Chapter 12 - Dawson
“What are you doing here, Dawson?!”
“I should be asking what you’re doing here, Yvonne,” I cut back as I glance around. “You’re a long way from Girdwood, you know?”
Yvonne frowns as she takes a look at her surroundings. “Oh. I didn’t realize…” she mumbles, prompting me to chuckle humorously.
“What? You didn’t realize how far Lake Turnagain is from Girdwood?”
Yvonne sheepishly straightens up in the water, looking down as if she’s embarrassed. “I must have underestimated how far it was. I guess I forgot.”
“Hm…” I hum introspectively, realizing that this is a moment of vulnerability on Yvonne’s side. It’s the first time she’s said anything to imply that she remembers her past in Girdwood.
Except for the other day, when she reminded me that I was the one who rejected her in the past.
I gulp hard, wanting to bury the hatchet on that one, but knowing it’s probably something we need to discuss if we’re going to explore what this incessant need and desire between us means going forward.
“You know, it’s not very safe out here,” I press on, hoping to break the ice with a different topic.
“You’re here,” Yvonne muses with a challengingly lifted brow. “I don’t see how it’s unsafe.”
“I’m here because I followed you,” I admit, casually moving forward to approach her.
Yvonne has enough room around her to swim away, but she doesn’t; her silver eyes curious as she watches me stalk forward despite the way her chin is lifted defiantly.
“I didn’t ask you to follow me,” she snaps disdainfully, eyes glowering at me now.
“You didn’t ask me not to, either,” I pose with a nifty smirk, noticing that Yvonne’s eyes dart to my lips as if they’re distracting her from the cold front she’s trying to maintain.
“Why did you run away from the gathering?” I press further, and it pushes a button that has Yvonne tensing as she looks away.
“I was not running away,” she huffs as she crosses her arms. “I just needed to cool off.”
“From what, exactly?” I drawl coolly, nearing her until there’s only a meter left between us.
I don’t stop there, closing it to half a meter and forcing Yvonne to look back at me with a startled gasp.
“It doesn’t matter,” she murmurs, her eyes taking on a heady, sensual glow as I close the little distance that’s left between us. Yvonne gulps when she realizes our casual banter allowed me to move in.
“Oh, I think it does matter, Yvie…” I purr as I lift a hand out of the ice-cold water, my fingers trickling with beads of it as I reach out and loosely touch her cheek.
She shudders, her eyelids fluttering closed as she lets out a sigh that borders on fear and relief.
She’s afraid of the heat that grows between us, a heat so profound and intense that it combats the coldness of the icy lake.
She licks her lips as I let my fingers ghost toward her neck, traveling toward her exposed collarbones as a deep breath caves her chest and springs goosebumps across her flesh.
I can taste her breath, its sweet deliciousness enticing enough to forget about all the logistics of why I came here. I followed her because we needed to talk, but talking has gone out the window when primal need takes over, and I lean in.
“I’m going to kiss you…” I warn, my voice dropping an octave to sound raspy enough to be felt on her lips. “And this time, you’re not gonna run away.”
Yvonne’s bottom lip parts in response, and she makes no protest to my warning, allowing me to sever the final distance between us to meet her lips. As soon as my lips meet hers, she sighs as if this is exactly what she’d been waiting for.
Sharing those sentiments, because Lord knows my craving for the omega has been insufferable, I grab her hips and pull her flush against me as I devour her lips in the kiss. It’s sloppy, messy, and desperate, my body aching for her with the rising heat that flushes over me.
My inner wolf seems to take the reins, a rumbling growl growing deep in my chest and coming up to plunge my tongue deep in the depths of her mouth.
She doesn’t fight me, only grabs my shoulders with biting fingernails, allowing me to grab her rear and hoist her onto my waist for her core to meet my swollen member.
I pull away to give her a chance to breathe, my throat hoarse and needing more of her lips. Just as I’m about to conquer her lips again, an unsettling feeling washes over me, prickling the fine hairs on the back of my neck as if in warning.
I look up as if my attention is drawn toward the sky, realizing that it isn’t the same star-littered sky it was when I followed Yvonne out here.
A poignant, eerie silence hangs over us like a dark cloud, our surroundings growing darker and hiding the luminescence of the moon’s silver rays in the sky.
At the same time, the prickled fine hairs on the back of my neck serve as a warning, an alertness, as if a sixth sense is letting me know of danger about to come.
“Shit!” I grumble, turning back to Yvonne’s confused eyes, a wave of regret washing over me. “The demon dog … it’s coming…”
Yvonne bats her eyes with confusion as if blinking away the stupor of desire to gather her senses. “Are you sure?”
I nod quickly as I take her hand and lead her out of the water. Once we’ve climbed up on the edge, I grab her shoulders and warn her that I know when the malevolent spirit is about to come.
I’ve dealt with the demon dog before, and I know the signs that warn of its arrival.
“We’re not in Snehvolk territory,” I continue as I grab my shirt off the ground and press it into her hands. “I won’t be able to fight it by myself.”
“I’ll help you,” Yvonne offers as she pulls my shirt over her, but I shake my head.
