Boundary

by Ebony Olson

  Now, I imagined Dale naked, and on top of me. Thankfully, I tried to take a deep breath, and pain speared me back to my senses. Gasping, I gripped the table. Sobering, Dale went to touch me.

  "Don't!" Ripping off the piece of paper, I held it out for him. "This is where I used to order the birch leaf. I need a shower."

  When I came out of my bedroom next, Dale had showered and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I groaned internally. The guy got sexier every time I saw him. "Jeremy has gone to get the birch leaf. Do you need anything else while he's in the city?"

  "A new perfume. Something that stinks and will scare dogs away."

  "Then you wouldn't be able to wear it. Your natural scent is intoxicating to our kind."

  "Hence, the need for something to mask it. Aren't you meant to be at work?"

  "You're more important."

  "Don't do that."

  Dale pulled up a chair opposite where I sat on the lounge. "We need to talk."

  This time I groaned out loud.

  "If your father raised you right, you would know the protocol for finding your mate. You would have recognized it the first time we met. My scent would calm you, relieve your anxiety, and it would also make you...amorous."

  Thinking of the hankie Jeremy gave me, and the way I relaxed in Dale's bedroom. Then there were the thoughts I had of Dale and me in his bedroom.

  "At sixteen, your father should have arranged your introduction to the packs. The members would have lined up near the door. As Alpha, I would have greeted you first and sniffed your neck. If I hadn't recognized you as my mate, I would have then introduced the rest of my pack one by one. But, I would have, and you would have offered me your neck. It would have been instinct, even if you were not instructed to do so. I would mark you as mine. We would celebrate that night, and then you would be a member of my pack."

  "Would you expect me to sleep with you that first night?" The idea creeped me out a little.

  Dale shook his head. "The mating comes when both are ready. It usually doesn't take long due to the effect our scents have on each other. Plus, sixteen-year-old girls can be quite enslaved by their desires." Lips turning down, Dale sat forward in his chair to lean on his knees. "That is the protocol. And it's done like that for a reason.

  "As I've already told you, females of our kind are rare, and they always have a mate. They are also more vulnerable and dangerous to their pack. Once a female of our kind matures, her scent is intoxicating. It drives our males mad if she remains unmated. They become aggressive, fighting amongst each other to get mating rights."

  "Wait, you're insinuating that how I've Malcolm treated me is my fault?"

  "No! Your father caused it by hiding you. Malcolm is at fault because he should have followed protocol."

  "He raped me when I was fourteen. He was never going to follow protocol!" Wincing, I regretted taking the breath.

  Body rigid, Dale closed his eyes as his rage pulsed and withdrew. Taking a few steady breaths, Dale opened his eyes again. The brown pushed his indigo to the outer edges of his irises, and the gold wolf eyes suffused around the pupil.

  "I believe you are right. What I'm trying to explain, is that your pack never used to be a house of brutes. Under your father's rule, they were well ordered. Even after Malcolm became Alpha, they didn't decline for several more years. But, as you matured, your pheromones became a drug in the pack-house. One that induced the men to fight for the right to, for lack of a better word, mount you."

  Remembering the yelling and fighting, I struggled to swallow.

  Dale's eyes intensified as he watched tears form in my eyes. "You were living in a house of drug addicts, all willing to kill to get their fix."

  "But I was with Malcolm? And they didn't have sex with me, they beat me."

  Dale's hands clenched in tight fists. "Malcolm never marked you, he couldn't, you weren't his mate. The mark would have festered and made you both sick. So, you were an unmated female. Malcolm's violence probably escalated because he was continuously challenged. I've heard that happened often. By letting the others beat you, it provided them with a mini-dose. Like a heroin addict at the methadone clinic. Your pain and fear would have also dampened your pheromones. Of course, the smell of your fear is like a red flag to a bull, so it amplified a different rage."

  Now, I was crying. Reaching out tentatively, Dale encased my hands in his. "Malcolm brought the state of his pack on himself. I can't do it to mine."

