by Susan Bliler
Chief had been leaning to the side to keep sight of Alise around Pony’s body. At the mention of an incident, Chief sat straight and stared at him. Snatching his beer off the table to polish it off while Alise peed, Chief asked with irritation evident in his tone, “What incident?” He had the glass to his lips and was swallowing down the last of his drink when Pony answered.
“You remember? That time I was gonna beat you up.”
Chief spewed beer out of his mouth before coughing and swiping the back of his hand across his lips. “The fuck you say?”
“Yeah, you remember. ‘Member?”
“No. I don’t fucking remember.” Sliding off his barstool, Chief rose to his full, impressive height. Towering over Pony, he asked, “When were you gonna beat me up?”
Pony opened his mouth, but everything faded when Chief heard Alise scream.
Chapter 22
Chief whipped around with a speed that normally wasn’t permitted in human company. But fuck it! Some guy was holding Alise by the arm and staring at her like she was crazy as she fought and tried to break his hold on her even as a second scream wrenched its way out of her mouth.
A predatory rage so fierce that it nearly blinded him ripped through Chief and had Beast lunging for the surface, jaw snapping. Chief was to Alise in a blink, and with one punch, the fucker holding her was on the ground, but he wasn’t alone. Four of his friends jumped up from a table and rushed Chief. It wouldn’t have been a problem, but Alise stood between them.
Grabbing Alise and shoving her behind him, Chief caught the first punch that was thrown at his face. Fuckers weren’t fighting fair though, and Beast was glad for it as they took a second hit right to the jaw. Beast lunged again, and the damn animal nearly tore free of Chief’s hold on him. It couldn’t happen, not here, not in town, not in front of everyone. And certainly not for this reason because Chief knew that if he let Beast loose, he’d kill all five of the fuckers right there!
“Fuck!” Pony snarled from right beside him, throwing a punch at one of the guys that was raining blows onto Chief. “Get your mate outta here, I’ll handle…” He took a punch to the gut that stalled him only a minute before a fist hit the guy’s face had him on his ass. All five guys were down now, but two were recovering. “Go!” Pony barked. “Before someone else touches her!”
Chief didn’t run from fights, never had, and never would, but the thought of Alise being hurt had him doing something he’d never done before. Grabbing Alise’s hand, he yanked her into his chest and lifted her into his arms before shouldering people out of his way and hurrying out of the bar leaving Pony the pleasure of cleaning up the mess. He knew the five fucks wouldn’t be a problem for Pony, but felt much better when he passed a guy with gold flashing eyes who jerked his head in a nod before heading in the melee. Shifters were like that. They stuck together.
Outside, Chief made quick work of loading Alise into the truck before he was inside too. Throwing it into reverse, the tires spun in the snow as he tried to peel out. Still riled up, he snarled, “You don’t do that! You don’t just take off!”
“I went to the bathroom!” Alise argued defensively.
“Without permission!”
Mouth falling open, Alise stared at him before clicking her teeth together and seething, “I don’t need anyone’s permission to pee!”
“You need mine,” he roared. “You know what could have happened back there? You know what would have happened if Pony wasn’t there to take care of those punks?”
“It wasn’t my fault. That guy grabbed me…”
“You should have stayed close!”
“I went to the bathroom, Chief. The bathroom! What the fuck?”
“Well, you should have waited. It’s all I’m saying.”
Throwing herself back in the seat, all the air left her on a whoosh as Alise shook her head and stared at the road. A heavy layer of white covered everything and matched the layer of ice she was erecting around her heart. Tonight had been so nice, up until she’d needed to pee. Shaking her head again, she ignored Chief’s glance and wondered if this was how it’d always be with an Alpha male. Ask permission to pee! Don’t leave my sight. Get approval to breathe! She couldn’t live like that. She wouldn’t!
For the rest of the drive back to the BlackBird Compound, Alise and Chief were quiet as their anger slowly faded to a simmer. Alise was the one to break the silence.
