Page 28

“Just say what you’re thinking,” he says with a smile that makes me feel better, but I’m still not sure if I should ask my question. After everything I’ve learned about soulmates, werewolves, vampires, and mate bonds, my question might still seem dumb or unimportant right now. It might also be too human of a question for him.
“Well, you and I are soul mates. Now that I know that, I’m not sure… I’m not sure if we’re… Um…”
“Just say it, Calla,” Jaxon laughs and shakes me lightly.
“Are you my boyfriend?” I ask, and as soon as I do, I hold my breath and look at how he reacts. He seems a little shocked by what I said, and when he doesn’t say anything, I quickly add more. “I’ve been asked before, and I don’t want to make any assumptions. I told them no because we hadn’t talked about it, but…”
A low growl comes from Jaxon in the room. He holds my hips so tightly that it hurts. I gasp at the pain as I look into his eyes, which are now very wide open. I’ve never been close enough to him to see his eyes change, and now that I’m staring at them, I can’t help but be a little scared. Even though I know he’s an Alpha werewolf and have accepted him, I’m still a little worried about how much stronger and faster he is.
As soon as I let out another whimper because of the pain in my sides, Jaxon’s eyes go back to normal. He looks down and sees how tightly I’m holding onto his waist, and his eyes get wider. He then takes his hands off of me right away. In a flash, I’m on his bed and Jaxon is across the room. He walks back and forth while constantly tugging at his hair.
“F**k!” he growls, and then he hits the wall with his fist in anger. I back up until I hit the headboard and stare at him with cautious eyes. He looks at me and walks slowly toward me. I stay where I am.
“I’m so sorry, Calla. When I get angry, I act more like an animal. You’re so damn fragile! I’m so sorry I hurt you,” Jaxon says as he wipes his uninjured hand across his face.
“It’s okay,” I say slowly, keeping a close eye on what Jaxon is doing. I know that he’s much stronger than I am and that he needs to be more careful with his strength. I know he didn’t mean to hurt me, of course. Was he really that angry about the boyfriend question?
“I’m sorry I made you mad. I promise I won’t bring up the boyfriend thing again.”
“No,” he says, and the strength of his voice affects me. He walks toward me and grabs my waist again, but this time it’s much softer. He puts us in a position where we’re both lying on the bed, with my body leaning a little on his. He hugs me tightly and smells me again. I try not to find it funny how easily he lifts and drags my body to where he wants me to be. It’s funny how strong he is… and very hot.
“Listen to me very carefully, Calla. If anyone asks you that again, you tell them that I’m your boyfriend. Okay?”
I didn’t think Jaxon would say those things, but I’m glad he did. I can’t hide the smile that is spreading across my face. My boyfriend is Jaxon. The idea of us being a couple makes my stomach feel like it’s full of butterflies. I know we’re soulmates in a technical sense, but this label makes me so happy I can’t even put it into words. It shouldn’t matter, but it does.
“I hate that word. Boyfriend.” He spits it out like it’s poison on his tongue. I look up at him and my eyebrows scrunch up because I don’t like what he said.
I ask him innocently, “What’s wrong with that word?” but his answer is anything but. One minute, we’re lying together peacefully, and the next minute, Jaxon is over me with my hands pinned above my head. He doesn’t put any of his weight on me, but being so close makes my skin itch for his skin to touch mine. I can see his chest and abs better without a shirt on, and oh my god, I never want to look away. A lot of crazy thoughts are going through my head right now. Half of them I’ve never thought of before, and all of them are bad.
“Well, the problem is,” Jaxon says, then he kisses my collarbone and neck lightly. “That word doesn’t even begin to describe what we are.” He keeps kissing my neck with soft kisses, and I have to bite my lip hard to keep from moaning. He nips at my neck and licks over the small bite mark he leaves, which makes my attempt fail. His laugh just makes me more turned on.
He kisses my neck, my jaw, and then my ear. He whispers in my ear, “You’re my mate, so remember that I’m more than just your boyfriend. I’m your forever.” He lightly bites my earlobe, and I gasp in a way that is not flattering.
Jaxon is holding my hands right now, so all I can do is squirm and try not to catch fire from all the heat that is going through my body. He smiles at me and then leans in close to me. His lips are only a few centimeters from mine, but he won’t close the gap.
“Get it?” he says with a smile. When I’m flustered, all I can do is nod in agreement without saying anything. But that answer isn’t good enough for him.
“Use your words, baby.”
