Enforcing Boundaries (The Boundaries Series Book 1)

by Eva Harper

  “I’m going to take care of you.” His eyes left mine as he dipped his head, kissing my neck quickly, then my hand.

  “Oh,” I said breathlessly, twitching.

  “Don’t worry.” He smiled sweetly. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

  If I Touch You There

  I was released from the hospital three days later when the slight infection in my leg had cleared. The doctor came in and gave Theo specific instructions on how to clean and properly cover my leg. We were sent home with gauze and bandages, disinfectant, anti-inflammatories, and most importantly-pain medication.

  The stream of guarded cars came to escort us from the hospital to Theo’s house. Theo didn’t let me move an inch on my own, carrying me in and out of the car and to the wheelchair he acquired for me.

  “The doctor gave me crutches, I don’t need this,” I told Theo as he placed me in the fancy wheelchair.

  “You aren’t going to be walking around on those crutches if I’m not here with you. I can just picture you falling down those stairs all too easily. Plus, Doctor Dernon said you were on bedrest for another two days to let the swelling go down.” I cursed his good memory.

  “Well, even if you aren’t here with me, Caddy can help,” I said happily, stroking the arms of the wheelchair lightly.

  Theo looked down uncomfortably.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Caddy left three days ago. Don’t you remember?”

  “Oh,” I said, recalling him telling me goodbye. “Those pain meds made my head so foggy.”

  “It’s okay, love.”

  “I guess,” I said absentmindedly.

  “What’s wrong?” Theo said down on a couch and pulled the chair closer to him, so our knees touched.

  “It’s just…I don’t really have a lot of friends around here. I only know you and your family and friends…and they’ve been great! But it’s just…”

  “They’re still ‘my friends.’” Theo looked down guiltily. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about that.”

  I reached over a placed a hand on his knee. “It’s not your fault,” I quickly said. Theo pursed his lips, and a stormy look came over his face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Hang on,” he told me, holding up a hand. A distant look crossed his face, and I knew he was mind-linking someone. I waited and gently pushed his hand that was up to silence me back down and out of my face. He blinked a few times and looked back towards me.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s nothing for you to worry about,” he said, forcing himself to smile. I remained straight-faced, unamused. “I’m serious, Margo. The only thing you should be worried about is recovering. We all need you healthy again.”

  “Tell me what it is,” I demanded. He groaned and ran his hand over his face, his arm muscles clenching. “Tell me.”

  “Alright.” He gritted his teeth. His face became angry. “It’s really nothing, but Cam finally tracked down where the wolf who attacked you was from. It wasn’t the Forte Pack like we had thought, which is actually worse because that means our enemy base is growing. Porter is gaining allies, ones that have no problem dying for his cause.”

  I nodded, processing the information.

  “But it’s nothing for you to worry about, I’ve got this under control.” He grabbed my hands, holding onto me tightly.

  “I’m not worried. I trust you.”

  His smile grew.

  Theo drew me a bath and allowed me to relax on my own for a while before we crawled into bed. The soft -cushions and blankets felt like a dream compared to the hospital bed I had laid in for two weeks. I was required to stay in bed, or at the least, not exert any energy for two days while the last fibers of skin and muscle repaired themselves from the infection.

  Theo catered to my every whim, bringing me breakfast and lunch in bed, bringing me books from his library, watching movies with me through the afternoon. Halfway through one of his favorites, he began tracing his fingers up and down my arm. I shivered and tried not to move.

  He brought his lips to mine, softly pressing them against my mouth. I sighed happily at the contact. His hand around my shoulders tightened and bunched my nightgown at my hip with his other hand.

  I couldn’t move much with the massive cast around my leg, so I touched him with my hands everywhere my fingers could reach. He shuddered as I trailed my fingers up and down his shoulders, across his chest, and up to his neck. He broke our kiss, feverishly burying his face in my neck, kissing and biting gently on his mark. I grabbed the back of his head to keep him there when he tried to move lower. I felt him smile against me.

