The untamed Alpha and his human mate

Chapter 9: Healing

Sleeping beside Clayton Blackthorn was one of the most terrifying yet exhilarating things I’d ever experienced. One of the most dangerous and chaotic gods there was, king of all wolves, unpredictable and wild by nature; it made me feel like both the most endangered girl in the world and the safest.

For a moment I dared to imagine what it would be like to be his partner, lover, or, in werewolf terms, his mate. No one would dare ever touch me, too afraid to risk his wrath and fury, and just that thought alone sent a thrill through me I’d never felt before.

When I woke up in the morning, I looked at the clock and saw it was nine in the morning. I sat bolt upright in the bed, the sheets sliding against my skin, cool where his warmth had been. I saw Clayton already in some dark blue jeans and pulling on a dark grey muscle fit t-shirt. I tried not to stare at his muscular arms or notice how the top hugged his toned body and abs, instead, I panicked and rushed, “I’m so sorry, the alarm didn’t go off and—”

“I know,” he interrupted, turning to look at me. “I turned the alarm off, figured you could do with some rest after your little adventure yesterday.”

My cheeks burned hotly as he referred to my escape attempt. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Sure. I’ve arranged for a therapist to come by and see you around lunchtime, you’ll be seeing her every Tuesday and Friday, and I’ll also be teaching you how to fight and defend yourself.”

“Against supernaturals?” I asked.

“Well, as much as you can, we heal, but weapons still hurt us, and none of us are healing from a blow to the heart…except us gods,” he smirked and added, “so don’t try it.”

I was curious about something, so I asked, “how come you don’t have a pack? Is it because you are a god?”

He folded his arms and looked me over, I think wondering whether or not to give me an answer. In the end, he said, “yes and no. A god does not need a pack around him constantly, not like normal werewolves. In a way, every werewolf on the planet is my pack, they are mine, my children, they worship me, but I’m not particularly interested, I ignored their prayers until one day I could no longer hear them. Do I crave a pack of my own? Sometimes I think I do, but I’ve always been more of a lone wolf.

“Sounds lonely.”

He unfolded his arms and ran his hand over his mouth, looking uncomfortable. “Let’s eat breakfast,” he said, clearly done with the conversation.

After food, which was more scrambled eggs and fruit, I saw the therapist in the living room. Like all the women Clayton seemed to find, she was beautiful with long locks of chocolate brown hair, hazel eyes, and full lips. Her makeup was flawless, she was slim and tall, wearing a black pleated skirt and a tucked-in white shirt. She looked like she belonged in a models magazine rather than a therapist’s office.

I sat down, and like Bliss, she didn’t react badly to seeing my face. Professional and polite, she asked my name, what my life had been like before becoming a slave, what had happened to my face, things of that nature until it got to more deeper things like why I had become mute, what my fears were, and what did I struggle with the most.

I opened up to her, and by the end of the session, I was a sobbing mess. She gave me some advice on what to do when I felt my anxiety rising, and then we finished the session, and she said she’d see me next week.

I felt surprisingly a little better having opened up to someone about what I’d been through, the trauma of what Jackie had done to me, and how it felt having people laugh and mock me or act disgusted.

I was surprised when I saw Clayton had made me lunch, a salad with ham rolls. When I stood in the doorway of the kitchen shyly, he said, “sit. After you’ve eaten, we can train.”

Fear made my heart race, and he heard it. “Relax, I won’t bleed you.”

When my eyes widened, he groaned and said, “I’m not going to hurt you. I will make contact, but you won’t be left bleeding or with bruises.”

“What if you lose control?”

He swallowed a growl at what I guessed must have felt like an insult to him. “I won’t.”

“But—”

“Just shut up and eat,” he snapped and walked out of the room.

I ate quietly and then went to find him, knowing I’d probably get in trouble if I kept him waiting.

I found him on the third floor in a big hall I hadn’t even known was there. I looked around, the floor reminded me of the floor they had in the school PE hall when I was a teenager. It smelt faintly of wood and metal in here. I looked up at the walls and saw them lined with weapons, lots of weapons, axes, swords, maces, you name it, he had it.

I noticed he had changed into grey sweatpants and a white tank top, showing off even more of his perfect muscles. When he saw me standing nervously in the doorway, he waved me over. “Come on, let’s start.”

I went over to him, and he came and stood in front of me. “Let’s keep it easy and start with some blocks.”

