Chapter 10 Casey
Casey
The cold air can’t chill my overheated cheeks.
I can’t even look at them. My attempts to speak leave me with my mouth open but no words.
I’ve never been so embarrassed. No, that’s not true.
I can remember several times I’ve been in worse situations, but not since I came out here. Not since I’ve been away from the pack.
I put my face in my hands and rub at my eyes. How do these things happen to me? Now I need to clean up. But still, I can’t face that carpet. I keep seeing him do that over and over. It’s in my carpet. I could bleach it. No, that’s not going to be enough. Roll it up and burn it? Not in this weather.
I stand up and blink twice when they imitate me.
Right, the wolves. I am really, really glad they were here tonight. Not that I will ever tell them that.
“Are you okay?” Hazard asks. His face is almost as red as his hair. “I’m really sorry.”
It’s the first time any of them have apologised. He really doesn’t need to, not over this.
I look at him and bite my lower lip.
“No, don’t cry, I’m sorry-” Hazard reaches out to me but stops when I step back, trying but failing to control myself.
The giggle works its way free, and, once I start, I can’t seem to stop. It just continues to rip through me. I laugh until tears run down my cheeks and then, to my utter surprise, Khaos starts to laugh, too. Even when my stomach is aching, I can’t stop.
“There is snot on my carpet. A big, giant booger.”
Hazard tilts his head to the side, his eyes glinting with the light from the house. His smile spreads slowly as he realises I’m not about to lose my mind.
“I was trying to signal Khaos for help, but that…that was just too much. Oh, jeez, where did you find this guy? He picked his nose and flicked it on my carpet, Khaos!”
Khaos glowers at me. “That man was a buffoon. Ugly, disgusting human.”
I laugh harder, wiping tears from my face. I sway over to Khaos and tap his chest with a long fingernail. “But, darling house terrorist, since you agree with me, you five can pull the carpet up and put it outside.”
“Oh, thank the wolf gods,” Riot says and makes for my home. “I thought you might want to keep it.”
“Nope. I really don’t.”
We follow Riot into the house, and I stare, pole-axed as he pulls off his shirt, tosses it on the couch, and starts moving furniture.
Those muscles flex, ripple, and stretch in a hypnotising pattern that leaves me parched and without a single thought in my head.
I watch him lifting the cupboard that took almost a week to shift into its position, but he lifts it with ease, his muscles flexing easily.
I’m drooling, unable to look away. It’s not until Wrath sidles up behind me, a long finger stroking down my back where no one else can see, that I’m freed from the spell.
“Pretty, isn’t he?” Wrath whispers. “Our sexy Riot, he’s got an enormous cock, too, and he knows exactly,” he leans closer, “how,” his fingers slide down the topmost curve of my ass, “to use it.”
I expel the breath I’m holding and sidestep the vicious alpha with averted eyes, but he stays with me, pressed right up inside my space.
“Wrath!” Khaos growls.
Wrath snickers and turns his head to inhale my hair. And now I have the other four staring at us intently. The moment is intensely powerful, and I want to glory in it. I greedily take it until I remember that they aren’t really mine to have. I sidestep, turn, and go into the kitchen.
My hands are shaking as I carefully clean the dishes, nodding silently to Khaos as he brings the broken cups in. These are the last two Freida left me. Time has the most amazing ability to erase the existence of the people you love. I wish it would let me keep her for a bit longer.
“I’ve set up your next date. It’s in two days in town.”
Wrath snarls at Khaos and seizes my wrist.
“Wrath,” Khaos warns in a deep, low voice that has me hunching my shoulders.
“Before she goes on her date, we need to fix a couple of things,” Wrath says with a purr.
“What things?” I snap. If he wants me to cut my hair or wear makeup or a dress, he can go sit on a knife and bleed out.
“I was watching your behaviour, and you’re not at all comfortable with touch.”
Touch? I’m not comfortable with touch? What does that mean?
“We need to fix that.”
I gape at him. Whatever that means, no, a thousand times no. “No, we don’t.”
“When he touched your thigh, you looked like you wanted to hit him; you even balled your fist. Clearly, you hated him touching you.” Oh, the smugness of this alpha. Cinnamon catches my attention, and I realise it’s him. It’s…intoxicating.
“Did you see him?” I ask pointedly.
Khaos covers his mouth and turns away.
“You need to be more relaxed, more receptive. Let us help you.”
I feel like I’ve been walked into a trap, and I can’t find a way out of it. I’m fighting my body because I really want to lean into his scent; it’s hard to pay attention to what they are talking about.
“I looked that bad?” I ask Khaos.
He sighs and gives Wrath a long look. “Yes, you did. It did, in fact, get worse over time. You looked like it was physically painful.”
I wince.
“All right, Wrath’s right. We should be doing all in our power to help you get ready for these dates,” Khaos says with deep regret.
It’s almost offensive the way he’s saying it and looking so disgusted.
“No, I, you don’t have to,” I stutter over the words, but Khaos ignores me.
Wrath puts his hands on my shoulders, leans in, and presses a kiss to my forehead. I freeze, oh, my god. Cinnamon fills the air around me, and I let out a whimper. What the hell is he doing? Oh, my god, make him stop!
“Your back stiffened. You went all tense, you tried to lean away from me,” Wrath lists with a smirk. “You need our help, pretty girl.”
I roll my eyes, but I feel way out of my element, nervous, unsure. I flick a look at the others and find them watching every move I make. Hazard especially shifts closer to me. He walks right into my space. I step back into Wrath. The redheaded monster beams with pure, undignified delight.
I’ve just shown my hand.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.”
