Chapter 14
Delilah
When I make it to class, I avoid Matteo's gaze as I take a seat in the front.
Coal is gone for the entire class, and so is Quil, but I know everyone in the room can scent them both on me.
Especially Quil. Goddess, this is embarrassing.
I can feel Matteo burning a fucking hole in the back of my head the whole class.
What have you done…
As soon as class is over, I bolt from the room. I don’t want to talk to Matteo. The massive bruise that's aching on my neck feels like a damn beacon, screaming he bit me and I liked it. I scratch at the chokers, annoyed that I let myself get so carried away.
I don’t see Coal or Quil as I hustle off to Art, but I do see Dean.
As soon as I step through the door to our shared class, Dean’s eyes flash to a glowing brown.
He stands from his stool and stomps toward me before he pushes the hair off my neck and examines my new mark.
Then he sniffs me. He fucking sniffs me!
I look up into his eyes, knowing I could be punished for meeting his gaze, but need to know what he’s thinking. His woodsy scent washes over me, and I can’t help but breathe him in. He’s standing so close…
His eyes are still glowing, his fists are clenched, and he’s shaking. His Wolf is close to the surface.
“I’m fine. I’ve been through worse,” I whisper, hoping to calm him, hoping his anger isn’t over the mixed cinnamon and sandalwood scents on me.
My words seem to have the opposite effect, however.
He growls, showing his teeth, and on instinct, I grip his fists in my hands.
“Calm down, please. It’s not a big deal. It was…consensual.”
My words surprise him, and he looks me over, once again sniffing me.
“Can you stop that, please?” I hiss quietly.
“Fuck,” he whispers, looks around the room, and again, I’m dragged away from one of my classes before it even starts.
Dean is so much larger than me, and as he drags me down the hall, fear creeps in.
He and Matteo said they were different. That they wanted to take care of me.
Was that a lie? As we leave the main building and head for his dorm room, my thoughts spiral.
“Uh,” I say as he opens the door to his room and pushes me inside. “Why are we…”
He drags me through the dorm and into his bathroom, turns on his shower, and shoves me in, shoes, clothes, and all.
I let out a screech because the water is still cold and glare at him. “What the fuck!” I splash some water at him and frown. What the fuck is up with these Wolves? He doesn’t even know me. Why is he shoving me into a cold ass shower?
“I won’t have you smelling like them all fucking day!
” Dean snaps. “Your arousal, fuck, I’m only so strong, Delilah.
I want to bend you over this counter and fuck you until their scents disappear,” he growls, and my eyes go wide.
Fuck, those words paint a very clear picture in my mind of what that would look like.
I bite my lip. Thinking of all the times I’ve gotten close to him this week.
“Comfortable?” Dean teases, startling me. I’m lying in his bed on Thursday evening, and reading a book I found on the nightstand.
“Sorry,” I mumble, but Dean just shakes his head.
“Don’t be. I like the sight of you in my bed… so relaxed. Not tense and worried. You’re starting to trust being alone with me.” He reaches over, pushing my red locks away from my face, and I suck in a sharp breath.
I just stare at him as I replay every interaction, wondering how I missed the heated looks. I shake my head at Dean as the words click in my mind. My scent bothers him? He claimed me!
“Have you gone insane? He fucking owns me, just like you, Dean. I’ll always fucking smell like him.
I’ll smell like any Wolf who claims me. Just the same as every Human who is used for what's between their legs. If Coal demands it, he will receive it, Dean. That's how this works!” He knows it was consensual, but my words are still true. Even though I liked it and wanted to keep going, I don’t know what either Coal or Quil would have done if I’d tried to stop them.
“And Quil?” Dean asks, and I blush.
“Can I truly tell any Wolf here, no? If any of them demands something of me, I have to give in. If you aren’t there to challenge them, what do you want me to do? Humans have no choice!” I’m yelling at the next Alpha of Shadow Moon. I think I’ve gone insane.
“You just told me it was consensual, Delilah. If you felt like you had no choice, why did you say that?” Dean growls, but I shake my head.
“I wanted it. I didn’t stop either of them, because I wanted it.
That doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t have ignored me if I’d said no, Dean!
It just means I let them get me off and didn’t bother trying to stop them.
My point is that you can’t get angry with me because their scents are on me!
They get to do what they want to me, just like you do, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it!
