by Emma Knox
John’s expression had melted into shock, but I ignored it, looking away. I was ‘standing up for myself’ though here, so I turned back to meet his gaze.
“I know…that now that we’re married, there’s no easy way out for us, if there is one at all. I’m young, and I was extremely sheltered by the pack, but people talked a lot, and I listened, so I do know things. John…you’re my husband. My mate, and my Alpha. But I have to tell you right now, that I refuse to be in a relationship, arranged marriage or not, with a man that won’t show me any affection and only uses me as a baby dispenser. Just… I want more. We’re going to be stuck with each other for the rest of our lives, so I would like to have at least this much clear between us from the get go.”
John was so clearly taken by surprise, even after I finished and waited for a while, all he could do was stare at me, gaping slightly. I even started feeling a bit self-conscious, and flitted my eyes away before meeting his gaze again. Finally, he blinked, some of the surprise fading.
“Uh,” he murmured, running a hand down his face and a slight frown appearing on his face. “Well. You’ve said your piece, and I’ve heard you. My situation…isn’t quite like yours. I have a family in the pack, but they never really gave me much guidance when I was young, so I mostly followed the example of others growing up. But in the end, I’ve always been more on the quiet, stoic side. Not to say that I’m always that way, the past few days just brought some…excitement into my life, so you could say it woke me up. But, I will respect your wishes and... I will try to do my best for you.”
His expression was one of utmost sincerity, and I nodded to myself, feeling like it was the best answer I was going to get. I felt relieved, though, that we had crossed one more hurdle, and suddenly, my future seemed a lot brighter than it had just moments ago.
Chapter 8
John
I could see that Dominick looked appeased with my answer, but I was still thinking.
Dominick wants more.
It was the first thing he had asked of me, and of course, as his Alpha, there was no reason why I could not provide. I had been surprised for a moment that he could talk so eloquently to voice his needs, and I wondered if he was just really relaxed from the hot tub and beer. Either way, I had a feeling our little exchange had changed things between us for the better from now on, so I could only be glad for it.
Now, though, after hearing his side of things, I was thinking back.
I remembered my thoughts on him when I first saw him, especially with his indifferent expression. He really hadn't looked like he cared for much, I had even thought he was a snobbish, spoiled little brat of an Omega, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for that unfair evaluation of him.
Shit.
Our first night together. I had known he was feeling out of sorts, but I hadn't held enough patience or tried to meet him half way. Instead, I’d started some awkward conversation, created the perfect excuse for the two of us to run away from each other for a few minutes, and let my impatience get the better of me in the end. Thinking about how that had probably been his first time with an Alpha—hell, with anybody—and the way I had acted, I felt very regretful of my previous actions. In that moment, I hadn't been a very good Alpha to my Omega. I should probably consider myself lucky he was still planning on giving things a try. But, as I was slowly growing to realize, it was just how Dominick was.
He might seem cold on the outside, at first, but he was actually warm hearted. He could act entitled at times, but he was never unreasonable. Thinking properly, I realized he could also be super empathetic and sympathetic.
In a lot of ways, he had been mistreated by his pack. They hadn't treated him well emotionally or physically, but they had pretty much kept him caged, for the sake of the pack, and in the end had to leave the pack where he’d been sheltered most of his life. On the day of our wedding, during the celebration, I hadn't seen any of his family so much as go near him, even on the next day when we were planning to leave, and from our interactions, I didn’t think he even disliked them for it. He had the personality to cheer for the underdog while still having the best wishes at heart for others. Even for me, the Alpha that he should have been determined to hate simply because of what I represented.
The pack selling him away to the highest bidder, even if the person was a stranger. I wasn’t sure what my pack had orchestrated with Dominick’s pack, but I was sure the deal was a mutually satisfactory one.
“I think it’s about time that we got out,” I said after a long while had passed. I was still lost in thought as I hoisted myself out of the tub. Most of the beer was still there, the last one I’d opened was still unfinished, but after what Dominick said, I no longer wanted more.
