Chapter 18 Chapter 18
Ty
I was the first one to get to Sloane in the morning, knocking gently on her door. I pushed it open before she could answer me. I found her in the bed. Kind of reclining on her side, with the thick duvet pulled up to her chin.
“Good morning.” I said breezily, “you look-“ I frowned as I took her in. Her face was strained. There were deep shadows under her eyes that hadn’t been there yesterday.
Had she slept at all.
“Beautiful as ever.” Kicking the door shut behind me, I padded over to her nightstands and placed the bundle of clothes I had for her there before turning back to the bed.
“I have clothes for you. Eirian said you didn’t like the ones in here.” I eyed her. “Were they not to your liking?”
She shifted her eyes to me, but barely moved an inch. That was concerning? Was she sick? Or hurt in some way?
“Sloane?” Another step forward and this time she shrank back into the pillows with a grimace of pain tightening her features.
I froze. My eyes scanned the room quickly. Had something happened over night? I had been in one of my rages. My wolf pressing possessively against my skin in an attempt to get out.
It had been a battle of wills not to shift and come here, to her bed where her body would be waiting for me. Luckily I had managed although my own chamber was now mostly just splintered wood and scraps of mattress.
Sloane wasn’t ready to be mated yet; her body wasn’t strong enough. And that’s why today we would start her training.
We would make her the strongest human she could be so she could take us.
Only even the smallest of movements seemed to be causing her pain.
“They are the dresses of dead girls.”
She said it so quietly that I almost didn’t hear her.
My eyes widened and then narrowed in slits. “Have you never worn another woman’s garments before?”
“They are dead girls clothes.” She sound louder this time and her eyes glittered with anger. “Human girls that you brought here like you brought me here. Kidnapped from their homes to die to try and break a curse they didn’t understand.”
Wow. I took a step back at the venom in her voice. “They weren’t like you.” I said quickly and quietly. “They were brought here because they were like you. We tried to -“ chewing on my lip I sighed. “We tried to find someone else. Anyone else Sloane and yes those girls died. But that won’t be your fate.”
I meant those last words with everything I had. What happened to them would not happen to her. I wouldn’t allow it.
Sloane was our last hope.
She had to be the one strong enough to break the curse.
“But, I understand. I will have this room cleared of their belongings. It will just be yours and your-“
“I don’t have belonging.” She gave a mirthless sarcastic little giggle. “I didn’t have anything of note when I was at home. Just my baby brother. He was precious.”
She sighed sadly.
“You miss him.” It wasn’t a question.
Her head snapped up. “Of course I miss him. He was the only good thing to ever be in my life and your brother, snatched me away from him. For all I know he’s dead. You killed the only person I have left to love to break a curse that you won’t even tell me about.”
The pain in her voice was visceral. “You love him very much?”
“My brother, yes of course. He is my brother and he is good.”
I nodded slowly. “I will take care of him, personally.”
“Eirian said the same.” She mumbled and looked away. “But then Eirian said a lot of things that he didn’t mean.”
My head snapped upwards, my eyes narrowed as I stared at her.
What did she mean by that?
“What? Has Eirian hurt you?” Again I watched as her face twisted in pain as she shifted her weight to stare at me.
“It’s nothing.”
Oh he had done something alright, I just wasn’t sure what. Clearly something that was causing her to grimace every time she moved.
“It clearly isn’t nothing. Tell me what he has done?”
“He was going to punish the maid for something I did. He was hurting her-“ she mumbled.
I let out a rumbling laugh. Because now it all made sense.
“Don’t laugh at me.” She snapped and that just made me laugh even louder.
Here I was thinking he had actually hurt her. If he had done that I would have throttled him with my bare hands but I knew that wasn’t the case.
“I mean it Ty,” gathering up a cup of water from her nightstand she threw it at my head. My hand snatched it out of thin air without more than a drop being spilled and slowly I took a sip of it.
I could taste her lips on the rim.
My cock hardened. “He spanked you right?”
“Yes, and-“
“Your bottom is sore today?” Another sip and I approached the bed to place the cup down. “There’s a cream I can get you for that? Would you like me to rub it in and make it all better?”
She scooted back, fear in her eyes but it wasn’t her eyes that I was paying attention to. It was the quickening of her heartbeat and the hitch of her breath as it stuck in her lungs.
It was the sweet perfumed nectar of the moisture already pooling between her legs.
I sniffed before I could help myself.
“Or maybe?” I continued. “It’s not the spanking itself that is making you grumpy but the fact that you enjoyed it?”
There it was again, the stammer of her heart. She had enjoyed it.
“It hurt.” She said totally deadpan.
My lips twitched up in a smile. “It was meant to hurt Sloane, otherwise it wouldn’t have been a punishment.”
Sloanes smooth face , creased into a furious frown. “I did not enjoy it. It made me feel-“
“Like you needed something else?”
“No.”
I sniffed loudly. “Did you know us wolves can smell when you are lying?”
She visibly paled. “No way.”
My smile grew wide. “Yes way. So I know you felt something and it wasn’t fear or pain. It was a need. And it scared you.”
“What I felt was wrong.” Her lips twisted.
“Nothing about Sex is wrong,” kneeling up on the bed, I leant over her. “It’s as natural as eating and much more enjoyable when done right.”
Eyes wide she stared up at my face as I hovered above her.
“We are going to train you out of these human view points Sloane.”
“Eirian.” She spat back. “Said the same when he told me to rub myself against him.”
Jealousy hit me in the chest like a sledgehammer. “And did you? Rub?” One eyebrow shot up.
A blush crept up her throat and coloured her cheeks. “No, of course not.”
“That’s good.” Reaching out I skimmed the tips of my fingers along her cheek. Memorising the soft feel of her skin to memory.
“You are not ready for that yet, I will make sure Eirian pays no more midnight visits to your room but now you have to wash and dress. It’s time to begin your training.”
“I am too tired. I would like-“
I cut her off with a growl that pulled my lips back from my teeth. “I don’t think I was asking Sloane. Now get dressed and I will be back shortly with a food tray for you.”
I wanted to kiss her. Especially now, with her laying so prettily underneath me.
“You’re training starts today. We are going to make you strong enough to be our mate. Strong enough that no wolf in our kingdom will come after you.” Leaning down I rubbed the tip of my nose along the slender arch of her neck. “Strong enough to take us.”