Chapter 9: Cravings and Commands

Chapter 9

Caleb sent Nash to retrieve keys at the hotel they had planned for on the way back. He did so intentionally to get a moment alone before the hotel room. She needed a win, and he intended to give her one, but survival required control.

“Sadie you’ve left your pack and are in mine. Old rules are gone. My pack, my rules. Got it?” Caleb laced the Alpha pressure lightly through the words as not to overwhelm her. The nod she answered with was not satisfactory though.

“Can you feel my Alpha?” He asked just loud enough to be heard. Sadie nodded again. Keeping eyes on him.

“When you know there's command in my voice, you answer yes sir. Understood?” He waited as the internal struggle was evident on Sadie's face. At length, in a small voice she responded.

“Yes sir.”

“Good girl,” he rubbed her neck in approval, “in the future you will not hesitate. Nash is about to be back. You will wait for me to come to your side and get you out. I will guide you by the wrist to our room, and then I will take care of your needs. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” Sadie was shocked how quickly the words came from her mouth. Her body just responded to his dominance. There was a quiet calm in her mind.

The heavy thud of the truck door closing announced Nash’s return. He didn't look back at them, simply tossing the plastic key cards onto the center console before putting the truck in gear to move to their designated parking spot in front of the room. The silence in the back seat was electric, Sadie’s Lavender and Jasmine scent swirling with the spicy heat of her awakening.

“Room 214,” Nash muttered. “It’s quiet. Back corner. No neighbors.”

Caleb nodded, his amber eyes never leaving Sadie’s. “Wait,” he reminded her, the single word heavy with the command he’d just established. He watched her hands clench in her lap, her knuckles white as she fought the urge to bolt or take charge. She stayed exactly where she was.

Caleb stepped out of the truck, the cool air refreshing after the cramped cabin. He rounded the back and opened her door. He didn't offer a hand for her to take; instead, he reached in and circled her wrist with his thumb and forefinger. His skin was hot, his Vanilla and Pine scent flared, and Sadie felt the pulse in her arm jump to match his.

“Out,” he commanded softly.

She slid from the seat, her legs slightly shaky. The moment her feet hit the pavement, she felt the eyes of a few travelers in the parking lot. Normally, she would have ducked her head in shy Vinings fashion, but with Caleb’s grip on her wrist, she felt a strange, defiant pride. She wasn't just a girl in a parking lot; she was being led by her Alpha.

“Eyes on the door, Sadie,” Caleb murmured, his body heat radiating off him like a furnace as he steered her toward the room. “Nothing else matters but the next ten feet.”

“Yes, sir,” she whispered, the words no longer feeling like a cage, but like a shield.

“Nash, before you crash, order in food for everyone. Send a couple bacon Cheeseburgers and cherry cokes, something chocolate to ours. Put it on my card,” Caleb's eyes moving around, surveying the environment and Sadie careful movement.

“Sure thing,” Nash yawned as he scanned into his room right next door to theirs.

“Oh, and have them leave it at the door. No disruption.”

The lock clicked into place with a heavy, final thud. Sadie stood in the center of the room, her hands trembling as the silence of the motel rushed in to meet her. Without the hum of the truck’s engine, the hunger—both the hollow ache in her stomach and the pulsing heat between her thighs—felt twice as loud.

“Sit,” Caleb commanded.

He didn’t point to the bed or the chair; he just gave the order as he began a predatory sweep of the room. He checked the bathroom, the window locks, and the gap behind the heavy curtains with a clinical, hunter’s efficiency. Sadie sat on the edge of the stiff polyester bedspread, her knees pressed together. She watched him move, her senses so dialed in she could hear the leather of his boots creak.

“There will be more rules soon, Sadie. Expectations you’ll need to meet,” he said, his back still to her. “But we’re taking this slow. Everything we do from here on out is about control. We maintain it until we intentionally choose to release it. If we don’t, the wolves take over, and right now, your wolf is a wildfire you aren't ready to handle.”

He turned to face her, his hazel eyes showing more green than brown were now pinning her to the spot. “I know you have questions. A million of them. But now isn't the time for talking. Your head is spinning, and your body is screaming.” He took a slow step toward her, the scent of Vanilla and Pine intensifying until she felt lightheaded. “I know about the other hunger, Sadie. The one the bacon cheeseburger won't fix.”

Sadie’s breath hitched. She felt exposed, her secret need laid bare by his gaze.

“I’m going to help you. But you are going to be a good girl and do exactly as you’re told. No hesitation. No fighting me.” He paused, his expression softening just a fraction, a glimpse of the man beneath the Alpha. “If I do anything you want me to stop, at any point, the word is ‘potato.’ You say that, and I freeze. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” she whispered.

“Good. Get naked.”

The shock was like a bucket of ice water. Sadie’s metropolis upbringing flared up, the "polite girl" slamming into the matter of fact wolf. “What? No! Caleb, I can’t just—”

Before she could finish, he was there. His hand moved with the speed of a striking snake, his fingers wrapping firmly around her throat. It wasn't a choke; it was a cage of heat and muscle that forced her chin up.

“You submit to me,” he growled, his voice a low, dangerous rumble that vibrated against her skin. “And if you’re going to object to a direct order, you’d better be fucking respectful about it. Are we clear?”

Sadie’s heart thudded against her ribs, her pupils blowing out until her eyes were almost entirely black. The dominance didn't scare her—it settled her. It gave her the friction she’d been craving. “Yes, sir. Clear, sir.”

“Fine,” he rasped, letting go and stepping back, though his eyes never left hers. “Get naked. Get under the blanket.”

He turned his back to give her a semblance of privacy, though he could clearly hear the frantic rustle of denim and cotton hitting the floor. Sadie scrambled under the thin motel sheets, her skin humming. Caleb turned back around. To him, she looked cute as hell, a bundle of Luna potential buried under cheap floral linens, but he didn't let his expression flicker.

He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over her, his lips brushing the shell of her ear. “Right now, my only focus is easing the discomfort I know you’re feeling,” he whispered.

His hands found her through the blanket first, then slid beneath the covers. He began to run his palms down her body, over the curve of her waist and the flare of her hips. But he moved with agonizing, soul-crushing slowness. It was a torture of "almost."

“Please,” Sadie gasped, her back arching off the mattress. “Caleb, please.”

“Are you begging, sweetheart?”

“Yes,” she whimpered, her head tossing back. “Please, I need...”

“I love how well you beg. But tell me, what do you need?”

“I don’t know,” she cried out, her eyes watering from the sheer sensory overload. “I don’t know, just—”

“Poor baby,” he murmured, his thumb tracing the line of her hip bone with a cruel, steady rhythm. Then, his voice dropped into a sharp, unbreakable command. “Open your fucking legs.”