by Jill Haven
She laughed and whirled away, her hair flying behind her. She marched right out of the bathroom as if she didn’t have a care in the world, folding her knife and stowing it in her purse as the door swung shut behind her.
My heart raced and I rested a hand on the wall. Maybe I was crazy, after all I’d never been accosted by a woman in the men’s restroom before, but I was pretty sure she’d just confirmed everything I wanted to know about Haiden.
He was a Divine Omega, and God, he was also breathtaking. I’d have to think carefully on how to proceed. That flush of heat still danced in my chest from merely a brush of his fingers against mine, and there was no way I’d be able to force myself to leave Muscogee now.
6
Haiden
The walls of my apartment were closer together. They weren’t really, but the room I’d come to think of as my safe haven between me and the world was small and claustrophobic tonight. I had the vanilla candle burning. The weather had gotten colder this evening, and I wanted the comfort of fire. I couldn’t explain to anyone else why I sometimes needed to be near flames. I paced for the billionth time by the small end table set up at the foot of the futon, and I ran my finger fast through the flame so that the heat imprinted itself on my fingers for a few seconds, lingering, but not burning me. My book on French cooking was lying face down on the futon, but I couldn’t get into it. Nothing held my attention for more than a few minutes.
“Carlisle,” I whispered, and almost moaned, gripping my flat stomach with my hand. I’d gotten an insane awareness of that part of my body tonight, interesting and good, and I wanted to touch myself there.
“Carlisle,” I said again. Sure, the name was average enough, but the man who went with it? Heck, he was amazing. I’d never seen anyone with lips as full and soft-looking as his, or shoulders that seemed so right for grabbing onto while… well, doing things I’d barely worked myself up to trying.
I’d had a boyfriend, but at least half of our trouble was the fact that I was standoffish with him about sex. He made me uncomfortable, and I’d made a habit of asking him to wait. I’d blown him to get him off my back about fucking me, but that was about as far as things had gotten, and I hadn’t been too excited about going any further with him. He’d been older than me too, by several years, and he’d reminded me too much of my dad with his mean comments and the way he’d started shoving me around when he was pissed off.
Forcing my mind away from my ex, I lingered on thoughts of Carlisle, pacing over to the window to move the blinds and stare outside at the cold, glittering stars visible between the newly exposed tree branches. Sparse leaves fluttered there. It was weird that I was so fascinated by Carlisle. I was almost never comfortable around strangers, especially men. My past with my Dad made me hate raised male voices, and my ex had proved that men couldn’t be trusted at all. He’d started out really nice and had slowly gotten meaner when I didn’t give him exactly what he wanted. He’d wanted to move in with me too, and that had been the last straw—I’d said no. He’d disappeared after that and I figured it was because I finally had enough backbone to tell him no.
Carlisle, though, he made me ache for something good. It actually freaked me out a little that I still had a warm, almost electric vibration in my chest from earlier, when Carlisle had touched my hand. The caress of his skin against mine had tingled and was exciting. My stomach had heated, and a strange awareness had settled into my groin. I wasn’t hard then or now, but I could be easily. Groaning, I rested my head against the corner of the wall and continued staring outside into the darkness.
He’d been so handsome and seemed so put together.
But so had my ex, at first, and Carlisle was older than he’d been. Carlisle probably wouldn’t want to wait for me to get comfortable around him. He’d want whatever he could get from me. He’d definitely seemed interested in me that way. I couldn’t put my finger on it, gaydar maybe, but he’d seemed like he might think I was cute.
What would a guy like that want with you?
It didn’t matter that I knew my crappy, self-deprecating thoughts were from the years spent with Dad degrading me, and then from my ex telling me what a piece of crap I was for not trying harder to be normal, not getting a better job, not leaving this town faster. I still had trouble stopping the bad thoughts about myself that sometimes looped through my mind on repeat.
