Ophelia

Chapter 13

"I don't have to explain anything to you." I began to walk away from him. Going further down the beach and away from everyone else. I could hear him storming up behind me.

"Oh yes you do! You convinced my sister and friend to lie to their leader, snuck off to another country where I couldn't provide protection, and then there's what happened back there in the water! What the hell was that?!" I kept walking. Suddenly a hand wrapped around my wrist, "Ophelia! Stop!" I was spun around, crashing into Benjamin's chest.

I growled, "What, Benjamin?! What?!"

"You don't get to have an attitude with me! I had to track down you're f*cking friend to find out my sister and my mate were in Fiji doing god knows what!"

"No! You do not get to call me that!" I showed against his chest, trying to get away but he just pulled me closer. "I will not be placed on standby while you go live your life doing whoever you want! You can't call me something and give false hope! It's not fair and you know it!"

"Life ain't fair princess, the sooner you get used to that the better." His rough hands grasped my bare hips, sparks erupted under the contact. He froze. He glanced down, noticing our proximity along with the lack of clothing on my part. My chest was pressed against his chest, his grip on me tightened briefly before he let me go. He cleared his throat, "Right... You electrocuted me!"

I stepped back, regaining personal space. "Yeah," I sighed. "It really was an accident! You grabbed me in the middle of a precognition so I wasn't seeing you, I was in between realities."

"We're going to come back to that... and what you were telling Elizabeth and Eligh—"

"Elliot."

"Right, Elliot. You were telling them what you saw?" He looked out towards the ocean, processing the information. He turned back to me, baffled. "These are not normal wolf traits, Ophelia! Wolves don't electrocute people!"

"I..." I looked away for a second, conflicted. Do I tell him?

"Brother!" Elizabeth stormed over towards us. "I just remembered why I took Ophelia here in the first place! It was to get away from you! How dare you—"

"You took her?!" Benjamin raged. "You were the one who deliberately disobeyed house orders and betrayed my trust? You know how much danger you could have been in with these rabids running around?"

"Betrayed your trust?!" Elizabeth slapped her brother right across the face. "Ya know, ever since you came back I was wondering why you were acting like a boy throwing a temper tantrum. And I still don't get it! You, brother, are the one that's torturing your mate!" His eyes widened. "That's right! I know everything! You should really watch where you leave your artwork, anyone can find it."

"Elizabeth, it's none of your business." He growled. She went to say something else but he gave her one look and made her stop. "If you would excuse us, Ophelia and I were having a conversation." Benjamin's hand wrapped around my wrist and guided me away, farther away from Elizabeth.

You would think that a seemingly aggressive male like Ben would have a tight grip on my wrist. You would think that him and his incorrigible alpha-complex would be rough with me, dragging me away. But that couldn't be anymore wrong. He was gentle, his feathered touch left tingles across my skin. He wasn't pulling me across the beach, he was guiding me away. Sure, he was very much an arrogant asshat but he was harmless—to me anyways.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," he stopped walking and let my wrist go. He still faced away from me, refusing to look me in the eyes. "I was under the impression that you took my sister. Not the other way around. Not that I assumed... Well, I mean I did assume, but only because Elizabeth has never pulled anything like this, not in a very long time." His gaze finally met mine. "Casper had just told me that the rabids were from our clan, which of course would stir panic. Then I couldn't find Elizabeth and I couldn't find you—"

"Why would you look for me?" I said, more to myself then him. He noticed and stared at me in disbelief for a moment before looking away.

"So Casper told me the two of you were together but wouldn't tell me where. So I found Evan—"

"Elliot!" I rolled my eyes, "That one wasn't even close."

"Whatever. Like I was saying, I found Elliot and made him tell me where you were. Instead of telling me, he just transported us here instead." He scoffed. His throat cleared, his fingers rose to pull at the collar of his button up shirt. He obviously wasn't prepared to be in Fiji. Slowly, he began to undo buttons. Button after button, his shirt became looser until it was open. Silently, he pulled the fabric off, and he became shirtless.

His eyes glanced over to me, a smirk rose on his face as he caught me staring. Was I flustered? Yeah, a little bit. Was I gonna show it? No, hopefully not. "Is there something wrong, Princess?" The arrogance clear in his voice.

I opened my mouth to reply with a witty comeback but nothing came out. My cheeks were turning red as he chuckled. "I get that I'm attractive and you've probably never been with a m—"

Oh no, no, no, no, no! I will not stand here and hear this from him! Before he could finish, I spun on my heel and began walking away. He laughed at my embarrassment, mocking me from behind. I wasn't having it. With a flick of my hand a wave rose up and crashed down on him. Childish, I know. Well deserved? That'll be a yes from me.