The Healer

Chapter 23

Victor POV

“What the hell, man! What were you thinking?” I yelled at myself as I high-tailed it back to the pack house. She was in my arms, and I was in hers. I could feel her emotions were all over the place, but she was happy and excited to be with me. As our kiss became more heated and frantic, her hands began to roam my body as did mine. Her warm, soft skin felt amazing under my touch. I could hear her heart rate increase, and her breathing turned to panting in only minutes. As we got lost in our inhibitions, I asked her to be mine. My mind was reeling from the incredible feeling I was having no luck on controlling. Tori was beautiful and perfect. I almost lost my mind to the arousal around us when I heard her calling my name.

“Victor… Victor” Her voice sounded like flowing honey, tasting just as sweet. I was brought back to reality and realized what we were doing and where. Sh*t! the entire pack was only a stone’s throw away, and here we are acting like horny teenagers. I never should have started this, especially out here with her. I basically have no idea what I’m doing. Having never been with a girl, I just went along with my feelings. With one last kiss, I slowly lowered her to the ground, trying to hide my embarrassment from her, I needed to walk away and get my mind right. All my life, I’ve spent my time training to be a warrior and a beta just like my father. All I know is how to fight, kill, and take orders from the Alpha. Nowhere in that training did I learn how to have a mate. I watch how the mated couples in the pack treat each other, how they show their love and affection. I never went looking for a mate, and after my twenty-third birthday, I was convinced that the Mood Goddess didn’t create one for me. I gave up on having a mate and threw myself into my work and training. Tori was a cute little girl, but I felt obligated to protect her as a young child. I learned to tolerate the toddler, but soon, I grew to love her.

When I came across the hunter group that infiltrated our territory about five years ago, I heard the alarms and went running towards the border only to smell a wonderful scent of oranges and lavender. I frantically scanned the area and came across a young female hunter who was attacking some warriors with a silver knife. I ran in that direction and jumped on her to knock the knife away. She looked at me and froze. I could see her smelling the air, I knew she knew what was happening. Even though she was a hunter, I would have accepted her, and I would have done everything to make it work. She immediately crawled away and grabbed her knife, and began attacking me. I tried my best not to hurt her, but she got a few good jabs on me with the knife, and I couldn’t hold on much longer. Out of nowhere, one of the wolves came barreling down on her and swiped his claws across her face and neck, sending her to the ground. I ran to her side and held her hand. I could feel the sparks running ramped through me. I tried to comfort her, for her injuries were life ending. The only words she ever said to me were the rejection required to break the bond. Seconds later, she closed her eyes and took her last breath.

After that, I refused to talk to any female and barely any words to my fellow warriors. I got lost in my training, fourteen to eighteen hours a day. I would either train heavily or follow my Alpha’s orders. It took years to come to grips with what happened. I don’t believe in second chance mates, so I accepted to have a lonely life of solitude serving my pack and Alpha. Now and then, one of the she-wolves in the pack would try to talk to me or offer their company, but I would always decline and spend my time in the gym or my room.

I continued to walk the path towards the house, cursing myself as I went. I couldn’t believe I could be so stupid! This was the Alpha’s daughter! The daughter he’s been searching for for seventeen years. My childhood friend whom I vowed to protect and keep from harm. Here I am, conducting myself in lude behavior and getting lost in my lust. We are obviously not mates as we did not feel the sparks, but why do I have such an emotional pull towards her? It drives me insane trying to calm myself and behave around her. Maybe I should distance myself from her until I can get it under control.

I make it to the house and run in the back door. I head for my office when I get stopped by Corinne.

“Hey Beta, what’s the matter? You don’t look so happy.” She gives me a condescending look, I know she can smell Tori on me, and I can sense a bit of jealousy from her. She’s been trying to gain my favor for months now. Even though I know she sleeps with just about everyone in the pack, including the Alpha from time to time.

“I’m fine, Corinne.” I turn to walk away, and she grabs my arm and walks with me. She steers me towards the hallway that leads to the rec room. We pass some teenagers playing pool and they nod in greeting. Corinne and I head into the rec room, which just happens to be empty. “What do you want, Corinne. I’m really not in the mood to talk.” She stands in front of me and puts her arms around my neck.

