Chapter Five

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Leo

Our sleep together was peaceful. We were wrapped together, buried beneath the sheets as the sun shone through the window. Charlie groaned softly, snuggling her head deeper into my chest, trying to block the sunlight from her face which made my wolf purr in content.

A soft knock woke me up from my sleep, which irritated me. I slowly slipped out of bed, replacing myself with a pillow which my little mate hugged and snuggled with deeply. I stood looking at her for a moment as a warm smile spread across my lips. A second knock came from the door, snapping me out of my daydream once again. I opened the door and stepped outside closing it quietly behind me.

I looked up to see an anxious looking Oliver looking back at me.

"What are you doing here Oliver?!” I shout as quietly as I can. "You don't need to care for her, she's mine. I am her mate, not you!"

I could feel my blood pressure begin to rise and the familiar feeling of jealousy and possessiveness rush through me.

"Look, Alpha. I am not here to try and take your mate. I have my own. I'm just here because your father has asked me to fetch you," he comments, giving me a small smirk. “It’s urgent, otherwise I wouldn’t have woken you.”

"We’re making dog jokes now?" I say, unamused at his attempt at humor.

"Yes, so lighten up Alpha!" Oliver laughed, walking away as I followed him.

We made it to my fathers office, only to hear him talking with someone.

“There’s no way they made it that far, without someone noticing!” his loud voice boomed in anger.

“This better be important, Father. I have a mate to tend to,” I said, becoming extremely impatient as we entered the room.

“Yes son, it is. It seems as though the Vampire King’s men have made an appearance on our land,” he said sharply.

“Well, what could they possibly be looking for?” I asked, looking between my father and his beta. “And how did they get passed the guards? Shouldn’t they have been on duty?”

“That is something we will have to find out,” he huffed. “For now, we will have to keep our guard schedules tight, and make sure no one goes out alone. We don’t have any issues with them, so let’s not start now.”

“Understood. Is that all, Father?”

“Yes, Son. Go back to your mate,” he said, a small smirk on his face.

“Good,” I said, turning on my heels and walking back to my perfect little mate.

Charlie

"Hello, my little dancer," A deep voice said, and I opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. It looked to be the forest where I first met Leo.

"Are you going to hurt me?" I whimpered.

"No, my beautiful mate, I am here to protect you," The strange husky voice said.

"Who are you?" I ask, gaining a little bit of my composure back.

The gigantic jet-black wolf appeared out of the shadows behind the trees. I remembered him from the forest where I met Leo. He stalked towards me slowly, but then sat down right in front of me.

"Hello, my little dancer, my name is Steel. I am here to protect you.”

---

The sun filtered through the curtains hitting my eyes, causing me to become restless. I groaned lowly as I pried my eyes open. For a moment, I thought I was back inside my bedroom at home, and I let out a sigh and shifted, nuzzling back into my pillow. But then I realized that whatever I was nuzzling against was not a pillow, it was hard and warm and moving up and down.

And then I smelled him.

The fresh smell of rain, with something spicy. Cinnamon maybe.

Intoxicating.

Without realizing what I was doing, I nuzzled deeper and let out a content sigh. I could feel the other presence inside my mind as she settled again, and realized that it must be my wolf. She let out a small howl which furthur proved my thoughts. Her howl came out in a small hum forming in my chest, but it was actually rather comforting. This feeling was very new, but I welcomed it with open arms.

I lifted my head to get a better look, and I was laying on a very, very muscular sleeping man. I looked at the face above the muscular chest.

Oh, my god. It was Leo.

Suddenly, all the memories from yesterday came flooding back to me. Meeting Oliver, him dragging me into the woods by my school, a big black wolf, Leo.

Leo shifted a bit in his sleep, and I instantly panicked for a moment. He yanked me back down against his chest, tightening his arms around me. He pressed his nose to my hair and let out a satisfied grumble. I held my breath, waiting for more movement, but it never came. He was still asleep.

The panic slowly began creeping back into my mind. Why was I alone in an unknown room with him? How did I get here? Why did my neck hurt so goddamn much? I lifted my head from his chest again, looking around the room.

I was in a room, that almost resembled a hotel room. It was huge with the king size bed we were laying in right in the middle. The room was decorated with greys and whites, making it almost look vintage.

I looked back at Leo. I obviously had to get away from him, but how? Our legs were tangled together, and his arms were wrapped tightly around my waist. I had to try.

I tried to untangle our legs first, slowly moving them angling them as I pulled. I looked at his face, and he did not move. Success. I slowly pried his arm away from my waist and he grumbled something incoherently. My eyes shot up to his face, and I could see a frown had formed, but it did not seem to have woken him up.

