CHAPTER 15 – I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU

CHAPTER 15 – I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU
Sloane P.O.V.
His woody scent so strong in his bedroom, his warm hand on my stomach and his glorious, chiseled body pressed hard against mine are making my brain dizzy and processing what he just said is becoming harder and harder.
If he asked me to get naked and do it right now, I’ll be completely on board. That’s how much of a pushover I am, at least when he comes into the picture.
The fact that he cares about me makes my heart soar with happiness, but he also said that he can’t be with me, although at first, he didn’t even want to be around me, and now, after one week, he wants to be friends; to hang out together, that’s a huge change. 
I’m pretty confident that in the long run, I will make him change his mind; he just needs more incentive.
I turn around in his hold, so that now our fronts are pressed close together, and his hands rest on my lower back, just above my ass. I keep my eyes to his chest, while I trace his prominent muscles on his chest and abdomen with my fingertips, making him shiver involuntarily.
“Tell me, how can I be sure that you won’t hurt me again?” I whisper to his chest, watching my fingers draw patterns on his shirt.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he states, his voice husky, while his hot breath fans my hair.
“That didn’t stop you before,” I point out calmly.
“It won’t happen again,” he promises firmly, while his hand slowly lifts my chin to make me look at him. His eyes are shining blue, with the impetus of his wolf, and they appear sincere. 
I want to believe him so badly, but there’s one thing which is still nagging me. 
“Who was that woman, with you, at the club?”
He looks surprised by my question, like he thought I’ve noticed them flirting and keeping to themselves.
“She’s just a friend. Are you jealous?” he asks with a wide smirk, which makes me want to wipe it right off his face.
“I’m not, we aren’t together after all, you are a free man. I just thought she looked very pretty and you two seem close,” I say, trying to sound unaffected.
His smile grows even wider, not buying my lie for one second, before he runs his thumb softly over my bottom lip, sending sparks flying all over my body.
“She’s nowhere as beautiful as you.”
Mirth disappears from his eyes, replaced by longing and last, and I feel drawn to him, like two opposite magnets attracting each other.
I give in the pull, getting on my tiptoes, to close the distance between us, and I press my lips to his lightly, slowly feeling their softness, their fullness. His lips start moving in sync with mine, tentative at first, then more and more demanding. He deepens the kiss, and I anchor my arms around his neck, threading my hands through his silky hair, while his hand caresses my lower back, trailing the band of my leggings, and his other hand runs a hot path of tingles down my jaw and neck, over the side of my breast, down my side to the roundness of my perky backside.
My whimper and his groans fill the silent room, accompanied by the potent scent of our arousal. Things are getting heated fast, and in the fogginess of my horny brain, I start wondering if I should just go all the way with him right now, even if in the end he won’t accept me anyway. All this time, I’ve been saving myself for my mate, and here I’m in his arms; it wouldn’t be all wrong.
Suddenly, I hear the door to his bedroom open and a woman gasp in surprise.
Nathan immediately freezes and takes a few steps back, putting distance between us, taking my heart away with him.
“Gosh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know someone was here, I thought you were having dinner,” the woman sounds apologetic and a little astonished too. I recognize this voice; she’s the woman from the club.
“It’s ok, we were just leaving anyway. Did you need anything?” Nathan replies rapidly, like he wants to get out of this situation fast. I have my eyes trained on him this whole time, he looks nervous and jittery, and he’s looking anywhere but at me, like I don’t even exist.
“Yes, I just came to retrieve something I forgot here,” the woman says sounding a little embarrassed. I snap my eyes away from Nathan, and train them on her figure, bent down beside the bed, in the process of retrieving her lacy unmentionables from his nightstand drawer.
That’s the last straw.
“If you’ll excuse me.” Those are the only words I manage to choke out, while rapidly making my way out of the room and into the long corridor.
“Alpha Sloane, wait!” Nathan chases behind me and takes hold of my hand to stop him.
I wrenched my hand free of his hold; with strength he wasn’t expecting and turned on him with my eyes blazing orange. I know I have no right over him; he made it clear that we won’t be a couple, but seeing proof of their intimacy and the fact that he lied to my face, he said they are just friends, only he forgot to mention with benefits. I’m struggling to control my anger, I don’t want to make a scene in public, but if he keeps pushing me like this, I won’t be able to help myself.
How dare he kiss me and touch me, lead me on, when he’s already in a relationship with another woman. It doesn’t sit well with me, and I was right before when I decided to keep my distance from him; being around him will only bring me heartbreak.
“Stay away from me.” I pronounce each syllable with venom, wishing that every word could shape into a knife and hit him right through his heart, this wway he’ll know the pain he’s caused me. For good measure, I lace my Alpha command in it, as I’m not his Alpha, it won’t work completely, but he will still have to struggle to go against my order.
The look of hurt on his face nearly sends me spiraling into tears, if I thought that hurting my mate would give me some kind of satisfaction, I was wrong, it only makes me sad and angrier, adding anger to myself on top of my anger directed at him. 
I leave him there, without looking back, and run to the forest, needing time alone to think, to sweat out all this drama which is threatening to drown me. I shift into my red wolf and keep running through the trees, finding comfort in the cold breeze sifting through my thick fur. How nice it would be if life could be something like a run in the wind, instead keep hitting walls and it hurts.
I don’t know how far or how long I run, the sky is dark now, so it must be sometime during the night. I stop to drink some water from a river nearby and mind-link Daniel before he sends out a search party for me.
S: Daniel?
D: Alpha! Where are you? I’ve been worried sick!
S: Running. I needed a break. 
D: What happened?
S: Nothing new. Only, this time I’ve made up my mind: I need to reject him.
D: That bad?
I laugh a humorless laugh, not wanting to replay all the glory details for him.
S: It doesn’t matter; I’ll get over it. Just, please, help me move me to the 4th team, I can switch places with the dark haired with huge tits.
At least one of us can be happy.
D: Are you sure? 
S: I am. I’ll be back soon.
D: Ok. Be careful.
I turn off the mind-link and start running again, feeling once more upset by the conversation we just had; I need to burn some more steam.
I weave expertly through the trees, my night vision making the obstacles clear as day, until I find myself on narrow asphalt road I never knew existed. Although this is not my pack, all Alpha’s are obliged to map out their lands in detail, which means every single street and alley, and share it with all the Alpha community. It’s convenient when people need to travel through other packs.
But this street, I’ve never seen it on the map, and I am one with an excellent memory. It travels east to west, probably leading to the Silver Moon Pack, which has its borders on the east side of Glowing River Pack, while my pack confines with its south border.
I decide to go west and see where this road leads me, I’m curious to see how far it runs. Approximately ten twenty kilometres later, I find myself at the end of the road, not really sure what I’m looking at.