Sinister Shift

1.       Sinister Shift

BELLE

Sometime during the middle of the night, I was awoken by the feeling of fiery kisses on my neck. My eyes flew open immediately and I gasped, recognizing the familiar sparks. 

“Grayson?” I asked into the darkness, reaching out for him. 

“Mm-hmm?” he asked as he continued his kissing and gripped my waist. 

I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light. 

My heart soared when I realized that he seemed to be in a better mood than the last time I’d seen him. He seemed to have found his old passion for physical contact with me. 

I sighed in relief. I guess he was just stressed earlier.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his lips to mine for a deep kiss that chased all the tension out of my body. After a few minutes, I pulled away to try to catch my breath, and Grayson returned to kissing my neck. 

I tried shoving him away from me playfully so that I could see him and talk to him, but he just growled loudly and snapped his teeth at me. Okay… 

Suddenly, he tore my shirt to shreds so that my bare chest was on full display. 

Grayson didn’t waste any time as he latched his mouth onto my breast roughly. 

I gasped and my back arched involuntarily. 

My mind was all foggy from his sinful mouth, but somewhere in there, there was logic. This was getting way too hot, way too fast. I grabbed his hair and tried to pull him away from my chest, but again he growled roughly. He wouldn’t look at me, so I couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but I could only assume that his wolf had taken over. 

“Grayson,” I tried again. His lips were moving down my stomach now. I was starting to panic as he got closer to my center. “Grayson, stop!” I said firmly. 

Acting as though I had said nothing at all, he continued his trek downward until he finally reached my cotton panties. It was then that I remembered I had only worn underwear and one of his shirts to bed. 

This didn’t leave many obstacles for him to get through before I was completely naked. 

My heart rate increased as I tried to move away from him. I wasn’t ready anymore. 

Something was off, and I didn’t want to do anything with him while he was acting like this. 

I pushed him away more forcefully and tried to get out from under him. 

“Grayson, I mean it. Stop.” 

A dark chuckle left his mouth. His black eyes connected with mine and he smirked at me.  “Oh, come on, Belle. Have a little fun. I’ve been dying to have you. Let’s finish what we started last night.” 

I shook my head. “Not tonight. I’m not ready right now.” 

“I’m not ready,” he imitated me in a high-pitched voice. “That excuse is getting old. 

All you have to do is lie there while I do all the work.” 

My jaw dropped at his words. I couldn’t believe he’d just said that. 

What had happened to the man who’d told me he would wait as long as I needed— who’d taken me into his arms when I’d been embarrassed about my lack of experience?  I tried to pull away again, but he just latched a hand onto my leg and squeezed painfully. His other hand moved up to the band of my panties and began to pull them down. Panic was creeping in. 

I grabbed his hand to stop him, kicking my legs upward. “Grayson, I said no! Stop!” 

When one of my feet connected with his jaw, he jolted backward. “Are you kidding me?”  I immediately sat up and placed my back against the headboard, trying to get as far away from him as I could. I grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around myself. 

I didn’t even notice I was crying until I felt tears traveling from my eyes down to my neck. 

Grayson looked furious. His entire body was shaking with anger. 

“What the fuck kind of mate are you? First, I get stuck with a human, and now you won’t give me the pleasure that you owe me?” 

A sob escaped my throat. I shrank further in on myself. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?” I paused. “Do you really mean that?” I managed to get out. 

He nodded. “What the fuck are you crying for? If anyone should be upset it should be me.

This is your duty as my mate. Your only duty. What else are you good for?” 

“Excuse me?” I snapped. “My only duty? Having sex with you is not my job! I am not here to be some object for your personal pleasure!” 

I tried to keep my words strong, but toward the end of my speech, my voice began to shake. 

I covered my face with my hands to try to hide the pathetic tears spilling from my eyes.  I heard Grayson sigh. There was a shuffling of the sheets and then I felt his hands wrap around my wrists to uncover my face. I flinched at the contact and moved away. Another sigh. 

