Whiplash

The car comes to a stop, startling me awake. His jacket is tucked under my head and smells so much like him. I want to fall back asleep and keep it hostage a little longer.

He clears his throat and stares at me, causing me to sober up and making the feeling disappear completely.

I sit up straight and hand him back his jacket.

"You didn't have to do that, Alpha Stone," I say quietly, turning my face downcast. If I was going to make it here, I better try my best to disappear and give him no reason to hate me.

"I told you to call me Aries," he replies, his voice low to match mine.

He reaches toward me and grabs under my chin to bring my face up. His eyes searched my face.

"Just Aries...." he says again.

I nod, and he releases my face and opens the car door, getting out. The Crescent Moon packhouse gleams in the morning light. The beautiful 3-story white brick home is covered in vines. A hand appears in front of me, asking me to take it. I hesitate a moment but take it, using it to help me get out of the car. The tingles caused in my hand by the connection have me running my eyes up his arm. His tan skin is almost like caramel in the morning light, his rolled-up sleeve showing off his tattooed arm. My eyes travel higher, taking in his muscular bicep and sharp jawline, finally landing on his eyes. They look down at me, searching my face for something. I feel my cheeks heat up and flush, the tingling in my hand traveling up my arm.

A throat clearing behind us startles me; I pull my hand quickly out of his and smooth my shirt.

"Thank you," I state, looking at him quickly and then back at the ground, moving to the side to let him by. He walks over to the man that had joined us; the man smirks before moving to the trunk to grab the bags. Grabbing my small backpack, he looks at it questioning, glancing at me, then at Alpha Aries. Aries gives him a knowing look before taking his large bag from the man.

Please show miss Moore to her room, and get her anything that she will need," He finished before walking away towards the house with the man I came to know as Derrick.

I watch him walk away, entranced by his large body. Visions of running my hands down his back filled my head. I am snapped out of it by a throat clearing. Looking over at the man, he gives me a smile and gestures toward the house. I start walking that way, and he joins me at my side.

We walk in silence for a minute before he starts.

"I'm Alexander Field, but you can call me Xander ." He finishes stepping in front of me, putting his hand out.

Stopping, I look at him for a moment, hesitant to take his hand. My heart starts racing, and my stomach is tied in knots. He is much bigger than me, and visions of him beating the crap out of me fill my head.

He chuckles and sticks his hand out to me further.

"Take it; I don't bite," he states.

Just do it. the voice in my head states

I wipe my sweaty palm on my pants and take his hand. Shaking it once and quickly dropping it. He looked at me for a moment like he was expecting something more. When I didn't do anything else, he shrugged and resumed walking toward the house. The closer we get, the more anxious I become. I feel like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest, my head starts spinning, and I feel like I will pass out.

"Hey, you okay?" he asks, stepping in front of me again.

I look up at him, and he gets blurry as black edges start closing in. There is a commotion, and I hear his faint voice yell.

"Alpha!" he yells.

His arms wrap around my back as my legs give out and help lower me to the ground. I feel heavy but weightless at the same time. Another voice chimes in, this one is more demanding, but it soothes me.

"What happened!?" I hear the voice as new arms sweep me into them. The exciting tingles from the contact made my inner voice sigh with contentment. The sway as he walked made me lean into him and give in to the darkness pulling me in.

Mine..... the voice hummed with satisfaction before everything went dark.

*********

Startling awake, I sat up in the bed I was now in. The soft sheets envelop me, the smell of jasmine covering them. They have a faint smell of him, the pine and fresh-cut wood making me pull them up to my nose, inhaling deeply. I look around the bright room; almost everything in the room is white. The dark floor and the bed frame are the only contrasting color. I love it; I have spent 90% of my life in a dark room with no coloring, and it was hard to be happy in that space. Here?... I felt light and...

Free? the voice chimes in

I jumped at the intrusion looking around the room to see if anyone was there. An exasperated laugh and sigh fill my ears.

Flashbacks of the night before filled my head. All of the events flooding in and playing like a bad movie.

What the hell! I say back.

Let's start over, the voice starts.

My name is Athena...and I am your wolf . she finishes.

I freeze for a moment taking in what she just said. Then, I stand up and start pacing the floor.

But I don't have a wolf! I exclaim. Running my hands through my hair. I turned 18 and never gained one, so I cant have a wolf! I am 21 now. It has been three years of accepting that I was wolfless. I would never be mated and would always be an outcast in any pack! So how do I have a wolf? It's not possible! I finish.

There is a long pause before Athena speaks again.

I understand you are confused right now, but it will make sense soon, I promise. But for now, we need to gain our strength and shift as soon as YOU are strong enough. Trust me. She finished.

