The heat

The heat

Heat.

I was in heat and I didn’t even know.

The full moon stared back at me from the darkened sky.

As I stood near the window, I understood what I was going through. The crippling heat was going to eat me away and there was nothing I could do about it. My heart pounded in my chest and I bit my lower lip. Heat tingled across my body, like short stabs, and my wolf curled inside me. How did I not know?

Over the past few years, I relived heat by shifting and running for hours, to find my mate. But I couldn’t do any of that. I had a mate. He was there, with me, only a small distance away. What was going to stop me from indulging in the bond? Even with all the restraint, eventually, I was going to snap. I needed my mate. Especially that night.

An itch ran down my spine as I turned away from the window. My hand reached the top of my head and I rubbed it while the other one rested over my waist. My insides curled, in need, like someone desperate. I rubbed my head harder. I wanted to indulge, but at the same time, I knew time was of the essence. I couldn’t give in so quickly, let him mark me, or even take pleasure in taking the heat out of my body.

He was vindictive, cruel.

Yet so gentle.

My wolf withered, filling my head with ideas I couldn’t go through. I knew I’d made a mistake in what I did earlier and as much as I wanted to fix it, I couldn’t, not that night.

Estella was right. If I went to him or sought some relief for my heat, he was going to take pleasure in tormenting me, just as he promised earlier. Or he was going to snap at me. I didn’t want either.

There was a starved monster in that tower, hidden away, and only someone dumb enough would go there, begging for forgiveness and maybe something more. A hunger raged within those walls, a hunger that knew no bounds but a yearning set inside me, to be consumed, body and soul, to be marked and claimed in the most twisted way possible.

I licked my lips and stepped out of the bedroom. The hallways were empty but I didn’t want to awaken Estella again. She was going to convince me to go back to sleep. I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t want to. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I thought it was right, or so my wolf told me.

At the end of the hallway, I found a small shelf, and a few drawers, and within one of the drawers, I found a flashlight that was going to help me see that night. I grabbed it and wrapped my hand around it tightly. Just before leaving the hallway, I glanced back.

I was making a grave mistake.

After a few seconds and a few breaths, I hurried into the foyer. My steps were quiet, barely noticeable to anyone. I reached the foyer and then the door. It was locked.

Fucking locked.

My brow cocked. Why was it locked? It wasn’t like some danger was going to come and kill us all.

A frown fell over my mouth as I searched the foyer for a key to the door. Picking each item, I slipped my hand under it but found nothing but dust. I groaned out of frustration and looked again, for a few minutes more. Where could Estella possibly even hide it?

I’d looked into everything but the key wasn’t there, which meant she was sleeping above it and the last thing I wanted was to disturb her. Even when it had only been a few days since my arrival here, she understood me, she knew what I was going to do that night and she had already taken precautions.

But nothing was going to stop me.

I craved my mate, the slightest interaction. It wasn’t only about the several wretched desires coursing through my mind but also about how I’d made him upset, how I’d taken his blood from him and left him with nothing but a raw hunger. It saddened me and the feeling of it was worse that night.

It was all ten times more.

I left the foyer and headed into the kitchen to open the doors leading outside from it. One of them was locked but to my luck, the second one was open and it took me straight outside into the cold, crippling night.

My body shuddered when I pressed my bare feet on the cold ground outside. It was dark and I hadn’t been outside in a while, especially alone. Everything about that place was still new to me. I wasn’t at home anymore, I was at someone else’s.

My hand tightened around the flashlight as I tried to find my way to the tower. It was behind the house and there was a narrow pathway that led to it. When I looked up, I realized how tall and secluded it truly was. The thought of being there again, all alone, in the cold somewhat terrified me. When I reached the door of the tower, I found it unlocked.

Stepping inside, I used the flashlight to see the stairs that were leading up to the room at the top. A few pieces of hair fell over my face and I didn’t bother tucking them back. Instead, I began climbing up the stairs.

It got colder and colder with every second and the fact I was wearing nothing but a T-shirt and some pants offered me little protection against the cold. With every step, I could feel the heat within me growing. It was nothing like I’d felt before because I never had a mate before.

My mother was right about the attraction I’d feel. Only if I listened to more of her advice and allowed her to explain to me what was going to happen when I’d be in heat with my mate.

As I reached the top of the stairs, I paused for a moment, catching my breath. There was no light upstairs either. It was dark, completely dark. It reminded me of a haunted house I’d been at once with Liora, at a Halloween party. Another cold breath fled my throat. I could sense him behind the large door, I could feel his essence lingering in the air, stronger than ever.

My heart jumped like a little rattle in a child’s hand as I flickered my flashlight over the door. There was no going back now, only inside.

But that was if he was going to see me.

I wasn’t scared, I was vulnerable and I wanted him. My mate.

With a steadying breath, I took a step forward and inched closer to the door, my hand reaching out to touch the cold metal handle, fingers trembling with cold. The door creaked open, revealing the room. A shiver danced down my spine. I stepped inside and turned off the flashlight at the same time as there was enough moonlight seeping into the room.

"Oh, my sweet little prey, how bold of you to walk straight into the jaws of your predator."