Love and Submission

Chapter Thirteen

She tried to swallow the scream she felt bubbling up from her lungs and instead flipped onto her back so she could try and crab walk it out of the clearing. She made it about two steps before a low growl filled the air and faster than she could track the man with the pale eyes was right in front of her, one giant arm planted on each side of her legs. She wasn’t going anywhere. Her breath and heart fought to get free of her ribcage first, neither succeeding and only increasing the fear that was pounding through her body. The man sniffed the air around her and a slow drawing smile curled up the corner of his mouth revealing one fang-like tooth. He was definitely a werewolf she could tell that by the smell. Apparently he was one of those lone types that had a beef with pack people. She could have kicked herself for her own stupidity. He watched her think things out with no less amusement but he didn’t move any closer. His long black hair fell across his face and reminded her of Connor’s hair. Damn, she wasn’t going to get to tell him she was sorry for fighting.

With one last burst of courage she took a deep breath and screamed as loud as she could. The wolf in front of her clamped a big hand over her mouth before she got up to her full volume but hey she had to try. She reached up and punched him in the shoulder with enough force to jar him slightly which caused his eyes to widen and then he c****d his head to the side as he studied her. He opened his mouth as if to speak when an even louder growling filled the area and after a quick thundering of foot fall Connor appeared in the tree line. He took in the scene fairly quickly and honed his eyes onto the man that was now nearly on top of Olivia. He growled at the man and bared his teeth giving her ample opportunity to bite the hand that was over her mouth. Which she did with relish. The man yelped and fell back on his ass away from her shaking his hand. “Feisty little thing.” The man she had bitten said in a deep baritone voice. It was musical in its beauty which made her loosen her muscles even though she probably shouldn’t have.

“Well you were all naked on top of her what did you expect?” Connor retorted as he walked over to where Olivia was sitting on the ground. She looked between them and then blinked several times at Connor. “Why were you on top of my mate by the way?” That question was asked a lot less playfully.

“I didn’t recognize her at first and then she was trying to run away.” Connor gave Olivia a reproachful look.

“Some random naked dude springs up out of the bushes at me and you’re upset with me right now?” Olivia asked incredulously. Connor’s eyebrows raised and he turned back to the naked man who was now rotating his shoulder as if checking for damage.

“I didn’t spring up out of the bushes; I was over by the trees.” Olivia rolled her eyes and Connor reached down to pull her up onto her feet, crushing her to him as he did so. He kissed her hair, then her cheek and then just gave up and gave her a good one right on the lips. “I think I’m gonna cry.” The man said dryly, also having gotten to his feet. She felt Connor sigh against her and then pull away.

“Olivia this is my cousin Noah, he’s been watching over you while I was gone. Noah this is Olivia. My mate.” He reiterated with some force which made Noah put his hands up.

“Sorry for the confusion.”

“Dude put some clothes on.” Noah looked down at himself then up at her and shook his head. He walked away into the woods which gave Connor plenty of time to greet her better. Which meant another kiss, longer and hotter. More than fine with her.

“So you, I mean you and he…” She asked after pulling away from the kiss. She couldn’t make the words come out right and was getting frustrated.

“Our dads are brothers. Noah is good people he’s just a little, intense. Like his dad.” She nodded. “What exactly are you doing in the middle of the woods anyway? It’s late and dark and didn’t I tell you to be safe?”

“Well I was out for a run and then I heard someone calling for help.” She remembered the bleeding man with a flash of shame. “Oh god! That guy! He was all trapped and now he’s dead. s**t!” Connor stalked over to the corpse and sniffed around while Olivia broke into hysterical tears. How could she have been so preoccupied with herself that she had forgotten about the dying man? Now he was dead and it was her fault.

“You set this up Noah?”

“Yeah.” He drawled from his hiding place on the other side of the bush. Olivia was still crying but a little less dramatically as she tried to figure out why they were so blasé about the whole death thing. “She interrupted me, as it were.” Connor made a noncommittal noise as he continued to go through the dead man’s pockets.

“I interrupted you? What were you doing? Wait don’t answer that I’m pretty sure I get the jist.” Olivia started to back up feeling panic choking her throat. If this was what being a werewolf meant she couldn’t. There was no way she was going to be okay with trapping and killing an innocent person ever. No way in hell.