“You have no idea what we’re dealing with,” I warn hastily. There’s no time to explain that the demon dog doesn’t suffer damage induced by our wolf claws, and the only way to impair it is through the magic Luna Aurora wields as a gifted witch. “We have to go. Now.”
Immediately, I shift into wolf form, nodding my furry head in a gesture for Yvonne to climb onto my back. She makes no protest, as if she intuitively understands how serious our situation is, and instantly hops on.
I can’t let anything happen to her. As the air takes on a dark, sinister mist that warns of the demon’s coming, it’s as if my wolf becomes more protective of the woman riding my back, spurring every quickened step as I rush out toward Girdwood.
I have no idea why or how Yvonne managed to get so far out of pack territory, but there’s no time to question it, and my senses go into overdrive, my wolf remembering that there’s an isolated hut in the forest just outside the village.
The stone hut was bound by a protection spell cast by Luna Aurora as a failsafe in case any travelers from Snehvolk found themselves in a predicament during one of the demon’s attacks.
I rush forward, relying on instincts to get me through the narrow arrangement of trees, until I see the hut up ahead and bolt for it.
The silence is deafening and daunting, my wolf breaking out in goosebumps underneath my fur.
I’ve faced the demon dog before, when we attempted to lure it to Girdwood under the guise of harnessing Aurora’s powers in an electronic gadget until we had it cornered to attack it.
But none of our defenses were strong enough to take on the demon, and if four alphas together couldn’t stop the attack, I don’t stand a chance on my own.
As soon as we near the hut, I slow down and lean onto one side for Yvonne to climb off. When she’s safely on her feet, I shift into human form, grab her hand, and pull her into the hut.
I press a finger to my lips, keeping my eyes pinned on hers as whooshing sounds circle the hut. Yvonne’s eyes are doe-like and fearful, and I’m suddenly compelled to pull her against my chest, folding her into a soothing embrace.
“It’s okay, we’re safe here,” I assure her, hearing the wretched cries of the demon dog screeching through the air surrounding the hut. Inside, we’re protected by the shield that Aurora cast over the hut, becoming invisible to the spirit of the underworld.
I explain this to Yvonne, knowing she hasn’t witnessed the horrifying creature before. She shivers in my arms as I recount my encounter with the creature, and she has only one question when I’m done.
“Will Gio be safe?” she murmurs, pulling back to stare warily into my face.
I nod determinedly. “He’ll be fine. He’s with Rissa and Aurora. I sent Elias a warning through the mind link, but the demon won’t attack during the feast. There are too many werewolves in one place. It’s only here because we’re out here alone.”
Yvonne sniffs as she nods, her eyes glossed over with tears that brighten the silver glow. I pull her into my arms again, hoping she can feel their safety, when suddenly, she whimpers as if she’s in agony.
Frowning, I pull away to see the way her face is contorted in distress, her brows knitting, and a wail escaping her lips.
“Yvonne…? What’s wrong…?” I ask with a worried frown, but she pulls away abruptly and hugs her arms around her waist.
Shaking her head, Yvonne whimpers, “Don’t come near me….”
My frown deepens with confusion. There’s no way Yvonne suffered any injuries. We didn’t fight the demon, and she’d been riding on my back to the hut.
What’s going on?
I take a step forward, wanting to ensure she’s fine, when she lifts a hand in front of my face.
“Don’t!” she cries out as if she’s in torment, and the realization that strikes me comes with a gentle gust of air from the wave of her hand when she returns it to her waist.
The scent in the air is intoxicatingly sweet, but so potent that it masks every other smell as if it’s pulsing off her in invisible waves. My inner wolf perks up immediately, my body responding to her pain to alert me that her suffering is no ordinary thing.
“You’re in heat,” I whisper so disbelievingly that even I’m surprised at myself.
Yvonne immediately looks up with a frightfully accusing glint in her eyes.
“You have to leave me alone!” Yvonne wails, spinning around and keeling over when the pain of her heat grips her belly.
“There must be something I can do,” I offer, reaching out a hand that she can’t see, but she shakes her head as if she can.
“No!” she whimpers and groans again as she drags her feet to the sofa. “There’s nothing you can do! I don’t want you to!”
Standing frozen on the spot, I watch as Yvonne climbs onto the sofa with her knees and keeps herself huddled in one corner, the pain slicing through her face with every whimper and groan.
She’s trembling uncontrollably, clutching her knees to her chest as she lifts her doe eyes at me, on the verge of crying.
“Yvonne…” I begin, but she bursts into tears while keeping her eyes on me.
“Not now, Dawson!” she cries. “It’s not like you can take this pain away!”
Gulping hard, I straighten up and firmly declare, “Yes, I can. If you’d let me, I’d remove your pain.”
“H-how…?” Yvonne asks through her tortured cries, frowning at me.
I take a determined step forward, reach out a hand, and say, “You know how.”
Yvonne’s eyes flit from my face to my hand, and she gulps nervously as she returns them to my face. A moment of hesitation is spent staring into my eyes until she finally nods and slips her hand into mine.
When she’s on her feet, I pull her into me and crush my lips to hers, feeling her melt as she sighs into the kiss, some of her pain already relieved by the passion reignited between us. The fire that burns spreads throughout me, and this time, nothing will stop me from having her.
I have to take her pain away. It’s a duty I feel bound to.