Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Raine
Three days.
Three flipping days since I cried in Dane’s arms until I fell asleep.
Three days since I’ve been home. This doesn’t mean I didn’t see my mom or dad. They came to the clubhouse.
The first day, Dad had come into the clubhouse, Mom behind him, and he’d been out of his mind, totally pissed with the club thinking they were keeping me here against my will. Mom, well, she’d been cool and calm as can be. Smiling even. I swear if Dad wouldn’t have been looking like he would explode, she’d have hugged Dane.
It took a while, but Dad had calmed down. However, it was Karsyn who encouraged me to tell my family about what I’d been through and the attack on me. Throughout this, Dane wasn’t present. He’d been busy. Well, busy staying away from me for the most part. He was around somewhat. Here and there. Though never for long.
I’d noticed the difference in his eyes, which kept getting a brighter blue. I could tell his brothers were starting to worry about him. I also knew every night he was next to me. I not only felt his warmth, but also, he’s not there when I get up. The indent in the pillow is the proof that he’s been there.
I’ve questioned myself, wondering if I’d done something wrong. If he’s decided I wasn’t someone he wanted as a mate. I didn’t know what to think, and it was starting to get to me.
I didn’t want to stay at the clubhouse anymore. I didn’t want to be around so many people. It’s not that I don’t mind being around them, but I’ve been someone who prefers space—and being alone. Too many people and it makes me edgy. Some would call it over-stimulating, but I can guess you can say I get downright paranoid. With what happened with Brady’s guys, Randy and Travis, I’m struggling.
I don’t want to talk about it to my mom or dad. They’d listen, I’m sure of it. Now more than ever. They’d been here every day since finding out about the attack. Dad working with the club in doing whatever they’re doing. Whatever they’re doing is something I don’t even know what it is because Dane hasn’t shared with me. No one has.
Karsyn and Lake both shared that I should trust that everything will work out. I want to believe them, but how can I when I don’t know what’s going on? I need to know.
If I don’t get answers soon, I’m going to leave. I didn’t care if it ticked anyone off. Just as shifters don’t like to be caged, I don’t either. I won’t allow it to happen to me. No way. I won’t be caged either.
What I need to do is find Dane and talk to him. That’s if I can even get him to talk to me.
Better yet, I should just leave the clubhouse and say screw talking to Dane. It’s obvious he’s avoiding me. I might as well make it easier for him. I’ve never, well before Brady, I was never one to let a man dictate my life. I got away from Brady because of what he’d done to me. I won’t let Dane do the same to me. Him avoiding me . . . not talking to me about what’s going on, it’s not the same, but still it is. He’s doing the same thing, controlling my life by not letting me go anywhere .
Done with this, I make my decision. No one is really around right now. I can walk and get home in a decent time. The pain is all but gone now, though, the bruises are still there, and the cuts are as well. But the pain is one less thing I have to worry about anymore. So, to me, that is a bright side.
Knowing I’m not going to change my mind, I make my way out of Dane’s room, down the hall, and straight out of the clubhouse. I didn’t look to see if I saw anyone around. I didn’t care if anyone saw me. Let them. They can tell Dane all they want. I don’t care. I’m going home.
I start walking from the clubhouse, ignoring the sound of some calling after me. Thankfully, though, none of them try to stop me. None of them touch me. I just walk. Getting to the road, I turn left and slowly walk along the edge. I don’t walk too far in the grass since there’s a ditch pretty much right there. I stick more or less on the asphalt. The last thing I need to do is trip and end up in the ditch, breaking an ankle or hitting my head.
I make it fifty yards down the road when a wolf jumps out of the woods, over the ditch, and stops in front of me. I know this wolf very well. I might have only really seen him once, but without a doubt, I knew it was Dane .
“Move out of the way, Dane,” I tell him, earning a growl. “Don’t you think about growling at me. It doesn’t intimidate me. In fact, it’s annoying.”
Dane growls teeth on display.
Rolling my eyes, I shove past him and keep going. “I’m going home, and you can’t stop me.”
I take another handful of steps when I’m caught around the middle. The steel grip of Dane’s arm around me only causes me to struggle against him harder.
“Settle down, Raine, before you hurt yourself.” Dane snarls harshly.
“Let me go, you big jerk.”
“Not letting you go,” he says, though he loosens his grip, but only so he can turn me to face him.
It’s then I realize he’s naked.
“Where are your clothes?” I blurt.
“At the clubhouse where you should be.”There’s no missing the way his nostrils flare, and he looks seriously pissed.