“Well…. We don’t have to talk.” She gives me a seductive smile and starts playing with my hair. I put my arms up and grabbed her hands to unravel her from me.

“I don’t think so. Not gonna happen. Ever.” I push her away from me, and she growls at me.

“Whatever, your loss Beta!” She yells as she turns and leaves the room. I take a breath and just shake my head. One thing I can promise to myself is that she and I will never happen! I hear some of the guys walking down the hallway and then Corinne’s voice luring one of them into the guest room with her. Apparently, he thinks it’s a good thing, and they both go into the room and close the door. I take a moment to think about what happened between Tori and I. Goddess, she was incredible. Her skin was so soft and warm, she tasted so sweet like honey. I smelled her arousal swirling around me, which made my heart race and my mouth water. I couldn’t get enough of her, and it was exciting and terrifying all at once. I started to question what I was doing. And instead of talking to her, I just walked away. I was such a coward! I can go head to head with the nastiest rouges without batting an eye, but when it comes to Tori, I lose all sense, and my brain turns to mush. I must go find her and apologize, explain what happened. She’s a caring person, hopefully she’ll understand.

I made up my mind to go find her, and that’s when I heard angry voices in the next room. The same room Corinne and her latest victim disappeared to. I sigh heavily and walk down the hall, and open the door. Inside, I see Corinne standing next to the bed, fixing her skirt. That seemed more like a bandage wrapped around her once and didn’t cover anything.

“Beta! What are you doing here?” She asks like nothing happened. I look at the man in bed and find it’s one of my warriors in training. He’s barely seventeen.

“Greg, get dressed now and go outside. Corinne, you know better than to mess with the warriors, especially the underage ones!” I push my Beta aura out, and he immediately gets up and grabs his pants. I spin around and come face to face with Corinne.

“You don’t have to leave Beta; we can have some fun!” She grins at me, ignoring the young man she just had s*x with not minutes ago.

“Corinne, out! Go outside and get some air and leave him alone!” She pouts and walks out of the room and stands in the hallway.

“You’re no fun” She mumbles as I step out and grab her arm. I get in her face to make sure she hears me.

“I will not say it again, No Corinne!” She looks over her shoulder and giggles as she runs her hand up my arm.

“We have an audience” She continues to smile, and I whip my head towards the kitchen, and I just froze. Staring at the person looking back at me and my heart drops to my feet. I release Corinne’s arm. My mind freezes, and I can not speak or move.

Tori. She is standing there wide-eyed, staring back at me. Oh my Goddess, I can’t believe my luck. Or lack thereof. I just stepped out of the room with the evil one herself, and here I am holding her arm. Damnit! I hope she doesn’t get the wrong idea!

“Tori!”

“F*ck you, Victor!”

“Tori, no wait!”

Suddenly, she takes off out the front door and starts running. Yep, she got the wrong idea! I let out a loud growl as Corinne tries to take my hand again.

“This is all your fault you selfish b***h!” I scream at her and take off after Tori. As soon as I hit the yard I jump and shift into my wolf and Ivan comes to the front and shares the vision. He keeps grumbling at me about being an i***t, but I tune him out. She runs through the tree line and heads off into the forest. It’s starting to get dark, especially in the middle of the woods. I can see her quite a bit ahead of me. I don’t think she knows where she is going but I follow hoping she realizes she shouldn’t be out here alone and stops. Nope, she keeps running. I’m actually really impressed with her speed and endurance. Of course, adrenaline and that hormone produced in females when they believe they’ve been scorned, is probably propelling her through right now. I’m pretty sure she’s beyond angry and will not think straight when and if I get a chance to talk to her. Considering she just had a bad breakup with her last boyfriend caused by cheating. But I didn’t cheat! I don’t think we are a couple to cheat on her, but I would never do that to her anyway!

I can hear her up ahead screaming into the night. I can’t quite understand her so I slow down to a trot and walk carefully and quietly to get closer. I quickly shift back to human form and watch her. Without thinking, I step towards her and I’m now within ten feet of her as she faces away from me.

“Why do I care! Why do I hurt so bad!” She screams out loud and lets the tears fall.

“Because you do care.”

“Why are you here? Why did you follow me? Why were you with her?” She screams at me. I took cautious steps towards her and that’s when she freezes and stares directly into my eyes.. I was looking at her beautiful face as I felt so guilty and heartbroken at what she must be thinking.

