Chapter 44

Forty-Four

REID

W ater pelts my face as I tilt my head back, a muscle in my neck aching.

Practice was brutal today, but I don’t blame Coach. We have playoffs next week, and we need to be prepared.

Coach thinks we can go all the way.

A smile tugs at my lips.

Of course, the coach is unaware that he has three supernatural beings on his team. Between me, Ashton, and Emery, we’ll be unstoppable.

A hand touches the small of my back, and I spin around, my heart jackhammering.

“What the fuck?” I bellow, prepared to beat the shit out of whatever asshole snuck into my shower with me.

But it’s not one of my teammates staring up at me.

It’s Michelle.

She’s naked, and my cock responds before I realize what it’s doing. I can’t help it. The girl absolutely repulses me, but she’s still beautiful, with inky-black hair, firm breasts, and dark nipples, currently puckered. She sashays forward, her hips swaying, and my gaze automatically dips towards her clean-shaven pussy and the pink lips visible.

Then I come back to my senses and squeeze my eyelids shut.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demand, tensing.

“Don’t be like that, baby,” Michelle purrs. Her fingernails drag down my stomach. “I’ve come to surprise you.”

I snap my eyes open. I snatch her wrist before it can grab my cock and push her away.

“We’re not together, Michelle. Don’t fucking touch me.”

She smirks slyly and takes another step closer. One of her hands inches upwards until she’s able to cup her pert breast, running her finger around her nipple until it stands at attention.

“You say that, but your body seems to think differently.” With her free hand, she reaches for my erect cock and gives it a punishing squeeze.

“Michelle!” I growl, once again shoving her away.

It feels as if there are thousands of fire ants crawling all over my body. I feel disgusting.

And, more than anything, I hate the fact that my body responded to her in the first place.

That it’s still responding to her.

“I don’t want you,” I tell her, making sure to keep my eyes above her chest. “We’re not in a relationship, okay? Just leave me the fuck alone.”

“Are you sure about that?” She blinks up at me coyly and then drops to her knees.

Before I can even move away, she grabs my cock and forces it to her lips.

For a moment, I’m stunned, a combination of pleasure, rage, and disgust skating through me. But just before she can take me deeper down her throat, I grab at her shoulders and push her away.

“Fuck off, you deluded bitch,” I snap, hurrying out of the shower.

I grab the first towel I see and wrap it around my waist.

“But Reid ? —”

“Fuck off!”

I’m transported into a different memory.

Tears prick my eyes as I stare out over the lake.

I feel…disgusting. Dirty.

Violated.

Sludge coats my skin that no amount of washing can remove.

Usually, this place conjures up an innate sense of peace, but not today. I can’t get my thoughts to shut the hell up.

I sit on the cold grass, my bike discarded at the edge of the forest, my legs spread out in front of me. I’m exhausted, but I’m not sure sleep will help. I’m afraid of what I’ll dream of.

Michelle’s face pops to the forefront of my mind, and I shudder.

God, how could I have let her touch me like that?

But…

I didn’t, did I? She touched me without my consent.

Is that…?

I don’t allow my thoughts to wander down that road. I’m confused as fuck. On one hand, my body responded to her the way it would around any beautiful female. On the other, I feel dirty as hell, and I sure as shit didn’t want her anywhere near my dick.

I hear their footsteps a second before I see them.

The forest seems to shake with the force of their anger, the branches swaying erratically.

Dyson’s face is painted in raw, unencumbered fury as he stalks forward, Michelle a few steps behind him. Her face is puffy and red, and she sniffles exaggeratedly, using the back of her hand to wipe away tears that don’t exist.

“You motherfucker!” Dyson charges at me and throws a fist at my face.

I’m larger than him, but I’m still sitting down while he’s standing. His knuckles connect with my cheek before I can move away.

“What the hell?” I bark, jumping to my feet.

I can feel my wolf clawing to the surface, his fangs bared. He wants blood to spill.

Dyson’s blood.

And Michelle’s.

“She told me what you did, you sick fuck!” Dyson roars.

What I did?

For a moment, I stand there, staring at him in confusion. It only lasts for a fraction of a second, but it’s enough time for him to come barreling at me.

I manage to step out of the way at the very last moment.

“Dyson, please!” Michelle sniffs again.

“How fucking dare you?!” Dyson comes at me again, and this time, I can’t hold back my wolf.

He rises to the surface with staggering intensity. Fur sprouts on my arms, and my face changes and distorts. My jawline elongates, turning into a snout.

Later, I’ll discover what, exactly, Dyson believed I did: take Michelle’s virginity by force and then break her heart.

Maybe a part of me doesn’t even blame him for the way he reacted. If I had a sister—or a mate—I’d do the same thing in his shoes if I didn’t know any better.

A flash of blue light encompasses me before I can finish my shift. It holds me immobile, locking my muscles together.

Dyson stands directly in front of me, his teeth bared and his eyes sparking with unbridled rage.

“I’m going to destroy you,” he hisses. “Michelle told me about you. You only care about two things, don’t you?” His lips curl upwards then, but the smile on his face is anything but friendly. “I’m going to take them both away from you.”

I try to open my mouth to speak, to plead my case, to tell him his sister is a lying bitch, but the spell keeps my lips firmly together.