“Do we have to leave?” Dominick asked, sounding quite mournful.
I hummed and reached for his hand. “Soaking in water for too long really isn’t good for the skin, so it would be best for right now. If you like it that much, we’ll definitely come back later, okay?”
He looked reluctant, but not long after I did, he left the tub as well. I would go back to drain it and seal it again, but right then, I felt like I needed to put some distance between me and Dominick. I was actually quite turned on by Dominick’s request, and it was a wonder to me how I had reacted to it that way with all the thoughts going around in my mind.
The thought behind the reaction was pretty simple, though. No man had ever said they wanted more of my love, affection, and intimate touch. They’d never wanted me, just my Alpha skills in bed.
I went to the bedroom to get a change of clothes, looking through my closet for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. By the time Dominick walked into the room behind me, I was walking into the bathroom for some privacy. I got dressed quickly, then left. Dominick was still there, holding his clothes to his chest and shivering a little. I hesitated, then moved closer to him and raised my hand. He watched me cautiously, and I ruffled his hair awkwardly, then dropped my hand and turned away.
“Get a towel from the bathroom and wrap it around yourself,” I called over my shoulder. “When you’re dry and warm enough, put on some clothes and come down. I’ll make lunch for us.”
I left the bedroom without giving him another glance and rushed downstairs. My hand tingled where I’d touched his hair, and I folded my hand and ignored the sensation. Once I made it to the kitchen, I pulled a bunch of stuff from the fridge to prepare to cook.
It had been a while since I actually cooked something to eat. It was actually way healthier for a shifter to cook a meal than order take-out, especially of the greasy kind. Too much of that stuff could make a shifter sick a lot faster than a human. But while I knew how to cook, because I’d mostly lived by myself since I was eighteen, I’d mostly eaten food out. There was a restaurant run by a pack member, though, so I usually just ate there and trusted that whatever they made wouldn’t hurt another shifter.
The new house, however, was a bit of a distance from there, and they didn’t exactly deliver. It wasn’t convenient to drive up every day to pick up a meal for two. I could only hope Dominick knew how to cook for the days I was going to be busy.
Just as I was thinking that, the kitchen door opened and I looked up to see Dominick peeking his head in. It hadn't been that long, aside from putting all the ingredients on the counter and picking out a few pans to cook with, I’d just barely started cutting up the veggies.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He nodded slowly, walking inside the kitchen. He had changed his outfit into a pair of dark jeans, a white t-shirt and a gray hoodie over it, zipped almost all the way up. He didn’t look like he was still shivering.
“I dried up quickly and put on some warmer clothes. I wanted to see if you need any help with lunch?”
I arched an eyebrow. “You know how to cook?”
“Uh, a bit, yeah. Though I mostly just helped in the kitchen, but I saw others cooking all the time. I can at least help out, right? I didn’t know you could cook, eithe
r.”
“Yeah. I live alone, so…I learned.” I dropped my head with a frown, looking around. “How good are you at cutting things?” I asked.
“Not too good, not too bad? What do you need?”
He came closer, rolling back his sleeves as he came to stand beside me and looked around at everything.
“Then, wash and cut these up for me. Make the cuts as small as you can. If you get tired or something, just let me know and I’ll take over.”
Dominick nodded, but he had this determined look on his face that made me think he wouldn’t be asking for any help. I left him to it, shooting glances at him every so often, as I pulled open the fridge and removed some meat. It was a chicken, and I cut the meat off the bones and then into strips and set them aside. The dark meat I cut into smaller pieces. Because I wasn’t sure if one bird was enough, I looked in the fridge to see if there was another one. I’d stocked up on a lot of food that could last us weeks before I made the drive down to Juneau, and I found another full chicken quickly. I gave it the same treatment as the first one, then threw the bones away.
