CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ithink that's when it started.
Me falling in love with him. Or rather, the mate bond, the thing inside me-the threads that tie me and Dayne together start to strengthen.
Or maybe it was at the lake when he held me after I nearly turned and attacked Savannah. It wouldn't surprise me if it was then.
It's not the first time I've thought it in the days following my birthday when Dayne gave me everything I've ever wanted. More, actually. What I needed.
There were things he did for me I didn't even know I wanted, like after we got back to the house, we went up to bed and stayed there for most of the day, only emerging for food.
And after, in the evening, he told me to pick out a movie, and all of the pack piled into the den and we watched it together with popcorn and chocolates.
It was perfect.
Even if I did manage to miss most of the movie when another argument started up about whether the actress in the film was a natural like me, or she'd had a boob job.
And then Dayne took the opportunity in the dark to touch me in places I really shouldn't have let him with so many people in the room.
Although I still haven't forgotten about what he did with Fisher and me in his office, for the first time it doesn't fill me with fury every time I think about it.
I may even, in the distant future that is, eventually forgive him for it.
Maybe.
Two days later, and I'm in the kitchen making more cookies.
Since my birthday, which I've still yet to admit to anyone in the pack, though given everything Dayne did for me, he has to have told them, I feel the pack watching me and Dayne more than before.
And they're not alone. Now and again, I catch him watching me too.
The only way to describe it is expectant, as if he's waiting for me to do something-or say something, only I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.
Or maybe it's because I'm smiling. I don't think I've ever smiled so much as I do now.
I can't help but wonder if it's to do with the mate bond because Dayne must feel it as I do. He must know there's no longer this solid wall between us, though true feeling, real emotion, hasn't yet bridged the divide. The knowledge that we're opening up to each other is a start.
Soon, I might even be able to read him.
"Don't put nuts in this time," Dayne says, appearing silently beside me, and glaring into the bowl of cookie dough in my hand as if he suspects me of attempting to poison him.
"Too late," I say sweetly.
He didn't try to hide his disgust at the walnuts I put in before, which might have something to do with why I made sure to put two extra-large handfuls in this batch.
I have no idea why I'd want to antagonize him.
"Well, you can just whip up another batch," he says, placing his hand on the back of my neck, as he's started to do whenever he's near me.
Sometimes, it's like he goes out of his way to do it, and then when I don't react, he saunters away again after a brief glance into my face.
Usually, I manage to rein my wolf in before she can snarl or make her anger known. But not this time.
"Stop that." Jerking my head free, I reach up and slap his hand away.
The sound echoes sharply and the room falls silent.
I peek over at the pack who've stopped chatting as they crowd around Dean's laptop to see his latest project, and find them staring at me with wide eyes and not a small amount of pity.
"What was that?" Dayne's voice is low.
"You doing that, it doesn't even make sense when you're like a foot taller than me. You don't need to keep shoving my face to the ground to remind me that you're alpha. I get it," I snap.
Someone snickers.
I turn to see who, but before I can, Dayne is stepping into me, his eyes flickering with excitement as he backs me right up to the kitchen counter.
Plucking the bowl of cookie dough from out of my hand, he dumps it on the counter beside us, and after nudging my knees open, he steps in between.
"Uh-"
"-Leave," Dayne interrupts, staring into my eyes, his hand clamping tight around my waist telling me he isn't talking to me.
The pack doesn't hesitate for a second.
They're out of the kitchen, and pulling the door closed before I can even open my mouth. Dayne's eyes are dark, fixed on my mouth. I've seen that look on his face before. I know what it means.
"Uh? Dayne. We're not going to…"
He takes his hand from my waist and starts unbuttoning my shirt from the bottom up, and I promptly shut up.
Then he's kissing me as he lifts me onto the kitchen counter, and I'm curling my legs around his waist as I lay back.
But in the second before my eyes close, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye, and fear spikes through me.
Then I'm shoving at Dayne before I grab at my shirt in a feeble attempt to hold the two sides together.
"Talis, what is it?"
Dayne is looking at me. I can feel his attention on me, his hand on my arm. His confusion is more than evident. But I can't take my eyes away from the kitchen window as I slide off the counter.
"Talis!" he snaps.
I jerk my head away from the window to look at him. "I… uh, I thought I saw someone watching me."
His eyebrow goes up. "Thought?"
Clearing my throat, I don't answer at first. I turn back to the window with a pounding heart, unable to stop staring out into the evening darkness. "I was probably just seeing things," I murmur, still distracted.
"What did you see?"
But I'm buttoning up my shirt, my fingers shaking so it's taking longer than it should. After my scare, the last thing I'm interested in is having sex with Dayne, particularly where someone is likely to see us.
"Talis?" It sounds like a question, but his tone is nothing less than an order. One coming from an alpha at the end of his patience.
"It was only a brief glimpse, but I'm sure it was Abel."
Dayne's eyebrow goes up, though he doesn't speak, likely he's waiting for an explanation given he won't know who Abel is.
"From my pack-my old pack. He was Uncle's beta. But why would he be here?"
I consider that. I only had the briefest flash of dark wolf fur in the forest, so I couldn't tell if it was Abel.
But if it were him, I'd have recognized his scent for sure since there's no way I'd ever forget it.
Dayne surprises me by not immediately responding. If anything, as he turns away from me to the window, he looks more thoughtful than anything else.
"Luka?" he calls out.
I hurry to finish buttoning up my shirt before his beta comes in, which is in mere seconds. The thought he was so close makes me flush.
Jeez, was he standing just outside the door?
"Come with me," he tells Luka.
Then Dayne is turning to leave.
"Where are you going?"
Curving a possessive hand around the nape of my neck, Dayne holds me flush against him as he presses a hard, brief kiss to my lips and steps away before I can even think about responding.
"Out. Luka and I need to see to something."
"About this?" I ask, glancing at the window. Not wanting to repeat myself in Luka's hearing, though given he must have been loitering outside the kitchen, he can't have missed mine and Dayne's conversation.
Still, maybe he didn't.
It's one thing Dayne thinking I'm crazy for believing I saw a member of the pack that wanted nothing to do with me creeping around outside, but Luka too?
I'm sure I was wrong. It couldn't have been Abel. There's no way.
"No," Dayne says, striding away. "This is something else."
I frown as he walks away, going for my bowl to finish baking.
But I don't. I just stand there with it in my hand, staring at the door Dayne and Luka just walked through.
There's something about the way he responded, about his answer that makes me think he just told me an outright lie.
The first.