  When I looked up confused, Dale licked his lips. "You haven't been here anywhere near as long, but my pack is already reacting to your pheromones. Howard responded straight away. He was a drug addict in the seventies and is more susceptible to having his buttons pushed. I didn't expect it to hit him so hard. His aggression towards you is because he wants you, but knows you belong to me.

  "Bob is my delta. When you kissed him, it took all his strength to resist you, Vera. Even Jeremy has become very protective of you. As my beta, he is the strongest second to me, and yet he still rubbed his scent all over you."

  Sitting back, Dale removed his hands from mine. "I can't let you leave, Vera. I'm your mate. You are also a danger to any other pack that finds you. Your presence would turn them into vicious wild animals like it did your old pack. However, you are affecting my pack even when you aren't in the same house. I need to ask you to allow me to mark you. We can go without mating for now. But, for the sake of my pack, I need to mark you as mine and dampen your pheromones, so they only affect me."

  Sitting there crying, I heard everything he was telling me, and it made sense. My pack grew more violent over the years. The way the men leered at me and how they touched me if they got me away from Malcolm made sense. I didn't need Dale to convince me what he said was true.

  The memory of Jeremy storming into my house yesterday, holding me against the wall played in my mind. Did that happen because he smelled Bob on me? "If we do this, will there be side effects?" I didn't want to see Jeremy and Bob turn into the monsters of my nightmares.

  "The dreams of us being intimate may increase."

  My cheeks grew hot, and so did my chest. "You know about those?"

  Dale smirked. "Yes, Vera. I get them too."

  My entire body flamed thinking of how hot those dreams were and the image of Dale having them made me squirm in my seat.

  Dale cleared his throat; possibly to rid his mind of those dreams. "Our attraction to each other will become more intense, but I won't act on it until you are ready. Your years of trauma have allowed you to subdue your natural response to being near me. So, you will resist me longer than any other female newly mated."

  "You won't turn violent?"

  "My scent calms you, and being bound to you will make me more balanced. We are yin and yang, Vera. We will balance each other."

  "Soul mates?"

  "That is the romanticized idea, yes." Dale's eyes were bright indigo again. He took a deep breath. "Will you allow it?"

  "It will help my pain, too, right?" I could barely say no and watch Bob and Jeremy turn into mean bastards. If I got a quick healing solution out of it and I wasn't expected to sleep with him or move into the pack-house...wait! Check that.

  "You'll heal after a good long sleep."

  "I can stay living here in the cottage. I don't have to move into the pack-house?"

  "For now, you need your space and your isolation."

  He wanted to keep me away from his pack in case my proximity still set them off. "Will it hurt?"

  "Momentarily. I'm told the experience is euphoric for the female after the initial penetration."

  Waiting as I bit my lip to think it over, Dale sat watching me. When I finally nodded, Dale stood holding out his hand. "Let's go to your room, so you can be comfortable."

  Chapter 11

  "You said this would happen on greeting me, correct?" Still holding my hand, Dale nodded. "That would be by the door." Disentangling my hand from his, I moved to the door and turned to face him. "Let's do this how it sh
ould have been." Translation: I'm not comfortable lying on my bed with you.

  Lips tilting up a little, Dale moved to join me. "Okay." Standing over me, he gave me a reassuring smile. "I'm going to sniff you now."

  There was a glint of mischief in his eyes that made me pause. "Hang on. When you sniffed my crutch as Alpha, and then you tried to nuzzle my neck...?"

  Dale gave a quiet chuckle. "Guilty."

  "I'd smack your face if it wouldn't hurt me so much."

  Still chuckling, Dale lowered his face and sniffed my neck. His nose brushed my collarbone, then trailed up my neck behind my ear and into my hair. My breathing hitched. Dale released a soft growl of appreciation.

  Dropping my gaze to the floor, I noticed his physical appreciation. Closing my eyes, I allowed Dale to move my face to his neck. "Breathe me in, Vera."

  Inhaling, I brushed my nose up his neck as he did to me. Instantly, my body relaxed, and my head became dizzy. Recognizing his scent from the handkerchief and the way it affected me. Tingling broke out across my back and abdomen as Dale wrapped his arm around my left side to support my back. When he moved closer, I hung my head back and to the side as Dale lowered his mouth to my neck.