Sighing, I let the blinds clack against the window and went to unfold the futon, so it was an uncomfortable bed instead of a lumpy couch. I grabbed the sleeping bag I used as a blanket and a pillow out from where I stored them underneath. My book thumped to the floor, and I didn’t bother to pick it up. Snapping off the light, I decided to let the candle burn and got as cozy as I could on the futon. Sleep was a long time coming. Brilliant blue eyes stayed in my mind as I drifted off.
Slowly a small red-earth cave materialized around me. I was aware that I was dreaming… or something. This wasn’t real life, but I was lying beside a crackling fire on warm, smooth stones and my clothes were gone. A summer breeze played over my skin and my dick went from interested to agonizingly full in almost no time at all. My nipples tingled. When I tried to sit up, I couldn’t. Glancing above me, I was startled to find my hands wrapped in thick ropes. Jammed into the knotwork that held my wrists together was a silver stake anchored into the rock. The metal gleamed and seemed expensive.
I wasn’t scared, but the strange, almost living, electric feeling that had started blazing inside me when Carlisle touched my hand tingled and amped up. I shivered and my hips rocked. I couldn’t stop. My dick smacked against my stomach and pleasure squeezed my gut. Dampness—precum—made my skin wet and drew my attention to the coolness on my stomach. Biting my lip, I moaned. A shadow danced on the roof of the cave and I gasped as Carlisle came into view.
He was dressed, but not in a nice, expensive shirt and pants like he had been at the restaurant. His clothes were something I’d never seen before in my life. He had on heavy black leather boots that came to his knees. He wore a… I knew skirt was the wrong word for it, but I couldn’t think of what it was called. It was made of a bright blue and black plaid cloth that definitely looked good on him. He had a wide, black leather belt holding it up and his shirt was gone. The firelight played across the swell of his pecs and shadows showed me that his abs were incredible—nothing like my soft, smooth stomach—with a six-pack and then some.
Tugging on my trapped hands, I wasn’t sure what I was trying to do—run away or try to get to him. His eyes glittered with the firelight and he smiled, a slow and wicked curve of his lips, as he sank to his knees and crawled toward me.
“I hope this dream never ends,” I whispered, and then flinched because my voice echoed against the stone in a way that felt too real.
“It doesn’t have to,” he said back, but his words weren’t English. I understood anyway, and that made me think this was a dream, and my brain felt fuzzy and confused even as my body sparked electric.
Well, if this was a dream, what the hell? He couldn’t hurt me, right? Groaning with my need, that strange current of lightning dazzled through my body and seemed to shoot directly to my ass. I tightened my hole to feel the nerves there light up, and my dick strained and leaked. I spread my legs for him, to show him where I needed him most.
He gasped and came closer. His lips were still that hypnotic fullness that I couldn’t get out of my mind earlier, but now they were parted. He did something weird—paused and stuck his nose to my calf, sniffing deeply.
I fought back a chuckle as his breath tickled over my skin. This was so strange; I’d never laughed during sex before. He closed his eyes and followed the line of my leg with his nose, taking deep breaths, until he was so close to my groin that I tugged on the restraints on my wrists and arched off the ground trying to get my dick closer to his sexy mouth. He slid his hands under my thighs and spread me the slightest bit wider, eyes bright with what I thought must be appreciation.
Flushing, I wanted to hide. No
one was ever happy with me the way he seemed to be, but I couldn’t get up and run away, and I strained lightly, but I couldn’t close my legs, and I couldn’t bring my arms down to cover myself. Lost, I whimpered, feeling excited and hot and horny all at once.
He made a shushing sound and moved to cover me, holding onto my thighs so that I ended up wrapping them around his strong waist.
“Don’t be scared. You smell so sweet,” he said to me, and I frowned at him, but then those lips I couldn’t stop thinking about were on mine. The electricity inside me exploded into something almost painful that my body could barely contain.
Excited, I opened my mouth for him and rocked my hips against the hard bulge hiding under his clothes. His tongue touched mine and my breath stuttered. We kissed for a long while, but I didn’t calm down, only wound up more, fighting with the ropes to move my arms so that I might have a chance to pull him closer. His warm chest against mine felt so good, and his chest hair teased my nipples. His hard muscles were amazing, but his strength did weird things to me, made me feel protected, made me want to let him to fuck me. Dang, that’s new.
