TALIS
From the light peeking through the edges of the curtain, I guess it's morning.
Early.
Also, wherever we're staying is nice. Like, nice enough to wonder just how much money Dayne is plunking down for us to be staying in a rental with silky-smooth sheets, gorgeous furnishings, and plush rugs.
But none of that matters since he's not here.
The alarm clock on the bedside table tells me it's not yet seven, and although I smell breakfast and hear the indistinct murmur of conversation, Dayne's voice isn't among them.
I take in the indentations on the pillow beside me and try to tell myself that at least he slept beside me, even if I don't remember him doing it.
Or maybe he only stayed because there was nowhere else to sleep?
If most of the pack are here in Dawley, I doubt there are enough bedrooms in this rental house for everyone to have their own room.
Maybe it was a choice between a couch and this bed, and he didn't want to strain his neck, so he went for the bed.
The thought torments me to the point I have to get up because there's no way I can go to sleep now and lying here will only give me more time to think about last night.
I told him everything and now he's going to think I'm weak. Why else would he get up so early if it wasn't to get away from me?
I squeeze my eyes shut for another long moment, then I force myself to get up.
Since lying here mired in regret isn't going to change anything, I may as well get up and wash my hair since I didn't get to it last night.
With one foot on the ground, I pause.
I don't remember getting out of the bath or getting into bed, but here I am.
And I'm in a shirt that looks like one of Dayne's I have no memory of slipping on either.
I guess it was either put me to bed or leave me to drown in the bath and have to deal with a dead body, I tell myself before continuing to my feet.
So, I pretty much forced him to take care of me, since I must have fallen asleep in the bath.
Good going, Talis. First, you unload all your dark and horrible history on the guy, then you pass out, forcing him to save you from drowning. And you wonder why he isn't still beside you the next morning.
Well, at least the bite on my leg is on the way to healing and it barely twinges on my way to the bathroom. But other than my leg and my head, which still aches, I'm no longer in any pain from the beating I took from Uncle Glynn.
I take a second to once again thank my lucky stars for shifter healing, because without it, my injuries would have laid me out for days or more likely weeks.
In the spacious marble and glass bathroom, I glimpse my reflection in the mirror and immediately wince.
My hair is…
There are no words for the bird's nest on top of my head, and my bruises have lightened, so now my face is an interesting mix of yellow and brown to coincide with the black rings around my eyes.
Nice.
So, I lower my gaze and reach for one of the new still-packaged toothbrushes next to the sink. Once I've torn it open, I load up my toothbrush and brush my teeth without lifting my head.
I've already seen much more than I want to see.
Then I head for the shower enclosure, not bothering to wait for the water to heat up before I'm bending my head under the hot spray.
That's when it hits me again.
I told Dayne about all the bad.
Then when I woke, he wasn't there.
Was I right to not want to tell him back in Hardin? Is he regretting having mated with me because I'm broken?
Even though I tell myself it doesn't matter, that as long as I'm away from Uncle Glynn, even if Dayne wants nothing to do with me I'll be fine with it, I feel my eyes filling with tears.
I blink them away and stiffen my spine.
Stop being stupid, you'll be fine.
I'm reaching for the sponge on the corner shelf when a hand snatches it away just before I grab hold of it.
It isn't hard to guess who it is.
"I was about to use that." The sheer relief that floods through me is incredible.
I didn't scare him away. He's here. With me, even after I told him everything.
Dayne doesn't comment on the fact my voice came out huskier than I intended. He doesn't say anything at all.
I hear a bottle opening and my nose twitches at the scent of vanilla, but I don't turn around. Then when he starts scrubbing the sponge over my back and shoulders, I sigh in bliss.
For a long moment, neither of us speaks.
"I, er, realized I kind of forgot to thank you for saving me," I say as Dayne scrubs my back.
"You saved yourself. I just picked you up and carried you the rest of the way." He scrubs my back down and then tosses the sponge away.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as he reaches for the shampoo, trying not to feel too disappointed he didn't do my front.
Then he's gently, but firmly, washing my hair, and having his fingers massaging my scalp feels so good that I can't stifle my moan.
For a second, he stills, then he continues. "But, if you wanted to, I won't stop you."
I close my eyes to focus on absorbing how good it feels to have him washing my hair. "Hmm…"
"You can start now," he says with an air of expectation.
At the humor in his voice, my eyes open. "I don't know what you mean."
"Well, you started off saying you forgot to thank me, and it sounds… forgive me if I'm wrong, but you may have forgotten. Again."
I narrow my eyes at the wall. "You just said I saved myself, so technically, I don't have to thank you."
Dayne says nothing as he washes the shampoo out of my hair.
"Really? I'd say you owe me at least a little one. I mean, you did call me an alpha dick, and since I went to all the trouble of rescuing you…"
I spin around, ready to unload on him.
My first thought is that he's naked, which I guess makes sense since he is in the shower.
But not only that, he's smiling. And seeing his smile, which I don't have a lot of experience with, I forget what I was about to say. "What's so funny?"
He wraps his hands around my waist before tugging me close enough I feel his erection press against my lower belly. "You are far too easy to provoke. I don't even have to try before you're ready to scratch my eyes out."
I slip my hands around his muscled shoulders and move closer. "I'm not a cat. I'm a wolf. Wolves don't scratch your eyes out. They rip out your throat."
His eyes darken as he eases me back until I'm pressed against the shower wall. "Yes. You are a wolf. A hot-blooded alpha wolf."
"I am not," I snap. "You make it sound like I'm ruled by my emotions. Like I'm out of control."
Dayne leans his hips against mine. "Aren't you?" Then he leans down and presses his lips against mine in a soft touch that has me sighing into his mouth.