“I’m going home,” I inform him yet again, my hands pressing into his bare chest. “You need to go put clothes on.” It’s all I can do to keep from looking downward. I could feel his erection, and it wasn’t small by any means. “Don’t you know you could get arrested for indecent?— ”
“Shut it, dolcezza ,” Dane orders, his eyes flashing vibrant sapphire with his command.
“Don’t tell me to shut it, you big jerk.” I don’t know what comes over me, but I never intended to do what I do next and bring my knee up. If Dane weren’t as fast as he is, I’d have nailed him right in the middle. Instead, I find my knee grabbed as he moves, lifting me until I’ve no choice but to wrap my legs around his waist. “What are you doing?” I demand. “Put me down.”
“Not happening,” Dane growls, jumps the ditch, and moves into the woods. He keeps moving for the longest time before stopping and pressing me into the bark of a very wide oak tree.
“What do you think you’re doing? Put me down.”
I shove at Dane’sshoulders, but to no avail. He doesn’t budge, go figure. The big brute was the size of a flipping mountain.
“Why were you walking home?” he demands, his nose pressing into mine. With me pressed to the tree, my legs around his waist, he presses his hands into the massive tree on either side of my head.
“I want to go home, so I was going home.” If I could’ve shrugged, I would’ve.
“You want to go home,” he repeats, eyes narrowing, his lips right there, our breath mingling. “Why? ”
“Because I want to,” I answer.
“Why?” he repeats.
“Because I want to.” Again, I tell him. I have no intention of telling him how his ignoring me bothers me. Hurts even.
“Why?” Dane growls.
I didn’t think he could get even closer, but somehow, he manages to do just that.
“Because,” I breathe.
“Swear to fuck, woman, answer me. Why the fuck do you want to go home?” he demands, his fist slamming into the bark next to my head.
My breathing becomes heavier, and I jump as a small piece of bark breaks off and hits my cheek. Slowly, I focus fully on his eyes to see they’re not just that of the man, but the wolf was watching me too. They were both mad. Madder than mad. He was downright furious. Furious in a way I don’t understand. It wasn’t like he wanted me there. If he did, wouldn’t he have taken time out of the past three days to talk to me? We’ve barely spoken since the night I cried in his arms. That was the only day I’d spent time with him where he’d spoken to me. Treated me kindly. Showed he wanted me in any way.
“Raine,” Dane snarls my name.
My eyes drop to his lips, and I lick my own nervously while giving him the only answer I find myself being able to give him. “You don’t want me here.”
“I don’t want you here?” The words come out to the point of not being able to understand him completely. “What the fuck do you mean I don’t want you here?”
“I don’t —”
“The truth,” he snarls, interrupting me.
“You don’t want me here,” I repeat on a breath and lick my lips. “You made it abundantly clear over the past three days you didn’t.”
“How do you figure?”My answer doesn’t seem to satisfy him. If anything, it makes him further pissed, considering how his snarling voice grows even more of a harsh, animalistic, snarly sound.
“Dane, you already know the answer to this. I shouldn’t have to explain. Just let me go so I can go home.”
“You rejectin’ me?” he demands.
I jerk back ever so slightly and blink up at him. “What? No. Why would I do that to you?”
“You want to go home. I’m trying to give you time. Let you have time to be able to come to terms with us, with the fact I’m your mate.”
“How can I come to terms with something . . . better yet, why do I have to come to terms with being your mate? It’s fate that wants us to have this,” I ask. Growing up, my mom told me about fated mates and how it’s not just a beautiful thing but it’s a blessing. “You ignored me every day for three days now. Not once taking the time to check on me. See if I needed anything. Spent time with me just talking . . .”
I didn’t get to finish what I was saying to him, only because his lips were on my lips. His tongue in my mouth. It was a kiss unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Hot. Wet. Sensual. Hard. All in one. I didn’t think such a kiss could happen, but here, Dane is proving it to be possible.
The kiss is long and grows longer with each twirl of his tongue with mine. Dane’s hands move away from where they are pressing into the bark of the tree, one going to my hip while the other curls around the back of my head.
Only then does he break his mouth away from mine, his eyes lock with mine once more, and he asks, “Tell me you’re mine, Raine. Tell me you’re my mate.”
“I’m yours. Your mate,” I tell him with no hesitation. I didn’t have to think to know I was his. It didn’t matter. Fate put us together, and fate wouldn’t have done such a thing without reason. Right?