“Baby, I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean any of that,” Grayson said. “I just had a rough day and was hoping to relieve some of my tension tonight.” 

My body was still shaking with pure terror, and I couldn’t bring myself to respond.  “Beautiful, please look at me,” he said. He put a hand on my knee and began to make soothing circles with his thumb. “C’mon, please?” 

I slowly removed my hands from my face and sniffled. I probably looked like an absolute wreck. 

Grayson smiled softly. “There we go.” 

He leaned forward and placed his forehead against mine. He breathed in deeply, and we stayed like that for a while, although his hurtful words were still ringing through my head.  I calmed down as he continued to whisper soothing words and rub circles on my legs. I was starting to feel like maybe Grayson had returned to normal. 

With every passing second though, his lips were getting closer and closer to mine, until finally, they connected. At first, I didn’t mind. 

The kiss was loving and passionate like usual—unlike the hard and demanding ones he’d been giving me just moments before. 

But then I felt him tugging on the sheet, trying to pull it away from my body. I frowned into the kiss. Was he really trying to start something again? 

I attempted to pull the sheet tighter around myself, but he just growled and yanked harder until I couldn’t hang on anymore. I gasped as my upper half became exposed and his hands moved upward. 

I immediately moved away from him and shoved at his shoulders with everything I had in me. “Grayson, no! Stop! We are not doing this tonight!” 

I seemed to catch him off guard, and he fell back just the smallest bit—enough for me to scramble off the bed and grab the sheet from the floor to wrap back around myself. 

“Fuck!” Grayson yelled. “You are so fucking ridiculous, Belle!” 

“I’m ridiculous? Are you kidding me? No means no, Grayson! What the hell is your problem?” I yelled.  

Grayson let out a dark laugh. “Well, you weren’t saying no last night. You were practically begging me for it.” 

I gasped. The tears were rushing down my face in rivers now. It took me a couple of seconds to get my emotions under control enough to whisper, “Who are you?” 

Grayson was opening his mouth to respond when a loud growl came out of his throat. His entire body flinched, then he grabbed at his hair, holding it in tight fists. 

Suddenly his head began whipping back and forth as louder growls escaped his mouth. 

“Grayson?” I asked. His entire body began to shake. 

I slowly stood and walked over to him, keeping in mind that the last time I’d seen him act like this, he’d shifted and chased me throughout a hotel suite. 

His body turned away from me, and a strange hissing noise came from him that was nothing like the growling sounds he usually made. 

“If you don’t stop, you won’t like the consequences,” I barely heard him hiss. 

I took a step backward, startled by how his voice sounded. “I-I’m sorry,” I stuttered. 

His body abruptly snapped upright, making a horrible cracking noise. 

He turned to me, and a sinister smile spread over his face as he watched me cry. 

“Oh, here we go with the crying again,” he said. “Your little innocence act is getting old, Belle.” 

I didn’t say anything. I had no clue what to do. I felt like curling up into a little ball and staying like that forever. 

“Whatever,” Grayson said. “It’s not like I would want to fuck you while you looked like that anyway.” He gestured to my blotchy face and messy hair. 

He lay back on the bed, turning away from me, seemingly going to sleep. 

I stood there for a few moments, in complete disbelief of what had just happened.  I wasn’t sure what I should do. I didn’t want to get back into bed with him, but I couldn’t leave the room dressed like this either. And I couldn’t go get new clothes without walking in front of him. This sheet didn’t cover much, and I wasn’t about to give him a show.  I began shuffling toward the bathroom, having decided that would be the best place to collect my thoughts. As I did, I tried to keep my sobs at bay so I wouldn’t make Grayson more upset. 

“Turn off the fucking lights,” he suddenly growled, making me jump. 

I quickly ran over to the light switch and flicked it off before running back to the bathroom and shutting the door behind me, being sure to lock it.