Chapter Four-Lilly

I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was the closeness of our bodies, for such a long period of time, or the fact that his smell had my head swimming. I knew wolves talked about smelling their mates, but I didn't realize a human could as well. 

Thinking about laying on the futon without him made my body shiver. I hated the idea of being without him. However, I was scared of his touch. Not because I feared Marcus, but because of what Jason's touch did to me over the years. 

Marcus nodded slowly, dropping the water bottle in his hands into the trash can in the corner before flicking off the lights. Fear strangled me. So many times Jason had come into my room at night, when I was sleeping, and touched me however he wanted. 

It took tears and screaming for him, and a lie on my part, to get him to stop. He planned to deflower me when we were young, but his father told him to honor his future queen. 

When his father died, it was as if a switch flipped off, and he would stop at nothing to take me. That's when I told him I wanted to wait until marriage. It wasn't exactly true, but it seemed—uncharacteristically—to work. 

Not that it stopped him from sleeping around with any willing female within a hundred mile radius. At first, I knew he was trying to make me jealous, flaunting them in front of me, not knowing I was so happy that someone else occupied his time. 

Now … I was glad I conned him. 

Because Marcus Reed stood in front of me, and I wanted him to be the person to take that from me. 

The darkness sent fear and unease up my spine. He must have sensed it because he asked, "Are you okay? Do you need some light?"

I opened my mouth to speak, realizing the lump that grew in my throat too late. Because my voice was scratchy when I answered, "Yes."

Marcus flipped on the TV light, casting a glow over the room, giving me a breath of fresh air. "That better?"

"Thank you."

I stood awkwardly, not knowing how to do any of this. How to be held willingly by a man, or initiate it.

Marcus walked toward the futon, stepping into the light of the TV and offered me his hand. 

Carefully, I took it, letting him guide me down to my side. I tried to relax as he slid in behind me, the heat of his body overwhelmed me, and the size of his arm made me feel trapped. 

Panic set in, and as badly as I hated myself for it, flashbacks of Jason pinning me down and telling me everything he did to the other girls roared like a storm in my head. 

Marcus immediately sat up, and brought me with him. His dark eyes searched my face. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Did you not want me to lay with you?"

The sincerity on his face warmed my insides, while I tried to fight off the irrational feelings Jason buried me with. "I'm so sorry," I said, covering my mouth. "I just—,"

"Did Jason rape you?" he asked softly, tucking a hair behind my ear. 

"Not exactly," I whispered. "He—I—," I stood up, feeling foolish, and wiped underneath my eyes. "I'm sorry. I'll take the beanbag. I'm smaller."

 Marcus stood up, his height hovered over me, making me feel small. "You can talk to me about it, whenever you want to," he said, walking around me to grab the beanbag. He dragged it over, and positioned it beside the couch. "You take the futon, I'll sleep down here. Close, but not too close."

I swallowed the ball in my throat. "Thank you."

Marcus sat down, and sprawled his legs out wide, patting the futon beside him. "We don't have long. I'm going to call Luther in a few hours before the sun rises. We need to rest up the best we can."

I crawled over the futon, and rested my head near his, tracing the lines of his muscles with my eyes, and his large biceps I wanted wrapped around me. Before I knew it, my eyes closed and everything went black. 

***

I woke to the sound of whispering and a hushed argument. My eyes popped opened, grogginess hit me hard after only a couple hours or sleep. I saw the morning light rising above the hills through a small window. 

"What do you mean they went to the kingdom?" Marcus asked. "Last night? That's just great. Did they all go? Okay. Call Luther's IT guy, and have him send me coordinates from my phone signal. I'll find my way back that way. Thanks Mom."

Marcus cursed beneath his breath, and ran his fingers into is unruly dirty blond hair. He caught sight of me staring at him, and smiled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"I needed to get up. Looks like morning is here. I don’t want to be here when they wake up, do you?"

"No. We're going to get out of the woods, and I have someone sending us our coordinates. I can get us back to the pack house that way. I'm too far out to catch any scents. Luther and the lycans went after the kingdom last night, and haven't made it back yet."

Nerves shot down my spine. "Did they make it?"

He shrugged. "I don't know yet. Blaire is with them, that's Luther's mate, and Caterina's daughter. He has to keep her close because Zane Cavil—a dirty vampire—is after her," he mumbled, shaking his head. "Blaire has a loose tongue, and talks back. You'll meet her soon—hopefully. She gets Luther into trouble, and he'd go to the ends of the earth for her."

I found myself smiling at the thought. Someone fighting for you endlessly? Was that what Marcus would do for me? When I glanced up, I noticed him staring at me, and I quickly averted my gaze. "I'm sorry about last night," I said. 

He chuckled, and I heard him walk closer to squat down in front of me. "Lilly, I will do whatever I need to make sure you're safe and comfortable. If that means slowly washing away all that bastard did to you, then I'm here for it. No rushing. No pressure. This is the start of a new relationship. Just us."

I tucked a piece of dark hair behind my ear, and slowly stood up. "Are we ready to go?"

He stood up, and glanced over his shoulder at the house next to the shed. "They're waking up. We better go. I found these slippers, they're better than nothing. I think you can wear them without them falling off."

He bent down and helped me into them. The calluses on his palm skimmed my leg, and my body shivered. Marcus' dark gaze slowly lifted to mine, and held. I wanted him to lean up and put me out of my misery.  

A door shut in the distance, and Marcus jerked me upright, pulling me out of the main door, and into the wooded area beside them. We disappeared from sight as an older man made his way to the door of the shed.

Marcus sighed, and pushed us a path through the woods until we made it to the main road. His phone buzzed, and he dug it out. "We're over thirty miles from the pack house," he said, rubbing the top of his head. 

His gaze shifted toward mine. "Have you ever been on the back of a wolf?"

I chuckled, not meaning to, and smiled at him. "No, I haven't." 

Marcus smirked. "There is a first time for everything."

Ten minutes later, we were in the depths of the woods, covered by a canopy of trees and the promise of privacy. Marcus glanced around, and finally looked down at me. "I'm going to strip, and then shift. I'll get us there really fast compared to us walking." 

The thought of Marcus stripping sent waves of heat over me. "I'll just turn around," I mumbled, tucking my hair behind my ear. I listened to the sound of Marcus ruffling around in the leaves, and because I couldn’t help myself, I glanced over my shoulder. 

Marcus hooked his thumb into the waistband of his underwear, and my mouth opened at the sight of him shirtless. He was bulky, but not too much, and each line of his abdomen was prominent, showing years of working out and hard work. 

It was completely different than Jason, and turned me upside down. Everything about the sight of him made me warm.

His gaze snapped to me, and I quickly turned around, ashamed that I'd been caught in the act. "Sorry!" I said. 

His laugh was so soft that I hardly realized he'd made a sound. The loud giant thump startled me. I spun around quickly, coming face to face with a giant black wolf. A involuntarily gasp left my mouth, and I stumbled backward as he bowed his head to me. 

The midnight black was flawless, and it matched his deep-set eyes. Slowly he picked his head up and brushed it against the side of my face. I sank my fingers into his coat, and closed my eyes, inhaling his scent. 

Moments ticked by before he laid down for me to climb onto his back. I walked around and swung my leg over, tangling my fingers into his fur, as he stood upright. 

Looking over his shoulder, he started toward the pack house. It was the stuff you read about in fairytales.

But I was one hundred percent that I wasn't dreaming.