Chapter 9 - Owen
After the pack clears off, I’m anxious to see how Trina is. When I get inside and realize she’s locked herself in her room, the first thing I want to do is bang on it and demand she open up.
No, that’s the behavior that got me into trouble before. If she needs space, I have to respect that.
I wait up that night, hoping that she will come out so we can talk, but when she doesn’t, I assume she just wanted an early night and resolve to talk to her in the morning. When I wake, though, it’s to a text stating she left earlier with Lacey and won’t be home until late.
My feelings swiftly twist into annoyance, and I have to work hard to balance myself. I still carry a lot of guilt over disrupting Trina’s life, and the events from the night before were obviously traumatic, only adding to the damage.
But we were finally getting somewhere. I jumped right in and protected her—surely that has to count for something?
Even though I keep myself steady through the rest of the day, my emotions are beginning to spike later that night when Trina has come home but gone straight to her room, barely acknowledging me on her way.
I manage to live through a couple of days of this before my emotions begin to get out of control. As a final effort, I get up early, make breakfast, and set the table with some tulips, which Sadie said were Trina’s favorites.
Trina practically runs through the house from her bedroom to the front door, barely pausing to acknowledge me as she waves goodbye and runs out to meet Lacey.
I stand on the front step, watching them go, finding it pretty convenient that she’s also spending time with her human friend—meaning, I can’t possibly bring up the other reasons for our partnership.
If it were Sadie picking her up, I might have chased Trina across the lawn and tackled her.
I shake my head, wondering if I actually would, and knowing my emotions are strung out enough that it’s a definite possibility. I clean up the uneaten breakfast, leaving the tulips on the table.
Maybe she’ll notice them later. Maybe she won’t even care.
I go out to the infirmary, relieved that there are no new cases for now. None of the sick people have improved, though, and this adds to my agitation because I absolutely have to speak to Trina now, and I really don’t know how.
I’m so restless, I drive around for a bit, ending up at the museum. Before I know what I’m doing, I’m standing out front, looking up at the big double doors, trying to compose myself so I don’t go in there like Caesar on a rampage.
Cornering her at work is a dick move. It means she can’t speak freely or make a scene—but what else can I do? If I wait, she’ll just keep running away, and we have to do something.
As I walk inside, my anxiety cools. It’s a relief to have finally made the decision to confront her. No matter what happens now, the situation has to change.
I don’t even care if it changes for the better or not. I just can’t take another day of her running away from me, especially when I don’t even know why.
My mind runs over the events again, and I try to identify where I could have screwed up. From my perspective, all I did was care for her and protect her, making every attempt to respect her wishes, and she suddenly reverted to her old behavior for absolutely no reason.
As I come in the main doors, I see Trina sitting at the reception desk, talking on the phone.
She’s wearing a bright smile as she takes a booking and chats warmly with the person on the other end.
I realize that it’s her job to be friendly, but it still leaves me faintly jealous that a complete stranger is getting more attention than I am.
“Okay, thanks,” Trina says. “We’ll see you then, bye!”
She hangs up the phone and makes a note on the computer, turning to me with a smile that lights up her eyes, that curious shade of blue green like a secret tropical bay shimmering in the glow of an afternoon sun.
“Oh, hi,” she says, her voice falling flat as the light dims from her eyes. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
My chest aches a little as part of me begs for that warmth to come back, but now that I’m standing right in front of her, the need to know what’s going on overpowers everything else.
“Trina, I need to talk to you.”
“It will have to wait. I’m at work.”
“I realize that, but you’ve made it extremely difficult to talk the last few days, so I felt this was the best thing to do.”
“You thought wrong,” she says, looking up at me with cold eyes as she reaches for the phone. “I’m really busy, so—”
“Owen?” a surprised voice sounds behind me.
“Angela?” I ask, just as surprised. I turn around to see her walking towards me, a big smile on her perfectly painted ruby lips.
“Oh my God!” she says. “It’s been years. How have you been?”
“Great,” I say, lying through my teeth.
