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Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Watching my steps, I walked into No Bars, behind Jenny and Leo. The shoes Jenny had loaned me were not what I was used to. The tan wedges made me even taller. Jenny had styled my hair in loose waves that reached midway down my back. I was already cursing every hair that got caught in my lip gloss she’d insisted I wear.

We saddled up to the counter and ordered our drinks. Looking around the room, I saw two tables pushed together, surrounded by the very people I was trying to avoid. Is there only one bar around here? I thought. Gavrill and Kostas sat talking with Everett, while Kleio and Jack looked to be teasing Wilder. I tried to sink behind Jenny’s curly hair, but I was too late.

“Elise! Oh my god! I’m so glad you’re here!” Kleio’s voice carried across the room. “Come over here and sit with us!”

Jenny turned to me, curious. “How are you meeting all these people? You seem to know everyone around here.”

I looked around frantically, trying to come up with an answer for Jenny that didn’t involve the word shifter . “They’re Evere—I mean, Wilder’s friends. I met them last weekend.”

Leo gestured to the table. “You’d better go over there and say hi. The blonde one is almost falling out of her chair.”

Kleio was bouncing in her seat, looking at me expectantly. I grabbed my drink and walked over to the table. Leo turned to Jenny and began flirting with her, making her laugh. He seemed happy to have her to himself.

As I approached the table, Wilder got up and walked over to the bar, rushing past me with no acknowledgment. What a nice guy I’d picked last weekend.

Kleio rolled her eyes at him and patted the seat next to her. I sat down, suddenly noticing who was seated at the other side of me. I felt his body tense as he looked over and met my eyes. The golden swirls around his pupils were hard to look away from.

“Hi, Elise.” Everett’s stare was possessive, as if he dared me to look anywhere else but into his eyes. I accepted his dare and held contact. The feeling didn’t make me nervous as it had with Wilder last week. This was more commanding, but he emanated so much assurance in his actions that I felt safe.

“Hi, Everett.” My voice came out so quiet that it was almost a whisper. He looked much more rested than when I’d left him on Sunday. The dark circles under his eyes had disappeared, his hair tamed.

Sitting in the chair next to Everett was as close as I had ever been to him. The skin on my shoulders hummed where I had brushed against his black T-shirt as I sat down.

I glanced down at his arm and couldn’t stop myself from looking over the full sleeve of tattoos. The designs all flowed together seamlessly, weaving through one another. My fingers reached out to trace the lines that reminded me of the map of trails I had left in my room.

Before I could touch his skin, Everett pulled his arm away. I felt my face heat as my eyes snapped up to his. He smirked at me as if knowing what I had just tried to do, and I couldn’t believe that I had just done that. It was like I had involuntarily moved and had no control over my body. I curled my fingers into my palm to control myself.

Kleio touched my left arm, breaking the hold Everett had on me. “How have you been? You look so cute tonight! How’s your head doing? I’ve been thinking about you all week.”

“My head’s fine. It’s pretty much healed,” I said.

“Already healed? Wow, you must know what you’re doing with all those plants you gather,” she said. I was kind of surprised that Kleio had remembered me picking the yarrow. “We’ll have to go on a scavenger hunt again soon.”

I nodded my head in agreement. Feeling a mental pull to my right, I turned to see Everett listening to our conversation. Kleio turned to yell something to Gavrill, who was laughing with Kostas across the table. Everett looked down at my jumpsuit that barely covered half of my thighs. I immediately felt exposed in front of him.

“I like your outfit.” His low voice rumbled through me.

“Thank you. It’s my roommate Jenny’s jumpsuit. This isn’t what I normally look like.” God, I was babbling. What was it about Everett that made me feel like this?

“I know what you look like. You always look beautiful.” Everett’s words sent those tingles down my spine that reached all the way to my tailbone.

I took a moment to compose myself. “I should go check on my friends.” I got up to leave, but a firm hand on my thigh pushed me back into my seat.

“They look like they’re just fine,” Everett said.

When I turned to see Jenny and Leo, I saw that they were doing fine, probably more than fine. Jenny had her tongue halfway down Leo’s throat, and he looked like he was enjoying every minute of it. A few barstools away from them was Wilder, chatting with a couple of blonde girls that had their breasts pushed up to their chins.

I sighed, turning back around. It seemed I wouldn’t escape that mistake until I finished my research. Everett removed his hand from my thigh, and I immediately missed the warmth and touch of his fingers.

He noticed my gaze toward his packmate. “Wilder’s always been like that. He’s a flirt and immensely insecure. Don’t feel bad that you fell for his charm. He’s perfected his flirting game to make up for what he’s lacking.”

Everett opened his mouth, tapping on his large canine teeth. I gasped at the sight of the large white fangs. Last weekend I had seen Kleio’s, but these were much larger. I didn’t fear his teeth as much as I was curious about them. What would it be like to kiss him with those teeth? I could see him using them to nip at my lips and tongue. What would they feel like dragging across my body? A dull scratch against my skin followed by a warm tongue…

I shook my head to get those thoughts out of my brain. Where were they coming from? I needed to stop drinking. The one drink I’d had was already messing with my mind. I pushed my glass to the middle of the table.