I nodded, and he got into a fighting stance and lifted his fist, pulling it back. “Ok, so when I come forward with my fist,” he explained and slowly moved his fist towards my face and stopped inches from contact, “you lift your arm and bend it at a forty-five-degree angle like this.” He moved my arm up sort of in front of my face, his fingers wrapped around my wrist, firm, warm, and distracting. “Ok good, once you’ve blocked like that, you can either use that hand to then grab their wrist and do a move, but preferably, as you’re only human, it’s best to just do the block, knock them to their a.ss, and run.”

We practiced me doing that block for a while until we moved on to dropping someone to the floor. I wasn’t very good, I kept messing up, and I stood on his feet more times than I could count. He corrected me every time, his hands would touch my arm, shoulder, and a few times my waist, and I found it way more distracting than I should have. My hair kept getting in my face and he sighed, “f***k my life. Wait here.”

He left and returned a few minutes later with a hair tie. Coming up behind me, I tried not to enjoy it when he gently pulled my hair back and tied it into a low ponytail. His fingers brushed the back of my neck, his breath was close, warm against my skin, I swallowed hard and tried to stay focused.

Even though I kept messing up, he seemed to have endless patience when it came to training, he never got angry. I think he quite enjoyed having someone to teach. I wondered if he were similar to real wolves, like an older wolf wanting to share his knowledge and skill with a young pup or something, because that’s how it sort of felt.

Once we were outside the hall, he always reverted back to his usual cold and distant self, but by the fourth week of me being at his place, he started acting weird.

We had been training every day, and I think I was getting better at it, so I didn’t understand why on the fourth week, he didn’t want to train with me as much, or even be in the same room as me except for when it came to sleep.

Then one night I came into his room, and he told me to go sleep in my own bed. Confused I did and wondered if maybe he was starting to trust me more.

I didn’t know too much about werewolves and I couldn’t think of any reason as to why his behaviour would change towards me. He was even colder, if that was possible, and more snappy and irritable than usual.

I was in bed one night when I heard him come back through the front door with Bliss, I heard her familiar laugh. I did not want to spend another night listening to them have s**x. I told myself it was because it was just gross and awkward and not because I was jealous. When had I started having feelings towards Clayton? I quickly shook the thought away and went out to find him before he dragged her to his bedroom.

He was coming up the stairs holding her hand and looked up at me. “What’s up?” He asked.

Wringing my hands nervously, I barely whispered, “can I talk to you quick?”

“Go on then.”

“In private?” I looked down at the floor. Another thing that irritated him was me not being more confident yet. I felt a little better, but I couldn’t be as quick as he wanted.

Sighing, he turned to look at Bliss and kissed the back of her hand. “Go wait in my room for me.”

He nudged me towards my room and closed the door. “What’s wrong?”

Now I was even more embarrassed. I kept my eyes on the floor and mumbled, “could I please sleep in another room further down the hall?”

“What’s wrong with this one? Can’t escape it no more?”

When I didn’t answer, he sighed again and asked, “why?”

“I can hear you and Bliss.”

“Oh, you can hear us f.ucking? Why didn’t you just say so? Sure, you can sleep in the room on the third floor.”

“Thank you.”

He gave a nod and opened the door again, heading to his own room.

Nothing seemed to embarrass that man, he had mentioned it so casually. I grabbed my pillow and stepped out of my room when Bliss came out and said, “oh wait, I got you this.” She pulled a stuffed teddy out of her bag, and I saw it was a pink, fluffy wolf with a white bow.

I took the teddy and smiled. “Thank you.”

She smiled at me and went back into Clayton’s room. I don’t know why she had bought me such a childish thing, but I admit I hugged it tight all night and was surprised how much comfort it actually brought me.

When morning came, I had it tucked under my arm when I left my room. Unfortunately for me, Clayton came out and saw it.

“Is that a f*****g teddy?”

“Bliss bought it for me,” I whispered, blushing.

“Bliss!” He yelled out to her, “don’t buy my pup toys, I’m trying to toughen her up, not have her start calling you Mum!”

She looked out the doorway at him and grinned, “sounds kinky. Is she going to call you daddy?”

He almost choked when she said that, but he managed to compose himself and answered, “no and neither are you.”

Apparently she liked teasing him and risking her life because she grinned, “it could be hot, both me and Amaya on our knees calling you daddy, taking turns sucking your—”

“f*****g hell, Bliss, shut up. The only one who gets to suck my c***k is you. F.ucking call me daddy if you like it that much, I don’t care, but I am not f.ucking a human. Let’s go, I need to go into town, so I may as well drop you home now.”

“Can you give me a lift to work?” She asked.

I saw his jaw tighten, but he nodded, “fine.”

Bliss waved goodbye to me and followed him down the stairs and out the door.