Sleep

Slowly, she lifted her head to see his arm above her shoulder. She knew she had to turn around, but she didn’t want to. His body was so close, that she was afraid he could smell her arousal and sense her shame. She’d been involved in enough trouble with her classmates to be able to feel when someone wanted to hurt her, and she felt this familiar feeling now.

“Turn around.” She slowly swiveled her body, trying not to fall on the now completely soaked floor. She had her eyes closed and decided she wasn’t going to open them. Her head drifted downward, ready for the beating. She waited for what seemed like forever. She could hear both of their breathing, ragged and fast.

“Look at me.” She opened her eyes, but kept her head bent to the floor. She could feel a movement from beside her. He was raising his hand to strike.

But the strike never came. Instead a hand cupped her chin firmly and lifted it upward. She could see his hazel eyes peering at her. There was a look of fury there, but also something else. She couldn’t tell.

When Aidan touched the girl’s chin, he felt that familiar feeling of a thousand sparks rippling through him. It filled every fiber of his being, and he gasped. He lowered his hand and felt them fizzle out. He looked into the veil. He could make out two sparkles in the darkness, which told him she must be looking back.

“Can you feel it too?” He asked her softly. She was confused by his change of tone and his words. Feel what? She only guessed that he was talking about the heat she had felt earlier. She tried to look away, but he forced her chin back upward. He gasped again.

What do you feel? She wanted to ask him, but she was as stiff as a wild animal that had just been cornered. Her throat couldn’t make any words.

“Who are you?” His face came closer, as if to see through the veil. She felt his hand reach for it. She knew what was going to happen, and she knew she had to stop it.

Almost instinctively, her knee jerked upward. She felt it connect with his crotch. He reeled backward, and she knew she had the moment she needed. She turned and opened the door. Aravia ran past the guard and past a shocked Silas, all the way to her room. She promptly closed the door and locked it, sliding to the ground in her wet clothing.

Silas stared at the door to Aravia’s room and was about to go to it when he saw a hunched figure clad in nothing but his own skin emerge from the room where she had flown from.

“What did you do?!” Silas roared, anger coming off him in waves. He looked at the younger Alpha, standing there, naked, in the doorway and thought the worst. He stormed toward the Alpha, only to be tugged sharply backward by an emerging guard.

“Watch your tone with the Alpha.” The guard growled.

“What did you do?!” Silas struggled in the guards grasp.

“Maybe you should ask her what she was doing coming into my shower?” Aidan winced as he straightened. He scoffed at the Healer’s puzzled look. “I’m not the party at fault here.”

Silas turned from the Alpha and strode to his room. He wanted to strangle the little bastard for even being near Aravia. But he knew he was on thin ice as it was with Aravia being here. He would talk to her later.

Aravia waited for her heartbeat to slow before standing and removing her wet garb. She hung it neatly over the wardrobe door and changed into her sleep clothes. Her veil would have to dry on its own. She made sure to check the room door’s lock and close the curtains. Though she hated to do it, she removed the veil as well and hung it over the other wardrobe door. She undid the long plait of her hair and smoothed the spot where the comb of the veil sat. It would never totally relax, as the comb had parted the hair for all the years of its placement there.

Aravia couldn’t process what had just happened. She felt something different from shame or arousal. It was something completely new to her. Without allowing herself to think, she patted her face dry with a small handkerchief and laid there in the dark, waiting for sleep.