I waited a few more moments before deciding it was safe to move again when his breathing leveled. It felt cold without his touch, but I tried to shake that feeling. Mate or not, you cannot kidnap a woman and expect her to want to stay with you! I began to scooch my body away from his and crawl to the edge of the bed until my feet touched the cold tiled floor.

I quickly made my way towards the door and pulled it open. A dull aching feeling began to wash over me for a second, but I pushed through it and continued my journey outside. I walked down what seemed like endless hallways, feeling lost and panicked. The aching feeling was getting worse as I made my way through the hallways.

"Charlie!" a disgruntled voice sounded behind me. I could feel the aching slowly start to dissipate as I turned around to see a half-asleep Leo.

"Come back to bed, Princess. It is way too early to be up. I know you're freaked out, but I'll explain everything to you later, but for now you need to rest," he cooed.

I shook my head back and forth, turning on my heels and running away from him. At the end of the hall, I came to a staircase and I ran down them, bracing myself against the wood railing so I did not fall completely down them. I could hear deep footsteps behind me, which I assumed was Leo's, but he wasn't chasing me. If he was, he was bound to catch me.

Once I reached the bottom of the staircase, I was shocked to find a fully stocked kitchen to my right and a living room to my left. What kind of hotel was this?

"Luna?! You should be resting, what are you doing?" a familiar voice asked, sounding startled by my outburst.

I know that voice!

He was sitting at the kitchen counter, stirring his coffee. He was looking at me as if I were insane, but I recognized him! Oliver!

"Oh, thank god!" I yelled, running over to his side. "You-",

The room began to spin and the aching that I once felt in my neck was back in full force. My thoughts became jumbled as the ache consumed my entire body, making me drop to my knees in pain.

"Alpha! She's here!" he yelled, but I could hardly understand what he was saying. I shook my head trying to clear my muddy thoughts, "HURRY!"

The ache I felt in my body, slowly began to feel like a fire had ignited across my skin burning me from the inside out.

"Make it stop!" I screamed as tears streamed down my face, " MAKE IT STOP!"

"I'm sorry, Luna! The Alpha will be here soon," He said as he tried to bring me to my feet. His touch only seemed to add to the burning fire that was my flesh. My body felt repulsed at his touch, causing the fire to spread even more rapidly.

I shoved his hand away from my body, letting out a scream. Through my sobs and screams I could hear heavy footsteps entering the room.

"Charlie!" Leo shouted, running towards me with his hands outstretched.

His voice alone made the fire in my skin die down just a little, and I found myself reaching for his touch, wanting the pain to go away. As if it was instinct, I wanted his skin against mine.

Once he reached me, he scooped me up in his arms and I wrapped myself around him trying to get as much skin contact as possible. I lifted my shirt above my belly so our bellies were touching and then I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. Thankfully, his touch made the fire die down as I let out small sobs against his neck.

"Please..." I begged, "Please make it stop."

Leo began kissing and sucking the sensitive spot on my neck, and I let out a loud moan. It felt amazing, and it instantly soothed the pain. My body was a shaking, trembling mess as he carried me back to the bedroom. His tongue kept running its course along the sensitive skin giving me intense pleasure as the heat slowly turned into something different.

I thought that when he took the pain away, he would stop kissing the spot, but he did not. He kept going, moving up my neck and finally my mouth. His lips felt like silk against mine, and I could not help but moan against his soft lips. The kiss was sweet and slow, passionate. I have never kissed anyone like this before. I have never felt like this before.

"I'm sorry Charlie," he whispered. "I didn't realize that our bond would be so strong so fast. I didn't know that you would be in so much pain." He kissed me again, lighter this time. "I don't ever want you to hurt, especially because of me."

"Why did that happen?!" I asked, placing my forehead against his.

“It could be a small heat, or it could be the bond,” He nodded and put his head in my hair, taking a deep breathe. We stayed like that for a little while, just holding each other. At this point, all I knew was that Alpha Leo was my mate, and that I had already been marked so whatever that pain was, was from him.

This was such a confusing situation, but I could not hide my obvious attraction to Leo. I was not afraid of him, or mad at him anymore for kidnapping me. I wanted to keep touching him and talking to him and being with him.

There was something wrong with me. Why wasn’t I angry at him anymore?

Leos hands gripped my waist, as he traced small circles on my back. He moved his face back, to look at my eyes, "Will you come back to bed now?"

I nodded slowly, and he smiled which made my knees weak.

He shut the door and carried me over to the bed, placing me down gently. I let out a small whimper as his skin left mine, but it was soon silenced when he got into the bed beside me, pulling my body towards him. "You smell far too good," he said, running his nose up and down my neck.

I let out a soft moan, as he grazed my mark.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, and I could not help but melt into the warmth that his body surrounded me with.

I felt my eyes close, and I fell into the most peaceful slumber as my mate traced light circles on my back, making that burning heat that once consumed my body fade into the back of my mind.

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