My body felt dirty, thoroughly disgusting in the way that only someone with mud and filth caked over them could comprehend. All I could think during the ride home was that I wanted a shower. And to sleep.When Carter's reached the driveway, I opened the door before it even stopped moving."Paisley-" I stopped before proceeding out of the car but refused to look at him. That one word he just spoke was the only word he and I said to each other the entire trip home. I couldn’t even bring myself to feel anything except for the numbing sense that I hurt Paisley and dirtied her body without her permission. I could see Carter clench the gear shift from the corner of my eye yet I still kept my face frozen, if only to keep my agony at bay.The silence stretched between us for about a minute before I took the initiative to open the door wider and exit the car. The sound of Carter's door opening in response told me he was walking to my door like the perfect gentlemen he was.And in truth he was
“Especially because you’re not my Paisley.”"What?" My body froze, cold sweat dripping down the back of my neck.Paisley's mother peered at me with a look I now recognized as hostility. She stood up and peered down at me with suspicious eyes, as if assessing me for the first time."W-what are you talking about mom? What do you mean I'm not Paisley. Of course I am." I gulped, trying to put on a facade of confusion."Don't call me mom while you look like that. Now what are you? A shapeshifter? A demon? Did you possess my daughter?" Her anger started to rise yet her volume turned quieter, more hiss-like."I-I don't know what you're talking about. Mom, are you okay?" I attempted to cross the distance between us but she held up her hand which was previously covered by the blanket. In her tight white knuckled grip, it revealed she wielded a kitchen knife. I gasped and put my hands up as if trying to soothe a dangerous beast."Don't come near me, devil. Now answer the question before I cut th
"I don't know."My voice rang through the silent house, almost as if even the wind was hushed at my admission."Well go back to wherever you came from and bring Paisley back." She said matter-of-factly."I cant." My throat started to close up. "Ha! Why? Because you're too busy using my daughter's tongue to stick it down some wolf's throat?" Her poisonous words pierced the deepest parts of my already aching soul.If she thought that was bad, I couldn’t wait for her to find out about what 'that wolf' did with his hands to Paisley's body not even an hour ago."I physically can't. I don't know how." I murmured, utterly defeated."Well you better figure out how." Paisley's mother spat venomously at me. Something seemed to deflate in her the more she took her anger out on me. Within moments, her shoulders sank and the fire seemed to leave her eyes, replaced by shiny unshed tears. "How could this happen..?" She whispered."I don't know. I'm sorry..." I repeated."Stop telling me you're sorry
“Carter.” My voice sounded out, more breathless than I intended.Carter met my gaze with a look of longing and torment. He walked in carefully, almost as if scared he would spook me.“Paisley.” His rough voice croaked out.I looked over at Jules and she assessed Carter warily. “Need me to call Joey?” She asked. I was confused at what she meant but couldn’t focus on her question, so instead I shook my head. “I’m going to head outside for a minute.” I headed through the front door and knew Carter was following right behind me from the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. Everything about his being felt like a magnet to my skin. And after three days of the lack of his touch- I could feel myself relapsing hard for the drug that was Carter Lockwood.“Did you need something?” I looked out at the road, wrapping my arms around myself when a chill breeze moved in and gave me goosebumps. Within seconds, I felt a warm weight around my shoulders and looked back at Carter to see he had gi
Carter and I didn’t speak until we got into his truck. The rich leather scent was almost masked by Carter’s masculine one and it instantly made me feel safer and more calm. Carter was breathing heavily, his canines were still poking out of his lip, his eyes still golden. At least the fur sprouting on the back of his neck had ceased but it seemed Carter was on the very edge of losing control. By pure instinct alone, I grabbed his hand and brought it to my chest, placing it right over my heart as I took deep exaggerated breaths.“Breathe with me, Carter.” I demonstrated once more. His face stayed forward but he side eyed me and attempted to copy my breathing.It took several minutes but eventually his body seemed to release its tension. When this happened, Carter closed his eyes and sighed, keeping his hand on my heart. “You know…” he whispered breathlessly. “If I move my hand down slightly I’ll be grabbing your breast.”He and I both chuckled, the tension shattering like glass. When
As Carter drove, my thoughts drifted back to what he said earlier about the RIH. He had said that wolves didn’t tread into that part of town because of how they were treated in that area. Did Paisley know that? From what Paisley’s mother had said, she hated wolves- but did that make her a part of the RIH? Not wanting to jump to conclusions, I thought about what that could mean for Paisley, and especially for me stuck in Paisley’s body at the moment. Paisley was the mate of a wolf, yet hated wolves enough to be a part of a hate organization? What kind of drug was the Moon Goddess smoking when she paired them together? On another note, Paisley’s mother was going to be furious with me when she found out that I not only didn’t keep my promise to stay away from Carter, but also managed to lose Paisley’s job in less than an hour.All in a day’s work for the life of a demon, I suppose. I tried not to let the guilt eat me as I rethought my entire interaction at Bane’s. Perhaps I should have