“Wilder never got his fangs. It’s rare, but it happens. I think he tries to make up for the lack of them in other ways,” Everett said.

He looked over to the bar where Wilder had an arm around a girl’s waist. I didn’t feel jealous—everything Wilder had showed me after our night together solidified that he was nothing more than a one-night fling.

I found it interesting that Wilder had never gotten his fangs. Did it make him less appealing to other wolves, so he had to seek human companionship? Or maybe, like Everett had said, it was a major insecurity, causing Wilder to isolate himself from the rest of the pack. Either way, I wasn’t interested in anything Wilder could offer, fangs or no fangs.

Everett and I joined back in on the conversation at the table. Jack was in the middle of animatedly telling the story of the last time Kostas had gotten drunk at this bar.

“He disappeared from the table. He was gone for five minutes. Longer than it takes a guy to piss,” Jack said. His eyes were lit up. Kleio was smiling, her fangs on full display.

Something warm sank onto my bare thigh, slowly getting heavier by the second. I glanced beneath the table, seeing a tan hand on my leg. I followed the tattooed arm it was attached to to the man sitting next to me. Everett continued following the story, acting as if this was normal behavior. His hand was on my thigh. Again. I didn’t move. A tingling sensation traveled down my leg—it seemed to come from his hand.

“I went to see what was going on, and I found him at the end of the hallway,” Jack was saying. “He never made it into the bathroom.”

My mouth fell open as I looked at Everett for any sign he knew where his hand was at this current moment, but he revealed nothing. If anything, maybe his lips upturned slightly. His thumb began making rubbing small circles along my inner thigh. Goose bumps peppered my skin, and he must’ve felt it. He increased the pressure of his thumb against my skin. His hand felt so warm against my skin that it was suddenly so cold. I shivered at his touch. My hearing went fuzzy for a moment. The only thing I could feel was Everett’s hand against my thigh. Stroking my skin slowly, as if he was relaxed in this situation. Like this was a casual touch between two lovers.

His calloused thumb drug across my skin, the rough texture stimulating. My mind went places it shouldn’t—his rough skin against my soft core… I was not relaxed. My muscles were tense and my core tightened. Everett was dangerously closed to that area. He could slip his hands beneath the shorts of the jumpsuit and… No one at the table would know.

Jack’s voice came roaring back into my ears. At first quiet, then loud. “He was stuck at the mirror at the end of the hallway, continually running into it and apologizing to his reflection.”

Everyone at the table laughed. Everett’s fingers squeezed my legs quickly before releasing my thigh and returning to the tabletop to grab his drink.

My reaction was delayed as if my body couldn’t send neurons fast enough to the part of my brain that controlled my reaction to stimulus. I looked around the table to see if anyone had seen what had just happened, but it seemed that no one had. Everyone continued laughing, unbothered. I laughed a little too loudly, trying to blend in, keeping my eyes trained on Everett. What had just happened? Last weekend I had been an unwanted guest at his shifter tournament, and now I was “beautiful” and worthy of a thigh squeeze?

I shivered, taking my eyes off him, trying to follow the conversation at the table. I had goose bumps again, this time because I had lost his touch.

“Hey, Elise. It’s late. We should head back.” Jenny interrupted the trance I was in. She stood behind my chair nervously, glancing at the shifters who sat around the table.

“Give me a minute—I’ll meet you out there,” I said. I didn’t want to leave, but Leo and Jenny were my ride home. She nodded and turned around to leave.

When I shifted back to the table, Everett looked at me and cocked his head to the side.

“Do you always do what people tell you to do?” he asked.

“No…I don’t,” I answered. Jenny and Leo were my ride—I wasn’t about to let them leave without me for the second Thursday in a row. We all saw how that had turned out for me the first time.

“I think you get easily persuaded to do a lot of things.”

My jaw dropped. Who did Everett think he was? We had barely had a full conversation. “I do not.”

“Who picked that outfit for you? I know you didn’t pick it for yourself. If you would have chosen an outfit, it would be some of those tight leggings and a baggy T-shirt.”

I frowned, but he wasn’t wrong.

“Who left you to hook up with Wilder last weekend? I’m gonna bet that it wasn’t entirely your idea.”

Everett had some nerve. I had said less than twenty words to him the entire time I’d known him, and he now was stepping over the line. His touch might’ve been confusing to me, but this entire conversation was getting too personal. What did he know about my decision making? Why did he even care?

I glared at him, and he gave me a confident smirk.

“Kleio.” I said her name louder than I intended. She immediately turned to look at me. I stood up, pushing my chair out from behind me with the back of my knees. “I’ve got to go.”