  "Don't hurt me."

  "Never." Kissing the vulnerability of my pulse, Dale opened his mouth. A snapping and cracking sound that sounded like his jaw filled my ears. For a moment, I panicked and started to push away. Dale's scent grew stronger, enfolded me in his will, and kept my body docile in his hold.

  My eyes startled wide when thick canines bit into my shoulder, right where it joined my neck. There was a sensation of startling pain, but something more powerful washed it away. Closing my eyes, images of Dale and I together played like a trailer for a romance film. Kissing and laughing in his kitchen as I cooked us breakfast, swimming in the pool, in his bed. The image of me heavy with child, Dale's arms holding me as he kissed my belly, morphed into me holding our child in my arms.

  "A baby," I whispered with a smile. Opening my eyes, Dale was looking down at me with awe in his eyes. "You're going to give me a child." Closing my eyes again, the visions of our future together stole me into a peaceful sleep.

  Waking with a sense of happiness, I blinked a little to see me staring up at the bedroom ceiling. My smile vanished as I cleared my head of the dream and looked around confused. Sitting up in bed, my side pulled a little, but it didn't hurt. It was dark, so I turned on the light. An origami wolf head sat on my bedside table. Frowning, I picked it up and, noticing words written on the paper, I unraveled it.

  Vera,

  I needed to go. Rest tomorrow to let that rib heal better. Have dinner with me tomorrow night?

  Dale.

  Sighing, I took the note with me to the kitchen. I was making myself hot milk when I saw movement behind me reflected in the window. Jumping, I dropped the milk and turned around to see Jeremy standing there. My heart was hammering in my throat as I tried to steady my breathing enough to tell him off.

  "You need to be more aware of your surroundings. Though, I'm glad to see you're not in pain anymore."

  Nodding, I still wasn't able to talk.

  "Dale asked me to stay and make sure you were okay after you woke."

  "Am I safe to be around now?"

  "More than you were before; still not beyond a weaker man's interest." Jeremy looked at the floor. "Can I help you clean that up?"

  Glancing down at the milk carton spilling on the floor, I blinked at it a few times. Squatting, I picked it up to stop the entire thing emptying. Jeremy was beside me with paper towel wiping it up. "My heads still a little fuzzy."

  "I remember how high you were on the handkerchief; the real thing would be longer-lasting." Sighing as if something had been bothering him, Jeremy paused to watch me. "Don't feel guilty for what happened with your pack. That was never your fault."

  I kept my eyes downcast.

  Standing up, Jeremy disposed of the milk drenched toweling. "Starting Saturday, I'm going to begin training you in self-defense. Four days a week, I work with Dale in the city, so I can only train you on the weekend and Wednesday's. You'll need to practice what I teach you with Bob on the other days."

  Unsure about training with Bob now, I stood up and turned my back.

  "He's a delta, Vera. They are third in line and strong enough to be beta if they focus themselves. Bob will be strong enough to resist you. Just don't go tempting him to annoy Dale anymore, okay?"

  Taking the milk carton out of my hand, Jeremy took over making my hot milk for me. Not arguing, I curled up on the lounge and watched outside.

  "Here." Jeremy handed me the milk and sat down. "Do you feel his absence?" Thinking about it and shook my head. "What do you feel?"

  "Woozy, and like I'm hollowed out." Placing my hand over my stomach, I checked to make sure my insides were solid. "Scooped empty to my core."

  Jeremy exhaled in relief. "Do yourself a favor. For the next week, write down the times that feeling comes and goes, or any other feeling you have."

  "Are you worried?"

  "More running an experiment to see if anything changes for you now." Picking up the television remote, Jeremy started flicking through channels. "You should keep a diary, compare how you used to react to things, to how you do now."

  Wondering why, I blinked a few times but decided he might have a good point. "Okay, I'll give it a go."

  "Do you own a diary?"

  "With the potential of Malcolm finding it? Hell, no!"