Angela comes up to me and puts her hands on my shoulders, giving me a squeeze as she leans in to kiss my cheek. She’s so tall—and also wearing high heels—that her face is even with mine. As she pulls away, I catch the scent of her perfume rising from her skin.
“Oh, dear,” she says, rubbing my cheek lightly with her thumb. “I’ve gone and made a mark on you. We can’t have that.”
“Dear God, no,” I laugh. “I’ll never live it down.”
“But what have you been doing, sweetheart?” Angela purrs, leaning close to me and tossing her long black hair. “I’ve been out of this beastly little town so long, I almost forgot how utterly boring it is. You showing up like this reminds me there are other things I could be doing with my time.”
She puts her hand on my arm and swishes her hair again, batting her lashes as she smiles at me with her bright red lips. Suddenly, the realization of what’s going on hits me like a freight train.
She’s hitting on me!
I recall in a rush all the times I flirted with Angela, but nothing ever happened. She’s human, so I knew I had to keep my distance, but I did get close more than once, and it’s clear she never got over her feelings for me.
Angela is still looking up at me from under her long lashes, her red mouth in a little pout as she waits for me to respond.
“I, ah—actually, I got married,” I say awkwardly.
“You did not!” she exclaims, shoving me and laughing. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
“Well… actually, it’s Trina.”
Silence falls, and it’s distinctly heavy. Angela’s eyes widen, and she looks at me, then over at Trina, and back again.
“Well, that is a surprise,” Angela tilts her chin up, recovering quickly from the shock to give me another feline smile. “Trina is so very… ordinary. Aren’t you, dear?”
Trina nods, and I can see her keeping her lips pressed together so she doesn’t scream. Dots connect in my head, and I suddenly realize exactly what’s going on.
Oh no. This is the boss she was talking about!
“I don’t know about ordinary,” I answer, looking at Trina with genuine affection. “But she certainly charmed me.”
“Wonders never cease,” Angela purrs, leaning in to kiss my cheek again, giving my arm a brief squeeze. “We’ll see each other again, Owen? I’m only staying in town a little while, and I’d love to catch up.”
“Of course,” I reply. “I’d be glad to.”
Even with my wolf senses dulled, I can hear Trina’s heart beating faster and harder as the exchange goes on. I look over and see that she appears composed, but inwardly, she’s completely losing it.
Is she… jealous?
“Are you free now?” Angela asks. “I’m dying to get out of this stuffy place for a bit. Do you still like the same bar?”
“Actually, I was hoping to pick up Trina,” I answer. “If that’s okay.”
“Well…” Angela looks over at Trina, barely concealing her contempt. “I suppose that’s alright. I can take over the phone for now,” she says to Trina, “but you better be in early tomorrow to make up the time.”
“No problem, Miss Mercer,” Trina says, standing up and grabbing her purse. “Thank you.”
I put my arm around Trina’s shoulders as we walk out the door, and Trina stays close to me until we get to the car. Then she practically hurls my arm away from her and slams the car door as she gets in.
“Hey, are you okay?” I ask as I pull away from the curb.
“Fine,” she grits out.
“Trina,” I sigh. “You are not fine. You’ve been avoiding me for days, and that’s why I came today. I really want to talk to you about it because I thought we were making progress, and now it’s worse than it was before.”
“I’m fine. I told you,” she snaps. “I’ve been stressed out at work, and now you’ve probably gone and made it worse, so thanks for that.”
As tempting as it is to chase that bait, I stick to the original issue.
“The work situation has been going on for a while,” I say. “But you started avoiding me after that incident with the pack the other day. Did something happen? You can tell me. I need to know if anyone’s disrespecting you, okay?”
“It wasn’t like that,” she mumbles, rubbing her cheek as if she’s going to cry. “I mean, yes, they weren’t nice to me, but it wasn’t that bad. I appreciated you stepping in. Let’s just leave it at that.”
There’s a tone to her words that I can’t identify, and the heat I detected in her at the museum is still there—a throbbing pulse deep inside her body, making her scent stronger and a deep pink blush glow on her cheeks.
Wait… is she turned on right now?