“Why are you naked?!” Sh*t! I didn't quite think that through. I was so worried about getting to her, I didn’t grab a pair of shorts along the way. There are no clothes this far away from the pack house. I’m definitely scaring her right now. Guess I have to lay it all out and tell her the truth. Well, I already laid it all out and she’s currently doing her best not to stare at it. Time to tell the truth.

“Tori, please. Let me explain what happened.” She looks down and closes her eyes.

“Can you put some shorts on, you’re making it hard to focus on what you’re saying.” She covers her face with her hands. I try not to chuckle at her embarrassment.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any clothes this far from the house.” She just nods and turns her back to me.

“Well, go ahead then, explain. But I’m not looking at you.” I grin to myself and start to tell her what happened.

“Tori, I’m sorry. I’m really really sorry. I shouldn’t have walked away from you like that. I just got…” I closed my eyes and sighed.

“What?”

“I got scared” She stiffens at that and c***s her head to the side.

“Why?” Shaking my head and walking closer I continue.

“I’ve never…. I don’t know…. I feel so….” I couldn’t think of the right words to use. I don’t want to make it worse by saying the wrong thing.

“Victor, it’s me. You can tell me.” She says softly.

“I’ve never been with a woman. I wanted to wait for my mate, but being with you just makes me feel so different. I want to be with you.” I scoff at myself and run my hands through my hair. “I know we just met a few days ago, but I have such a need to be with you.” I have no idea if she understands what I’m trying to say here. I turn around and rub my face with my hands.

I was about to shift and run away again, when I feel her hands on my back. I stand still and wait for her to say something.

“Victor, you don’t have to be nervous or scared around me. I’m probably going to burn in hell for the thoughts I had back there while you were kissing me.” I heard her chuckle softly and that made me smile. I turn around and she squeals but I grab her arms before she could turn.

“You’re the only one I want to see me. Especially like this.” I look into her eyes and see the hope and love rise. A moment later, I see her smile slowly fade and her eyes turn into hurt and sadness. “Tori?”

“Why were you with Corinne?” She said in a low voice that I almost didn’t hear.

“I wasn’t with her. I heard shouting from the room and went in to find out why. She was in there with one of my underage warriors. She was dressed and I made her leave the room. That was when you must’ve conveniently saw us in the hallway. Tori, I would never, ever be with her!” I could see the relief wash over her face. I couldn’t help myself, I had to touch her face, I ran my thumbs across her cheeks, and I smiled at her.

“I will never hurt you” I say while losing myself in her enchanting violet eyes. She smiles at me and grabs one hand with her own and turns her face into my palm.

“I believe you Victor. I’m sorry I didn’t ask first. I’ve only had one boyfriend and that went to crap, so I have no real experience either. But…. We’ll figure it out.” I nod in response and then take one hand to start walking back to the house. She started to get a bit nervous and fidgets a bit.

“Are you okay?” I asked hesitantly. She stops and looks up to the sky.

“Can you shift? It’s all too weird to be walking with a naked God in the woods at night.” I busted out laughing at her comment and she flushed red.

“I will shift if it makes you more comfortable. I’m sure Ivan would love to spend time with you as well.” She sighs in relief. “Besides, he’s faster than I am, and we need to see the Alpha before the end of the night.”

“This should be fun!” She steps back waiting for me to shift. Within seconds, I am in wolf form and Ivan lets out a playful howl and runs up to Tori. She smiles at him and pets his head. He rubs against her legs and jumps playfully with her. He stands right in front of her and lays down on his stomach. Turning his head towards his back, he signals her to get on.

“You want me to ride you?” Immediately my mind goes to the gutter and apparently so does Ivan’s. he looks her dead on and c***s his head to the side. “Guess I should rephase that, huh?” Ivan lets out a soft growl in agreeance. “Okay, you hold still and please don’t go too fast” I nod my head and wait for her to climb on.

‘Go easy on her Ivan, I don’t need to explain anything to her father.’

‘I will be gentle, don’t worry’ He rolls his eyes at me and stands up when she grabs my fur and tells me she’s ready.

“Okay, Ivan…. Victor….. Excite me!” she grabs tighter and squeezes her knees against my side.

‘Okay Ivan….you heard her!” Ivan howls and takes off running back home.