“He’s a hunter.” Connor said in a calm flat voice as he watched her backing away from them. She understood that Noah was a hunter very well and she had half a mind to yell at them both but it wouldn’t solve anything. “The body. This man was a hunter that’s why Noah killed him.” Noah came out of the bushes wearing a black muscle shirt and pair of soft looking black workout pants.

“You humans don’t taste nearly as good as you seem to think you do.” Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. “Now caribou, that’s what I’m talking about. Have you ever had caribou?” She shook her head. He licked his lips and sighed. “Damn fine eating right there. Quite a chase too.” Connor was nodding along absently.

“So how do you know he was a hunter? Maybe he’s just an innocent guy who got caught in the trap.”

“Unlikely considering I was the bait.” Noah said as he pried the metal jaws open easily. “See hunters, they know what we are no matter which form we’re in. Don’t know how but they do. So when he came across me sleeping here he figured it was his lucky day.” He smirked down at him.

“So you trapped the hunter in an animal trap?” The big man shrugged.

“I’ve got a morbid sense of humor and a firm grasp of the ironic.”

“Funny I would’ve said macabre.” She flashed him a nasty grin. He blinked wide eyes and then turned to Connor.

“Witty too. You sure she’s supposed to be with you?”

“Ha ha.” Connor pushed Noah’s legs causing the bigger one to lean down and cuff Connor. Before she knew what was happening they were both down on the ground rolling around in the leaves. Grunting, snapping, growling, and clawing at each other. She watched them fight and almost said something when the smell of fresh blood permeated the air. But it was over fast enough with both of them panting and Noah pinning Connor to the ground.

“You’re getting good you know. You almost had me.” Noah said as he reached out a hand to help Connor off the ground. He tried not to show it but Connor was happy from the compliment and preening a little. Olivia did her best not to laugh at him.

“So other than this little incident how did everything go?”

“Easy peasie. I smelled the hunter last night while I was watching the house but the trail was faint so I figured I’d lay the trap during the day and then come back to it later. I forgot how much fun school was.” Noah said turning glittering eyes towards her at the last part. Connor looked confused and raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’ll tell you later.” She said quickly giving herself away in the process.

“Suppose I should head home anyways. Got quite a lecture coming my way.”

“I told them you were here so it shouldn’t be too bad.” Noah ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

“Yeah but I haven’t been home for awhile so mom’s gonna ream me for that a bit.” Connor nodded and then they clapped hands and hugged for a moment before Noah bounded away into the darkness. It was quiet afterwards in which neither Connor nor Olivia spoke.

“So…I’ve got to get rid of this but we need to talk.” Connor broke the silence as usual. Clearly the impatience was a genetic thing.

“Yeah we do. I should probably head home anyways I’ve been gone for awhile. Oh yeah that reminds me. I told them about you this morning.” He turned wide eyes to her.

“Your parents?”

“Yeah. They’re insisting on meeting you now.” He smiled that broad happy smile he got whenever she did something mushy. She rolled her eyes at him.

“Time and place babe, I’ll be there.”

“Don’t get too excited. My mom is going to ask you all sorts of embarrassing personal questions and totally insinuate that you have knocked me up. My dad is probably going to sit there and glare at you because he thinks that’s what dads are supposed to do.” Connor continued smiling brightly as he hefted the dead body over his shoulder.

“Sounds wonderful.” She was about to say something else when he stepped close to her and flooded her nostrils with his scent. “You survived my parents, I’m sure I can survive yours. I’ll meet you back at your house, kay?” She nodded and then closed her eyes in bliss as he kissed her again. The entire way home she was thinking that the whole exchange had gone perfectly, except for the dead body.