Then I started the fire, and once Dominick was done with the cutting, I directed him to drop the vegetables in the pan to fry, then added the tiny pieces of chicken I’d cut up. In a separate pan, I poured some oil and added the larger strips of chicken. As I cooked, Dominick cleared up the counter then washed his hands in the sink. He stayed by the counter, watching me while I cooked.
Not long after, I had everything ready for us, and served up two plates. The kitchen area was separated from the rest of the room by an island, and on the other side was a table set up with four chairs. We sat down and silently began to eat. I glanced out the corner of my eye at him, but Dominick didn’t look like he wanted to say anything. I frowned, but ate quietly.
Once we were done, I carried the plates to the sink and washed up. Then, I turned to look at Dominick. He was still seated, but had turned to face me, and I imagined the look on my face was complicated.
“You can keep looking around the place if you want,” I said, waving a hand around. “Um, besides the living room and bedroom, no other room has any plans so far, but besides the study, you can plan out any other room, if you want. Or, if there’s something you’d like to add somewhere or want taken out, let me know and we can talk about it. Or you could also go up to the room and put your stuff up in the closet. If you need anything else, the town isn’t that far and there’s a mall, I can take you whenever you need to go.”
After that long speech, Dominick nodded, and got up to leave the kitchen. As soon as he was out of sight, my body slumped against the counter.
The back of the kitchen was made up of sliding glass walls, just like the room upstairs, and they led to the back patio. I stepped out, leaving the doors open in case Dominick came looking for me and wondered where I’d gone. Out back, there was another door that led into a private studio. This was where I practiced my skills without holding back. With one wall made entirely of glass and facing toward the forest, it was my favorite place in the house, and pretty much where I’d slept while the place was finalizing construction.
When the place was originally built, this room was the first one to be finished, and plenty of times, when I wanted to get out of my little apartment or be away from other members of the pack, I would go to that room and let myself go.
Practicing mixed martial arts, besides being a good way of learning control, brought me a sort of peace. When I was practicing, I felt peaceful, especially when I didn’t have to hold myself back because of prying eyes. By then, I had known the moves perfectly so that I could do them without thinking.
The walls were in a brown shade slightly lighter than the floor and ceiling, and I had mats laid around the room. I stood in the middle, and started moving my body into familiar poses and positions. Only this time, my mind wasn’t nearly as calm, and I couldn’t quiet down my thoughts.
In the end, not half an hour had passed, and I had to stop because I felt too frustrated. I was surprised at myself, because this was the first time it had ever happened to me.
Just like that, Dominick and I each spent the rest of the day mostly away from each other, each lost in their own thoughts. We got back together for dinner, and he helped me cook again, then we ate and I stayed behind for a drink while he went to get ready for bed.
Intimate… Dominick wanted more intimacy from me. I knew what that meant, and it wasn’t that I couldn’t give it to him. But I had never been intimate with anyone before. Usually, with the Omegas that approached me, we fucked and that was it. If I wasn’t even interested, I left them alone. But, I couldn’t keep treating Dominick like he was just some other Omega.
With a sigh, I stood up. I went around locking the place up, then went slowly up the stairs. In the bedroom, Dominick had already gotten into one side of the bed, the side that faced the glass walls, and curled himself under the sheets. I took off my t-shirt and pulled off my jeans, leaving only the boxer briefs underneath, then I slid into the other side of the bed.
I was still swirling with emotions and thoughts from earlier, and I lay on my side and looked at Dominick’s form under the blanket. He was breathing slow and even, and I couldn’t tell if he had fallen asleep yet, or not.
After a long moment of just lying there staring, I ended up reaching out for him in the dark. I paused my hand just before I touched him, then gently stroked down his back. I tried to make my approach this time more tender, moving my hand from his back and loosely holding onto his arm.
“Dominick?” I called quietly, feeling extremely awkward. “Are you still awake?”