“Chloe and Dell said the pain lessens if we mark each other. No one said anything about a full moon. Let’s just do it and get it over with because I can’t go on like this. Every time anyone even brushes against me, it feels like my skin is being sliced open with razor blades. And I can’t have you fighting the world over me. I want this fixed!”
“It doesn’t work like that, Alise.”
“That’s a lie. Dell and Chloe…”
“Don’t know what the fuck they’re asking of us!” he roared. Good and pissed now, Chief jerked his gaze between Alise and the road. “You know what happens when we mark each other? It’s our souls laying a claim to each other. The only reason the physical pain dissipates is because our hearts think we’ve committed. We’d be lying to ourselves to spare the physical pain, but the emotional pain we’d suffer would be incomparable, Alise. We’d be trading one kind of pain for another. At least with the physical, you can avoid touch. But if I mark you and you go running home, how you gonna convince yourself that you don’t need what you’ve already claimed?” With a shake of his head, he squeezed the steering wheel hard and snarled, “I ain’t doing it!”
They argued all the way back to the compound, and by the time Chief rocked the truck to a halt in front of the house, they were both just as riled as they were when they’d left the bar.
Jerking the handle of the truck, Alise shoved the door open, scrambled out, and slammed the door hard behind her.
Chief followed, but stopped when Alise faced him and shouted, “I’m not staying here! I can’t be around you anymore. I’m going home!”
“Denied,” Chief growled. “Get in the house before I carry you there.”
“Screw you!” She turned and stomped off toward the road they’d just come up. “You have no right to keep me here!”
“The fuck I don’t!” Chief chased her down and caught her elbow before spinning her to face him. When she glared up at him, her hazel eyes were blazing with fury. “You’re mine,” he snarled as if the words were enough to cement his claim.
“Your what?” she snapped. “Your human? Your liability?” She tried to jerk her arm from his hold. “I’m not gonna beg you to love me, Chief!”
Her words knocked the fight right out of him and had him going silent a moment before asking, “Where…where in the hell did that come from?”
Alise looked him dead in the eye. “Let. Me. Go!”
He did and was relieved when she didn’t try to head down the road again. It was dark and cold, and there was no way he was letting her go anywhere.
Backing away from him, Alise grabbed her temples and let loose a high pitched screech before dropping her hands and letting her head fall back. Breath chugging out of her in ragged puffs, she asked into the night, “This is because of your mother?”
Chief stiffened. He didn’t want to talk about his mother.
Lowering her head, Alise insisted, “I deserve to know! It’s why you won’t accept me, right? It’s why I’ve been discarded so easily?”
Chief lifted a hand to grab her, but Alise jerked back. Beast wasn’t having it and was on Alise before she could even blink. Hands under her arms, he lifted her. Instinctively, her legs wrapped around his hips and when he backed her up to the truck and pressed her into it, he could feel her heart was pounding like a jackhammer in her chest.
“Discarded,” he snarled, nose inches from hers. “Sweetheart, I couldn’t discard you if I fucking wanted to.”
“And you hate that, right?” she countered. “You hate that you can’t just dump me off and be free of me.”
/> His jaw ticked, but he didn’t respond. He had no way of knowing that Alise took his silence as an answer.
He scented her anguish a second before her eyes went hard. “You owe me a why. You owe us a why. Because this is the end isn’t it? You’ve been pulling away since the beginning. And I know you only brought me to the pack so they could tend to me once you’re gone. You’re walking away from us. You’re abandoning me to be stricken alone. Aren’t you?” Closing her eyes, she breathed, “I don’t know why you took me on a date. I don’t know why you’re drawing this out. Just…just get away from me.”
***
How in the fuck Alise knew his original plan, Chief had no idea. But to hear her put voice to his cowardice made him feel so fucking hollow inside, so empty, that he thought his skin would drop bonelessly to the ground.
“Get away from me,” Alise demanded on an anguished breath. And then she turned her head. She didn’t want to look at him, didn’t want to see him, but that’s not what his wolf thought. Beast thought she was exposing her neck in submission. Beast thought she was giving herself to them and before Chief could do anything to check his animal, Beast lunged forward and sunk his teeth into Alise’s neck.