“Oh, okay,” Kleio said. She looked between Everett and me, somehow sensing the tension. She gave me a quick hug. “It was so nice to see you, Elise. I’ll see you soon.”

I didn’t think that would happen, but I nodded. “I’ll see you all…later,” I said to the table, avoiding eye contact with Everett. If he was going to comment on my decision making, I could easily show him I could decide not to acknowledge him.

I left the table and made my way to the door. Not once looking behind me, I walked through the exit and took a moment to calm my racing heart. Everett. Something about him just pushed my buttons.

“ I think you get easily persuaded… ” I mimicked is dumb deep voice as I searched through my purse to make sure I had all my things. “Who does that guy think he is?”

Scanning the parking lot, I saw the bed Leo’s truck sticking out from behind the side of the building, and I turned to walk that way.

As my body turned, I ran into what felt like a brick wall. A brick wall that was all muscle. I backed up a step and felt large hands grab the sides of my upper arms. That warm, tingly sensation shot through my arms and out of my fingertips. There was only one person I had met who could elicit such a feeling.

I let out a small yelp as Everett pushed me back against the building with his body. My nose was stuck between his pectoral muscles as we both breathed heavily against one another. He smelled like outside. Not the dirty, sweaty outside smell, but the smell of fresh air after it had rained. Like a spring day after all the snow had melted and warmer days were on the horizon.

His inhales expanded his body, pushing his chest into mine, pushing my back harder into the wall behind me. My hands at my sides felt the rough texture of the brick. I couldn’t move my arms with Everett pinned on top of me. He moved his upper body away from my head and grabbed my chin with his thumb and first finger.

Tilting my head to his, I looked into his golden eyes that I always seemed to get lost in. Right now, they looked desperate. They scanned my face frantically, attempting to read my feelings. His index finger hooked under my chin as his thumb grazed my bottom lip, slowly rubbing along its edges.

I hadn’t come here for another hookup, but at that moment, I wanted Everett to kiss me. Between my rapid breathing, being pinned to the wall, and the prickling feeling I was getting between my legs, I craved it. He might have just been an asshole to me, but since when did I do what my mind wanted?

I closed my top lip over Everett’s thumb, and a feral look flashed through his eyes. He took my permission and ran with it, slamming his lips into mine.

The kiss wasn’t gentle. It was hungry and searching. The shock of him coming at me with such force opened my mouth, and he took full advantage, running his tongue along my own. He tasted like a mixture of whiskey and mint, a strange combination that made me weak in the knees. His hand found the back of my head and his fingers weaved through my hair, protecting the back of my head from the wall behind me. I broke my hands free from the pressure of his hips and pulled them up to his chest.

Grabbing onto his shirt, I pulled his body closer to me, needing to feel more of his frame on mine. A growl from deep in his chest vibrated my hands. It made me even more frantic, tilting my head to the side to give him more access. I could feel the pulse between my legs spread up into the bottom of my stomach. I needed more pressure, more friction, more anything with Everett.

My lips felt naked as he pulled away abruptly. I let out a small whine of discomfort. Everett tucked his head into the space between my neck and shoulder. His body still pressed me against the wall as I clung to his shirt. I could feel his short, rapid breaths against my neck as he tried to catch his breath. He seemed just as needy and desperate as I felt.

He opened his mouth against my neck. Instead of the soft lips I was expecting, I felt the prick of his fangs touching the tender skin of my shoulder. The sensation was wildly carnal and made me gasp. My eyes flew open, and my breathing became even more rapid. He closed his mouth and nuzzled the side of my neck. I felt his large hands grab hold of my wrists, which had been trapped between our bodies. The grip was firm but not uncomfortable.

Everett’s low voice vibrated through my hands that were against his chest. “I knew it,” he growled.”

He pushed off me and stalked away from where I was standing. I was suddenly cold without his body heat. Trying to catch my breath, my mind reeled from what had just happened. I leaned back to steady myself.

What had he known? Had he kissed me as some sort of test? Was this a joke that one of his buddies had put him up to? There was no way he hadn’t felt what I had. That hadn’t been an ordinary drunken kiss from a cute guy at the bar. That had been…animalistic. Like we’d both craved each other’s touch and needed it to survive. The fangs that had once scared me were now intriguing. I felt my body pulse as I remembered the sensation of his teeth dragging along my neck. It had felt better than I’d imagined.

My fingers gently rubbed along the side of my neck where his fangs had touched. I wondered if there would be a mark there tomorrow. I made my way from my neck to touch my lips. They were puffy from the rough kiss. Looking around, I was thankful that I was alone and there was no one around to watch me recover from that.

Eventually I pulled myself together, getting into Leo’s truck and sliding next to Jenny on the bench seat. Luckily they seemed too occupied with each other to notice how flustered I was. We made it back to the cabin, and I said good night to them before I brushed my teeth and got into my pajamas. My head hit the pillow; glad I had made it to my own bed this Thursday.

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