Chapter 6 #2
Taking advantage of having the room to myself, I decided to do some snooping to see if I could find anything that could be used as a weapon or a means of escape. I kept my ear out for the sound of the shower switching off as I searched.
The windows were locked and I made a mental note to keep my eyes peeled for a key.
I searched every drawer. I found clothes, books, a few mementos.
No keys or weapons. Not even a lighter or anything heavy that I could hit him with.
I was pouring through the chest at the foot of his bed when I felt that familiar ripple over my skin.
“I had the room cleared before you got here.”
I yelped and spun around. My mouth fell open as I took in the sight before me.
Kole wore a towel around his waist, his hair a shaggy, inky black mess, water rivulets running over his chest, over the V of his hips.
He returned to the bathroom and switched the shower off.
He’d left it running, knowing I was snooping.
He’d tricked me. I’d underestimated him.
He returned to the room, moving to the chest of drawers. He dropped the towel, giving me an incredible view of his…I turned away. My whole body had lit on fire at the sight of his bare skin, the smooth, defined muscles of his back. I moved to the window, calming myself.
“There’s no shame in looking at me, you know.
” I peeked over my shoulder at a very naked Kole who was taking his sweet time putting on a pair of briefs.
He turned and I looked away before I got a full frontal view.
I heard him chuckle behind me. “My body belongs to you, Iona. It was made for you. It’s natural to be attracted to it. ”
“I’m not.” I lied to my reflection in the glass. My arms crossed tightly across my chest, I stiffened as I felt him approach. I refused to look at his reflection, I didn’t need to see more than I already had.
“Wolves have an excellent sense of smell. We can scent the fear that comes with telling lies.” His presence warmed me from behind and a delicious shiver ran through me as he bent, inhaling me.
“We can scent other things too. My heightened senses can hear your blood rush, can see the elevated pulse in your neck, your pupils dilate. I can smell your heat here…” His hand snaked around my waist and he reached down, pressing a gentle hand to my mound.
I didn’t move. My fingers dug into my arms as I fought not to turn around and scratch his eyes out.
His hand drifted lower, his breathing ragged behind me.
His middle finger rested just above my clitoris, teasing.
“I can feel you throbbing for me. Don’t you want me to take that ache away? ”
With gritted teeth, I turned my face up to look him in the eye. “Go fuck yourself, Cujo.”
His eyes flashed with…excitement? Anger? I couldn’t tell. With a final inhale, he drew away from me, moving to the bed. “You should take off that hoodie. You’ll be too warm while you sleep. We run hot.”
“I’m not sharing a bed with you.” I turned on him, my arms still tight around me, my head spinning from the seduction he’d just spun. He didn’t even bother to acknowledge me, merely pulled the covers back.
“If you need to go to the bathroom, now is the time.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I am not sharing a bed with—” I was cut off by a knock at the door. He answered it, but whoever it was didn’t come in. I heard whispers between Kole and the visitor and when he closed the door he had something in his hands that made my stomach turn. “Are those more chains?”
“The council thought I might need them. I’d hoped you’d prove them wrong. I wasn’t going to use them if you came to our bed willingly.”
I watched in shock as he fastened them to the bed before straightening and fixing those eyes on me. I felt like prey. Which, technically, was exactly what I was.
“Don’t you even think about it,” I warned but he was already advancing on me. Stupidly, I made a run for the bathroom. Of course, I didn’t make it. He scooped me up from behind and threw me onto the bed.
I fought with everything I had, I even screamed, but it was useless.
Every awful memory flashed through my mind, stirring my rising panic as he straddled me, pinning me down.
Was this it? Was he just going to get it over with now instead of waiting for the ceremony?
He held my arms above me, chaining my wrists to the bedpost. I squeezed my eyes shut.
I wanted to beg and plead but I refused to let the words out of my mouth.
“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.” He lowered, pressing his body to mine, but what came next surprised me.
He rumbled, a deep growl that somehow comforted me as the vibrations seeped through my chest. “Breathe, mate.” Without my consent, my body began to relax into him.
What was happening? Where was my fear going? My anger? I felt helpless without it.
“Good girl,” he rumbled again, a satisfied noise.
The sound of ripping fabric tore through the air and seconds later, my hoodie lay in shreds, leaving me in a t-shirt and sweatpants.
“I told you, you were going to be too hot.” He lay over me, his green gaze alight, his wolf looking back at me.
He must have smelled my fear because he rumbled again.
“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you right now.
He relaxes when you can’t get away from him.
” Just like that, my anger came roaring back.
I glared at him and his pleasure faded, replaced by an expression I couldn’t name.
“Get off of me.” I was surprised when he did, tossing the destroyed hoodie onto the floor.
I sprang up immediately. The chain was a few feet long, leaving me enough length to get comfortable in the bed, even walk a step or two, but no farther than that.
This was a major spanner in my plan. Sneaking out at night just got a whole lot harder.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. He just…I’m trying to keep him calm so he doesn’t hurt you.
Knowing you can’t get away helps.” For a moment he looked ashamed, but he quickly covered that with his usual stern expression.
“If you need to go to the bathroom at night, wake me. I’ll unchain you.
” He climbed into the bed. I stood, glaring down at him.
“Get these things off me. Now.” Instead, he grabbed the chain, pulling me to him. I put a foot on the bed frame, pulling back, but he pulled harder. With a sharp yank he tumbled me onto the bed.
I immediately struggled to get up again but froze when I felt him flush against my back.
“Settle.” His unyielding arms wrapped around me. He let out a long, satisfied rumble as his body cocooned mine, settling around me as if he was made to do just that. I didn’t want this.
“Please let me go. I…I can’t sleep like this.” I didn’t share a bed. Ever. I had been to bed with a few men in my twenties but I never spent the night. I could never trust a man enough to fall asleep around him.
“Close your eyes, Iona,” he murmured, sounding already as if he was drifting off.
I squeezed them shut, blocking out my reality.
I tried to convince myself I wasn’t here, that this wasn’t really happening.
In the end, it was picturing tomorrow that calmed me.
Tomorrow, when the motel staff would hopefully begin to notice I was missing, when Patricia would start to wonder why I hadn’t called her yet.
My fists clenched and sleep took me.