Cedric •Book 1 ManxMan •Complete

•Arik•

Wouter Peelen plays Arik

Chapter 28•

What is he doing? Why is he holding me so close? What does he get out of this?

I sob into his arm. "Stop. What are you doing?"

"You'll be okay." He whispers into my ear and I can't help but get goosebumps throughout my body.

"Stop. Just stop." My body shakes uncontrollably. All this man does is tighten his arms around my frame.

Why am I feeling like this? I hate it! I just want to scream!

And so I scream. I can't stop myself. It's as if I have no control over my emotions. And I don't. Not at this moment.

"Sir?" I look up at Amir standing by the door.

"Bring it over." Amir walks over to the bed as this man sits up. He takes his arms away from my body and the need for them makes me sob even more. My arms move without my command and I'm already wrapping them around his arm. He looks back at me and smiles. With his free hand he takes the bottle of water Amir hands him and opens it.

"Drink." My lips tremble as I shake my head. He tries to bring it to my lips but I push his hand away. Why am I acting like this? This isn't me. Nothing I've been doing is me!

Why did I almost kill Vince? Oh God I almost killed him.

And Pierre... I killed him and made it look like an accident. I did it so effortlessly. I didn't care. Why not? Was my wolf so hungry that he didn't care who he'd hurt?

God I'm... I'm a murderer. I used to do this for the pack, but now that I did it for myself it felt so wrong.

My breath hitches in my throat and I just watch this man with shock. He forces me to swallow the water he's giving me through his own mouth.

"There. How do you feel?" He asks as he touches my cheek lightly. At that moment I feel it. The warmth, the electricity.

My heart skips a beat and I'm hitting his hand away without thinking. "What...?" I move back on the bed and I'm falling off off it before I notice. The man is quickly by my side and helping me up.

"Don't touch me." I cry out. He looks pained by my words and a feeling of so much sadness comes over me. "No I didn't mean it... like that." Tears begin to fall.

"Shh... it's alright. Calm down." He steps closer to me and he wraps his arms around my body. This warmth, god I love it so much.

I sob into his neck as I wrap my arms around his body. I press into him to the point where it's suffocating but I don't stop. I want to keep this warmth forever.

He moves us back on to the bed and lays me on top of him. I wrap my legs around his and before I know it I'm falling asleep.

-

He stayed with me the whole entire time I was an emotional mess. It wasn't stopping. My thoughts were racing through my head, my memories too. I cried, I laughed, I expressed myself like I've never done before. It was frightening not being able to control my emotions. I even transformed into my wolf a couple of times. Ultimately this was something I don't ever want to experience. Ever.

"You know my name but I don't know yours." I sit up and ask.

"My name is Arik." Just by hearing him speak, goosebumps cover my body yet again.

"Thank you Arik... for everything."

"Do not thank me." He touches the edge of my eye which causes me to close it. I can't help but smile at this amazing feeling that comes out of the touch.

"Why does this feel so good? Are you... my second mate?" I hesitantly ask. It's been on my mind since the second he touched me after I got my emotions back.

His smile makes my heart beat quicken. "Yes I am, as you are mine." I see a flash of pain in his eyes and it makes my heart ache instantly.

"What happened to your first mate? Uh if you mind me asking, or better yet you don't have to answer me that was insensitive. Sorry." I frown. All he does is laugh and it's music to my ears.

"I shall not hide things from you. My first mate was killed by an assassin 11 years ago." I frown. An assassin? "He was a werewolf from your current pack."

11 years ago none of us were old enough to go out and complete jobs. Only Wayne, John, Lucas, and Cedric went on jobs...

Oh... my... god...

"It was Cedric...? He killed your mate?" I can't help but begin to weep for him.

"Shh... don't cry for me. It was a long time ago." He sits closer to me and holds onto my hands. "But yes he did. I was outraged, hurt, I wanted blood. His blood. But before I was about to kill him I thought of something more painful than death. I made Angela curse him so that he would have to kill whoever he would love intimately." My eyes widen at the realization.

It all seems to click. Everything. Why he pushed me away. Why he did all that he did.

"You're the reason he pushed me away? You were the reason for everything that happened? We could have been happily mated..." he shows a pained expression on his face.

"I didn't know. I... apologize not for what I did for him, but for what I put you through." He squeezes my hands to reassure me.

I pull away.

"Jude..."

"I have to go..." I stand up and walk towards the door. Arik is already in front of me, preventing me from opening it before I can react. I smile reassuringly. "I'll be back. I just have some things to settle."

He doesn't look reassured at all. "I'll come back." I go up on my toes to give him a kiss on the lips. I just meant for it to be a peck but he wraps his arms around my waist and brings me in closer. I grab him behind his neck and deepen the kiss if that's even possible. His tongue caresses my lower lip and slowly parts my lips. Before we know it, our tongues are dancing in our mouths. He grabs my ass and hauls me up against him, making me wrap my legs around his waist. He turns us and presses my body against the door.

"I won't let you leave." I smile. His deep voice vibrates throughout his chest.

"You're going to have to." I tell him. He looks up at me with sad eyes. "I'll be back." He nods and puts me down. I smile one last time and I walk out of the door.

Whatever it takes. Cedric is going to tell me everything. Enough is enough.

--

That moment when I see the end approaching *cries* but yeah I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!! Shits about to go down.

There will be a second book to this series!! Excited no??? Ahhhh I'm super excited but that's still a long time from now bc even though I see the end approaching for this story it still has a long way to go lol.