A scream ripped up her throat, and she bucked against him, but it was too late. The damage was done.
Jerking back, Chief stared in shock at the blood that ran down Alise’s throat from four deep puncture wounds. Holy fuck, what have I done?
Eyes shooting up, he whispered apologetically, “Alessandra?”
But her eyes were pinched closed, her lips peeled back in a grimaced as she clamped a hand over her throat.
“I-I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he rushed to explain. But Alise kicked her legs and bucked her hips until Chief released her. As soon as he did, she sank to the ground and curled away from him, her body pressing into one mud-coated tire.
Chief dropped to his knees and held his hands out. “Alise?”
“What did you do?” she sobbed. When her eyes snapped open, she looked at him with a gaze full of anguished fury. “Tying me to you?” Her tone was near hysterical. “A mate mark? From a shifter who doesn’t want me? You just told me how much this would hurt me!”
She kicked a leg out at him, and it connected with his knee, but Chief felt nothing, just the shock at his own actions that was crashing over him in wave after wave of regret.
“What are you doing to me,” she cried. “Why, Chief?” Her eyes turned imploring as she shouted, “Why?”
Because he wanted to keep her. Eyes dipping to the blood seeping from between her fingers, he had to clench his jaw against the self-hatred that pulsed through him. This inability to control Beast coupled with his mother’s abandonment was what made him shy away from humans. A she-wolf would have kicked his ass for the way he’d acted tonight, and she would have been quick enough to keep Chief from mate-marking her without permission. But Alise wasn’t a she-wolf, and this was what he’d feared all along.
“I’m sorry,” he offered lamely. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“For what?” she cried. “For leaving me here and making it worse before you do?” Sniffling, she fell silent and looked down at her body, “Wh-what is that?” Fear filled eyes lifted to his. “Chief, what…what the fuck is that?”
He knew exactly what she talking about. He knew the feeling that was now racing through her veins and shooting along every inch of her body. He was feeling it too. With one simple swallow of her blood, with one bite to her perfect skin, he’d cemented their fate. Pulse pounding in his ears, and the sugary syrup of her blood now rushing through his body had Beast whining in agitation. One more step. They only needed to complete one more act to finalize the claiming.
Swallowing hard, Chief’s eyes dipped to Alise’s lap. He nearly doubled over at the punch of lust that tore through him knowing he just needed to bury himself there.
“Spread her,” Beast commanded. “Fuck her. Change her. Claim her!”
“Ffffuck!” Falling forward onto his hands, Chief panted as he fought off the tidal wave of desire that tore through him. He was strong as they came, but not even he could resist this. The heat searing him now had his balls drawing up tight as blood pounded in his thick, hard cock. He wanted to fuck Alise like he wanted his next breath. No, there was no want about it. This feral thing ripping through him with the strength of a thousand rabid wolves wasn’t anything so insignificant as want. This was need! Visceral, inescapable need, and it was slashing its way through him, laying waste to the last of his resolve.
“Alise…get inside!”
“Wh-what?” She dropped her hand as she looked at him. “Why?”
Because he wanted her screaming in pleasure beneath him and if she didn’t move, it’s where she’d end up! Incisors still elongated, her blood dripping from his jaw, he struggled to reign in Beast, and he was losing. “Alise!” His voice was polluted now, rough with the rasp of his animal as he begged rather than commanded, “Run!”
She hesitated only a moment, eyes round and locked on where he struggled for control before she shot to her feet and raced to the house without looking back.
Outside on the cold, hard ground, Chief curled in on himself and struggled, battling Beast for control. Tonight his animal had enough. Tonight Beast decided he wanted control and was going to take matters with Alise into his own hands. Tonight, Beast had tried to defeat Chief and claim Alise for his own. But Chief wasn’t going to let that happen. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how hard Beast lunged for the surface, Chief held him at bay for one simple reason. Alise deserved better. She deserved more than being mate marked against her will up against a truck while she still felt nothing for him. She deserved a say, a choice. She deserved sweet words and expressions of love. Tonight Beast had taken that away, but Chief was gonna make sure it never happened again. He was gonna do better, be better. And if Alise ever forgave him for what he’d just done, he vowed he’d make it up to her. They both would. He and Beast both would spend the rest of their days making it right…if Alise ever forgave him.
