CHAPTER 14 – SHAME

CHAPTER 14 – SHAME
Nathan P.O.V.

She hurriedly slips her hand out of her panties, sits up and open her eyes all in one go, a horrified expression on her face, her lips parted into a cute “o” of surprise. She covers her mouth with her hands, the sweet scent of her juices strong in the air, and I can’t help imagining how good it would feel to lick the sweet nectar right from her fingers, or better right from the source. I barely suppress a growl of need and try to focus again on the situation at hand. Mortified mate to appease. In addition, I must explain while I’m here, before she thinks I am some kind of pervert.
“Look, yesterday Axel drugged you, and your Beta asked me to bring you back to your room, before that asshole could have his way with you. I was worried he would come here to continue what he started, so I stayed in your room for precaution, and ended up falling asleep. I never meant to witness your private moment, you kind of took me by surprise.”
She doesn’t react to my words, just keeps her face hidden behind her hands, and I can see her small ears are still a deep crimson color.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, everyone masturbates, I do it all the time too. It’s the pull of the mate bond; it makes us overly horny. I guess having my scent in your room all night is what triggered this reaction. Don’t think too much about it.”
And now I sound like a daddy explaining sex stuff to his daughter, fucking awkward, I need to get out of here immediately, before I make an even worse fool of myself. Plus, the scent of her arousal is driving my wolf insane, if I don’t leave now, I’ll do something I’ll regret.
Without another word, I got up from my chair and walked to the window. I can’t risk anyone seeing me get out of her room, there would be no way to explain it.
I open the window and am relieved to see that there is no one on the grounds below.
“What are you…?”
Doing, she’s probably going to say. Now she’s finally released her face from her hold and has a perplexed expression on her face. Her cheeks are still rosy from embarrassment, making her look incredibly cute, and sexy as hell. 
I cut her off midsentence, with a “See you around”, before I jump off the window seal down to the fresh cut lawn. It’s just a one-story drop, so I manage just fine and immediately sprint towards the warriors’ quarters, before anyone can spot me.
As soon as I reach my room I get into the shower and start taking care of the painful stiffness between my legs. The fresh memory of my little angel pleasuring herself, her soft moans, the curves of her full breasts, the way her fingers pinched her hardened nipples, is enough to allow me to quickly find my release.
But the reprieve is short lived, as my wolf starts pushing me with teeth and claws to go back to our mate, and take what is ours. He wants me to fuck her and mark her. Knowing that Axel is after her, has made him even more anxious, he’s worried that he will get to her before we can.
But he doesn’t understand that, although I don’t want Axel to have her, that doesn’t mean we should have her either; she needs to find someone worthy of her, not a low warrior like me.
I adjust the shower water to cold, and stand there for I don’t know how long, hoping that the cold can calm the hot desire that is now boiling for her under my skin.
The next couple of days I practically don’t see even her shadow, she’s avoiding me, again. That’s not nice of her, I have saved her from that piece of shit, and that’s the reward I get?
 I know that she must probably still feel embarrassed, but that’s not the way to behave; I don’t like her ignoring me. 
Tuesday, when we are wrapping up for the day, I take my opportunity to approach her.
“Alpha Sloane, may I have a word with you?” 
She immediately looks surprised, and possibly guilty. Is she feeling guilty because of the show she played before me, or because she’s purposely avoiding me?
Mason gives her a worried look, but she nods at him, letting him know that it’s fine, then he nods back and leaves. 
What the fuck, does she seriously need a baby-sitter? She’s a fucking Alpha! I bet she could take me in a fight, if she really wanted to.
“I’d like to talk in private,” I add, as an afterthought.
She nods, and I immediately start leading the way toward my room, the only place I know no one will disturb us. Plus, all warriors are at the canteen now, no one will be there to witness her entering my room.
I open the door and march inside, leaving it open for her. She follows me in, but stands in the doorway, not closing the door.
“Close the door,” I all but order her, nerves making me a little snappy. I must try to control my emotions, but it’s always difficult around her.
She seems reluctant to do as I say, but in the end she complies.
Is she seriously afraid to be alone in a room with me? What is she afraid of? Does she think that I would assault her? That I led her here to hurt her?
I better start talking, before she gets strange ideas.
“Why are you avoiding me?” I ask her bluntly, not beating around the bush.
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, not expecting this direction of questioning.
“I don’t understand what you..”
are talking about, yeah, no, playing dumb is not going to help you, angel.
I don’t let her finish her sentence, and butt in sounding overly annoyed.
“You haven’t been talking to me, or even got near me, in the last two days. I thought that after helping you that night, we kind of overcame our differences, but apparently, you are still angry with me.”
A frown appears on her angelic face, and for a moment she just stares at me lost in her head. When she finally replied, I kind of wished I didn’t address this topic.
“I’ve never been angry with you; I was hurt, and I kept my distance to avoid more hurt. That night you helped me, and I thank you for it, but we both know that you did it only because Daniel asked you to, while you were busy flirting with your girlfriend. You’ve made it pretty clear that you don’t want me, so it’s best if we keep our distance. Isn’t it what you wanted?”
 Yes, it was, but it’s fucking making me miserable! And fucking jealous too; I want to rip the eyes of every man who ogles at her, which happens often, seeing the tight work-out outfits she comes to training in.
“Listen, I know what I said, and that I’d hurt you, although I apologized afterwards, didn’t I?  In truth, I didn’t expect the mate bond to affect me this much; having you so close and not being able to interact with you is making me lose control of myself. Can’t we try to be friends? We could make small talk, spend some time together, stuff like that. I think that could appease my wolf and the mate bond.”
Unexpectedly, she scoffs and rolls her eyes.
“Yes, very convenient. First you act like a jerk and push me away, now that you have changed your mind, then we must be friends. You can’t play with people like that!”
She turns to leave, but I stop her, holding her by her waist, her back flush against my front. Luckily, she doesn’t push me away and stays frozen in my hold.
“Don’t be like that,” I coax, “I know I made mistakes, but I will do better. Plus, it’s true that your Beta asked me to help, but I helped because I wanted to, and I would have never allowed Axel to put his disgusting hands on you.”
“Why do you even care?”
She still sounds majorly pissed; how can I get through to her?
“Because I am your mate, and I care about you, even if I can’t be with you.”
She doesn’t say anything more, but she doesn’t even try to get free of my hold, which means that maybe she’s trying to decide if she can forgive me or not.
I hope she can get a decision fast; having her alone in my room is already a big turn on, but being so close to her, her firm ass pressed against my thighs, and my hand ghosting her flat stomach is waking dangerous desires.