Bitten, Beaten, & Loved

by Catherine Banks

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I woke up the next morning alone in my bed. I walked out to the living room, smiling to know that Sean had stayed true to his word and not tried anything even though we’d been sleeping in the same bed together and he’d broken the mate bond I’d had with Jeff.

  Sean smiled at me from the kitchen where he was cooking eggs, bacon and pancakes. “Hey, sleepy.”

  I rubbed my eyes and frowned. “What time is it?”

  He pointed to the clock hanging on my wall as if he lived here instead of me. “Ten in the morning.”

  I stared at the clock’s hands in shock. I hadn’t slept in this late since before I was bitten. “I’m so sorry. You should have woken me up.”

  I started to come into the kitchen and he shook his head. “Go get dressed and I’ll finish breakfast.”

  I opened my mouth to object, but he ignored me, flipping over a pancake. I quickly went through my morning routine and changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. When I came back out to the living room two plates of fully prepared food sat on the counter in front of the stools. He’d even poured two glasses of milk. I frowned. “I didn’t have milk.”

  He smiled. “I made a quick trip to the store while you were sleeping.”

  I walked to the fridge and stared in disbelief at the amount of food stuffed inside it. I opened the freezer and it was equally full. I quickly opened all of my cupboards. I felt dizzy. “How much did you spend?” He shook his head not willing to answer so I grabbed my purse and pulled out two one hundred dollar bills from my bonus money and held them out to him. “Here.”

  He shook his head and held up his hands. “I don’t want your money.”

  “This is your money. You paid for the food.”

  He smiled and kissed my cheek. “Consider it a gift.”

  He’s stubborn. I’ll just have to slip it in his pockets at some point. I set the money on the coffee table and walked to sit on one of the stools. He sat down beside me and started eating. He was in such a good mood that I didn’t want to spoil it so I ate with him. I finished my plate of ten pancakes, five pieces of bacon and five eggs and took his empty plate with mine to the sink. He gently pushed me to the side away from the sink and started doing the dishes.

  “Sean, this is my house and I asked you to stay. You shouldn’t have cooked breakfast for me and you sure as hell shouldn’t do the dishes too. You especially shouldn’t be doing anything for me since you also broke my mate bond.”

  He shrugged. “I’m already doing them so you might as well go sit down and relax. And you don’t owe me anything for breaking your old mate bond. I enjoyed breaking it.” I opened my mouth to argue and he said, “I’m almost done.”

  I sighed and walked to the couch. It was nice to have someone looking after me, but it was wrong that a dominant was doing things for me. He finished the dishes and sat down beside me on the couch to watch TV. We watched the television in silence, me in complete bliss. He took me out for lunch and then we walked through the park. He hadn’t spoken much and I was starting to get worried that I had upset him somehow.

  “Are you upset about something?” I asked him.

  He looked at me with a frown. “No, why would you think that?”

  “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

  “Sorry, I’ve just been thinking.”

  “About?”

  “Will you go on a trip with me this weekend?”

  A weekend trip? “Where?”

  “To Tahoe,” he said, “I have a cabin up there.”

  I chewed on my lip nervously. In the city, he would be more likely to get caught if he hurt me, but in the mountains, he could dispose of my body without anyone finding or knowing. I didn’t really think Sean would do that, but I hadn’t known him very long.

  “I don’t know.”

  “We could spend an entire weekend away from the city and humans, unless you wanted to go to the casinos. We could spend it as wolves or in human form. We could just enjoy each other and not think about packs or anything else. It would just be the two of us.”

  It did sound amazing. “Okay,” I said finally in a soft voice, shocked I had even said it.

  He smiled happily and hugged me tightly. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”

  “When would we leave?”

  “Friday night.”

  That was tomorrow.

  When we got back to my house he said he needed to go take care of some stuff for the trip.

  I snatched the cash off the table before he could see me and walked him to the door. “Thank you for last night and the food this morning.”

  He hugged me against him and rubbed his cheek against mine. Possessive, much? “Can I come back tonight?”

  I should have said no, but I wanted to see him again. “Sure.” He kissed me lightly on the lips and I shoved the money in his back pocket before pushing him gently out of the door.

  He pulled the money out of his pocket and frowned at me. I waved. “See you tonight.”

  I closed the door and heard him laughing as he walked away.

  I looked through my clothes and spent the entire evening picking out clothes to take on the trip with me. I was actually looking forward to the trip.

  Work was unbearable the next day and Richard pressured me constantly to get details about Sean and me, but I continued to ignore him. At the end of the day I ran out of the office and home as fast as I could to get the last few items I needed ready.

  Sean knocked on the door a few minutes after six and I yelled for him to come inside. I zipped up my bag and turned around to find a single red rose in front of me. I took it from him and he kissed my cheek.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  I set the flower on my dresser and nodded my head. “Yeah.” Part of me knew it came out as a lie since I was incredibly nervous, but I didn’t want to ruin the weekend before it had started.

  He took my bag and headed out to his car. “Well let’s get going!”