Chapter 23
Locked in the bathroom of the guestroom, Alise stared at her wound in the mirror. The bite was deep, and it was still bleeding. The crimson blood was stark against her skin. Her heart was still hammering, her breathing was still escalated. She felt…weird. It felt like something was swimming violently through her veins, and she tried to ignore it because she knew what it was. Need for Chief. She wanted him so damn bad right now, and it made zero sense. He’d attacked her! He bit her! After telling her how much exchanging mate marks would hurt them, he’d done it anyway.
Eyes flooding with tears, she stared at her reflection. Why? Why would he do this?
A knock at the bathroom door had her startling hard. Backing up to the shower stall, she clamped a hand over her wound.
“Alise? It’s Chloe. You okay? I smell blood and tears.”
“I’m…f-fine.”
“I’m coming in.”
The door was locked, but it didn’t stop Chloe. Alise watched as the doorknob turned and when it caught, it stilled only a blink before a cracking sound was heard and then the knob turned all the way.
The door opened slowly, and Chloe peeked her head in. Her hair was mussed, and she was wearing jammie pants and a tank top. Eyes dipping to Alise’s throat, Chloe frowned hard. “What happened?”
“Chief…bit me.”
“I can see that,” Chloe entered the bathroom and rifled through the cabinets, pulling out a washcloth that she rinsed in warm water before crossing to Alise and shoving her hands aside. With a wince, she held the cloth to Alise’s throat. “Geez, he went deep.” She shot Alise a grimace. “Must have really wanted his mark to stick.”
“But why?” Alise asked. “He said it was a bad idea. He told me he refused to do it. Then not even thirty minutes later, he’s got me shoved up against the truck and is attacking me.”
Chloe’s hands dropped from Alise’s throat. “He attacked you?”
Looking repentant, Alise dipped her chin. “I mean, not attack attacked, but…” The image of Chief on his knees, telling her to run in that snarly animalistic voice came flooding back. She wondered what would have happened if she’d stayed. Part of her regretted it. She knew! Deep down, she knew that if she wouldn’t have run, she’d be Chief’s now fully.
“But you didn’t know he was gonna bite you,” Chloe bit out angrily drawing Alise from her thoughts. Chloe muttered, “Motherfucker,” before lifting the cloth back to Alise’s throat.
“He said it would bind our souls. That if we did it and separated that it’d be a worse pain than the physical… Hey!” Alise’s eyes rounded. Reaching up, she curled her fingers around Chloe’s wrist and was shocked when there was no pain. “It’s gone,” she breathed and then grinned. “It’s gone!”
“Yeah,” Chloe pursed her lips. “The mark will do that.” Brows furrowing she asked, “Did something happen at dinner? I mean, I just can’t see Chief going all feral for no reason.”
“Is that what happened,” Alise asked. “He went feral?”
“Well, when a shifter refuses to mark his mate and then does it so viciously, it’s usually because something triggered his possessive side or his animal broke free. Something had to have happened. I know Chief, and yeah, a lot of people are afraid of him, but I’m not one. I see the good in him. And, I know he was at the pack battles because he wanted a mate. He’s trying, Alise. He’s really trying.”
“The night was good,” Alise supplied. “We talked, had pizza and beer, relaxed. It was…nice. Then I went to the bathroom, and some guy grabbed me. It hurt, I screamed, and all hell broke loose.”
Chloe’s eye went wide. “Chief didn’t shift! Did he?”
“No! No,” Alise hurried to answer. “He just,” a giggle escaped her. “He beat everybody up.” She was trying not to laugh, and Chloe was grinning now too.
“It’s hot right? The way they go to war over you?” Chloe’s eyes took on a far off look. “When Dell goes all protective and possessive,” she fanned herself. “Just holy hell!”