“Please.” I broke away from his mouth to beg. “Oh, hell, please.”
“I’ll take good care of you, if you let me be your—” The word he said next didn’t make sense. It didn’t translate in my mind to anything. I didn’t care. I was so ready to blow, and this was only a dream anyway.
“Yes, yes, please.”
He slipped his hand between us and used his other one to grasp my hair and hold my head still for another kiss, only this time he used his tongue to part my lips and thrust into my mouth, owning me. He wrapped his hand around my dick carefully and tugged—the pressure just right, his thumb teasing over the tip on every upslide. I was so ready to come, and he jerked me better than I could have done it myself.
Crying out, I snapped my eyes open as an orgasm shredded through me, my body arching. My fingers gripped the cool side of my pillow, and I thrashed as waves of sharp joy clenched my stomach muscles and had my asshole squeezing hard. I felt so empty down there that I almost cried from it, even though everything else happening to me was crazy good.
The electricity in my chest crackled, urging me to get up and do something. Find something. But what? Finally able to unclench my pillow, I came down slowly, struggling to drag air into my lungs. Sweat beaded on my skin, and there was a fast cooling, huge load of jizz painted on the inside of my boxers. Groaning, I laughed and ran my hands over my face.
Had I been sleeping? I didn’t feel like I was waking up after sleep, and I didn’t remember actually falling asleep, but when I reached over and checked my phone, I was shocked by the fact that it was six thirty in the morning already. Once glance at the candle dancing in its jar at the foot of the futon showed me the wax was much lower than when I had crawled under my sleeping bag, and I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before I decided to get up and get ready for work.
“What the hell was that?” I trembled for a few seconds when I was standing. God, I’d been fine being tied down for him, even though I didn’t like being trapped and unable to get away in real life. “Weird.” Smiling to myself that I’d cooked up something that kinky in my head, feeling better than I thought I ever had, I headed for the shower.
The same thing happened again that night when I went to sleep.
And the next one.
And the one after that.
By the fifth morning after the dreams started, I was feeling embarrassed, but much better rested than I had been in a long time. I’d started waking up only an hour or so after falling asleep at night, each time right as I started to come. When I was done, I would strip off my boxers, feeling warm and happy in my stomach, almost like someone was giving me a hug, and fall into a deep sleep. My anxiety still simmered on the edges of my mind, and every now and then I almost convinced myself I was going bonkers for real, but with better sleep, everything was far more manageable.
That morning I walked to work with a smile on my face and a spring in my step, trying to figure out why Carlisle and I never got any further in my dreams than a hand job. I mean, they were my dreams, right? Was I scared of sex in my sleep, like I had been scared to let Devin, my ex, fuck me? Ugh, this is why I need a therapist. I wished I could talk to Jade, but didn’t have the nerve, not about something so sexual. She would laugh herself into a coma.
It was just a little past eight, and that electric crackle that seemed to get stronger right after I was dreaming was acting up in my chest, giving me thoughts that I shouldn’t have when starting a shift. Breathing through the strong, pleasant sensations fluttering in my chest, I stomped up the steps to Go Wild. I shoved open the front door and waved at the Old Man Battalion. I got some raised hands back. The men were already deep in conversation at one of the big tables in the middle of the dining area.
I stumbled to a stop when I saw Carlisle sitting in one of the booths with a fresh mug of coffee parked on the table in front of him. I adjusted my glasses to make sure I wasn’t inventing this. Steam rose from his coffee, and the sunshine that glittered through the front window lit his eyes up neon blue, and for a crazy second, I thought they must be the same color as the good strange feeling powering through my chest.
Shivering, I found myself smiling and raising a hand to wiggle my fingers at him. I shoved my glasses up quickly afterward, like that was all I was really trying to do, but he’d seen me, and it actually seemed like maybe he was waiting for me. He waved back with his own soft smile aimed my way. The tingles in my chest went frantic, and I rubbed a circle over my heart where they bounced around.