The fact that I liked it is irrelevant!” I snap, losing control of my anger.
He’s going to punish me. I lift my head and square my shoulders, closing my eyes, waiting for his punishment.
Five seconds. Ten. Twenty. When I open my eyes, Dean is watching me. An expression on his face I can't read.
“I told you, I won’t ever hurt you, Delilah.” He looks hurt. Hurt that I expected him to strike me, or hurt that I compared him to Coal?
“But I don’t know that. Pain is all I’ve known since first meeting Wolves,” I admit.
“Fuck, Delilah…” Dean steps into the shower, clothes and all, and watches me with a sad expression.
For a moment, I just watch as the water falls across his chest, wetting his clothes.
“You want to wash their scents off of me?” I ask, and Dean nods.
“I do,” he admits, and I smile softly before I kick my shoes off, dump the water out of them, and then place them outside the shower.
Dean does the same, then unbuttons his shirt, tossing it to the floor in a wet pile, followed by his pants. I admire his wide shoulders, strong arms, and the dark trail of hair that leads down to a large bulge straining his boxers.
I take off my shirt and watch as he takes in the sight of my breasts, still in my bra. Until I take that off as well. I slide my skirt slowly down my thighs and watch him carefully. Quil took my panties with him…
Dean grabs the bottle of shampoo and pours some into his hand, motioning for me to turn away from him. Despite the fire I see in his chocolate eyes, he doesn’t try to touch my naked body.
As soon as I'm facing the wall, he groans.
“Fuck…” Dean mutters, then massages the soap into my hair, and I moan at the sensation.
It feels so fucking good, and the scent is masculine and clean, just like Dean.
I step back into him, feeling the heat of his body against mine.
He’s so much taller than me that my head rests against his chest. He takes his time and I close my eyes, enjoying his gentle touch until he turns me to rinse the soap out.
I open my eyes to watch him as he rinses the soap from my hair carefully. He looks so relaxed. I frown, so kind, despite how angry I thought he would be. It wasn’t anger, but envy.
“I need to know why, Dean. I need to understand,” I say, as he grabs another bottle and runs his hands through my hair once again. I reach out, resting my hands against the firm muscles of his abs, looking up to meet his eyes. He doesn’t have me turn away this time and just rinses my hair again.
“I don’t have an explanation right now. Just try to trust me,” he whispers. “Matteo is my best friend, and I promised him four years ago that we’d find a way to protect you.” His muscles flex under my hands, the look in his eyes darkening as my hands drop lower.
“I’ve never touched anyone like this before…” I whisper. I’ve touched skin, but not like this. This is intimate and personal. Gentle. What Quil did was about control and dominance, this is mutual respect. Mutual desire.
He chuckles, “Half naked in the shower?” He says it teasingly, but I just watch the way my hands move across his smooth skin and hard muscles.
“Without fear that I’ll somehow be punished for finding pleasure in this feeling,” I confess breathlessly.
“You’ve never touched a man at all?” He sounds surprised, and I smile.
“When would I? Coal makes it clear to anyone who tries to get near me that I belong to him.”
“You smelled…like, I thought…” He stumbles over his words, looking me over.
“Coal touches me. Just because my body responds to his touch, doesn’t mean I touch him back. And Quil… He took what he wanted, and I let him, but no, I didn’t touch him either. He, um, used his own hand to…” I know what he’s thinking. I smelled like Quil’s cum.
“He’s never…did he force himself on you?” he demands, even though he already knows the answer, gripping my face between his hands and searching my emerald eyes. I’ve said it enough times already. But it’s sweet that he’s concerned.
“No, not really. I don’t want to like it, but I do enjoy it when they touch me.
When both of them touch me, force me,” I whisper.
It’s true, I crave Coal’s touch, his desire, his hatred.
I want the punishing way he holds me to mean that he loses control because of me.
And now Quil. He made me feel something I’ve never felt before, but he did it to prove he could, not because he wanted me or desired me. Certainly not because he cared for me.
“Fuck.” Dean drops his hands. “You like the pain.” He realizes, looking at the bruise on my neck.
“Fuck, Delilah.” He steps into me, moving the hair on my shoulder away, and runs his fingers over the bruise.
I bite my lip at the contact. The area is sensitive, and the bite of pain causes my body to shiver in response, reminding me how it felt when Coal bit me.