Chapter 7
Stinger
It’s late when I finally wake up. Daylight is showing through a gap in the curtains that cover the windshield, and Ava is sleeping beside me.
Last night rushes back. So much mating. So many orgasms. I couldn’t get enough of her. Her sweet virgin pussy was insatiable. I filled her with so much of my cum.
Now she’s curled up on her side, hands folded under her chin. She looks like an angel. So beautiful and perfect.
But I shouldn’t have done that.
Guilt rips through me.
She deserves better than this.
Last night felt so right. But she’s not like me. She’s a princess.
Mate, growls my beast, yet again.
No. I can’t have a mate.
It swells inside me, demanding I claim her again.
Forcing it back down, I slip out of the bed and get to my feet, mad at myself. I slide the curtains open an inch and peer out at the snow. It’s piled high, everywhere.
That darn blizzard. Those assholes who got me all riled up. Sent my protective instincts into overdrive. Made me get all possessive.
And Ava. Telling she wanted me.
How’s a guy supposed to control himself in a situation like that?
Self-disgust washes over me.
I shouldn’t have taken her virginity when I couldn’t be her mate.
She’s got dreams and a bright future in Perdue. I’m such a beast, I’m not even allowed in the town.
I hear the sound of sheets being moved and a sweet, sleepy sigh, and I turn. She’s waking up. She looks around like she has no idea where she is. She looks so adorably vulnerable, it hurts my heart.
She blinks, and as her eyes clear, the first thing I see is regret. Pain lances my chest.
“I’m sorry about last night,” I blurt out.
Her eyes widen. Then she goes very still. “I… I’m sorry, too,” she says, after a long silence.
“Shouldn’t have happened.”
“Totally.” Her face shuts down. “Never thought I’d lose my virginity in a truck,” she mutters, like she’s talking to herself.
To a truck driver. She doesn’t say the words out loud, but I hear them.
“You imagined it different, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“I shouldn’t have done it,” I grunt.
“Right.”
“Just forget it happened.”
“Already forgotten.” She sits up and looks around confusedly.
“You probably want some clean clothes?”
She snatches up the sheet and wraps it tight around her body. “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”
“Got a suitcase or something in your car?”
“Yeah.” She looks cold, distant.
“Give me your key. I’ll see if I can get to it.”
“It’s there, in my purse.”
I hand her the purse and she pulls out the key and hands it to me without a word.
I clump through the snow. Hating myself for upsetting her. But I don’t know what to tell her. Sorry for losing control of myself and busting your cherry? And your romantic daydreams.
When I get back, she’s sitting on the end of the bed, all wrapped up like a mummy.
“You need to shower?”
“Yeah, be good to wash all this off.”
My gut tightens. She means the evidence of our mating. My cum.
She’s disgusted by it now.
“I can take you to the shower block.”
“Is it safe?”
“I’ll wait right outside the door.”
“Actually, forget it. I just want to get to Perdue.”
My wolf lets off a growl. Darn. I hate that she’s going there.
“You won’t last a minute there,” I blurt out.
Fire burns in her eyes. “You don’t know me.”
Her words cut right through me, and my wolf howls.
I guess she’s right. I don’t know her, and she’ll never be mine.
I open the door again. “Holler when you’re ready and I’ll drive you,” I tell her. I jump down and slam the door behind me.
It’s a perfect sunny, fall day. Sixty-five degrees, and the sun’s already melting the snow. The snowplows are out and the interstate is clear. I drive at fifty all the way to Perdue.
Ava and I don’t speak on the way. I keep my focus on the road, while she’s buried in her phone, scrolling and swiping, trying to organize a tow for her car.
When I finally drop her off on the outskirts of the town—as far as I’m allowed to go these days—she refuses all offers of help. Instead, she climbs down by herself and shuts the door behind her.
My wolf whimpers in pain and confusion as I sit there, watching her disappear into the town that rejected me.
When she’s safely out of sight, I lock all the doors, tear off my shirt, and let my beast go berserk.