It's the soft and coaxing kind. No tongues. But I have no defense against it, or him, when he kisses me as if he intends to never stop.
I haul him closer for more, and when we're breathless, I edge back a little, telling Dayne without words to stop.
He lifts his head and gazes down at me.
"Dayne?"
He slides a hand around my nape. "Yes, baby?"
"Thanks for coming after me."
His eyes crease with a smile. "My pleasure. Since I've already put so much work into training you, I'm kind of invested now."
My eyes narrow. "Training me?"
His smile widens. It's so devastatingly beautiful, for a second, I'm stunned by it since he's never smiled like that with me before.
"Yes. Training you."
"It's like you have a death wish or something," I mutter, making him laugh outright.
If his smile leaves me defenseless, his laugh completely destroys any will to fight.
I grab onto his shoulders and jump, wrapping my legs around his hips.
He draws in a breath as our new position perfectly aligns our lower bodies.
"Talis," he murmurs, his eyes going dark. "We shouldn't be-"
I lean close and press my lips against his jaw, making him sigh. But when I rub my cheek against his beard, the sigh turns into a heavy groan so full of need it pierces my core.
"I want you," I murmur against his throat.
His fingers dig into my hips. "You're hurt," he grates against my skin. "You need to be resting."
"What I need is you. But this doesn't have to be a hard fuck against the wall," I murmur.
At the thought of him doing just that, pounding me against the wall, my insides go liquid with need, and I catch the unmistakable musky scent of my arousal.
Dayne inhales deeply, and I feel him hardening even more against me. "You just had to say it, didn't you?" he groans.
I try to control my rampaging hormones which seem determined to prove Dayne was right about me being ruled by my emotions.
"We can go slow and gentle. Unless-" I ease my head back from his jaw and lean it against the wall so I can meet his eyes. "You don't know how to do slow?"
His eyes flare at the challenge I've thrown down. "That sounds like a dare, Talis Blackshaw."
I fight to hide how good it sounds to hear him call me that, failing miserably, going by the sight of his lips kicking up in a grin.
Oh boy, looks like I have another weak spot. And he knows it.
"I don't know what you mean," I say, acting coy. "But if it's something you're not capable of, then I guess-" My words end in a low moan when Dayne thrusts into me.
"Oh, God." I dig my nails into his shoulders, closing my eyes as I fight to breathe with him lodged deep inside me.
Dayne presses a hot, hard kiss against my mouth, the very opposite to the shallow thrusts of his body invading mine.
The contrast between the searing heat of his kiss and the gentleness of his motions has me gripping at his shoulders as I rock hard against him.
Immediately, Dayne breaks our kiss and grasps my hips tight enough to stop me. "Uh, oh. That is neither soft nor gentle," he says.
"I lied. I don't want gentle. I want hard and fast," I blurt.
He thrusts hard against me, giving me what I want. But just once. And that once is enough to have me moaning. Close to begging for more.
Close? Did I say close? I'm ready to give him whatever he wants if he doesn't stop.
"Like that?" Although he sounds cool and unaffected, it isn't enough to fool me when I catch the underlying tension in his voice.
"God, yes. More." The words spill from my mouth as I fight against his hold, desperate for him to move the way he did before.
"More?" He sounds like he's laughing at me, and when I peel my eyelids open, I see amusement lighting his eyes.
"More," I snap. "And I swear, if you don't-"
He kisses me, and I feel him shaking with laughter.
But I stop caring when he slides his hands under my ass, pins me against the shower wall, and drives so deeply into me I forget how to breathe.
As the water sprays over us, pressure builds between my legs with each of his firm strokes.
I'm not sure what has me opening my eyes, whether I feel his gaze on my face, or if it's something else.
And as if that was what Dayne was waiting for, he breaks our kiss, and for several seconds we stare at each other as he thrusts inside me.
That's when I see something in his eyes that has my breath catching.
I feel him.
I feel Dayne through the mate bond, and I know what our joining is doing to him. I know how close he is to release. And I know he more than likes me.
My eyes fill with tears.
Dayne buries his hand in my hair, and drags me closer for a kiss so hungry, it sends me sliding ever closer to release.
I need him like I've never needed anyone else before. I crave him.
I kiss him back like I'll never be able to get enough of him. Because I won't.
He draws his hips back and slams into me, hitting me in just the right place. The perfect place. Like he knows exactly what I need to send me over, and I fall.
I take Dayne with me.
Not two seconds later, as I'm moaning my release into his mouth as my body ripples around him, he's swearing into my mouth as his cock jerks, and I feel the hot splash of his release filling me.
Dayne leans his weight against mine, and the hot, steamy water continues to stream over us.
Even though catching our breath would go a lot faster, would be a lot easier if we'd just stopped kissing for two seconds, we don't.
I can't let him go, and I feel deep inside he's just as resistant to the idea of letting me go.
When tiredness invades and I sink against him, Dayne breaks our kiss and I blink my eyes open.
"You need to sleep," he says, in a low growl, his eyes sated. "You're tired."
"No, I'm good. I just need-" I lose the battle against my yawn, making Dayne smile.
"It's okay, rest against me." He presses his hand against my head, and the need to argue deserts me, so I lean my head against his shoulder and close my eyes as he turns the shower off and heads for the bedroom.
I had no idea I was this tired, but within seconds of Dayne laying me on my front on a towel I don't remember him grabbing, I'm fighting to stay awake.
I start to tell Dayne if I don't dry my hair or at least wrap it in a towel, it's going to soak through the sheets. "But I-"
"It's okay. Sleep. I'm not going anywhere."
I fall asleep to the feel of Dayne patting my body dry and then moving to my hair.