His fingers grip my waist and yank me forward, right up against him. Sandalwood mixes with cinnamon and then takes over. The scents are so strong and clear. My head’s dizzy, and my skin is tingling where he’s touching me.
“This is just to get used to touch,” I clarify in a squeak. I glance at Angel, who watches with intense, fierce eyes.
Khaos studies me. “What else do we need to teach you? Because Riot is going to fix your wardrobe tomorrow.”
Riot sidles over and grips my chin. I’m frozen, Hazard holding me still, while Riot steals all my air. Cinnamon, sandalwood, and incense. They are distinct but blend perfectly. I lick my bottom lip, and I can taste them. My mouth waters.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me!
“My wardrobe is fine!” I snap out.
“For a librarian,” Riot says with an evil grin. “Don’t worry, babe, I’ll fix it.”
My mouth falls open. Babe? I’m glad Hazard is holding me up because I might sink into the floor.
“And for the love of fur, stop shuddering when we use pet names,” Wrath snaps.
“I’m not.”
Wrath pushes the others aside, stalking towards me. He lifts a hand to the side of my face and stares down at me. “Baby girl, you are quaking…” the husky, fuck-me voice almost cripples me.
I don’t just shudder; I recoil away from him, shrinking back. Self-preservation at its finest.
I try to remember the reasons why I shouldn’t be doing this. His other hand grips my wrist, fingers bruising my skin. The cuff tight under his hold.
The cuff.
I yank backwards and twist sideways, putting space between me and the five of them.
“Wait, just wait.” I hold up my hand and try to calm my racing heart. “I think this is a really bad idea. No touching.”
“I think this might be a really good idea,” Riot purrs. He leans over, Hazard turns his head, and their lips meet.
I stare in shock, watching the intimate way they move. Did the room temperature just go up and up and up? I peek at Khaos, who looks bored. Wrath is smirking at me, and Angel is sullenly glaring at me like I hurt his feelings.
I find myself drawn back to staring at the way Hazard’s hand holds Riot’s neck. When Riot’s hand slips down the front of Hazard’s pants, I jerk my gaze away and back frantically out of the kitchen.
A few minutes later, they all follow. Hazard and Riot fall onto the couch, grinding and turning my home into a sauna from hell.
And this ache between my legs, the wetness in my panties, that is not something that I expected. I go to the fridge and pour myself a glass of cold water. Aware that what I am doing is absolutely running. I chug it too quickly and struggle, choking when Khaos appears at the fridge door.
“You need to relax a little. I think Wrath might be right.”
I shake my head. “What does that mean?”
“You’re like an inexperienced girl or a woman who’s taken vows. How can you date if you are this jumpy? Don’t worry. We’ll fix it.” Khaos sounds so disgusted that it’s hard not to take offense.
“It doesn’t need fixing,” I snap stubbornly.
Khaos pushes the door of the fridge closed, and I move back into the kitchen. He cages me against the sink, leaning close as I lean back. My heart pounds; I can’t look away from his eyes. Those beautiful gold flecked green.
He’s so close I can smell the pine of his scent, feel the warmth of his body. I see the way his jaw tenses and the size of his arms as they block my only way out.
“I want to be free,” he murmurs in a low voice that has the hairs on my body rising in alarm.
I stop trying to move backwards. There’s nowhere to go anyway, but I did promise. I sag. He’s right. They’re right.
“Okay, teach me, then,” I say quietly.
He leans down, brushing his cheek against mine. I shiver and hold perfectly still. The rough stubble surprises me. I shudder and clamp my teeth on a whine that desperately wants to come out.
He’s scent-marking me. I bite my lower lip and tremble. It goes on forever; it only lasts a second. My body is on fire.
“Tell me what experience you have had?” he asks when he pulls back.
“There was a guy when I was seventeen,” I say evasively and quietly. I’m too shocked by how I reacted to feel anything but rocked to my core.
He waits, but there’s nothing else to give him.
“That’s it? One guy?”
“My family isn’t exactly touchy-feely unless you count punches and verbal slapdowns. I didn’t date around because, well…my family. I had one guy that I met up with for a few months when I was seventeen. We had sex once.”
“And how was it?”
I don’t like the guarded tone in his voice.
I shrug. “It was sex. Just quick. Messy. It wasn’t anything to write home about.”
Khaos leans away and bends, dropping his head down so I can’t see his face. “Just quick? Messy?”
I think I hear him say.
I look over and see Angel watching closely. Too closely.
“Any other times?”
I clamp my mouth shut and stare at the white-haired bastard. “None that count as sex,” I hiss, furious at the sudden intensification of his gaze. He’s trying to steal my secrets.
Angel steps forward at the same time as Khaos whips his head up. The movement is so quick he almost knocks me out. Angel glares for a bit longer, then turns and vanishes. It hurts, but I can’t say why.
Khaos stares into my eyes, his turning that glowing amber gold, which indicates his wolf is close. “Did someone hurt you?”
I shove at his chest. “That is none of your business.”
His growl is deadly, causing my limbs to lock and my own chest to tighten.
He’s snarling loudly, claws rip out of his fingernails, and his muscles bulge.
No, I can’t have a shifter losing his temper; it could be fatal.
I hold my hands out, facing up, and, with extreme difficulty, I lift my chin, exposing my neck to him.
Submitting to him.
He lunges forward and bites, not hard enough to break skin, but just to hold, to reassure. To claim. I close my eyes as waves of pleasure and longing roll through me.
No, this isn’t right. It’s supposed to be fear and loathing. I hate shifters.
Still, I tremble in his arms.
His tongue laps at the skin. I shudder and reach out to grip his jacket, holding myself up. The second he releases me, I fly across the room and race into my bedroom, slamming the door.
No one follows. I don’t know if I’m relieved or happy.