6 - Now What?

“Here we are! This is my room, my office is at the end of the hall. We’re moving into a house that’s a little more secluded, it’s still being furnished. But it’ll be all ready for us to move in soon, not long after you get your wolf,” he said, laying me down on a large bed. 

I immediately sat up straight, and fixed my shirt that had ridden up. 

“Here’s her things,” Ryan said, popping his head in.

“Thanks dude, have dinner brought up to us in about an hour okay,” Zach said.

“You got it,” Ryan said, and I looked at him long enough to catch him winking at me.

I looked down at my hands, never more confused in my whole life. If Zach truly was my mate, what would that mean? The children of the two worst Alphas on record … a match made straight out of hell. What would our pups be like? Shit.

As soon as Ryan left, Zach put my stuff down on the floor by a dresser. The room was pretty basic, a queen size bed, two dressers and a small closet, but there was a bathroom. There were two small windows and a TV on one of the dressers. There weren’t any decorative things on the walls or really anything with color. 

“I know you’re probably nervous, you probably have a million questions, so … whatever you wanna know,” he said, sitting down next to me. 

I had basically stunned myself into a state of shock. I was always so confident, sure of myself, Sure of my body and my ability to control my emotions. But suddenly, I felt like a lost little girl. The lost little girl I was when I fled Blood Claw. I felt like I didn’t know anything anymore.

“Talk to me Tyra,” he said, taking my hand. Electricity sparked between us, almost making me jump but I managed to compose myself.

I turned to look at him, wanting to ask the big question, but terrified of the answer. Did he smell me in a mate way? Did he feel this too? Was I losing my mind? And what the hell was Reba doing?

“I just don’t know what to say,” I said, looking into his eyes.

He smiled, and stroked my hair. I had it down, brushed straight but it had a bit of natural wave to it. It fell in layers and rested over my shoulders. I had actually contemplated shaving my head to spite Zachary, but I settled on dying it bright pink about a week ago.

“I like the pink hair, and I’m curious as hell to see all your tattoos, maybe you could give me a tour,” he said, lifting up the bottom of my shirt to peek underneath. 

I flinched and pulled back a bit, making him grin with pleasure. 

“You feel it, don’t you? Our bond? It’s not just the oath baby, it’s real. We’re mates. My wolf has been freaking out since he first smelled you, and now he’s losing his shit. When you get your wolf, you’ll really feel it,” he said, looking hopeful. 

My jaw fell, and I couldn’t control my face. His free hand immediately went to my cheek, and I felt his warmth flood through me. I’ve spent the last several years training myself, pushing my body to the brink, to fight … to run away … I wasn’t sure for what exactly I just knew I had to be strong. But now that I was here, I wanted to crawl into his lap and let him have his way with me. 

I felt like my body was betraying me, throwing out the window everything I’d worked so hard for … I trained myself to HATE him. How could this happen?!

His perfect smile widened, and his face came closer. I froze, completely unable to move. He kissed my cheek, then trailed his lips down my neck, over where my marking spot would be. I clenched my jaw together, suppressing the urge to moan. Fuck he felt so good, he smelled good. His scent filled my nostrils more than ever, his hair tickling my skin. He was freshly shaven and his smooth skin caressed mine. 

“You’re absolutely perfect,” he said, holding me tighter, kissing me more. 

One of my hands was still in his, and the other was a fist, unsure what to do with itself. His hand that was on my face suddenly moved to my bare thigh, playing around with the bottom of my shorts. I pushed it away and forced myself away from him, leaping off the bed. I ran into the bathroom and shut the door.

I fell against the door and slid all the way down until my butt hit the floor. 

“Tyra it’s natural, I know you’re nervous. I know you haven’t even kissed another, and I can’t tell you what it means that you saved yourself for me, it’s going to be perfect I promise,” he said. 

He seemed so … nice? Sincere? Damn it! I wanted to talk to Vanessa in the worst way. I desperately wanted to know what she’d think of this shit. It really never even remotely occured to me that Zachary could legitimately be my mate. Did my father know that somehow, all those years ago? How could he?

“Can you just, give me some privacy for a bit,” I said, trying to keep my voice level.

“Sure baby. Tell you what, I’m going to go check on dinner. What do you like to drink,” he said.

“I like lemonade,” I said, simply. 

He snickered. 

“All right, I’ll be back in about half an hour. You can shower, whatever you want to do, this isn’t a prison, this is your pack now too,” he said. I heard his feet shuffle across the floor and then the door closed. 

I let out a hard breath and stood to look in the mirror. There was a huge hickey on my neck, right over my mating spot. Shit, that would likely be there for a couple days and surely everyone would see it. I sat back down on the floor, my back against a wall. Now what?