The thought leaves me at a loss, and I’m quiet the rest of the way home. When we get inside, though, and Trina tries to disappear, I grab her arm to stop her.
“Let go of me!” she says, glaring at me.
“Fine,” I say, taking my hand away. “But you have to come and talk to me, right now.”
“Why?”
“Because we fucking live together, we’re married, and we can’t live like this!” I explode, trying not to yell. “I mean, seriously, what the hell is going on with you?”
Trina looks up at me, and she bites her lip, her eyes brimming with potential tears. Her vulnerability breaks me, and I take a step back.
“Please,” I say, reaching out but not touching her. “Talk to me.”
“Alright,” she sighs. “I’ll talk to you. But I don’t know what it’s going to achieve. You can’t blame me for being upset that you’re the one who trapped me in this marriage—especially when it looks like you have plenty of options.”
Wait, what?
Trina’s cheeks color an even deeper red, and the heat in her body increases.
“Trina… you’re jealous,” I say.
She laughs, a sudden, sharp sound. “Don’t be ridiculous!” she exclaims. “I couldn’t care less what that vamp does—or you, for that matter.”
“Trina,” I say, reaching out and gently taking her hand. “You really are jealous.”
She stares at me, her eyes wide. They are warm again now, making me think of tropical pools full of reflected light from the pure white sand beneath the shimmering water.
“I’m not,” she almost gasps.
I tighten my grip on her hand, just a little, and trace my thumb across her palm. A shiver runs through her, and I see her tongue creep to the edge of her lip.
Well, damn. I read this all wrong.
“You couldn’t handle seeing her all over me,” I say, smiling. “Don’t deny it. I can see it all over you.”
“Okay!” she snaps, moving as if she’s about to pull away but grabbing my hand even tighter. “No, I didn’t like it. Is that what you want to hear?”
“It doesn’t matter what I want to hear,” I say, tracing circles on her palm with my thumb. “What matters is how you feel.”
“I don’t know,” she says, a helpless tone in her voice. She sounds so lost and sad. I want to wrap her in my arms, press her against my chest, and never let her go.
Not yet. Only if she begs me.
“Trina,” I say gently. “I know it might not mean much to you, but the binding ritual is very real. Your body has been reacting to it since the beginning, hasn’t it?”
She nods, tightening her fingers on mine again.
“We can’t go on like this. Surely, you agree with that?”
She nods again, and even though her eyes seem to brim with tears, they don’t trickle down her cheeks. She bites her lip again, and the sight sends an ache through me, reminding me of all the desire I have for her that I’ve tried to deny or lock away.
“If we’re going to move forward from here… knowing what we know, right now… that we’re attracted to each other, and you don’t like seeing me with someone else—”
“Yes,” she cuts me off firmly. “I agree that we should try to get comfortable with each other… physically.”
Her words shock me. Not just that she saw where I was going with this, but her agreement that we should try.
“It doesn’t mean we have to have sex,” I say, trying to keep my voice even. “But if we just—”
“What am I, unfuckable?” Trina says with a gruff little laugh.
“I just mean—”
“I know what you meant,” she says. “And I completely understand. I just want you to know, this doesn’t change anything for me. I’m still going to want my life back once we find a solution to help your people. I’m just trying to make that happen, okay?”
Why does it sound like she’s lying through her teeth?
Trina smiles, a shy, small smile that is so sweet and cute, it hits me like a kick in the gut.
She bats her eyelashes and looks up at me, squeezing my hand again.
I can hear my own breathing getting heavy as I stand utterly still, hoping that I don’t hurl her against the wall and fuck the daylights out of her.
Trina takes a little step closer and raises her free hand to run her fingers across my chest. Her other hand stays tightly wrapped in mine as she tilts her head back and gets up on her toes, using my shoulder for balance.
I cup her jaw gently with my free hand, lowering my face to hers.
She closes her eyes at the last moment, and as our lips touch, a powerful shock sweeps through me, a rushing wave of heat that steals my breath.
My control falters, and I grab her arms, pulling her against me as I kiss her even more deeply, losing myself in the taste and scent of her.