  Leaning over the arm of the lounge, Jeremy retrieved a shopping bag. "I thought that would be the case." Pulling out a small container, he placed it on the coffee table. "Birch leaf, in case you need it again." Then he handed me a beautiful journal with an expensive-looking pen. "I was in the city when Dale told me you agreed. I thought this would come in handy for you."

  "Thank you." I blinked back the tears. "I… I mean, no one has ever given me something unless it was to benefit them."

  "This is to benefit Dale and yourself. It will allow you to see how the bond between you works. I'm practical, not sentimental."

  When I smirked, Jeremy raised a brow. "I was thinking, I kissed the wrong pack member."

  Jeremy snorted. "No, you picked the perfect one. If you had picked me, Dale would have known it was a ploy. By picking Bob, you devalued Dale, and made me get all possessive, which also worked in your favor."

  "Did he really think I wouldn't fight back?"

  "You've spent your life beaten down. Of course, he did." Jeremy didn't even try to sugar coat it. "But that's not why he did it, Vera."

  "He told me why." It was a lot to take on. "It's why I agreed to this." My hand covered where Dale had bitten me. There wasn't any marks or scabs, only tenderness of bruising under the flesh.

  Nodding, Jeremy stopped flicking channels. "Why is everything chick flicks tonight?"

  Smiling, I snuggled into his side. "I like this movie."

  "Of course, you do." Watching me yawn, Jeremy placed an arm around my shoulders and cuddled me to his side.

  "The books are better."

  "They always are." Picking up his mobile with his free hand, Jeremy typed out a message. "I can get you some books tomorrow if you like?"

  "I can buy my own."

  Watching the movie, I already felt my tears building.

  "You're not going to cry, are you?"

  "From the moment he dies until she meets the new guy. It happens every time I watch it."

  "Next time we do a movie night, I'm bringing DVDs." When his phone pinged, Jeremy read the message then relaxed back on the lounge and watched the movie with me.

  Opening my eyes, I jolted away from the arm around me. Jeremy jumped as if bitten and looked down at me, half asleep. "What is it?"

  "Nothing, I just..." was letting you touch me, "hadn't realized I'd fallen asleep." Moving away from Jeremy, I went to the kitchen, pouring us both a drink of water.

  Scrubbing his face, Jeremy turned off the television and stifled a y
awn. "It's a little before dawn, so I'll head home and get a few hours' of sleep in my own bed."

  "Can I ask a question?"

  "Sure."

  "Why can't I turn into a wolf?"

  Jeremy shrugged. "No one knows."

  "Can Hymn and Alexia?"

  "They do a partial shift." Picking up the glass of water I'd poured for him, Jeremy took a big long drink. I stood there, waiting for further explanation. Jeremy finished the glass and frowned at me before his brows lifted. "Oh, right. They can grow the teeth and claws, and their eyes change to have night vision. No one knows why, but we've always thought it was because they are only half-breeds."

  "So, why can't I?"

  Jeremy blinked at me. "Who says you can't? Yes, you haven't done it so far, but you smell like us, so there is no reason you can't change like us."

  My brows furrowed. "Has any full-blooded females ever changed before?"

  Shaking his head, Jeremy turned, walking out. "No, but there's always a first for everything. Why not give it a try? Goodnight."

  The door closed behind him, leaving me staring after him wondering what the hell that meant. Deciding Jeremy was still half asleep, I locked the back door and went back to bed. Unable to sleep, I grabbed my laptop and started researching Lycans.

  Chapter 12

  The knock at the front door surprised me. With a frown, I went to the front door and cracked it open a little. When Dale stood there dressed in his suit, I opened it wider.

  "You're earlier than I expected. I haven't even put dinner in the oven yet, but I guess we can talk while I cook."

  "Cook?" Dale stayed by the door, his face conveying his confusion. "Didn't you get my letter about dinner tonight?"

  "Of course, I was just saying I hadn't put it in the oven yet." Turning, I walked back to the kitchen to keep preparing dinner.

  "Um, Vera. I wasn't expecting you to cook for me."

  "Then how is it dinner if we don't eat?"

  Catching up at the end of the hall, Dale rubbed his lips together before taking my hand and looking me in the eye. "I've booked a table at a nice restaurant for us."