Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
Nico was fuming.
He tried not to crush Elise's wrist in his hand as he tugged her into his room and shut the door firmly, resisting the urge to slam it because that might draw attention, and at this moment, attention was the last thing they needed.
Ten minutes ago, when he had woken up to find Elise gone, he had assumed she might be in the bathroom, taking care of her bathroom needs. But that door was open, and a quick glance inside showed she wasn't there.
He had run straight to Cole's room after and found her kneeling next to the bed, holding onto Cole's hand like she was praying for him.
Was she religious? Some humans took that really seriously, he knew, though he hadn't heard her mention God or church or the Pope. He wasn't sure what religious humans cared about. He possibly wouldn't be able to recognize it if she had been saying churchy things.
The sight of her touching Cole had sent a wave of fierce and possessive jealousy through him that made his wolf rise to the surface and want to howl. Which was strange.
He had spent all day watching her work on Cole and all the night before that, and it hadn't bothered him in the slightest. She had been efficient, medical, doing the job that he hired her—well, kidnapped her—for.
But seeing her alone in Cole's room had roused something dark and possessive and wolfy within him.
If he hadn't been so angry right then, he would have been almost embarrassed by it. Nico was calm, he was controlled, he didn't let himself be run over by his senses or his instincts.
But something about Elise made him go haywire.
As soon as the bedroom door closed, she jerked her hand out of his grip, and he let her go. He could have held on tighter, could have refused to let her back away, but he wasn't a monster, and he refused to let her see him as one.
Elise was rubbing her wrist. "That hurt," she said. "You're twice my size. Maybe have some control next time?"
"You haven't seen me out of control," he responded.
If he let go, if he let his wolf take charge, she would be on the bed right now, legs splayed wide, moaning in pleasure, as he took her again, and again, and again. His cock throbbed, and his teeth felt sharper than normal.
What the fuck was wrong with him?
If this had been someone else, another pack member, or some sort of contractor hired to do a temporary job for the pack, he would want to tear their throat out for putting the alpha at risk.
All he wanted to do to Elise's throat was pepper it with kisses, lick it, and leave his mark there so everyone could see that she belonged to him.
"I can't do this job if you're not going to trust me," Elise said. Her voice trembled, and her hands were shaking.
Was she afraid of him? His wolf prowled beneath his skin, rejecting the very thought that he might do her harm. She had to know that he wouldn't, that he couldn't.
But how would she?
"You can do your job when one of us is there," he said. "We have made that clear."
If one of the other betas had found her in that room alone, he couldn't have protected her, not without killing one of them. Would he do it? He wasn't sure, and that alone made the earth under his feet feel unstable.
His first loyalty was supposed to be to the pack, to Cole, not to some human woman he had met two days ago. And yet he feared if it came down to choosing between her and the pack, he couldn’t predict his choice.
Madness.
Elise had pulled away from him, but she hadn't backed up.
She was still standing close, and her scent was getting stronger by the moment.
There had been something strange about it when he walked into Cole's room, but that might have just been the cloying and annoying scent of sickness that had permeated every surface since they brought him in there.
Cole smelled wrong.
Maybe Mark would understand why, but Mark wasn't there right now. And Elise was forced to rely only on her human senses and her human training with none of the resources and tools a human would normally have.
Elise was looking at him, eyes wide, chest heaving, scent strong, and something within Nico snapped.
He crossed the distance between them in one step and buried his face in her neck, breathing her scent deep into his lungs.
He wrapped his arm around her and rested it at the small of her back and just breathed. She engulfed him, set his body on fire.
Lilacs. Soap. Something whimsical beneath it. He couldn't identify it, which was strange, because werewolves had a very acute sense of smell.
But that didn't matter. Whatever it was, it was hers. And on top of it was his own scent, that she had been collecting from sleeping in his bed and wearing his clothes and being near him these last two days.
That was the sexiest thing that Nico had ever smelled in his life.
He told himself he was just going to scent her, was going to breathe her in deep and then back off. She was human, she might think it was a hug, if a very intense one. But that was all he was going to allow himself.
Except his lips brushed against her skin, and he heard her let out a little breath.
It wasn't quite a moan, but it could get there. The first kiss was an accident. The second wasn’t. He trailed his lips over her pulse point and down until he tasted the collarbone jutting out of her pajama top. His tongue darted out, and he laved her skin.
Now Elise really did moan. Her fingers clutched his biceps, and she pressed closer to him. That was all the permission he needed. His kisses moved upwards until he drew a line of them along her jaw. But he stopped when he got to the edge of her lips. Something about that felt like crossing a line.
He pulled back, and they stared at each other for several beats. He feared that his eyes were glowing a wolfish yellow, but if they were, she didn't react to it.
Elise’s tongue darted out, wet and pink, and left her lips gleaming. Her eyes dropped down to look at his before flicking back up. Then she leaned in and kissed him.
It was gentle at first, exploratory, and Nico groaned as her tongue swiped against his lips, asking for entrance.
He would deny her nothing.
He opened his mouth, and her tongue swooped in and met his. Anything gentle about it turned into passion as he took control, wrapping his other arm around her and holding her so tight that not a molecule of air could find its way between them.
He devoured her. The taste of her could drive him insane. He wanted to scoop her up and lay her back down on the bed, wanted to find out if she tasted the same everywhere, or if her secret places tasted even better.
His hand trailed down and brushed against her ass, and that seemed to be the step too far.
Elise's grip shifted until she was pressing against his chest rather than holding on tight, and Nico let her go. She stared at him, eyes wide, mouth panting, chest heaving, and swiped the back of her hand against her lips.
"What? Oh my god. No. We can't.” Her words came out fast, frantic.
“What are you thinking? You kidnapped me.
What the hell?" She took two stumbling steps backwards until she bumped into the bed, and then she scooted to the side as if she was afraid it was going to come to life and pull her down in some sort of evil alliance with Nico's hard cock.
"You kissed me," he said. It was almost mean, but he wasn't going to let her ignore her own actions. Especially not when his wolf was so close to the surface and demanding that he convince her to give in to exactly what they both wanted.
He couldn't do that. He was a bastard already for kidnapping her, and twice a bastard if he had left bruises on her wrist from tugging her out of Cole's room.
He wouldn't add to that by taking things further than either of them knew they should go. He forced himself to breathe through his mouth and tried to ignore the lingering taste of Elise and the way her scent seemed to be taking over his room.
"Stay in here till sunrise," he said. "Don't go wandering again. I can't promise what will happen to you if you get caught."
"And where are you going to be?" she demanded and crossed her arms. Whatever lust she was feeling was clearly being transformed into anger. He understood the impulse. After all, his own anger had been transformed into lust.
"I can't stay here tonight," he said, and he left the room without giving her any more explanation.