Chapter4
1635 Words
MARKED ME
RUBY HENDERSON
I stretch in bed, it feels so warm and fuzzy. It feels strange with the overwhelming cedarwood filling my nostrils.
My eyes snap open. It doesn't take me any minutes to know where I am. What happened last night?
I try to sit up but I'm caged in by Nolan's strong arms, my head buried in the crook of his neck. His tousled hair makes him even more appealing. His pulse is slow and rhythmic as he sleeps, so peacefully. So content.
It's almost four a.m., and I don't want to be here when Nolan wakes up.
Making subtle moves, I try to disentangle from him. Afraid to wake him. To have to face him after a passionate night. I wouldn't know how to handle the awkwardness. It's better I leave now than to lie back in the warmth of his skin and soak in it all morning, then do the walk of shame later.
His arm, chest, and neck are scattered with love bites from me.
I cringe.
Then I'm able to pull free. I wiggle out of the eiderdown and there's a nagging reminder between my thighs that I'm no longer a virgin.
I don't know how you feel about this. Or maybe I'm too nervous to get away before he awakens.
I move noiselessly to the bathroom and find my dress on the grill where I'd washed and left it to dry. I slip into it and find my boots. I don't wear them. I'm holding them as I tiptoe to the door, my gaze on the handsome alpha still asleep.
I open the door and hightail it down the hallway.
The lounge area is void of anyone except the cleaners who came over to clean and leave the place spotless before the Alpha comes down. I walk hastily past them out the door and then, on the glass door I catch my reflection. The mark on my neck.
I stop abruptly in my tracks.
No he didn't...
Tears sting my eyes.
There's no damn way Nolan marked me.
I blink away the tears. Suck in a deep breath to calm me. Then I continue moving. I don't stop until I reach the bus station and eventually my cramped room.
Leah, my roomie and best friend is still asleep when I slip into the room. I'm not about to fall into bed and sob. Being marked by a man who'll never want me means being alone forever. No man would ever dare to touch me not with the alpha's mark on me.
This crushes the hopes of finding a second-chance mate.
I don't allow myself to grieve because I'm in the bathroom, standing still under the shower like it can heal the turmoil waging inside me.
It's five a.m., when I arrive at the Pack's kitchen, getting to my chores late but then I keep going. Hiding the mark on my neck as much as I can from everyone else.
At eight a.m., I'm already feeling so fatigued. The dishes in the sink are no surprise, too much to dig through. My muscles ache and I have a terrible headache. I want to throw up.
"Are you sure you're okay? You look pale and worn out." Leah notices when she wheels in more dishes from the breakfast table.
"I think I'm just hungry."
It has to be hunger.
But I know it's not. I just had a nastily made sandwich and fresh juice.
"Goddess, you're boiling girl!" Leah gasps when she touches my forehead, "Are you sure you're not sick?"
Before I can answer, the kitchen doors open and it's no surprise who. Beta Ivan. His dark head scans the vast cooking area until he spots me. His gaze darkens, then he starts moving towards me.
Leah slips from my side to the sink. Ivan fills her spot.
I don't want to speak to him. Not now. Not ever.
Funny how all the fluttery butterflies in my stomach aren't there again.
"I didn't know that you were so shameless!"
He starts, and I can hear the hatred and anger in his tone. Why is he so mad?
I'd rather do the dishes than talk to him. I move towards the sink but he restrains me, I try to push past him but he hits me hard in the face.
"w***e!" He growls.
I momentarily lose my vision from the slap. I don't understand what Ivan wants from me.
"Did you not make it clear you don't want me? So why does it bother you so much that I..."
Another slap makes me grow silent.
I hear him mutter a curse and lift my chin exposing the mark on my neck. He chuckles bitterly. "Nolan marked you?"
"Why? Did you imagine no one was going to want me after you rejected me?"
"You have no idea..." His voice softens, "Ruby you have no idea what you've gotten into."
I look up at him, and there in his eyes is fear. I don't know what he's afraid of.
"Worry about your fiancée. I'm good."
He grabs my arm, his claws painfully stabbing into the soft skin of my flesh.
Then I hear the footsteps behind me and there's Nolan Earl in a nicely tailored shirt and a face that gives off not an emotion. He stands there peering at us.
Ivan instantly releases my arm. And steps away from me.
I watch as he nods in reference to Nolan and backs out of the kitchen.
I'm not sure why Nolan's here. He never comes here. I don't have the strength to deal with him. Not when I hurt so terribly.
His Loafers are bringing him closer to me. The entire kitchen's watching like they aren't watching.
"Did he hurt you?"
My arm prickles painfully but I shake my head. I don't want things to escalate. Not like he'd go against his Beta and best buddy for a common omega girl like me.
He knows I'm lying. My reddened face with Ivan's handprint on it is clear evidence. But he doesn't probe. Doesn't care enough to.
"Come with me, we need to talk."
No I don't want to.
I don't want to be around him. Don't want to talk or see him this close ever again.
Whatever he has to say is certainly about last night and we can't have the conversation here.
I nod and take off my apron, handing it over to my best friend Leah who's visibly fighting the need to pull me aside and gossip.
"Wash your face and put some gloss on your lips." My very supportive bestie mouths, but I don't care about any of that stuff. I grab her jacket instead.
I want whatever this is to be done and over with.
I meet Nolan in his parked car outside and get in the front seat.
"If this is about last night, then there's nothing to talk about. I'm not going to pin myself to you just because you took my virginity."
"You're very casual about it. Is that why you left?"
My chin is flat on the floor. Was he expecting me to stay?
"It was just a dare. A reckless night so let's get over it." I push down the lump in my throat.
"We didn't use protection."
He drops the bombshell. I bite the inside of my mouth.
"I'm not pregnant or that's what you're worried about. I'm not going to trap you with a pregnancy you hate."
"There's only one way to find out." He starts the ignition and sets the carbon motion.
"Where are we going?"
He doesn't give a reply. His face is knotted as though to scare me off the subject. It works because I'm too threatened by his sudden change in demeanor to want to keep probing him.
After a few minutes' drive he pulls up in the parking lot of the Pack's clinic and parks there.
I don't ask questions even when he steps out of the car and holds the door open for me.
A few minutes later, the pack doctor is running a pregnancy test on me.
I sit in the hallway praying that the results will come back as negative. Nolan's never going to love me or our child. With a child, an unwanted child my life in the pack would be double the pain.
Nolan looks more nervous in his seat than I am. I don't know why.
"A chauffeur will drop you off to continue your day. I'll get back to you with the results when they're ready."
He dismisses me. Quite oddly. But I'm glad to leave. Being away from here would make me feel more at peace with myself.
I get into the elevator. I'm in the front office when I realize I left the jacket on my seat. I groan and return to get it. Dexter isn't in the hallway but I can hear him snap at someone.
"It's finally happening, Alpha, please calm down." Dr. Gerald's voice rings and I get closer to hear more, "Your engagement can wait until this curse is broken."
What curse? I gulp and move much closer to the slightly closer door.
"Good news, the omega girl is pregnant. You've waited all your life, Nolan."
"This has gone just how we planned, a little patience Nolan." I'm not sure whom the crusty voice belongs to. "The goddess finally aids you. "
"I need to be sure that the child is born. I love Meredith and it'll be too much of a betrayal to see her suffer at childbirth
just to give it to avert this curse."
"Chill Nolan, you finally have a son from an omega who will give his life for you."
What in the world are they talking about?
- Writer