He didn’t move or say anything, but just when I was about to pull away, one of his hands caught mine. I went completely still, and after another moment, Dominick slowly rolled around and looked up at me. Pretty much all of him except the top of his head was covered, and he blinked his eye up at me as he held my hand in both of his and squeezed it.
I took in a deep breath, ignoring it when it shook a little, and pulled my hand out of his so I could reach up and cup his cheek.
“Dominick,” I murmured. “Come here?”
It was a request instead of a command this time. He hesitated a moment, then squirmed closer to me under the sheets. I wrapped an arm around him, bringing him closer until he had his chest on top of mine. Holding the back of his head lightly, I lifted up and pressed my lips against his softly.
I’d never ‘made love’ or had intimae sex, but I wanted to give that type of intimacy to Dominick. Dominick tentatively responded to the kiss, and I took it as encouragement.
I had my arms around him and gently ran my hands up and down his back. As his body relaxed from the kiss, I reached for the edge of his t-shirt and pulled it up. We broke the kiss just long enough to pull it off and toss it to the side, and then I was kissing him again. I ran my hands up the length of his spine, one hand holding onto the nape of his neck, as the other slid back down. I hesitated a little, before slipping that hand down the back of his sleep pants to cup one of his ass cheeks.
Dominick let out a low whine, pulling away from the kiss to bury his face in my chest. I didn’t mind, rolling us gently so we were lying on our sides, and I placed kisses all over the side of his face, down the length of his neck, over his bare shoulder. Dominick’s breathing and heartbeat were slowly rising, and I pressed our bodies together, so he could feel my already fast beating heart against his chest.
“Dominick,” I breathed against his cheek. “Do you want this, or do you want me to stop?”
There was no answer for a long moment, and I practically had my heart beating hard in my throat. If he rejected me here, I wasn’t sure how to move forward. I was worried for nothing, though. Dominick slowly wrapped his own arms around me, nodding his head against my chest.
I huffed a short laugh in relief, my lips curving up in a smile. Then I reversed our situation from before, so that Dominick was the one lying back on the bed and I was partially on top of him. I
slanted my mouth over his, licking his lip until he parted them for me, then deepened the kiss. I could feel Dominick’s fingers dig into my back, and I took that as more encouragement.
Without breaking off the kiss, I pushed at his pants to get them off, tugging my own down my legs and kicking them off. I felt Dominick wiggling, hopefully doing the same. Then I pulled away from his lips to make my way down his body, leaving nips and licks here and there. I paused at his chest to lick at his nipples, my chest rumbling in satisfaction at the pleased gasps and moans Dominick made, then slipped lower. His cock was hard, and I caught it in my fist to steady it, then lowered my mouth over the head.
Dominick made a strangled sound as I sucked on the head of his cock. I’d never done this before, but I’d had it done to me plenty of times, and I tried to bring the knowledge up in my mind. He was nowhere near as big as me, something I was glad for, and I lowered my head, taking more and more of him inside my mouth. I breathed through my nose, and pressed down until my nose was tickled by his pubic hairs. The head of his cock was just past my throat, and I swallowed carefully around it, then pulled back up the shaft, my lips tight around his girth as I sucked hard. Dominick whimpered above me, one of his hands landing in my hair, the other on my shoulder.
The touch was tentative, but I could guess what he wanted. I lightly tapped the hand he had on my shoulder, then tapped on his hip with my other hand, so show him he could do as he pleased. After a few seconds, his hand tightened in my hair, and he rocked his hips up slowly. His body trembled as he sucked in a shaky breath, and made the same move again. I caught his hips, helping him move, bobbing my head slightly as I sucked on his length, occasionally swirling my tongue against the head.
When he had a steady rhythm going, one of my hands went between his legs. I palmed his balls, rolled them in my hand and tugged on them, then went a little lower. I ran a finger over his hole, and his whole body went still for a moment, then he shuddered.