  His hand let go of my dress that had bundled around my hips, and he brushed his fingers along the side of my breast. His left hand followed, and before I could think, he was tugging my dress up and off my body.

  We held eye contact as if he were asking if this was okay. I nodded ever so slightly and moved until my hands were straight above my head, begging him to slide my dress off. I already felt so naked before him; the thin piece of fabric hardly mattered anymore.

  His hands tickled my skin as he took my dress off. His eyes never left mine. I could feel my heartbeat in my throat, and I tried to remind myself to breathe. When the dress was over my head, he threw it behind him carelessly. He took a deep, steadying breath, and then growled deeply in his chest. There was something primal about this side of him, something I didn’t know I craved until that moment.

  His fingers painted shapes over the upper curve of my breast, just along the lace at the top of my otherwise plain undergarments. I cursed Theo for not bringing me sexier lingerie when he helped me dress this morning, as if he hadn’t planned this since breakfast. He planned everything. Slow, steady, planned movements were all he knew.

  Theo didn’t seem to mind the plainness; he was captivated by the curve of my chest, kissing, and nipping the skin. His right hand held my waist tensely like he was trying to hold himself back.

  I didn’t want him to. Everyone had been treating me with extra caution or weeks like I was a breakable piece of glass.

  “Theo,” I said breathlessly. He hummed a response, face buried in the valley between my breasts. “You don’t have to be gentle.”

  “Trust me,” he chuckled darkly, lifting his head only enough for me to see a rotten glint in his eye. “When we make love, I won’t be gentle, but right now, you get to see the softer side.”

  “Well, then what are we doing?”

  “Mmm,” he moaned, placing a soft kiss on my lips. “Did you know the female orgasm is a natural pain reliever?” He smirked against my lips, eyes lighting up in mischief.

  My thighs quivered as I tried to remain undisturbed by his question. I made a noise in the back of my throat as I tried to speak. I coughed and cleared it before answering, “No, I-I didn’t.”

  “Mmm.” He nodded, sliding my bra off my body swiftly and throwing it on the pile of my dress. “I had an eye-opening conversation with your doctor,” he said while kissing down my chest taking small moments to lick the soft skin on my breasts and stomach. “Your brain releases all these endorphins.” He kissed my belly button, squeezing my hips.

  I choked on the saliva in my mouth. I tried to steady my breathing, not even bothering to answer Theo’s mumbles.

  “It’s the world’s most natural pain reliever.” His voice got huskier the farther down my body he slid. “And I don’t want my girl to be in pain.”

  I gulped as his nose skimmed my hip where my painfully boring cerulean panties were. He placed his nose and lips against my most intimate parts and exhaled a happy sigh.

  No one had ever been this close to my body before. There was a time when a boy accidentally brushed his hand across my lower region in the pool, but his hand quickly retracted, and he apologized profusely as Caddy glared at him.

  This was much more pleasurable.

  He started tugging the fabric off my hips, and I began to tell him to be careful with my leg, but the sound of ripping f
abric stopped me.

  “Excuse me!” I cried in outrage.

  “I’ll buy you more,” he said smirking.

  Before I could even respond, I was thrust into a frenzy of tongues and fingers and panting breaths. The pool boy’s hand felt naughty and forbidden. Theo’s hands felt devilish, like he gave up his right to Heaven to be granted this power, and I thanked whatever devil or demon gave it to him.

  My legs twitched. My stomach quivered. Theo rose from my thighs and came closer to breathe the air I was panting out. His scent, his eyes, his touch, his expertise; everything about him was magnified, almost to the point of overwhelming.

  Having someone so close to me in such an intimate was nerve-racking, and terrifying, and anxiety-inducing, and absolutely the best feeling I had ever felt. The way he moved was so fluid and exact it made me wonder how much practice he had beforehand. No, I told myself, don’t think about that. Focus on him. Focus on this feeling. Focus on-

  Then it felt like every nerve in my body had somehow manifested legs and swam down to my belly where Theo’s hand was holding me down to the bed. My body lurched forward, and I grabbed at his hand though he kept it steady and firm.