Does he know what I’ve been dreaming about?
The thought was so stupid, he couldn’t know, but my face flared scalding hot and the tingles in my chest flashed out everywhere, my stomach going shockingly warm. I knew I should stay away from him while my body was on high alert, but I found myself walking toward him instead, almost like my feet had a mind of their own. His smile widened and when I got to his booth, I rocked back on my heels and shoved my hands into my pockets.
“Hello,” he said. His rich, low voice punched me in the stomach.
I nodded, felt like an idiot, and then cleared my throat. “You enjoying your stay in town?” Proudly, I stood a little taller. I’d managed to talk in a normal voice without stuttering.
“It’s been enlightening.” He grinned.
The tingles in me rioted, and I could barely think. “How could that be? There’s not much of interest around here, unless you’re a dendrologist.”
He blinked at me, and then threw back his head and laughed. Pleasure wormed through me at having amused him with my lame joke. He calmed down just as we were starting to get a few looks from the old dudes hunched at their table, and I ducked my head.
“Trees are beautiful in harvest season—autumn. I’ve always enjoyed the wilderness, but no, that’s not what I’ve been studying.” He lifted his eyebrows and smiled, as if we had a secret together. I cringed inside and freaked out a little—does he know, how could he? Oh, hell—but then he rubbed at his chest and glanced down at his coffee.
“What have you been, um, researching?”
He made a small noise and thumped at his chest. Did he have heartburn? After that, he shrugged and smiled up ag me again. “This and that.”
“Great way to not answer me.” I should be wary, but something about him urged me to trust him. The warmth in my chest was a distraction as I tried to memorize his cheekbones and the way the sunlight painted his brown hair golden and the slight stubble on his chin. What would that short beard feel like on my skin?
I shivered and tried to think of something else to say, but couldn’t. “Well, I need to go clock in.”
He nodded, but as he did so he took a deep breath, the kind of thing where you pull air in almost all the way to your toes, narrowed his eyes, and frowned, but not at me exactly. He glanced around the room before his expression went back to something close to what it had been befo
re.
“Have a nice shift.” He slid out of the booth and stood, and I backed up to give him room. His size and height sent a weird squeeze through my lower body, and I felt like a lunatic when my asshole ached with that same frantic need that I usually associated with my dick. I wanted him to touch me there. I almost swallowed my tongue as that realization crashed in on me, and at the same time he took a step closer and cupped my cheek. “Stay safe, okay?”
“What are you—? I… uh, yeah, sure,” I mumbled back. The request from him was odd, but honestly, I’d had enough bad stuff happen in my life that it wasn’t anything I minded hearing. He dragged his thumb along my cheek and every muscle in my body seemed to melt.
He’s touching me, what do I do? I couldn’t make myself do anything at all.
With one last lingering look, he dropped his hand and left. Stuck like a statue, I stood there and watched him go, even stared out the window while he got into a fancy-looking car. Lightheaded and weightless, I thought maybe I could float to the ceiling, but all at once the room seemed to rush back in on me when the men at the table nearby laughed together about something. Ducking my head and pushing up my glasses, even though they hadn’t slipped, I grabbed Carlisle’s half-full mug and went toward the kitchen to go punch in.
7
Carlisle
“You don’t get it,” I grumbled and stretched my legs. The wide maple tree at my back was solid, a soothing reminder that the world had deep roots that even went farther than the dragons could easily reach. Even if I messed everything up for my clan, this world—nature—would still be here in the end. Sometimes I needed to feel insignificant when so much rode on my shoulders.
Mason smirked, his dark eyebrows tipped high on his forehead. He had one of those faces that always seemed perpetually on the edge of amusement, and now was no different, though I felt perhaps I was the butt of his joke this time. The setting sun cast a shadow under his strong jaw, and I turned to look at the view of gilded trees below that spread away from the small rise we sat on, instead of punching him on the nose. Wrestling around with another alpha would get me nowhere.