29. Dominic

29

DOMINIC

She’s here asking questions, I said as I tossed the door closed. What are we doing?

About mates? Ronyn asked gruffly.

Ah, so your mother strikes again, Voss said.

Don’t you talk about my fucking mother, Ronyn growled.

“Dom?” Bexley asked.

I turned to face the lovely woman as my nostrils flared. She still hadn’t taken a shower. How in the fuck could Ronyn sit with her in the same room with his fucking mother, of all people, and just… sit there? With that smell tugging my cock toward her.

God, I was a slave to the woman.

“Dominic, please,” Bexley said softly.

Let me know how it goes, Voss said. If she’s come to you, she trusts you.

Don’t fuck it up, Ronyn snarled.

And then, all was quiet on the western front.

“Why do you ask?” I asked in return.

She nodded slowly as her stare studied my face. “So, we are. Like me and Ronyn.”

My jaw clenched. “Bexley, it’s…”

“Dom,” she pleaded.

The sound pulled me closer to her. I couldn’t stand it. The way she begged. The way she pleaded. The way she looked up at me with those big, brown eyes, like a fawn lost in the field away from its mother. I captured her hands with mine. I pulled her body steadily to me. Her scent entranced me, like a zombie wanting nothing but brains. And as I brought the back of her hand to my lips to kiss, I held her gaze.

I kissed each of her scarred knuckles before I spoke. “Yes. We are mates, like you and Ronyn. And Voss.”

She ripped her hand from mine, but she didn’t back up. Instead, she kept her stare locked with mine as her head tilted.

“When did you know?” she asked.

No use holding back. “From the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

“And Ronyn?”

I nodded. “Most likely the same.”

She swallowed hard. “And… and Voss?”

I slid my thumb along her cheek and relished the way she mindlessly nuzzled against my touch. I didn’t give a damn if she was human. I didn’t give a flying fuck if she didn’t feel what we did. What I did.

I knew she felt something.

And that was enough for me. “Yes. And Voss.”

She gasped and took her first step backwards. I had to resist the urge to reach out for her.

“But… but I’m just a human. How’s—how’s that?—?”

I chuckled. “Bexley, ‘just a human’ doesn’t nearly begin to describe you.”

She turned away from me before whipping back around. “How can a human be mated with a shifter?”

I went to respond, but she ran me over with her words. “Or, better yet, multiple shifters? That doesn’t make any fucking sense!”

How is she? Ronyn asked.

Just give me a second, I hissed.

“Say something!” she exclaimed desperately. “Stop making me fish for answers!”

The second she charged me with her fists outstretched, I braced myself. She slammed them against my chest, beating into me, over and over again. I stood there with my hands clasped behind my back. I stared straight ahead, allowing her to exhaust herself against me.

“Why is this happening? Why is all of this happening now!? What is going on? What is happening to my life!?”

She shrieked, and the ear-piercing scream alone snapped something within me. I wrapped my hand around her throat and ripped her around, pinning her to the front door behind me. She tried throwing her knee into my stomach, but I watched her like a goddamn hawk all these weeks. I saw her training. I knew her moves.

And I scooted my pelvis back before I grabbed her other leg with my free hand.

“Dom, let go of me,” she growled.

I released her leg, but I didn’t remove my hand from her throat. If she screamed like that again, everyone would come running.

What the fuck was that? Voss snarled.

She’s processing, I said flatly.

Well, process quieter, Ronyn said gruffly, I just had to stop my troops from fucking up your place.

Thanks, I hissed as Bexley threw a punch.

I dodged her efforts, but I knew she was tired. A whole afternoon drilling exercises with Ronyn? I was shocked she had the effort to put up any fight in the first place. I let her battle it out. We didn’t move from that door and my hand sure as fuck didn’t move away from her throat. And as she struggled against me, I saw the fight drain from her face.

Finally.

“Theeeere’s a good girl,” I murmured as I slid my leg in between hers. “Just sit down. I’ve got you.”

“Dom,” she whispered as tears crested her eyes, “I don’t—I don’t understand.”

I nodded softly as I pressed my body flush with hers. “I know.”

She sniffled as she sat against my knee. “What is… happening?”

“Good girl,” I praised as she sat her full weight onto my leg, “use my body to prop yourself up. No use in spending any more energy.”

She tilted her head toward my thumb as it caressed her jawline. “I don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to do anything.”

A tear streaked her cheek. “What do I do, Dom?”

She looked up at me with her teary-eyed stare, searching for guidance. Searching for answers. Searching for direction.

The darkness within me scratched toward the surface. “For now, collapse against me and listen.”

She did exactly as I asked. The second her neck went lazy against my hand, I removed my grip from her throat. She fell into my body, trusting me that I’d catch her, and I sure as hell didn’t disappoint. I removed my leg from between the heat of her thighs and forced myself not to relish the smell.

“I don’t get any of this,” she whispered as she laid her forehead against my chest.

I wrapped her up in my arms and held her close, stroking my fingers through her knotted, greasy hair. “I know you don’t understand. I know it’s all new. I know it’s foreign. I know, sweet girl.”

I cupped the back of her head and gripped her hair. I slowly tilted her forehead away from my chest and laid mine against hers. Our foreheads touched, breathing one another’s air as her heart rate climbed out of the clouds.

“Ssssshhh,” I soothed softly as I massaged the nape of her neck, “I got you. You’re safe here.”

She sighed heavily. “Has this ever happened before? A human, mating with multiple shifters?”

Well, she hadn’t puked at the idea, so that was something. “It’s uncommon, that’s for sure. But, it’s not unheard of.”

That pulled her forehead away from mine and gave her enough strength to look up at me by herself. “No?”

Her voice was so soft. So weak. So… lost. I dropped my voice to a whisper just so I didn’t spook her.

“No,” I whispered as I brushed her tears away with the pad of my thumbs, “it’s not unheard of.”

Her breathing grew ragged and I wrapped my hand back around her throat. Her eyes widened, but I merely shook my head and continued to shush her softly.

“Breathe in as I tilt your head back, and breathe out as I tilt it forward. Okay?” I asked.

She nodded her head in understanding, and I slowly slid my hand up her throat. It tilted her chin back, and I watched as her chest rose with her breath.

“Good girl,” I said as I slid my hand back down her throat, “now, let it out.”

And just as I commanded, she did.

“Now, this time,” I said as I slid my grasp back up her neck, “a little slower.”

I slid my hand back down her neck and listened as she obeyed me.

“Good girl,” I whispered as I nuzzled my nose against her forehead.

Her breathing returned to normal, but her body still shook. So, I wrapped her back up and pulled her close to me, despite the fact that her womanly musk would probably kill me before I could let her go.

I had to stay in control of myself, though.

I had to answer her questions.

If she trusted me with this moment, I couldn’t let her down.

“That’s why you guys won’t let me and my pack leave, isn’t it?” she asked softly.

I dipped my lips down and kissed the top of her head. “We won’t let you guys leave because these woods aren’t safe. And now that we know you’re being hunted as well, it’s very unsafe. And as our mates, it’s our job to protect you, even from yourself.”

It took her a while to respond. But, when she did, she backed away from me and stared up at me with those curious eyes of hers.

“I don’t have to do this alone,” she whispered, almost to herself.

I answered her anyway with a shake of my head. “Not anymore, you don’t.”

Before I could ask her if she had any other questions, her body rushed back to mine. Her warmth coated me as she threw her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to mine.

A kiss as sweet as candy.

A touch as soft as a silken pillow.

And it was all I needed as my arms blanketed her back and my tongue lapped against her lips for entrance.