A lighter wave of blue magic joins the one surrounding me. And…I can feel my body change. I don’t know how else to describe it. Suddenly, my face feels itchy, and my hair hangs in greasy, limp strands around my forehead. A pungent smell assaults my nose. Is that coming from Dyson? From me? I lower my gaze to the front of my shirt, where numerous stains now dot the fabric.

What the fuck?

My wolf howls mournfully and attempts to break free, but he’s…stuck. Trapped. In my mind’s eye, I can see metaphorical bars crashing down, surrounding my wolf, keeping him away from me. He growls and hisses, but I can barely hear him, barely feel him.

Michelle stands shoulder to shoulder with her brother. He doesn’t see the way her lips curl into a self-satisfied, sinister smile. Nor does he hear what she whispers to me, standing up on her tiptoes so her lips are directly beside my ear.

“Now no one is going to love you. You’ll have no choice but to come back to me.”

I’m tugged out of my memories by Izzy. Always by Izzy.

She gives my arm a squeeze.

“Thank you for telling me this,” she whispers, staring up at me with fathomless blue eyes I could get lost in.

They’re clearer than the lake in front of us.

I honestly don’t know why I brought her here, only that I needed her to know why I am the way I am. Why I can’t ever accept her as a mate.

I’m disgusting.

Repulsive.

Unlovable.

“The magic Dyson used…” I jerk my chin back towards the circle of dead grass. “It destroyed everything surrounding me.”

Those brilliant eyes water. “I’m going to fucking kill that bitch.”

“Izzy…”

“No, Reid. Listen to me.” She positions herself so she’s standing directly in front of me. “I don’t know exactly what happened—and you don’t have to go into detail if you’re not comfortable—but I do know that she violated you. She…” Her jaw clenches. “She touched you without your consent.”

“We tried talking to Dyson,” I murmur, remembering those days following the curse—when I na?vely believed that this would all go away.

Dyson, of course, refused to listen to me. Even Ashton and the twins tried to talk sense into him, but he sent them on their way with threats of more curses if they didn’t oblige. Ashton promised me he’ll fix this, that he’ll find a witch or warlock to reverse the curse, but so far, his search has proved futile.

Only Dyson or someone from his bloodline can fix what was done to me.

“I’ll talk to him,” Izzy says evasively, her eyes sparking with a malicious gleam. “I’ll talk to him until he’ll have no choice but to listen.”

I’m pretty sure our definitions of “talk” are completely different.

“You need to stay away from him. From him and his fucked-up sister.”

She looks as if she wants to argue, so I continue on before she can get a word out.

“Izzy, listen to me. They’re fucking insane. You’re already on Michelle’s radar?—”

“I know. She and her brother paid a visit to me the other night.”

Tension floods my body instantly.

“What?” That one word is a growl.

Izzy waves a hand in the air dismissively. “Don’t worry. The twins and Ansel were with me?—”

“The twins were with you?”

And they didn’t fucking tell me? I’m going to murder them.

No, I’m going to murder Dyson, and then I’ll go after the twins.

“Look, Reid.” Izzy pushes up on her tiptoes and cups my cheeks, forcing my gaze to hers.

I hate that she can no doubt feel the pimples on my skin. Smell the sweat that’s always prevalent. See the dirt and grease in my hair. But she doesn’t look disgusted the way so many have before. She just looks…determined.

“What Michelle did to you was fucking awful. I want to murder the bitch, bring her back to life, and then kill her again. You were violated in a way that no one should ever be. And to be blamed for what that bitch did?” Her hands tighten on my cheeks. “But what happened was not your fault. And you’re definitely not some disgusting creature.”

I release a harsh, humorless laugh. “Don’t fucking patronize me, Izzy. I am disgusting. I saw the way you flinched away from me when you first met me in art class. Even my parents don’t want anything to do with me. Did you know that? They abandoned me months ago. Left me alone with a bank account that they refill monthly. Last I heard, they were in London.”

God, that still hurts, even after all this time.

I’m too disgusting for even my own parents to love.

Too ugly.

“They’re fucking dumb, then,” Izzy says fiercely.

I try to shake her off of me, but she holds firm. “Look, I didn’t tell you all of this for you to pity me. I don’t need your damn sympathy.” I grab her wrists and force her hands off my cheeks. “I just want you to understand why I don’t want anything to do with this damn mating bond.”

“Because you think you’re too disgusting?” Disbelief darkens Izzy’s tone.

“Because I know I am. I’m a big, ugly brute. You deserve better.”

“Don’t tell me what the fuck I deserve!” she snaps, anger tightening her features.

“I know you deserve better than me.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“I’m a mean son of a bitch, Izzy,” I tell her with a scowl. “And I have baggage that the others don’t.”

“I’m not afraid of Michelle or Dyson,” Izzy says fiercely.

“You should be.”

“Stop telling me what I should and shouldn’t be!” She throws her hands up in the air. “You’re infuriating!”

“Why can’t you see I’m trying to do what’s best for you?”

“Shut the fuck up, Reid,” Izzy hisses, grabbing the front of my shirt.

I stumble towards her, more out of surprise than anything else, and she once again grabs my cheeks.

But instead of holding my face steady, she pushes up on her tiptoes and kisses me.

The rest of the world falls away.