Chapter 15

CHapter 15

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*Corey's POV*

"Who was that?" I repeated when Jayden just stared at me, startled.

He shook his head slowly, as if trying to clear it before beginning to walk towards me casually. It seemed unnatural, as though he was trying to act like he wasn't surprised to see me.

"A friend," he answered, shrugging slightly.

"His name?" I asked becoming increasingly annoyed, yet not knowing why I was even irked.

Maybe it was just Jayden's presence. No, it wasn't that, I knew that. It was an irritation that had built up all day from the stupid mate bond creating a restlessness in me because he was far away, and I had no idea where or how he was.

I had been angry about the unshakable feeling all day. Angry at him because I couldn't catch a break. Whether he was near or far, I couldn't stop focusing on him. The anger was topped by the fact that he had not answered my text after reading it.

"It doesn't matter," he said.

"Very strange name," I mumbled.

He gave furrowed his brows giving me a baffled side-eye, but then realised I wasn't joking.

"No one," he said as he walked by me.

"That's not an answer to my question," I said, turning to keep at his side.

"What does it matter to you?" he muttered.

At that, I grabbed his arm and pushed him against the wall, making him cry out in surprise and what felt like fear. I wasn't very patient, especially when it came to someone being smug towards me. I had not tugged him very roughly, but I had been told I looked terrifying when I was annoyed, so figured that was why he was afraid.

"I'm not asking again, Jayden. I'm warning you; you do not want to make me angry," I lowered my voice.

I could feel him shaking beneath my hands, which were gripping his shoulders as he stared up at me.

His fear pissed me off, but again that was met with a conflicting feeling of concern. I had not done anything to warrant that much of a shaken reaction. It was upsetting how much of a weak Omega he was. It was even more upsetting that his fear created an innate worry in me that fought the anger to try to make me ease that fear.

I hated the mate connection we had so much.

"F-Finn," he stuttered. "H-He's human, I swear. I-I didn't feel a wolf. He doesn't – doesn't seem to know about werewolves..." his voice fluctuated through the stammered words, a clear tremble in it.

I frowned down at him, my heart racing at how close we were. I felt so bad for scaring him, I just wanted to hug him. I didn't, the mate part of me wanted to. The fact that he had been gone all day had made me so anxious, it had gotten the better of me which was why I texted him earlier.

Damn the bond!

I noticed he shook less and relaxed while he seemed to study me. His tense shoulders lowered under my hands as his wide brown eyes ran over me slowly; from the black shirt I wore to my jeans, my sneakers before they traced back up.

I hated how his gazing was making my blood rush, my heart pump so hard it felt like it was going to leave my chest. It was just him looking at me. What was going on? I wondered... what he thought of what he was looking at.

At least the fear I felt from him had disappeared. His calming down made a tranquil relief wash over me.

I was trying so hard to ignore the pull towards him, to control it. But as I stared down at his smaller frame that I was still pinning to the wall, as he watched at me, the earlier shaking having stopped, his chocolate brown eyes fixed on my lips, I couldn't help but let mine fall to his.

They were plump and appeared delicate and smooth. I had the urge to touch them, so sure they would feel like velvet. His lips were just slightly parted, a bit of moisture glistening on his lower lip made it appear sweet. I imagined that was how it would taste if I...

Fuck! No, no! I did not want to do it! I could not do it! That would be disgusting. He was disgusting.

I tried to convince myself, but could not. Rationally, the argument did not make sense. I had not seen him do anything that warranted disgust. All I had seen from him until then made him seem warm, alluring and sweet and I wanted to lean into it. Every single cell in my body urged me to, all I could think about was how much I had wanted to be close to him. How comforting it felt now that I was. I wanted to close the remaining distance.

One kiss. Just one to know what it felt like with my mate. My kind, timid, puppy-eyed mate...

His lips looked so soft in that picture, and in the moment. Would it be so wrong to just... It didn't matter if he was a guy. No one would know. I just wanted to know what they felt like.

No... I didn't.

The sane portion of me was trying to get me to leave but the mate part, which was a lot stronger at that moment, kept my feet firmly planted where they were. Just once... No one ever had to know.

Right, just once. Maybe it would make me stop thinking about it.

I didn't give myself another moment to argue against it and leaned forward, quickly pressing my lips to his, in turn pushing him further against the wall.

He let out an initial gasp in surprise, but then went noticeably weak under my grip as I held him to wall while kissing him urgently.