  I swear I could see stars dancing around Theo’s head as I floated back down to Earth from the Heaven I had obviously transported to. That might have been because I stopped breathing.

  Theo crawled up to me, holding my face to his chest, stroking my cheek gently.

  My mouth gaped like a fish, open, close, open, inhale, close.

  Theo’s boisterous laughter boomed and shook me as he held me to him. “I take it that was good for you?”

  “Don’t get cocky,” I said while still trying to sit up. He didn’t allow me to.

  “Oh, no. You’ve got to wait for cocky. That comes later.”

  I groaned audibly and allowed my head to fall back on his chest comfortably. His fingers ran through my hair the best they could with all the tangles and curls. He placed a kiss on the top of my head as my eyes slid closed.

  “I want to take care of you. Always.”

  Repetition

  Theo let me lay in bed until dinner when he forced me to come downstairs. He wouldn’t allow me to walk yet and insisted on toting me around the house in his arms. When we arrived downstairs, I noticed Cam sitting at the dining table, shoveling food in his mouth with a large plate of tomato pasta.

  “You couldn’t wait two minutes until I got Margo? That’s all I asked; you couldn’t even do that?” Theo groaned. Cam paused and looked at us, caught, wide-eyed.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled with his mouth full of food. Theo pulled a chair out with his foot and settled me into it. I propped my leg on another chair and let out a heavy sigh. Even the smallest bits of effort wore my tired body out.

  Theo walked back from the kitchen with two large plates of pasta. He set one down and sat in the chair next to me. I picked up my fork slowly and bowed my head to get closer to my fork, so I wouldn’t need to lift my arm. Cam chuckled at me, and bits of food flew out of his mouth. Theo shot a look at him, wiping his forehead from pasta sauce Cam spat at him.

  Theo grabbed my fork, gathered some food on it, and held it to my mouth. I glared at him, reaching up to grab it from him.

  “Margo,” he scolded, swatting my hand away. “Open your mouth.”

  “I’m not a child,” I protested, reaching up once again. Theo dropped the fork noisily and walked out of the room. I followed him with my eyes, wondering what I had said wrong.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Cam said more cheerfully than necessary. “It’s just the mating bond and your injury, and you two…doing what you did.”

  I blushed a deep scarlet but didn’t try to deny it. “What do you mean?”

  “Our instincts tend to push us towards our mates to be fully bonded, especially if our mates are injured. His natural instinct is to keep you locked in his room, mate you, turn you, and never let another soul see you again.” My eyes grew alarmingly wide. “Of course, he wouldn’t do that. He’s probably just fighting with himself.

  “I was the same way with Gemma. She didn’t really feel the mating bond as quickly as I did, believe it or not, but I was smitten the first moment I saw her. I couldn’t fully bond with her, and I couldn’t have her close to me always, so it took everything in my power to let her walk out of the door. I did everything I could to be close to her, I even saved her tissues. Not my finest moment,” he cringed. “He’s probably still upset that you got hurt, and his instincts keep telling him to mate with you, so he can protect you better.”

  “I don’t want him to be mad at me,” I said sadly, looking back where Theo’s figure disappeared.

  “He could never be mad at you, Margo,” Cam soothed me, reaching over, resting his hand on top of mine.

  I half grinned, thanking him for comforting me. Theo walked past us and left through the front door. I called his name, but he didn’t acknowledge that he heard me. As he passed the window, I saw him transform into his wolf form and run into the woods. I closed my eyes and allowed my face to settle in my hands.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Cam told me, standing up and taking our plates away. “He’s just blowing off steam. Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

  I nodded, looking down at my leg once again. “Would you mind?” I was embarrassed to ask Cam for help, but he happily obliged and swept me up in his arms. Once I was settled on the couch, he began searching through Theo’s massive movie collection.

  “Your mate has way too many movies,” Cam scolded, shaking his head in disbelief. “He doesn’t even watch some of these. He should give some to me.”

