Sly as a Fox {Book One}

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Intimidate

verb

-to force into or deter from some action by inducing fear

After dinner and a few minor food fight outbreaks, Blithe came around to stand beside me and he put his hand out for me to take, which I gladly did, though I was unsure where he was leading me. Feeling my hesitation and potential curiosity as I followed him through the mansion, he turned his head around to look at me with a bright smile that he didn't even attempt to conceal.

He turned back around with my hand still locked with his and began dragging me behind him, all while still being gentle. "Just hold on. We're almost there." This only made my curiosity heighten, and, in turn, my sarcasm.

"And where is 'there' exactly?" I had a small smile that mirrored his own.

That usual smirk was now back in its rightful resting place on Blithe's face as he spoke, "You'll see." His footsteps became a lot quicker with these words which then also made my stomach erupt into nervous contractions.

On our course to the undisclosed destination, we strode past a clock hanging on the wall that read two o'clock in the morning. My eyes bulged out at that. I couldn't believe it was already that late; or perhaps that early. Neither of us had had a wink of sleep, but we were none tired, either; too energized by the other's presence to crave sleep's embrace. I knew that after giving into our nocturnal nature, my  internal clock would be thrown off balance again, though, which I was not looking forward to. Great.

I couldn't help but notice the way my skin pleasantly burned where hetouched my hand and I, unwillingly, acknowledged that the way his large hand encapsulated mine wasn't unpleasant. Blithe wasn't that tall of a guy, maybe standing at five feet, eight inches, but, compared to me, he felt huge. He was very masculine in his features, from his sharp jawline to his broad shoulders, and he was aesthetically pleasing in all the right ways. My chest wouldn't stop fluttering, my whole body buzzing on a high from his presence.

To imagine that this man would be at my side for the rest of my life was a little mind-boggling, but there was something in me that felt sated and comfortable with that knowledge. He was trying and that's all that mattered to me.

Blithe pulled me into the threshold of a dark library that towered ten feet over either of our heads. A ladder leaned against the side of the wooden shelves that functioned as the walls themselves. Every  available space on the shelves was filled with a book or a nick-nack that was probably worth more than my life. At the back sat a thick desk the size of my bed, a large leather chair sitting in wait behind it. The library held a certain masculine scent that dominated the space and I knew without asking that this was the Alpha's study; his father's library.

I hadn't met his father in the chaos of last night, though I heard someone mention in passing that the Alpha eventually came home and went straight to bed. I knew he was ill, so I wasn't overly concerned about his potential specist tendencies, though they hung in the back of my head, haunting me of what his opinion of me would be when he learned I was his son's mate. Tiffany and Griffin, Blithe's siblings, had both accepted me with open arms, so I reminded myself that if their father was specist, they wouldn't have treated me with the respect they did.

Still, I felt like I was trespassing into someone's inner sanctum by  being here and was very unsettled with the dominance his father's scent held. The darkness of the library only put me more on edge, expecting the giant wolf form of his father to pop out at any minute.