I almost smirked knowing that just a kiss was enough to make him go weak. I bet Finn couldn't do that!

My hands eased on his shoulders, and I traced them onto his neck, the feeling of his skin under my fingertips immediately causing heat to rush from my chest to my abdomen. At first, he just stood there, but then his head tilted up to push his lips further against mine.

Every rational thought in my mind had just been shut out. I pushed up against him and heard him groan softly as his hands gripped the shirt above my waist. It only made me want him more. I wanted to hear more from him, see what else my touch could do to him.

I ran my tongue over his soft lips and bit down on his soft lower lip hungrily when he didn't let me in. He let out a soft whimper as his lips parted and I completely ignored the part of my brain screaming at me to stop. He was sweet; tasted a little like vanilla milkshake, which was something he probably had before returning.

In that moment all I wanted was him. Nothing else mattered. It felt perfect. So right. The electricity and adrenaline that ran through my body was amazing, he wasn't even touching my skin directly, but the warmth from his hands through my shirt was enough to make my head light. He tasted better than I imagined.

I wanted him so badly. I wanted him to keep holding onto me, wanted the fabric to disappear. I wanted to hold him close, and never wanted to move away from him. It wasn't a want, I needed it.

I needed to mark him.

The realisation caused a switch to go off in my mind.

What the fuck was I doing?!

As I finally snapped back to my senses, I forcefully shoved myself off him.

His eyes shot open. They looked as shocked as I felt as we both tried to catch our breaths, his arms dropping back to his sides.

I stepped further back feeling my hands tremble from the lingering adrenaline.

"Sa-say a word about this to anyone and I will kill you," I hissed.

The way his face instantly fell made me step back towards him, feeling a need to cheer him up, but I froze when I noted the automatic reaction, and he seemed to too. Only he didn't seem to realise why I moved and tensed, as if afraid of what I was going to do. That fear made it worse, and I was stunned at my reactions to him.

I needed to get away from him.

I didn't wait for him to reply before storming straight out of the house.

Shit.

*Jayden's POV*

I remained frozen even minutes after Corey had rushed out, my heart hammering in my chest.

I could still feel his lips, his body pressed against mine, his touch lingering on my shoulders and neck.

But... I didn't believe it. Had I imagined it?

I let my eyes move to the door he had just slammed behind him when he left.

What the hell just happened?

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I sat on my bed, chewing my lip. No one had returned yet.

I tried to convince myself it never happened, because I knew he was going to act like it had not, but I couldn't.

The more I tried not to think about it, the more it played over in my mind and the more my heart picked up and my stomach filled with butterflies as the feeling of his lips returned.

Did he like it? No. From his reaction, he was mortified. He had probably gone to a club in hopes of getting so drunk, he would forget it ever happened.

My eyes stung as his last words played in my mind and I shoved my face into my hands.

I should have stopped him. It had crossed my mind, but as soon as the thought entered my mind it was shut down and I found myself responding to the kiss. The immediate response had been instinctive, caused by my body's reaction to my mate. And I hadn't come back to my senses after that. He had, though.

He was only going to hate me more, if that was even possible!

Why was I afraid of that? He kissed me! It wasn't my fault! Well... maybe it was. It always was, somehow.

I tugged at my sleeves feeling uncomfortable tingling all over my body. How angry was he going to be? Would it be enough to want to fight? The thought made it hard to breathe as I predicted the pain. I tried to block out a rush of memories that came with trying to imagine what Corey was like when he became really angry.

I didn't want him to hate me any more.

It felt like he didn't though.

The thought made me pause and calm down a bit.

The moment our lips met, for the minute we'd been close, it felt like things had changed, his emotions toward me weren't at all anger or hatred... It was like he finally realised that he wanted to be near me as much as I did him. Or that was what it felt like to me. Just the thought of how perfect it was –

Enough! It's never going to happen again, Jayden.

He just had a moment of pure insanity, and I had a moment of pure... bliss.

I swallowed letting my eyes fall as reality seemed to sink back in. Right. What I felt – what I wanted him to feel – it wasn't what he felt. His reaction to the kiss showed I had immediately deluded myself into thinking there could be something between us because he had kissed me.

Enough thinking. I was only going to end up thinking myself into either depression or paralysis. Time to clear my head.

I tried to shake Corey from my mind as I jogged into my room to grab my guitar.

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