  “We’ll get through them all one day.” I smiled optimistically. Cam smirked and rolled his eyes. “What?”

  “Look at you, talking about the future and stuff,” he said laughing. “Planning to stick around for a while?”

  I groaned and pursed my lips, not paying any attention to his teasing. It reminded me of Caddy, and my heart began to instantly miss him. I settled into the pillows, wanting to relax and enjoy a movie, but my mind started buzzing with questions. How was Caddy doing? Did he fit into his role as Alpha? Was anybody else hurt? Did he miss me? I knew he was only a call away, but a call seemed so distant and removed.

  “Margo.” Cam snapped. My eyes shot to his, confused and startled. “I’ve been talking to you for like five minutes, were you even listening?”

  I frowned apologetically and shook my head.

  “Theo just mind-linked me. He wants to know if you’re angry at him or if he can come back to the house?”

  “I’m not mad at him,” I said sadly. Cam gave me a look but mind-linked Theo, nonetheless. Within two minutes, Theo was running back through the door, out of breath, and sweaty. I turned to peek at him over the top of the couch. He smiled at me hesitantly, wiping his face from the sweat that had pooled on his forehead.

  “Come over and join us, Teddy!” Cam shouted from the floor where he was still sifting through films.

  “Don’t call me that,” Theo growled. He sauntered over and slumped on the couch next to me. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it soothingly. Cam shoved a movie in the player and settled in the large chair next to us.

  Theo’s arm reached over and pulled my shoulder down until I was resting in his lap on a pillow. His hands began stroking my hair, lulling me to sleep. My eyes fluttered shut, not fully asleep, but too relaxed to move or pay attention to the film.

  “Is she asleep?” Cam whispered loudly.

  “Yeah, I think so,” Theo said lovingly. His hands continued stroking my hair.

  “You really do have to calm it down with all the over-protectiveness, or she’s going to run the hell away like Gemma did.”

  Theo’s hand paused and then resumed slowly.

  “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Every molecule in my body is telling me: protect her. Mate her. Never let her out of your sight. And I know I can’t do that.”

  “Just try to tell h
er what’s going on, so she doesn’t feel like a child,” Cam suggested. “Cause feeding her really isn’t going to work.”

  “I know,” Theo snorted. “I never thought having a mate would make me this crazy.”

  “It does something to ya, I’ll tell you that.”

  The boys finished the movie, and Cam left shortly after. Theo held me in his arms, walking upstairs, and then he set me on the edge of the bed. He slipped off my sweatpants and took the socks off my feet. I grumbled and attempted to sit up as the crisp air hit my body, but Theo playfully pushed me down and slid my shirt off.

  “Let me up,” I all but whispered. He shushed me and slipped one of his large tee shirts over my head. Then, underneath the shirt, he changed my undergarments and tucked me under the sheets.

  “I’m sorry for freaking you out earlier,” he told me as he climbed into bed. I smiled tiredly and patted beside me.

  “S’okay.”

  He kissed my ear and folded himself around me carefully. “My mom wants us to come visit soon.” I hummed and nodded. “Do you want to go tomorrow? Thursday, I have a meeting with Alpha Sennia.”

  “That’s fine.” He heard how tired I was and didn’t keep talking. I was asleep in minutes.

  After a night of tossing and turning, I was exhausted in the morning. My night was filled with images of Theo constantly being attacked and killed while I was trapped somewhere I could not get to him. I clutched his arm for most of the night.

  I told Theo I was fine and awake enough to go visit Sloane. He deserved to see his mother, and he wouldn’t take us if I was tired. We loaded into the car after breakfast, and he drove us the short ten minutes to the packhouse.

  It was the first time he had driven anywhere without the entourage of guards. Theo drove a lot faster than his drivers, and I clawed at the armrest to steady myself. Theo laughed freely and pressed the pedal down a little more.

  “You better slow down, Theo, or so help me,” I snarled, glaring at his boyish face. He opened his mouth and laughed harder.