chapter 31

"Are you sure?" Regan draws me from my memories and I blink to bring the lake into focus.

"What?" I ask, turning to her.

"That you're not an alpha, only "

"Talis."

At the sound of Dayne's voice, I jerk around to find him standing on the edge of the clearing. Naked. He must have been out running.

I forget Regan sitting beside me, much less what we were talking about. My entire focus is on keeping my gaze on Dayne's face instead of letting my gaze drift lower.

"Yes, Alpha?"

Since Uncle Glynn never let me call him anything except alpha, this tendency has naturally shifted to how I address Dayne.

"I have a name," he snaps, "use it."

The longer I'm in the Blackshaw pack and no one hurts me, the more my fear of him is fading. It's only when he says something that triggers a memory of Uncle's many cruelties that the fear comes rushing back.

Increasingly, when I'm around Dayne, some unidentifiable emotion is rising to take the place of fear. But since all I've felt is terror, and pain, and shame for so many years of my life, it's hard for me to identify what this new emotion is.

Only that something about it or something about Dayne makes me want to push back at him. And it's getting more intense as time goes on.

"Yes, Alpha Dayne."

Regan makes a choked sound, a sound that's quickly cut off when Dayne narrows his eyes and stalks toward us. I'm not alone in scrambling to my feet when I see the look in his eyes means trouble, for me most likely.

After muttering something about needing to be somewhere, or do something, Regan takes off, but I don't turn to see where. I'm too busy trying to read his eyes to gauge how much I've pissed Dayne off as he closes the gap between us.

Also, I'm wondering why he's shaved.

He was gone early this morning, probably with Luka though I have no idea where he went.

I'd just made breakfast with Regan, and when I mentioned the fridge was starting to look a little empty, she told me to tell Dayne and he'd send someone to go into Hardin and pick up more.

The pack has a standing weekly order, and it's about time to pick it up at the grocery store.

Dayne wasn't at breakfast, otherwise I'd have mentioned it to him, and I didn't think it would be a good idea for me to share a breakfast table with Savannah who was looking as beautiful wandering into the kitchen at six-thirty, as any other time I've seen her. Especially after what nearly happened after the pack run.

Dayne backs me up against a tree, but when he does nothing else, I peek up at him to find him gazing down at me, I raise my hand up to his face.

"You shaved," I murmur, not sure if I like it.

Maybe it's the thought he shaved it to please her Savannah that I don't like.

But it has me feeling possessive, and fills me with a desperate need to touch him. To claim him. To remind him he's mine, and I'm his, even if he doesn't want me.

Since he's not shoving me away and demanding to know what I'm doing, feeling brave, I brush my fingers against his bare jaw.

"I think I prefer the beard," I admit, keeping my voice soft.

"Is that right?" His voice is gruff.

Leaning forward, I give into my curiosity and my need to touch, and slowly, I rub one cheek against his jaw with gentle but insistent pressure, the way I would if I were in my wolf shape.

It feels strange since I barely know Dayne at all for me to have such a preference over him being shaved, or with a beard.

But I do.

I much prefer the brush of his stubble and the burn against my cheek.

Clean-shaven Dayne just feels weird.

"Yeah, definitely the beard," I admit, pulling back.

Only he surprises me by curving his hand around the nape of my neck and halting my retreat.

"Do that again." He makes it an order, of course. As if it could be anything else from an alpha.

After making me sit at his feet at the pack meeting? I don't have to think twice about what my response will be.

"I don't think I want to."

He forces me to meet his gaze, and like always I can't read him.

"You do realize that was an order."

"And an alpha always gets what he wants, is that it?" I ask, only half-serious.

Instead of responding, Dayne leans his hips more firmly against me, and I feel the hard ridge of his erection sinking into my belly. He's fully aroused, and I swallow hard at the thought of all that hardness sinking into me.

"Do it," he commands, "again."

But I don't.

Tipping my head back against the tree, I meet his eyes.

"And what do I get if I do?"

Because he's pressed so tight against me, and standing so close, it's impossible to miss the flicker of surprise in his eyes.

He's not the only one shocked by the words that just came out of my mouth. But it's too late for me to take them back, so I don't bother to even try.

I know I'm not behaving much like a submissive, but like all my oddities, it's just another sign that what I've done to my wolf has made me crazy.

"Depends what you want," he says, his eyes intense.

We both know what I want since it's not like it's easy to hide the scent of my arousal in response to his closeness, but clearly, he wants me to say it. Out loud.

I gulp.

Then I think of how I can avoid having to admit something I'm not ready to. And since I'm feeling an overwhelming need to leave my scent over Dayne, I decide to kill two birds with one stone and lean in close to brush my lips against his jaw.

Jeez, my wolf must be feeling all kinds of possessiveness for me to be this territorial.

The hand on my neck tightens in response to my soft kiss, so I take it he likes it, and I plant more soft kisses along his jaw.

"Talis." His growl is low. It's more of a groan than anything else.

"Should I stop?" I murmur against his skin, dragging the scent of him deep into my lungs. A scent I could easily become addicted to if I'm not careful.

Dayne leans closer so I can reach more of him. But instead of doing what he wants, I shift away to rest my head against the tree.

His eyes are burning as he stares down at me.

"You stopped," he says, his tone accusing.

"Yeah. So, whatcha gonna do about it?"

He narrows his eyes at me, and I smirk since I know he can't force me to do what he wants.

A smirk that he wipes off my face when he lifts me and wedges his hardness at the junction of my thighs, flush against my core.

"Now," he says, once I've lost the ability to speak with him pressed so intimately against me.

"You were about to tell me what you wanted."

All I'm thinking is he needs to tear my jeans away, like right now.

Yesterday, even.

Licking lips that have gone dry, the heat in his eyes when his gaze dips to my mouth has my arousal spiking.

I wrap my legs around his waist and clutch at his shoulders for balance as one of his hands massages my ass. Then he grinds his cock against me.

"Tell me."

I whimper.

We're going to fuck against a tree at the lake. In the daytime. I can see it in his eyes, and I get so turned on by the thought, going by Dayne's flared nostrils he scents just how much. And all I have to do is tell him I want him inside me.

I open my mouth, "I want "

Luka bursts through the forests and skids to a halt when he sees Dayne has me pressed against a tree.

"Dayne. You have to come quickly."

For a single second, just before he slams his eyes shut, I see so much fury burning in Dayne's eyes that I'm shoving at him to release me before I even realize what I'm doing, not caring if I end up on the ground in my desperate attempt.

But Dayne keeps a tight hold of me, and only once I've got my feet under me does he let me go and turn to Luka.

"Luka, we really need to talk about your timing." His voice is so mild that if I hadn't seen the look in his eyes, I would believe Luka's interruption hadn't bothered him in the least.

But I saw it.

And seeing the way Luka blanches he recognizes Dayne isn't as calm as he pretends to be.