Somehow within the span of five minutes Carter managed to get me a job as a Preschool Teacher partnered with Gloria. Personally, I was surprised she accepted me so easily without a resume, background check, etc. Although, you couldn't necessarily turn down a personal recommendation from the Beta himself. Especially one as charismatic as he is. Now Carter and I were back in the truck after spending another half hour with the kids who turned out to be really sweet. I was immediately accepted into their group and they all wanted to take turns having me hold them and giving them hugs. One of the boys even made me a stick figure picture of myself. It was what I was currently looking at now.“You know, it looks so much like you, it’s uncanny.” He teased me.“Oh yea. Sure.” I sarcastically replied. “With my big lips, and arms longer than my legs.” I pointed to the stick figure’s odd body proportions. “What a looker.”“Hey.” He grumbled and took the picture from me. “That’s my girl you’re ta
“We can’t keep doing this Carter.” I groaned, putting my head in my hands.“I know.” Carter sighed next to me and put the car in drive.I deflated internally. It was hard enough trying to deal with Carter’s advances but with the sudden realization I made, it was that much harder to achieve my goal of keeping up the Paisley facade until she returned.“I can’t be with you Carter, you have to understand that.”“I do, Paisley.” His voice turned into a soft grumble.“Why is it so hard for us to just keep our hands off of each other?” I muttered to myself, my frustration leaking out from so many emotional sources. “Maybe because we’re not meant to stay away from each other?” He sarcastically replied.I glared at him through the side of my eye. “You said you understood that we couldn't be together.” I grit my teeth, trying to hold down my lustful energy turned anger. “I said I understood, not that I liked it.” He scoffed.“Well-” I hugged. “If we can’t keep our hands to ourselves, then ma
They say that when your body is under extreme distress, it triggers one of two reactions: Fight, and attack your opponent with either physical or intellectual strength; or Flight, and flee your opponent with terrifying speed fueled by adrenaline. What people don’t realize is that there is a third reaction when your body is under extreme distress, one that is not acknowledged as heavily as the others, and that is Freeze. Freeze locks your body into place or perhaps takes away your power to move your limbs. Everything is frozen in your entire body- except your mind. Your mind is racing with unparalleled thoughts far too fast to place any action in them. You’re simply helpless to the orchestrations of your mind and imprisoned by your body. You cannot move, speak, or even blink, yet your mind is screaming for you to do so and punishes you with thousands of synaptic thoughts pulsating your brain, frying it from the inside.I unfortunately belonged to this group.“What did you say?” Carte
My body was utterly exhausted, yet I had never felt better. It was a long night of passion, more than I had ever experienced in my life, yet he never penetrated me. Carter spent hours thoroughly ‘taking care of me’ as he called it, with half of it being on his kitchen table. Every time I tried to reciprocate his touches, his passion- he would simply grab my wrist and start kissing my palm and scold me with the mention of how I was too eager. “I just want to touch you. Don’t take away my pleasure tonight, beautiful,” he had said after my second orgasm when I had tried to grab his length. To punish me for going against him, he made the next session last twice as long before he allowed me to come. I had been in tears by the time he finally gave in. Even now, just the thought of all that we did last night sent heat straight to my core, along with the exhaustion from how tightly wound my body was last night.I felt a soft shift of a weight underneath me and a seductive rumble carry through
Carter Lockwood’s home was not as I expected it to be. Typically, significant characters in werewolf novels had such grand mansion-like houses with manicured lawns and a beauty to be envied by all who entered.Carter’s house- or should I say cabin, reeked of humble naturalness. It was a small cottage with natural foot pathways and wild plants growing all around, protecting the secluded little house from outsiders. Wildflowers peeked out in bloom in various areas and trees surrounded the house on the sides, tucking it nice and neat for an adventurous hiker who wanted a natural environment. For some reason, it seemed to fit exactly what I already knew about Carter and his soul. He wasn’t one to brag, and definitely wasn’t the one who liked the spotlight naturally, but rather had it forced on him from duty.I fell in love just looking at the beautiful little home. I don’t know how Carter knew what I was thinking but his wolf rumbled in approval at my satisfaction and pressed his nose de