  I locked the house up and slid into the passenger seat of his truck. “I’m surprised you have a beat up looking truck like this.”

  He laughed. “It’s the perfect vehicle for going off road. A nice truck would just get dirty and banged up anyways.”

  “Was your alpha okay with us going?” I asked softly.

  “Of course. I’m an adult, I don’t have to get his permission to go on dates.”

  “Mmhm.”

  He started the truck and then reached over, resting his hand palm up on my leg. I slid my hand into his and felt a weird tingling in my head as we held hands. I’d had it since he broke my mate bond. Maybe it was a side effect from it. I really didn’t care. I was thrilled to no longer be tied to that pack in any way.

  I turned the radio on low and relaxed in the seat as he drove. “How was work?” I asked him.

  “Fine, I set up a Tahiti honeymoon package for a couple getting married at the end of the year.”

  “I’ve always wanted to go outside the country,” I admitted.

  “Why haven’t you?”

  “I don’t have any of my birth certificates anymore and so I can’t get a passport.”

  “You can order a birth certificate,” he advised me, “it’s really simple. I could help you if you wanted me to.”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “So, you haven’t mentioned your family,” he commented.

  “Both my parents are dead,” I said softly. The sadness from their deaths was still strong, especially since I had been the cause.

  “I’m sorry, Rose. What happened?”

  “The pack killed them,” I admitted.

  His hand tightened around mine, but he controlled his anger enough that I didn’t sense it. “Why?”

  “They did it after the third time I ran away.”

  “I hope I get to meet these guys,” he growled.

  “I don’t,” I whispered in fear. I never wanted to see them again and I really didn’t want them to hurt Sean.

  He
stroked his thumb across my hand as he held it. “Don’t worry about me, I’m a decent fighter.”

  “Sean, if they hurt you, I could never forgive myself.”

  “Easy, Rose, I won’t get hurt by these idiots and even if I did, it wouldn’t be your fault. Let’s forget about it, okay.”

  I couldn’t forget about it. The thought that Jeff might find me and hurt Sean had already crossed my mind many times. Maybe it would be smarter to isolate myself so that no one could get hurt.

  “Rose, you’re perfectly safe with me. Nothing bad is going to happen. Ok?”

  I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “What about your family?” I asked him.

  “My dad and I aren’t on good terms at the moment. My mom died a long time ago.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “I was too young to know my mom and my dad isn’t easy to get along with anyways.”

  “Have you always been in this pack?” I asked.

  He nodded his head. “Born and raised.”

  “Why don’t you have a mate?”

  “I told you, there aren’t many free females around.”

  “Yeah, but there are some and you’re hot.”

  He smirked. “Most of the females who are free are a bit crazy and not my type.”

  “All females are crazy.”

  He laughed. “No comment.”

  I turned and looked at him as he drove. Why me? I scooted closer to him since the seat was a bench seat and leaned my head on his shoulder. Even if things didn’t work out between Sean and me, I should enjoy it while it was happening. He turned and kissed the top of my head while still watching the road.

  He released my hand and moved his arm so that it was wrapped around my shoulders. I relaxed against him and said, “I could get used to this.”

  “Me too,” he whispered and rubbed my shoulder.

  “What do you do for fun?” I asked him since I had been quiet for far too long.

  “I take trips a lot. I try to see as much of the world as possible. I go to the beach a lot and surf.”

  “You know how to surf?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve always wanted to learn to surf.”

  “I’ll have to teach you then.”

  “I don’t even own a bathing suit anymore,” I whispered to myself.

  “Why not?”

  Crap, I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “Uh, I don’t really wear revealing clothes much anymore.”

  He rubbed my shoulder again and said, “Well you are welcome to wear whatever you want around me.”

  “I’m sure you wouldn’t mind me wearing revealing clothes,” I said with a laugh.

  “Hmmm,” he mumbled.

  “Have you ever had a mate before?” I asked him softly.

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Does it bother you that I have?”

  He glanced at me and then looked back at the road. “Not at all. Your past is your past and it’s what shaped you into the person you are, who I really like.”

  There was a lie in there somewhere. “You’re lying,” I whispered.

  He sighed. “It bothers me that those men took advantage of you. It doesn’t make me think less of you, but I don’t like thinking about them hurting you.”

  “If I could take it back…”

  “I meant what I said about it shaping you into who you are. And I meant what I said about really liking you. I like who you are now and I don’t care what you did in your past and just want to make your future one that you will enjoy.”

  “You seem certain that you will want to stay with me for there to be a future.”

  “Well, you’re beautiful, smart, sweet, and fun to spend time with. My wolf and yours get along great and so far, I haven’t seen a reason yet why I wouldn’t want to spend more time with you.”

  He pulled off the freeway and onto a road that led to a small cabin right next to the lake. “I’m broken,” I whispered.

  He turned the truck off and turned to face me, putting a hand underneath my chin and said, “I can help you heal.”

  “How do you know? Why would you want to help me?”

