Chapter 7
1161 Words
"Oh, you're awake!" Someone jerked at the drapes around the bed roughly. Was I though? With a talking wolf in my head, the sense that I forgot something very important while I was dreaming, and the bright light of the room beyond the drapes…felt like I was still asleep.
Rhys popped his head in the crack he had made in the curtains, c*****g his head to the side. His nose wrinkled. "You need a bath, beautiful."
"And you need better manners," I muttered. I flushed under his curious scrutiny. "What? Do I have snot on my face?"
His lips hiked up in a half smile. "No. I can hear your wolf. It's kind of entertaining. Mostly child Weres haven't fully integrated with their wolves, so to have an adult wolf keeping a running commentary at the same time you're talking is hilarious."
'Shut the hell up Eclipse. You're making us a laughingstock.'
'He looks lickable. Can we lick him?'
A wave of lust hit me so hard that I gasped. Rhys was attractive. But he was not my Husband. Now that I was part of the otherkin, was I still promised? Could we lick him?
"Hey now, beautiful. Calm that s**t down. I can smell you." Rhys' eyes darkened and his face was strained. He drank me in with those dark eyes and I had an urge to kiss him.
I swayed forward and then he was gone. Dammit. Down girl. Cold shower it was.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The shower did what it was supposed to do. I felt refreshed as I braided my heavy wet hair. My reflection in the mirror was odd. I glanced at my face, trying to figure out the difference.
My brown hair was the same, dark against my pale skin. Cheekbones were a little more pronounced. My rounded chin was a touch pointier.
I studied my eyes and realized that was what was throwing me off. I loved my icy blue, I had been the only person in the Clan with blue eyes. The trait had become so recessive since the Fall, that there were only a handful of humans in the world with blue eyes.
But what stared back at me made my heart drop. One eye was still icy blue with a thick ring of darker blue around it. But my other eye. My left eye was now golden. A sunburst of yellow around my pupil was ringed by melted bronze.
I leaned forward, my braid forgotten. I could feel Eclipse's curiosity as well. I lifted my hand to my eye.
"It's called heterochromia." I jerked back from the mirror, whirling toward the voice.
Xander filled his doorway to the bathroom. I blinked at him, my mouth going dry. Rhys might be attractive, but my Husband was still so much more.
And then his scent hit me. That smell of home. It teased across my senses in a new way, and I was flooded with memories. My mom making cinnamon rolls on a cool winter morning.
I launched myself toward him. Eclipse was going mad in my mind, scrabbling and panting.
He stepped forward, catching me as I slammed into him. My hands gripped his shoulders as I threw myself in his arms. He was so tall. I stood on my tiptoes and buried my nose in his throat, breathing in that cinnamon and wood smoke scent.
This was all so new. So different. The indifference I felt toward my Husband was being eclipsed. Literally. Eclipse was howling in my brain and Xander let out a soft chuckle against my hair.
'Mate.' Eclipse panted, 'Our mate.'
"Yes little wolf, I am." Xander answered the unspoken thought. He tugged me up, my legs wrapping around his hips as he crushed me against his broad chest.
I lifted my face from the crook of his neck. His golden eyes met mine and Eclipse practically purred. I held his gaze, refusing to look away. Still challenging.
It was hard, this challenge. Something about it felt surreal. My eyes ached and my muscles clenched tighter as I continued to hold.
His grip on me tightened as well. I could feel him willing me to look away, to drop the challenge. But I couldn't. Eclipse whimpered in my head, but I stubbornly kept going.
And suddenly it was done. His eyes slid from mine to my lips. I'd done it! I'd proved I was the dominant. For this moment at least.
And then his lips were on mine. His kiss was searing and brutal, stealing the breath from my lungs.
'You are Mine!' His voice was furious in my head. It sent an icy wave of shock through me. I gasped, jerking back from his kiss.
I still clung to him, the need to be near him overwhelming. I tried to think through it. Where was that anger? I tried to pull it up, shield myself. But it wouldn't come. Not with his arms supporting me and his scent washing through me.
Shitballs. This was insanity. I rolled my hips, a delicious ache tugging at my lower belly. He growled. A legitimate rumble vibrating through his chest.
"If you wish to remain pure for our wedding night, little wolf, then we have to stop." His voice was strained. A hint of amusement laced through.
It was that, more than anything else, that stoked the ire. Pure. The whole reason I was here. The whole reason I found myself here right now instead of preparing myself for Brighthaven Academy.
I unwound myself from him, dropping to the floor. He let me go, even as his hand clenched the air between us.
Lust pounded through me but I shook it off. I was a Moon-Bride. A broodmare. And this Were was the sole reason I was here in the first place. Priorities Syn.
I didn't sign up to actually be attracted to my Husband. To be mated to this irascible dickhead. I was meant to bear his heirs and flesh out his pack. Nothing more. I was nothing more.
"Get out, Xander."
His face fell and he nodded slowly. "We are not done, Syndony." His voice was rough, some unnamed emotion making him hoarse. "Rhys will be assisting you with learning the change."
I crossed my arms, my shoulder twinging. "And where will you be?"
"Taking care of pack business."
"Am I not pack business? A brand new Were?"
"I can't trust myself where you are concerned." He ground out. "I cannot keep you pure."
I felt the walls jerk back up. For one moment, my soul had touched his, and I felt complete. But there it was again. My purpose. My reason for existing.
I returned to braiding my hair, dismissing him completely. I had won our stare down. He wasn't as Alpha as he'd like to believe. A weakness I could exploit.
Shitballs. I'm falling for my Husband and he's kind of a standoffish prick. Well, I could be too.
- Writer