Olivia waited in her room for Connor with trepidation. It had been much later than she had thought when she’d gotten home and the verbal lashing she’d received had definitely qualified as unpleasant. Knowing him he was probably sitting outside in a tree yucking it up. Of course, she really had no idea what exactly went in to the process of burying somebody. Oh God. Her boyfriend had needed to bury somebody. A dead somebody. That his cousin had killed and probably would’ve munched on if she hadn’t interrupted. A wave of nausea crashed into her so hard that she barely made it to the toilet before everything she’d eaten that day vacated her stomach. She wiped away the tears from her eyes that always seemed to spring up whenever she vomited. It was stupid. She sighed heavily as she reached for the handle to flush the toilet. “Everybody throws up the first time.” Connor’s deep voice was behind her. Normally she would’ve jumped but she was too tired. The manifold events of the day had finally caught up with her and she was drowning in them. Connor’s warm hands smoothed back her hair and she felt herself leaning into the caress. “Come on, you’ll feel better after a shower.” His voice was soft in her ear and before she even nodded he was lifting her off the floor.

Connor made surprisingly quick work of her clothing and to his credit he didn’t leer at her naked form. He simply moved about the bathroom putting the bathmat on the floor and testing the water temperature before gently lifting her into the tub. She turned into the spray and just let the water relax her. She heard the curtain pull back and was turning again when Connor’s arm crossed right next to her face reaching for the shampoo bottle. She froze, not altogether certain that bathing with him was a good plan but then his hands were massaging the shampoo into her scalp and she forgot about propriety. With her eyes closed and his fingers working the tension out of her neck and shoulders she had a flash to her bizarre fever dream about the angel and the shower. This was eerily similar. Maybe she was becoming clairvoyant or something.

He turned her around and tilted her head back to the water to rinse her hair out. It felt weird to be showering with another person, especially a guy, but it wasn’t s****l. At all. Which given how some of their previous conversations on her bed had ended up was quite a shock. Yet he was all business about it. Even as his hands traveled her body washing away the dirt and sweat from the day’s events. She was mesmerized by the way he gently took care of her without asking or even really acknowledging any kind of attraction. It was calming really. When she was clean he simply turned off the water and reached for a towel making sure she was securely wrapped up and sitting on the edge of her bed before padding back into the bathroom and grabbing one for himself. He certainly was a strange one, the whole werewolf part notwithstanding of course.

She was all dried and dressed by the time he reemerged looking for the most part dressed and slightly dry. His hair was still dripping but if it bothered him he didn’t show it. Besides, it looked really good on him. She smirked at that and moved towards her bed but again Connor’s hand appeared before her as he pulled back the covers. “You don’t have to do all this you know.” She said quietly as she climbed in and then got the covers pulled over her. Connor shrugged and then lay down on top of the comforter next to her.

“Mating instincts are powerful things. I’m only doing what I feel like I need to.” She sighed and cuddled closer to him.

“You felt the overpowering urge to bathe me?” He sighed and rolled his eyes to her.

“To care for you, yes. What you wanted at that moment was a shower so I provided it for you. It’s how it works.”

“Okay but all I’m saying is you don’t have to.”

“You won’t win this one. Mates protect and provide for each other. It’s a solid part of our genetic code.” She sighed and then shrugged herself.

“Just as long as you know.”

“You’re tired you should sleep.”

“But we said we needed to talk.” She said through a yawn. He chuckled and pulled the covers tighter around her.

“There is always tomorrow.” He rolled over onto his side and draped an arm over her.

“You don’t have to leave, you know.” She said quietly. He reached out for the light and flicked it off. There was another chuckle in the darkness as he settled down next to her again.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” She felt the urge to frown but she was too wiped so she sighed instead.

“It was you wasn’t it?” She asked into the dark after a few minutes of silence.

“Hmm?”

“That time in the shower when I was sick. That was you wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” She figured she should probably be angry about it but somehow knowing it was Connor taking care of her made it more comforting. Man she was really falling hard for someone she wasn’t even sure she was going to be with. Being a werewolf was still not necessarily the choice she was going to make. “Your body temperature was too high from the change taking over you.” He said wrongly interpreting her silence as anger.

“I thought you were an angel or something.” He laughed which shook her and the bed slightly.

“Don’t tell my parents that, please. Ever.”

“Okay.” She was fading into sleep fast. “I got into a fight today.” She mumbled. Why she had said it was beyond her but for some reason it desperately wanted to be said.

“What?”

“At school. I got into a fight and suspended.” She could feel Connor tense but after a minute or two he settled down.

“Just go to sleep. We’ll talk later.”

“Okay.” That was the last thing she thought before unconsciousness won out.