  “You know why,” he whispered as he stared into my eyes. He leaned forward and kissed me deeply. I melted into him and kissed him back. He was the first man I had kissed since Jeff and for the first time I wasn’t afraid. He pulled back and leaned his forehead against mine. “Will you let me help you?”

  “What do I have to do?”

  “Just enjoy being with me. Forget about your past and focus on our now. Can you do that?”

  I nodded my head and rubbed my face against his. “Yes.”

  He beamed happily and crushed me against him in a tight hug. “Come on, let’s get everything put away so we can go play.”

  We spent the rest of the night in wolf form and fell asleep on the rug in front of the fireplace curled around each other.

  * * *

  When we arrived back from our trip, we sat on the couch together watching shows and relaxing, cuddled together.

  Sean’s cell phone rang, ending the pleasant mood a few minutes later. “Sean,” he answered quickly.

  Werewolves have very good hearing and I could hear the person on the other end of the phone. He was older with a deep voice that I recognized, but couldn’t place. “Where are you?”

  Sean adjusted his butt on the couch. “With a friend.”

  The man sighed softly. “You’re with her again, aren’t you?” Sean didn’t answer, which was answer enough. “I won’t order you to bring her in. If she’s not ready then I’ll wait for her, but she needs to come see me before the next full moon. I don’t want another incident like last moon happening again.”

  Sean nodded his head. “I understand.”

  The man laughed softly. “You’re as stubborn as your father was. I need to speak with you. Come back to the hall.”

  Sean sighed and closed his phone. “I need to go.”

  I leaned against the door and realized I was smiling. He’d made me smile yet again. The farther away he got though, the more my fear returned.

  What was I doing? I’d heard his alpha. He wanted me to come in, but I couldn’t. I can’t go back! My cell phone rang from inside my room and I ran to answer it. “Hello?”

  Richard asked, “What happened? How come you didn’t come in to work?”

  I groaned. “I’m sorry Richard. We were out late last night and he didn’t wake me up.”

  “He stayed the night?”

  I groaned again. “Yes, but nothing happened.”

  “He stayed the night and nothing happened? What the hell is wrong with you?! Well I guess you wouldn’t want to come off easy, but still…Don’t come in today, nothing’s happening. Are you going to see him again?”

  I wanted to say no, that I was leaving, but I couldn’t just run from Sean. “Yes, tonight.”

  Richard giggled excitedly. “Okay, don’t come in to work tomorrow then, but call me.”

  “Okay, bye.” I hung up before he could talk anymore. What a girl Richard was! I busied myself cleaning the house and then reorganized the cabinets of food. By the time I had the cabinets, fridge and freezer organized, it was dark outside. I hopped into the shower and washed everything, but my face, leaving Sean’s scent on my cheek. I redressed, packed a suitcase and started taking out boxed pasta and chicken when someone knocked on my door. I walked cautiously towards the door and inhaled a few feet away. Sean. I opened the door and he smiled at me. “Hey.”

  I stepped away from the door to let him in. “Hi.” I moved away from him and back to the kitchen before he could hug me. I would make him food then tell him I was leaving. That seemed the easiest way. I pulled out pots and pans and Sean sat down on a stool watching me.

  He inhaled then frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  I stopped moving and looked at him. “What do you mean?”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “You’re nervous and afraid.”

>   I swallowed. Stupid werewolf senses. I couldn’t lie to him, but I could fib a little. “I have something I need to talk to you about and I’m worried how you’ll react.”

  His eyes widened and he unfolded his arms. “Okay.”

  I shook my head. “Let me make food first.”

  He stood up and walked around the room. I didn’t have any pictures or movies, so he didn’t really have much to look at. He looked at my boring black couch, my plain wall clock, my old brown recliner and then he looked into my bedroom door. His whole body tensed and I could smell his nervousness from the kitchen. He looked back at me. “Why is there a suitcase on your bed?”

  Shit. I thought I’d put it under the bed. I ignored him and kept preparing the food. He sat down on the stool again and watched me silently. Why was he nervous? I’m the one running away again. I turned on the radio while the food was simmering and Sean walked to stand behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me against him. “You’re too wound up. Relax.” His magic enveloped me, now familiar with the feel of it and my body relaxed against him. He began swaying and I let him lead me into a slow dance out of the kitchen and into the living room. He turned me around to face him and kissed my lips softly. “I think dinner’s burning.”

  I jumped away from him and ran back into the kitchen, turning off the stove. I moved the pots to different burners and then turned to face the wall. Why does he make me feel like this? Why am I letting myself get so close to him? I hit my head against the wall and Sean rushed over, turning me around. He stared at my face in shock and hugged me. “What’s wrong? What did I do? Why are you crying?”

  Crying? I touched my face and felt the wetness. I pulled away from him and wiped at my eyes before pulling plates down. He was upset now and paced across the living room. I filled up our plates and set them on the counter with glasses of water. We ate our food in silence and then I washed the dishes. He started pacing again as soon as I’d taken his plate. He stopped in mid-stride and asked, “Where are you going?”