Chapter 5 #2
“Effie!” he roared as he spilled inside of me, his seed filling my waiting center.
My body sank into the bed as pure pleasure and contentment filled every element of my being.
His grip on me was still hard as he continued to push in and out, like he was still coming and trying to keep his cum as deep as possible.
When he finally pulled out, his lips ran over my ear. “I love you. I love you so damn much. I’m so sorry if I was too rough.”
“No, never. That felt amazing,” I breathed out, rolling over so I could look up at him.
“Understatement,” he groaned, his gaze moving between my legs where our mixed cum was leaking out. I watched as he ran his fingers over it before pushing some of it back in, causing me to whimper.
“Shit.” Dakota blinked, almost as if emerging from a daze. “Let’s get cleaned up. I know you’re probably going to be sore—you’re already pink.”
That didn’t surprise me, but I also knew how my mates were, so unless it was really bad, I wasn’t going to admit I was even a tiny bit sore—I wanted them far too much for that.
As Dakota gently picked me up, I took the opportunity to admire the space we were in, a gorgeous bedroom with an attached bathroom. Dakota turned on the shower, and I frowned in confusion but followed him under the hot steam. The sensation across my skin was absolutely wonderful.
“Are we at a hotel?”
“No, still flying,” he explained, brushing his nose against mine. I let out a happy sigh as I tried to rationalize that. I had no clue how long this trip was or which airport and city we were landing in. Hadn’t Aanya said her parents lived in Kyoto? How far was that from Wisconsin in a jet?
Dakota distracted me, dipping his head to press his lips against mine before kneeling in front of me.
I trembled as my wolf made a curious noise at the submissive position he was in, though somehow Dakota made it look anything but.
As he began to wash me with soap, I closed my eyes and let out a pleasure-filled sound.
I wanted to return the favor when he was done, because this felt wonderful.
“What’s wrong?” Dakota had suddenly paused, his dark gaze moving up my body. I shivered at the raw heat there, but there was something else there as well.
He stood, backing me up against the wall, capturing my face between his hands and pressing his forehead to mine. “I took you hard; are you really okay? I didn’t mean to lose control like that.”
“Dakota, I feel amazing,” I said honestly.
Relief filled his gaze, but then guilt infused it. “I…I made a mistake, Effie.”
“What?” I tilted my head in confusion.
“Before I took you, I should have told you everything.”
“Everything?” I parroted.
“What brought me here—what brought me to Silver Falls University,” he said, looking angry at himself. “What I haven’t told you about my past.”
“Oh,” I whispered, relieved that it wasn’t something about us mating. I could handle anything from my mate’s past, or at least I was pretty sure I could. They understood mine so well, and I would always strive to do the same. “What haven’t you told me?”
Dakota placed an arm over my head, his wet, muscular body distracting me as he spoke softly, his forehead still pressing against mine.
“Our pack is fairly small—powerful, but small—and we’re located near the city.
There is…was a rival pack in the mountains though, one that was small enough and unthreatening enough that we let it exist without much thought.
Until we began getting reports about them shifting and attacking humans.
That alone could have been understandable… ”
“How?” I frowned in confusion.
“Totemic wolves are created through a ritual that allows the spirit of a wolf to become a balanced and connected part of them,” Dakota explained, almost as if it were a speech he’d memorized.
“Which is where my magic comes from. However, unless you’re an alpha, you lose your mental connection to your human side when shifted.
Which is why alpha dominance is so important in those situations, because they’re the only one able to control their pack.
So because of that, we approached their alpha. ”
“Did they know?”
“Yes. They appeared apologetic about it and even asked for resources and help, but something about it felt off,” Dakota said.
“So that night, I snuck back to their pack lands and waited and watched, and I overheard a conversation between the alpha and beta. Not only were they purposefully attacking humans, but they were using their deaths to fuel their magic. I didn’t fully understand how, but their method was obviously successful because despite their small numbers, they appeared to grow only stronger day after day. ”
“Crap,” I murmured.
“So I went and told my father, which is when he revealed that they had been responsible for transgressions like this before. Apparently it had gotten my mother killed,” he growled.
“Dakota,” I whispered, my chest squeezing in pain.
“I was enraged, of course, especially that he hadn’t put a stop to them after that,” he spit out. “I’d never lost control of my wolf, but two nights later the pack attacked us in the middle of the night, and the accumulation of everything I’d learned… Well, I just snapped.”
“Snapped?”
Dakota closed his eyes. “You can’t leave me, Effie. I should’ve told you before, and I’m a bastard for not, but I marked you, so you can’t leave me.” Though the words themselves were forceful, he delivered them with a plea.
“Nothing you tell me could make me want to leave you,” I assured him.
Pulling back, he examined my face before admitting, “I slaughtered all of them. Every single wolf who came to attack us. I ripped them to pieces with my own teeth.”
Oh.
Oh wow.
My eyes went wide before I asked, “All of them?”
His gaze darkened. “All of them, little wolf. The ones the pack had left behind, who were not involved in that night—mainly the women and children—were absorbed into our pack following the incident.”
A shuddered breath left me as I considered the information, trying to figure out how I felt about it.
After a few moments of searching, I found that I felt nothing but relief that he had told me.
More so, there was a sense of righteousness that came from my wolf, knowing what the other pack had done and how they’d taken Dakota’s mother from him and Catori.
“You can’t leave me,” Dakota repeated, mistaking my silence for what he feared the most. I wasn’t used to hearing such desperation in his voice. “I’m serious, Effie. I won’t let you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said quickly, relief washing over him as he evaluated my expression and found truth. “I love you, Dakota, and while I don’t love violence, you acted as you felt necessary to protect your family and to not let what happened to your mom happen again.”
It also proved what I had already known about Dakota—that he was willing to sacrifice everything, his own mortality and even sanity, to protect those he loved.
“It’s why I can’t go back to my pack. It’s why I was sent to Silver Falls.”
“Sent to me,” I corrected. “I love you.”
He groaned. “Fuck, I don’t deserve you. I love you too.”
“Yes you do,” I whispered.
“No, he fucking doesn’t,” Caedmon growled from the door to the bathroom, causing me to tense, but Dakota only chuckled. “He’s a selfish bastard, keeping you prisoner.”
“Wait,” I said in realization, talking under my breath to Dakota. “Was everyone up when we…”
“No,” Caedmon said, his voice rough. I guess I hadn’t spoken as quietly as I thought. “But we woke up, mon ange. There was no chance of us sleeping with you making those noises. Dakota, you better bring her out soon.” Then he was gone.
Dakota smirked. “Oops.”
“You knew they were up!” I accused, my cheeks flushing bright pink.
“Serves them right.” Dakota brushed my nose.
“Why?”
“You have no idea how much I had to fight to get them to fuck off and out of the bedroom,” he grunted before smiling. “Completely worth it.”
“Understatement,” I said, nibbling my lip. Complete understatement.