"That might cause some panic if you do." A muffled voice just outside the door said to me. I gasped and flung the door open, glaring at the wolf who couldn’t seem to stay even a floor away from me.“What are you doing up here?!” I whisper yelled, cheeks burning in fury. Beta Carter merely stared at me for a moment, a light smirk resting on his plump lips but a strange emotion shining in his crystal blue gaze.“I thought I would bring you dessert, mate. You left before we got to the best part.” he gestured to the two bowls of apple pie and vanilla ice cream in his hands. I had a feeling he was talking about more than just the food but I wouldn’t dare comment on that. Not if I wanted to get through this night with my dignity... and the same pair of panties.“Are you going to let me in or are you going to just continue staring at me?” His smirk widened. Does this man ever not smirk?I sighed in defeat. “Fine, come in.” I pulled the door open wider for him and sat at the desk chair. “But a
Words cannot properly describe how Beta Carter- the proud strong male who always had a smile on his face and laughter in his lips- appeared before me. He looked broken. His pupils were so small, showcasing his bright blue eyes that shook with racing thoughts evident behind them. His mouth was hanging open slightly in shock, opening wider every time he took in a breath as if to speak, but only to stay silent and keep staring at me with that same expression. All we could do was stare at each other in silence for a minute.“You don’t... want to be my mate?” He whispered, his body so still- even his breath had stilled in wait of my answer.“It’s not that I don’t want to. I just-” I hung my head and wrapped my arms around myself, tears streaming down my face. “I can’t.”“What do you mean you can’t?” His voice started to show a hint of his frustration, his mask completely down- showcasing the tender hurting male underneath. Then he quickly inhaled. “Is it someone else? Am I... Am I too late
"Now?" I blinked. A quick glance at the window showed it was practically dusk outside."Yes." Carter was already on his feet, pulling me along as well."Where?" I blinked in confusion. Carter's smirk widened and a toothy grin put his beautiful white canines on display."Somewhere,” was all he said. He caught my hand and pulled me towards the door but I planted my heels into the carpet. Carter glanced down at them with a frown. "Is there something wrong?" He asked.I hesitated. Was it a wise idea to spend so much time with this magnet of a man? He wasn’t mine, not truly. Every moment shared with him meant one less that Paisley would get to experience. One look at Carter glancing at me hopefully had me burning like hot acid in jealousy. Paisley was one lucky girl. Would it be that bad of me if I took just a few moments of it? She does get to spend the rest of her life with him. Guilt seeped deeper into my heart at the thought. "Hey, hey, hey." Carter seemed to recognize my emotions b
“Well, if it isn’t his High and Mighty!”Carter and I looked up to see a large man make his way around the counter with another on his heels, both wearing hair nets and uniforms. The one who didn’t speak turned to his friend saying, “That is not the Beta Carter- the newly announced Beta of Lockwood pack.”The large man laughed and punched Carter in the arm lightly when they reached us. “What happened to our normal Carter? Where did he go? This guy looks way too muscular." The male teased and gave Carter one of those 'bro-hugs' men do.The three of them started chatting animatedly, leaving me standi
“Wow…” I whispered.We were on a cliff's edge overlooking the town where bright lights blinked against the dark night. A beautiful river flowed down before us, its shining dark depths lazily flowing downhill and creating a trickle that hummed in our ears. There was an old abandoned water mill off to the side of the mountain that pushed the wheel clockwise, ticking and creaking ever so often as water poured out from the side of it. But what stood out from all the rest was the perfect positioning of the moon at our backs that cascaded a beautiful white reflection on the river as it rippled down stream."I bet you're glad you came now, right?" He tossed his head back in triumph and sat us down, my back to his chest with his legs spread out on either side of me. I merely nodded, content with the beautiful scenery.I hadn't been to the mountains much back in the real world, I'd grown up in a major city with the nearest true wilderness with forests and rivers over a hundred miles away. On t
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
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