“Yes, Jaxon. I understand.” The words sound more like a desperate whine, but they seem to make him happy as he kisses her back. I know he’s having a great time because I’m so easy to work with. I would probably do anything he asked me to do right now, even jump off a cliff. I hope he doesn’t tell me to jump off a cliff…
We kiss for a little longer, getting to know each other’s lips again after a long time apart. It wasn’t really that long, but it felt like it. And since he’s my boyfriend, I can kiss him whenever I want! During that time, I learn that I need to take a lot of breaks to catch my breath, which is very embarrassing. Jaxon doesn’t seem to mind because while I’m catching my breath, he’s kissing me on my neck, jaw, and cheeks. I don’t mind that he can’t stop kissing me.
Finally, he sees that I’m getting tired, so he turns off the light and tells us to get under the covers. At 4:45 A.M., when I’m starting to fall asleep, more nightmares are waiting for me in dreamland.
“Stop it! Jaxon, stop!” I scream as loud as I can because Jaxon won’t stop tickling my sides. He just found out about a very ticklish spot right below my ribs, and for the last few minutes, he has been bothering me nonstop. I promise that as soon as I find a flaw in this perfect man, I will take advantage of it every time I can. He’s just too good.
“Make me,” he teases as he keeps mercilessly tickling my sides and I can’t stop laughing. I probably sound crazy with my full-blown cackling, but it’s his fault for tickling me!
I kick him away from me to get him off of me. He stops when he realizes I need to breathe and instead rubs my sides. I wipe away the tears that are running down the outside corners of my eyes because I’ve been laughing so hard.
I mumble, “You’re pure evil,” and give him an evil look as I get better. He just smiles at me and holds me tighter. “You haven’t seen evil yet. Just wait until I wolf out,” he says in a joking way. I tell him that I’ve already seen it and that I think I’ll be able to handle it now that I’m ready. We argue about whether or not he should show me his wolf side for a few minutes, but then someone knocks on his bedroom door.
I ask, “Who’s that?” because I’m curious who in the pack house would want to talk to him this early in the morning.
He groans, “I don’t know. One second,” as he gets up from the floor and walks to the door. As he moves to open the door, I can see his back muscles moving through his tight black shirt. I will always enjoy looking at my friends.
I can’t see who’s on the other side of the door because Jaxon is blocking my view. When I hear a huge growl, I jerk my head up, and as soon as I see what’s going on, I feel afraid.
The big Jaxon wolf is growling at us, and its teeth are as sharp as a knife. As its lip is pulled back, more sharp teeth are revealed, and saliva drips from its mouth. He doesn’t fight like I thought he would; he just stands there. He doesn’t move at all, and I’m wondering why he isn’t doing anything when it’s clear that the wolf isn’t friendly.
The wolf lunges at Jaxon and easily digs its claws into his chest, knocking him down like a bowling pin.
“JAXON!” I scream in fear, hoping that he’ll get up and turn into a wolf. I can tell Jaxon is bigger than the Jaxon wolf just by looking at it. The wolf is clawing and biting Jaxon, but he is just lying there on the floor. I can’t see his body because the wolf is covering it and the blue fog is coming in from the doorway. I’m screaming and crying the whole time.
I look for a weapon to use against the werewolf, and when I finally find a pocket knife in one of his dresser drawers, the wolf is gone. It’s not there anymore. I hurry over to Jaxon and see that he has a lot of claw and bite marks on him. The most noticeable bite mark is on the side of his neck. His skin is ripped off in a big piece, and his dead blue eyes are staring at the ceiling. I can only scream at the sky for taking him away from me too soon.
I wake up and can’t breathe. The sheets on that side of the bed are wrinkled and cold when I look to my right. Then I remember that this isn’t my bed. I can’t smile even though memories of last night keep coming back to me. Not at this time. I’m still crying and my heart is racing from the terrible nightmare. It was a bad dream… Yes?
This is where the dream took place. I throw the sheets off of me and jump out of bed, not caring how cold my feet feel when they touch the tile floor. I look around the room for the last place I saw Jaxon’s body, and I feel better when I see that it is empty.
It was only a dream. A terrible, frightening, and very real dream. I see that it’s seven in the morning when I look at the clock next to the bed. That means I only got a little over two hours of sleep, and Jaxon got even less. I would usually go back to sleep, but I need to find Jaxon and coffee right now. There’s no way I’m going to sleep after that bad dream.
When I walk down the stairs, I end up at the front door. Where could Jaxon be now? After a few minutes of looking, I finally found the kitchen. The kitchen is empty, which makes me a little worried about where else he could be at this hour, but I figure he won’t mind if I use his coffee maker. He shouldn’t be surprised because he should know by now that I’m addicted to coffee.
I know how to use his fancy machine, and I always make the coffee extra strong so I can wake up faster. I’m still shaking from fear, but at least I stopped crying. Moving forward.