“I don’t know,” Derek replied, rolling back onto his back. There was so much that was wrong with being there in the first place; too many reasons that shoved him off onto his own. “There was never really a place for me, Zane. All of the family shit… I don’t know.” He could hear the way his brother was going to let him have it. Every conversation about coming back was the same. We are one, together, and so on… It really did hurt when his position was so badly mocked despite the protection he provided. “I think we’ll take our chances out in the untouched spaces,” Aislyn replied, making chills run up his back. She knew him so well. “Right,” Zane replied. “Fall is approaching fast,” he began. “You don’t have to worry about us,” she promised. “We’re all we need.” Her eye caught Candice’s beside her after. “Excuse me,” Aislyn murmured and left her perch. Her warmth left with her as she went to assess her friend’s concern. Derek watched her as she approached her situation. “Beside
In the months to come, life outside became colder still. When the first snow fell, she wistfully snuggled against his soft fur, nestled comfortably in their bed which now was layered with animal skins and smelled entirely of their combined scents. Aislyn smiled at the fact. Her love truly did support her and their wishes to be alone, on their own, free from society. It was bliss. While his warmth never cooled, their life would need to shift. Plenty of animals would be on the move, looking for food or getting ready for hibernation. The thought that they’d need to do the same and leave the home they built together for survival burned her deeply. There were other times she felt the same burn deep in her chest, but this one was different. It spread. It pricked at her entire consciousness and jolted her forward towards him. “Calm down, baby girl,” Derek hummed against her skin. His wet nose brushed against the nape of her neck as if it was searching for something. How she wished he’d
=====Derek=====The bass is deep enough to feel coarse through his bones as he moves through the night club, Sirens. It was just like any other wanna-be lounge out there in Larrissa’s Bay, focused mainly on the sea. Why they were there was beyond him. Derek rolled his shoulders as he tried to regain some sort of comfort in the stiff leather seating that sectioned off the floor. As he panned away from his pack mates getting comfortable among the dancers, Derek crossed his arms, one over the other as if he was the Alpha to please.It didn’t matter to him that he wasn’t in the running for Alpha. It was a tireless, thankless job. Except for nights like these when they were evicted from the pack house to make room for one of their couples to consummate their mateship within the home. It’s been the way they’ve done things for as long
That was fine to throw in his face. He did reject the female after all. In fact, it became the thing he was known for. Many took on Zane’s challenge, trying to please him, but all would fail. They just weren’t what he was looking for. None of them were, and it ticked Zane off, apparently.“How does that matter?” Derek forced out as the music’s pulse began to build up again.Zane threw up his hand signaling for two drinks to be served and he was fixed with them immediately. The amber liquid shown in the soft golden hue of the bar soon drowned in the dark as if it were never there and the faintest glint off of the ice promised it was safe to think that he was in trouble. No one, not even Zane’s mother, got a drink so easily.
Derek grimaced as he turned away from Zane to look down at Maleki who was ten seconds from howling in ecstasy. If he did, the dancer would be his for life, human or not. And while the wolf’s choices shouldn’t matter to Derek, per se, he knew what it was like. His love didn’t know what she was saying, or how she was locked to his heart, but still she howled with him. Aislyn…“Aislyn…” he heard her name the same time it rang through his thoughts.That wasn’t real. He couldn’t have heard that, he told himself.Despite how he wanted to tell Maleki not to howl when he came, the opportunity slipped away from him. Derek turned to follow the continuance of the nearly one sided conversation between some woman and someone,
Aislyn’s words sang to them all about how they were her individual saviors, keeping their focus up at the ceiling until the light stopped racing up to her platform. The cloth that was there, quickly released into a ring of fire, disorienting them further.Still, Derek kept his eyes on Aislyn. He knew her style was less about theatrics and more about how she felt. All he needed to see was the lift of her palm to know for sure.Just as she did, Derek lost his breath.She used to do that and claim she was feeling for him. His aura was something she could reach for regardless of being a human, and she wanted him around. Granted, he never showed her his human form, Derek reminded himself and fear set in. She wouldn’t know him if he approached her. It
It was a hard concept to take in, however. The woman he loved still didn’t know him the way she remembered her. But instead of escalating their argument, Derek listened to his instincts.“This pack isn’t mine,” he grumbled low enough for only Zane to hear him. “I don’t want it the way you want to control it.”Derek released Zane’s injury, easily, without the intent to hurt him anymore. Regardless of his act of mercy, the Alpha had the audacity to stare Derek down.“You’ll leave her alone,” he delivered to his brother. “Even if she comes to you for any reason. She doesn’t exist to you. None of them do.”Zane grumbled
Claiming she was his partner made more sense than to claim what she really was to someone Aislyn worked with. Derek remembered the shorter woman that brushed him off earlier. It wouldn’t have worked.He couldn’t help how he felt like he was beginning to come apart at the seams the longer the man waited to respond. A small receiver in his ear chirped, and the man, shrouded in darkness, nodded towards the back wall, lined with private rooms.They weren’t listening. For all he knew they were setting him up for betrayal. Zane’s message would surely not go unheard for long. Aside from that, there was no scent here for him to follow. Regardless of how Aislyn was practically hovering all over him. All he needed was one touch from her… only one to be able to find her now it was impossible through th