“I told you to come to me when you need something, didn’t I?”I whipped my head around to see a familiar dark silhouette hiding in the shadows of the street. The figure took a step closer to light themselves under the pale yellow light of the nearby street lamp. Carter looked disheveled. His hair looked unkempt, like his hands ran through it over and over again. His tense muscles clenched as he slowly walked over to me, putting me in shadow as the back of him lit up like he was covered in heavenly glow.When my eyes finally traveled to his face, he was furious. Considering how much was going on tonight, I didn’t even want to try to analyze what was going through that mind of his. Not tonight. I was so tired.Carter held out his hand for me to grab. I simply stared at it.“Damn it, Paisley, just take my hand.” He sighed in frustration.Trying to put a halt in my tears, I eased my hand into his warm one. Without a second of hesitation, he pulled me to my fight and wrapped his arms aroun
“There you are! We were worried sick about you!” Denise and Phil ran out of the house. A look of genuine concern was on Phil’s face but Denise’s was obviously a burning fury disguised as concern. She assessed Carter for a moment before throwing her arm around my shoulders and trying to brisk me inside.“Thank you, Beta Carter.” She smiled tensely. “I’m sure my daughter put you through so much trouble tonight. We appreciate you taking her home.” Denise’s tight grip on my shoulders practically pushed me up the porch steps. I glanced over my shoulder to see Phil shaking Carter’s hand and thanking him earnestly for his help. Carter nodded respectfully but it was clear he was still filled with rage from what happened. He couldn’t take his eyes off mine as I was ushered over the threshold and into the house.Phil came in a moment later and shut the door just as Denise shoved me away from her.“How dare you!” She yelled, pointing her wrinkled finger at me. “All you’ve ever done is give me tr
“Are you really that clueless?” He stared at me. I blinked and backed up, the sexual tension melting away to a cold icy river between us. “Excuse me?” I raised my brow, feeling so cold suddenly. Goose bumps raised on the back of my neck.“You could have been killed going to a place like that! Why on earth would you go to a club- and a well known RIH club at that! Don’t you realize that just being mated to me makes you an enemy to them?!” Carter yelled, talking angrily with his hands. I stared straight ahead and merely folded my arms, the cold seeming into my bones. “You act like I had a choice.” I murmured.“Well, didn’t you?” He scoffed. “Your father told me tonight that you were having a sleepover at a friend's house. So you can imagine my surprise when I found you in a club when not only are you underage but the club is in the heart of the RIH community?”“You didn’t tell my father where I was, did you?” I whipped my head in his direction, fear creeping through me. “When I real
It was absolute chaos all around me. I couldn’t hear anything except the dull ringing in my ears from the gun that fired next to me but I could see the massive wolves ambushing the human men with guns. Guns fired from the men in a panic, lighting up the dark side of the alley for brief moments like lightning. I was shoved to the ground for a moment as T.J. screamed something in my ears, saliva spitting as he shouted something with pure rage directed right at me. Out the the corner of my eye I saw T.J. raise his gun once more and aim it at me but before he could fire, a large wolf tackled him to the ground, clamping his jaws around T.J.’s firing hand.The ringing turned to a small dull noise as shouting and screaming were starting to be heard in my ears. I sat up to watch the same wolf decimating T.J.’s arm and shoulder.It was Carter. I hadn’t had a chance to take in his appearance before because of the gun trained on me, but now that I was out of immediate harm's way- I gasped from
Beta Carter:I was a ball of boiling pure rage. My wolf had taken over my body as we listened to the phone call of two men disrespecting our mate. He was shaking with the desire for blood as we continued listening as we swerved through the streets, breaking all speed limits and barely avoiding accidents. All as we continued to search for Paisley.There was something that all wolves knew deep in their soul. It wasn’t spoken much but it was acknowledged as truth no matter how often others- humans especially, seemed skeptical of it. The phenomena was- that no matter where in the world a wolf was, no matter how far away they were from their mate, if they were in danger- their mate would always be able to find them. Some said it was because of the mate bond, others said it was because of the tying between their souls that brought them together- even if they were worlds apart. There was a pull in my soul, guiding me towards her- towards Paisley. Her soul was calling out to mine in ways that
Beta Carter:My wolf was growling at me- once again. I could feel him there, pacing in my mind. He wanted Paisley and he wanted her now. It was getting harder to control him every day but being summoned away by Damien just as we were about to taste her for the first time- that was his final straw. He was snarling at the mental barriers I put him behind, digging his sharp claws at my mind, making me wince. Keep it together Carter. Control your wolf.I’d always had a harder time controlling my wolf more than others excluding Damien. However, he seemed to embrace his out of control nature more than I which led to his ruthless nature. Something I had admired when I was young but lately…I knocked on the door to Damein’s office and waited for permission to enter. Damien was always a professional person and didn’t tolerate disrespect- no matter who it came from.I heard him mutter an ‘enter’ and let myself in. He was exactly where I left him a few hours ago. He was slumped over his desk wh