Sixteen – Vail
He drew me to my feet, and without a word, led me into the bedroom.
It was as opulent as the rest of the suite, and dominated by an enormous bed with a dark gold spread. Lamps glowed on the matching nightstands, and more of the Huntington cityscape twinkled through the large window. Music was being played through hidden speakers; something soft and seductive, that went perfectly with the lush furnishings. Jasper was a silent presence behind me as I took it all in. And even though it was as warm as the room with the fireplace, I shivered, my gaze drifting back to the bed.
Jasper and I had shared a room in the rose cottage. He’d brought me there straight after the lab nightmare, and I hadn’t complained. Everything about my new accommodation had been so much better than the Dud Dorm, with the exception of my friend, Marnie. But it had also let me see another side to Jasper. He’d been protective of me – something my life had been desperately lacking – and I’d learned he was so much more than the cocky alphason with the sunshine smile. At first, the bed we’d shared had just been a safe place to recover. A retreat in the middle of the campus, with the added bonus of the hot alpha shifter who was never far away. Most of the time, I’d ended up sleeping with Jasper in his wolf form, and I’d grown to love my furry bed companion. But there’d been other times where it was just me and Jasper the man. And I’d come to crave his touch in a way that almost scared me. But the crazy thing was, by the time the Hunter Moon Formal came around, I knew he needed me as badly as I needed him.
I bit my lip, dizzy with memories. We’d fooled around in that rose cottage bed. A lot . And in the mineral pool, in empty classrooms, and anywhere we could snatch a moment together alone. He was experienced, like all shifters, but he’d been my first boyfriend. The girls had told me a claiming bond was a serious relationship in the wolf world, and I’d planned to sleep with Jasper as soon as he marked me again. Not that I was particularly precious about my virginity; I just knew it would be another bond tying us together. Proof that I trusted him, with both my body and my heart.
Which made this so much sadder, especially when he sat on the edge of the bed and looked at me with his alpha gold eyes. But instead of undressing, he pulled me down onto his lap. I went awkwardly, so tense he could probably feel every clenched muscle in my body, but then his arm slipped around my back. Its familiar weight settled some of my jitters and I sank into him a little. When I turned my head, I realized we were eye-to-eye. Gold to green; mine hesitant, while his were filled with purpose. And when he spoke, his voice sounded more wolf than man. “Do you belong to me, Vail?”
Did I? I wanted to; that hadn’t changed. But in the last few weeks I’d felt all the threads tying me to others unravel – Driftwood, Darkness, my dad… How could I belong to anyone, if I didn’t understand who I was? “Yes.” My voice was unwavering, despite that tender ache inside me. “I’m yours, Jasper.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, brushing his lips against my temple. “Then I need to get Marshall’s fucking glow off you.”
I made to climb off his lap. If Jasper needed me to scrub Reed’s healing treatment away, a shower was an easy solution. But he held me still, the arm at my back pulling tight. “Not like that,” he said and taking my left hand, he raised it to his mouth and stuck my pointer finger between his lips. It wasn’t the first time he’d done this to me, but it felt just as mind-blowing as he sucked it deeper, not stopping until the whole digit was trapped inside his mouth. Delicious tingles shot through me as his tongue flicked and tugged, his teeth gently scraping the sensitive pad. When he increased the suction, it went straight to the pit of my belly. I squirmed on his lap, but he just held me tighter. Finally, he let my finger slip from his warm lips and told me, “Wipe your forehead. Use my… what did you call it? Alpha voodoo?”
I gave a shaky laugh, but he wasn’t smiling, so I gingerly rubbed my wet finger over the memory of Reed’s touch. He frowned as he watched me, then said, “Other hand.” I held it up, a bit ashamed at how eagerly I offered it, but he just told me, “Don’t move. Except for cleaning yourself up.”
I nodded, and he began sucking on my other hand, only this time it was two fingers he drew between his lips. I couldn’t stop them curling inside the warmth of his mouth, chasing the soft pressure of his tongue. My whole body jerked as he bit down on the knuckles. Not hard, but a kind of warning. My fingers popped out of his mouth, which was frowning now. “Don’t move also means keeping your eyes open. I want you watching me, Vail.”
Had I closed my eyes? My mind was a lusty fog, so maybe they’d rolled back in my head of their own accord. All I knew was he was taking more of my fingers into his mouth, and my forehead was damp with his alpha voodoo. I felt a flash of shame as I remembered how Reed’s treatment had made my legs tremble. But this was on a whole other scale. I could feel the shudders right down to my core. Maybe Clan Alphas had super spit. Or maybe it was just Jasper’s scent, lathered on my skin. Because the longer he held me still and sucked on my fingers, the more it felt like my body was being claimed.
