float leaves and feathers? Light some candles? My powers are a gift, just like the bite. You saw what I was capable of. You know I can help you."

"You're right," he bit out, "Your powers are a gift.." She could see a muscle move in his jaw. "And I don't want you to waste them on me."

Words turned to air in her throat. Bonnie met his eyes, "What makes you think this is about you?"

His eyes flashed like light through forest leaves as they flickered across her face, then travelled lower. "Your heartbeat."

Damn him and those wolf senses.

She closed the distance between them and raised her hand slowly. Derek watched her, uncertain but waiting. Bonnie placed her palm over his chest, swallowing at the feel of warm, hard muscle, and looked up. Triumph tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Your heart's going pretty fast too, wolfman."

His hand closed over hers and plucked it gently away, their fingers entwining briefly before parting. He brushed a leaf from the hair on her shoulder and kept the strand between his fingers, running his thumb there, his expression unreadable.

Forget werewolves I bet people on the highway can hear my heartbeat.

Derek's fingers pushed the hair behind her ear, tracing its curve and resting on her pulse with a ghost touch. They were so close their noses were almost touching, and she could catch the lingering, forest-earth scent of him, could see the moonlight in his eyes. A thumb brushed her chin, lightly, and those eyes fell to her lips.

To hell with it.

Bonnie stood on her tiptoes and brushed her mouth against his. His five o'clock shadow grazed her skin. She sank back on her heels and he followed her, drawing her against him with a low decisive growl. He tasted of rain and ashes and smoke, haunting, insistent flavors that unravelled her slowly.

She could feel him holding back.

Sliding a hand under his collar, she nudged him closer and suddenly he was very much kissing her and she wasn't prepared for, hadn't even imagined possible, the hungry fierceness of his mouth and tongue on hers.

Teeth grazed her lower lip and she couldn't repress a small sigh of pleasure, swaying into him, his warm leather solidness that was entirely Derek, familiar and excitingly strange. She felt his hands all up and down her back before sliding under her shirt and faint delicious tremors took hold of her legs. Could he feel them? She must have made some kind of approving sound because his thumbs pressed at her ribcage like he couldn't hold her tight enough and he groaned into her mouth. The heat of his hands made her shiver, even as the cool night air goose-bumped her flesh.

Then just as suddenly he broke the kiss and released her. She caught the red in his eyes and the flash of canines, then he was just Derek again, with his eyes haunted like the windows in a destroyed house.

Her lips and skin still tingled from his touch. "Derek-,"

"I..uh. Fuck, Bonnie...," he took a breath, "I'm sorry -,"

"Why are you sorry? I'm not -,"

He bit off a curse, seemingly angry at himself, "I have to go."

Bonnie watched him disappear into the forest, a ghost in a living graveyard.