I couldn't help but smile. For the first time in 8 years, someone spoke to me with comfort, not hatred. Even if it was someone who was in my head.

Thank you. I say back, feeling her smile.

Taking a deep breath, I look around again, investigating the room. I opened a door, and it led into a massive bathroom. Well, maybe only enormous to me, but it was definitely big. It had a large shower enclosed by glass, a claw foot tub that sat below a picture window, and a long double sink counter. The shower sounded amazing but soaking in a tub sounded so much better. I turned the hot water side of the handle, and almost instantly, steaming hot water came out. I almost cried with excitement. I couldn't remember the last time I got to use warm water to get clean, let alone soak in hot water. I turned the cold side just a little to ensure I wasn't going to burn my skin when I got in. Stripping off my pants, I throw them in the hamper and start taking my top off. I unbuttoned the shirt and struggled to get my shoulder out of it. Its fabric stuck to the cuts where Vanessa's grip had broken the skin, and the cuts on my chest threatened to break open if I strained them anymore.

Taking a deep breath, preparing myself to try again, my senses are overwhelmed by the smell I absolutely loved. I turned around to see Aries, arms crossed and leaning up against the bathroom opening. His figure almost took up the whole doorframe. I gasp and cover my body with my shirt, drop my head with embarrassment, and take a few steps back, bowing slightly.

"No," he says, his voice soft.

Looking up at him confused, he pushes himself off the frame and walks over to me. He tucks my hair behind my shoulder, exposing my face, and cups his hand under my chin, pulling my face up towards him to meet his eyes. The green in them showing more today than it had the last few times I've seen him.

"Please don't..." he says, pausing, sucking in a breath. "I don't like seeing you scared of me or that you feel the need to submit to me like that." he finishes, his voice still soft, but its vibrations rocked my body inside.

"But you are an Alpha, I-" I am cut off by a growl from his chest.

"Just don't!" he says, his voice harsher now.

I flinch out of habit and fight the urge to drop my head. He takes a hard deep breath clenching his jaw, drops his hand, and steps back.

Clearing his throat, "Let me help you get that shirt off; your water is going to get cold," he says

I open my mouth to protest, but Nesta has me shutting it again.

Let him help you.

I nod my head, and he steps toward me. I turn my back to him and start taking the shirt off. He grabs the one side, ever so lightly removing the fabric from the cuts. I pull my arm out from the sleeve brushing his hand, causing electricity to shoot up my arm. My heart starts racing, and I fight to get my breathing back to normal. Turning to remove my other arm, I stumble on the rug for the tub. His hand quickly meets my lower back and steadies me. My breath hitches from the contact. His face is inches from mine, the smell of him enveloping me. My knees are weak, and I swear they give out, but he doesn't even move. It's as if he was not even holding me up. I look from his eyes to his lips, the fullness of them giving me the urge to take them in mine again has me bitting mine. His lips spread into a smile, and somehow he becomes even more handsome.

Holy F*ck! I think

Athena laughs, and I roll my eyes at her. It's kind of nice to have her around. His smile drops, and he moves closer to me, his lips parting.

"I want to know what it feels like again," He whispers, his breath brushing my lips.

I swear I could have died right then; my nerves were a puddle of electricity just taking over my body. I lean in as close as I can, brushing my lips on his, the flames of the touch igniting my lips. I want more! I am about to take his lips in mine when a knock at the door stops me. We both look in the direction of the door.

"Alpha, are you in there?" a voice asks.

He looks back at me, rests his forehead on mine, and sighs. He put me down on the floor that I had no idea I wasn't touching anymore. I drop my hand from his neck and take a deep breath before stepping backward, instantly missing the warmth from our bodies connecting.

"I need to go," he says coldly, scrunching his face and looking me up and down before walking out of the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

The echo of the latch reverberates in my head. The look on his face burned in my brain. I look at myself and see the ratty underwear and bra, my body covered in bruises and cuts. My stomach drops, and all feeling of comfort is gone.

Makes sense. My heart broke when I didn't think it could anymore. His rejecting look hurt more somehow.

He didn't mean- Athena tries to say

Save it! I say coldly, cutting her off. I don't want to hear it. I know what I saw. I have seen it many times before.

She huffed and retreated; I couldn't feel her anymore, and the wall went up. I wasn't mad; honestly, I would rather be alone right now anyway. Just me and the hot bath that I was about to get into. I quickly stripped off my underwear and bra and threw them in the trash; I would rather be naked than wear them again. I slowly got into the tub, the hot water burning slightly when it met my skin. I hissed at the burn but relished in it at the same time. Lowering myself the rest of the way in, I sighed and laid my head back, closing my eyes.