I cried out when his other hand dropped to my lap, his thumb brushing over the hot juncture of my thighs. It passed back and forth, before making slow circles against my mound, the silky fabric of my dress twisting under his touch. It wasn’t enough, barely a tiny pressure to match the heat burning at my core. But it was delicious, and I jerked my hips up as he stopped sucking my fingers. I tried to catch his lips, but he began pressing kisses to the skin along my collarbones. Gripping the front of his shirt, I pressed my panting mouth to the hot column of his neck. As my lips latched on and sucked, I ground down onto his lap. I felt the bulge of his reaction under my ass and squirmed harder, trying to chase this new pleasure. But he pulled back, his hands gripping my wrists. “You need to understand how it is between us now, Vail. This isn’t give and take anymore.”
As I panted my frustration into his face, he lifted me off his lap and gently placed me on the bed. I marveled at the strength it took to move me so easily, my hands clutching at the muscles of his forearms. But he shook his head, his eyes hooded when my nails dug into his silky skin under his tattoo. “You don’t get to mark me up, either. That’s not an omega’s place. Do you understand?”
I nodded, a little embarrassed by the half-moons I’d left on his skin. I tucked my nails inside my fists. “Are there any more rules I need to know?”
He quirked a brow at me, not at all amused. “You wear what I want you to wear, for starters.”
I was tempted to roll my eyes at that. But he just waited until I nodded again, then got to his feet, one knee braced on the bed. He was as still as a statue as he watched me draw the zipper down with trembling fingers. The silk dress came off with little more than a shimmy of my hips, the thick column of his neck pulsing as he looked me over in my lacy underwear. When I began to reach for the strap of my heel, he covered his hand with mine. “You can leave those.”
I couldn’t hide my smirk, but it wilted as he captured my other hand and eased off Reed’s corsage, before setting it on the nightstand. I tried to penetrate the gold sheen in his eyes, but he’d taken his dinner tie from his pocket and was focused on binding my wrists together. When he was finished, I couldn’t help tugging against the fabric. It wasn’t tight, but it was a solid knot. His eyes darkened as he watched me, and I felt the first trickle of unease in my belly. I licked my dry lips. “Is this the alpha knot? Do I have to prepare myself for something now?”
His head whipped up from the study of my hands. For a moment I was sure his wolf was staring out at me, before he said in a voice of gravel, “Yes and no. That knot is something different, but you do have to prepare yourself. And know I’m doing this for your safety, Vail. Until you find your wolf, and learn your place, you can’t be trusted.”
“What?”
The word was barely out before he reached over to open a drawer in the nightstand. I tried to push myself upright with my elbows to see better, but it was an awkward position, and he was sitting in the way. But then he turned, something flashing in his hands, and he was swinging his whole body over me. My pulse leaped at the sudden motion, but it was the look on his face that made me rear back against the bed. Whatever this was, I didn’t have a hope of preparing myself. Because he was digging a knee into each side of the bed, not pressing down with his weight as much as caging me in. And something inside me – my wolf, or my bruised heart, or just that primitive part of my brain that sensed danger – told me to buck him off. To squirm out from under him and run. But there was nowhere to go. No inch of space between us. I lifted my bound hands between us, ready to rake my nails along his face, when he squashed them under his chest.
His mouth was so close to me, I could taste his breath. And feel the heat in his words when he commanded, “Don’t fight me, Vail!”
But that was exactly the wrong thing to say when I was trussed up and at my wits’ end. I began to buck and kick, my head snapping forward as I tried to connect with his skull. I missed, but one of my elbows caught his ribs and his breath shot out of him with a grunt. The next moment his alpha power pressed down on me, twice as heavy as his actual weight. I tried to scratch him again, but he knocked my hands out of the way.
“Look!” He was holding a metal band. It was only as thick as my little finger, but a brilliant gold in the lamp light. I stopped struggling long enough to ask, “What is it?”
“It’s an omega cuff. You wear it round your neck. It will keep you safe.”
I stared at the gleaming necklace, and the only word I could think of was choker. Because it was such a tight fit, it would grip my throat if I put it on. Some girls probably wore them for fun, but it looked cold and hard, a small pendant swinging from the center. “Is it a tracker? So you can find me if I run?”
His lips twisted. “It’s just jewelry. But it marks you as mine. Which means you can’t ever take it off.”
I went still under him; not so much giving up, as too numb to move. “Ever?”
“Until I say so,” he relented. “But there’s no clasp, Vail. It only comes off when I decide you don’t need it anymore. And it’s going to take a while for you to earn that trust.”
I felt his words like claws raking along my heart. He had told me actions spoke louder than words, and mine hadn’t measured up. But tying me up and threatening to collar me were nothing compared to the heavy distrust in his voice. I’d tried to explain. I’d said I was sorry. But none of that had made a dent in his suspicions. I was a liar, a manipulator who betrayed her friends, and a coward who would run at the first chance she was given. So he was taking that chance away altogether.
“Do it, then,” I whispered, turning my head so I didn’t have to look at him. “Just don’t expect me to thank you afterwards.”