Cold Kisses

20. Settlement

Verity

He came back late in the evening, frustrated and angry as always. I listened as he stormed inside the kitchen. Soon, the microwave was disturbing the peaceful silence in the house. His scent increased in strength, nestling in my nostrils. I peered over my shoulder, eyes meeting golden ones.

"Hi." I blushed due to the way he was looking at me. 

"Hello."

His voice was dark, deeper than usual. 

"Did you have a nice day?"

He nodded. "It was decent. You?"

"Pretty fine. I invited Celeste over and talked to her, just so you know."

"I know," he plopped the fork out of his mouth and swallowed the pasta. "Your guards told me, in case I hadn't authorised it."

"You hadn't," I foolishly said before I could stop myself. 

"I let you have some company - you had earned it."

Um, okey?? 

As he was about to head upstairs, I raised my voice.

"Hunter, can I go over to the pack house tomorrow? Celeste said she could use some help to decorate it." I begged with my eyes, hoping he would let me. 

It did irritate me that I had to, yet again, ask someone to do things I wanted to do. I had no freedom here, nor was I allowed to do anything without his permission. And if I did get permission to do something, there's no doubt that I would have to be accompanied by one of the guards. Which sucked, because I couldn't speak freely about anything in fear of people reporting my words back to Hunter.

"Please?" I added when he remained silent, his eyes staring down at me where I sat on the couch in the living room. 

"The pack house?"

I nodded.

"Anyone else going to be there?"

"Well, I believe people live there, so yeah, of course. It's the pack house after all." His eyes narrowed at my tone. "But, um, I think she said that some lady named Keira, Jaq - her brother - and some others will join us."

"Is Jaq mated?"

"Uh, no?" I shrugged. "Don't think so. I don't know."

"Then no."

"But why?"

"No."

With that final saying, he went upstairs. I gaped after him. Excuse me, what? I got mad and I went upstairs to talk some sense into him. Not my smartest move, I do admit that. But I was angry and hurt - I really wanted to spend the day surrounded by people rather than be locked up in his house. 

I gently knocked on the door to his room. He didn't answer, but I entered anyway. There was no sight of him in the bedroom, though I heard the sound of water running so he had to be showering. I sat on his bed, waiting for him to get out of the bathroom. The wait wasn't long. 

Soon, he emerged from the shower. He was only sporting a pair of boxer shorts and I sort of let my eyes roam his body. I couldn't help but stare as he dried his hair with a towel, sending water everywhere. Even I could admit that he had an impressive body. I think I even peeped a patch of ink near his hip.

When he sniffed in the air, he froze. At first he didn't look up, but when he did his eyes dilated a bit and he frowned. I nervously shuffled away from him. Something was up, I could smell it. He smelled strange - it was a good strange, but I couldn't put my finger on what he was smelling like. To make matters worse, his eyes were shifting between gold and black, which meant he shared the control with his wolf at the moment. Alas, nothing good will come out of this. 

"What are you doing here?"

His voice was strained, like something was holding him back from talking. 

"I disagree with your rejection of me asking to spend tomorrow in the pack house."

"You disagree," he said, slowly inching closer as he tossed the towel over his shoulder, "with my decision not to grant you permission to go outside?"

"Uh, yeah, exactly." I leaped out of his path, once again creating a distance between us. Just to be on the safe side. "Because you- um you never- uhm."

"I never what?" He smirked, walking towards me as he passed the door. The unmistakable sound of a lock clicking shut met my ears. I then became more alert of his every move.

"You never, uh." Damn it, why was I so nervous all of the sudden? "You never provided a valid reason to deny it."

"No, I never did that, now did I? Wanna know why?" 

I nodded.

"Because I don't have to. I'm your Alpha and I don't need to explain myself to you. What I say goes."

"Actually, you do." I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. "You can't just tell me 'no' without also telling me why I'm not allowed to spend the day in the pack house." 

He pursed his lips, eyes gleaming in anger at my stubbornness and unwillingness to just take his words and be fine with it. Go and cry then, I thought. I demanded an explanation. He couldn't just force me to stay in his house and do nothing. 

"Yes, I can." He neared me, his shadow looming over me. 

I gazed up at him, glaring. "Is it because Jaq isn't mated?"

A muscle near his right eye twitched and he clenched his jaw. Gotcha. "No."

"Yeah, sure. Try to deny it. It is because Jaq isn't mated, isn't it?" His eyes darkened and he growled at me. "Or, is it more about all the unmated males in the house?" 

I didn't stop the snicker from coming through. 

"Do you enjoy challenging me by saying things like that?" He leant down, our foreheads touching. I jumped slightly by the contact. "Do you deliberately try to anger me further? I don't want you in the pack house because there are teenage pups there and they are always horny. They will for sure try to get into your pants and I will not have them drooling over, nor looking at, my property." 

"You can't seriously be jealous!" I laughed in his face, shaking my head in disbelief. "Jaq is like seventeen or something, he's basically a child! And you honestly think they would touch me, when your scent is all over me? Geez dude, insecure much? Besides, I'm not your 'property'."

I shouldn't have said that, was my first thought when his pupils shrunk inwards and then expanded over the sclera. His eyes were completely black now. 

"First of all: I'm not jealous, I'm territorial. Second of all: you are not leaving this house until you have my mark on that porcelain neck of yours to prove that you are mine and to keep horny pups away from you. And since that hasn't happened yet, you are not leaving this house without me. End of fucking discussion."

An idea formed in my head. I didn't like it, but it was my only chance to get out of this house without us two mating. "Then you can come with me."

His face fell after I blurted that out. I guess he had something else planned, but no way in hell was I going to have sex with him. That would never happen.

"No, I've other things to do."

"Yeah, like what?" I rolled my eyes. "You can spare one day and let me be out of this godforsaken house."

He hummed, his mood taking a U-turn. A smirk was playing on his lips and he pressed me against the wall. Something soft brushed my skin and I realised he had placed the towel around my neck. "You want out so badly, huh?"

"Well, I don-"

He hushed me, pulling me closer with the towel and giving me a peck on the lips. "Tell you what: I'll let you go to the pack house tomorrow, if you let me mate with you during your heat. Without any interjections or you chickening out."

"What? No! Are you crazy?! If we do, I might get pregnant." 

A fire lit up in his eyes when those words had left my mouth. 

"Thanks for reminding me." He gently gripped my chin, tilting my head up. "So, do you want to go tomorrow or not?"