Chapter 17: Morning of

“Wake up.”

That cold voice broke my slumber. I didn’t even register that I’d fallen asleep, until I was hauled away from my fire by a furious Victor.

“What are you wearing?” Victor spun on me the floor and looked at me askance.

This was a garment I often slept in. It was one piece that reached my knees. However, as he dragged me to him, it rolled up to mid-thigh.

“A tunic,” I squawked, waking enough to lurch onto my elbows and try and keep it over the parts of me I still wished to conceal.

“It’s huge on you. It looks like one of mine.” Victor frowned.

It probably was. They’d torn and tossed enough of my clothes I had truly little left and was taking anything left on the step of my hut.

“~Is~ that my tunic?” He wondered aloud, eyeing it.

~I don’t know.~

“What do you want, Victor?”

Glancing outside, I saw it was still dark. I couldn’t keep the contempt out of my voice. “It’s too early for you to be checking to see if I followed orders.”

~He must’ve finished border guard duties early.~

I worried the inside of my cheek. “It’s not daylight yet, I have time!”

~I was going to go hide.~

~Somewhere. Preferably without our Alpha killing me.~

“You’ve no reason to be torturing me this early! Go away and come back in a few hours.”

“Uh-uh.” He eyed me as if reading my thoughts. “You were going to bolt if I waited. I’ve been telling you for days what I want. I’ve come to collect.”

His gaze slid over my bare legs which were revealed by the bottom hem of the tunic. “You’re not going anywhere now.”

I chewed my lips as I stared at the floor next to me.

~How am I going to get out of this?~

“Because of the Mating Moon?” I asked, voice tight.

~Surely that’s why they were all so intent now, when before I’d merely been like a pup they dragged along on their hunts.~

“No. I wanted you long before that,” Victor said dismissively.

“Because you saw my body?”

“No. Wanted you before that.” He glowered at me, green eyes reflecting his impatience.

“Why are you here alone?” It suddenly struck me how odd it was.

~He’s never without them…~ I was certain it boded ill for me.

“Because I wanted to take you alone. To actually feel you. Without the rush.”

“Please don’t.” I couldn’t keep the begging note from my voice.

~What will I do if he touches me?~

There was something less personal about it, when they were all bombarding me then if Victor was to caress me, fondle me, by himself.

It felt too…~Intense.~

I didn’t have to wonder what anyone was thinking, or why they were doing all this to me. They were always talking to each other, encouraging each other.

~No one is here to encourage him now.~

“Just wait for them, then you can all do what you’re going to do, and leave me alone.”

The idea of Victor taking me. Moving against me, while he looked in my eyes with that permeating, soul-searching look of his, was terrifying.

It made me feel even more vulnerable than anything had before.

“What?” Victor’s black brows lowered.

Seeing the frantic way I was examining my window, and then flitting my gaze to the door, his face hardened.

He slowly shook his head. “That’s never going to happen, Valerie. You wouldn’t make it half a step before I was all over you.”

“What?” I blinked at him in horror.

~Can he read my mind?~

“We’ll never be done with you. You arouse us like no one else ever has…Or could. We’re not letting you go. Ever,” he said dismissively, before pointing at my clothes. Meager as they were. “Now take that tunic off for me.”

“W-why?”

“Because I want inside you. Now.” His green eyes leveled on me with permeating force.

I felt like I was naked already.

“Please, Victor. Don’t do this.”

“Stop saying my name. It’s making me hard already.” He pulled his tunic over his head, tossing it aside, and shucked his breeches to kick them aside. He moved in a silken way, like an animal that preferred to be naked. Each step was methodical. His every movement was sleek and intentional.

~He’s dangerous.~

“Why are you so afraid of me?” he asked, tilting his head. “I ~know~ you feel what’s there. I can sense it, but you’re always at war with her, instead of letting us have her. She wants us. ~You~ want us.”

Those words hit me like hammers over a nail, jabbing deep into me. I wanted to cover my ears and scream. To block them out. But I couldn’t. I pinched my lips together.

~What could I say that’d make him leave?~

Growling in impatience, he caught the bottom of my oversized garment and tossed it off me, like peeling off the skin of a fruit.

I was trembling. I backed away from him, crossing my arms over my chest.

My knees hit the low table I had against the wall, bringing my retreat to a dead stop.

He took advantage of the moment, pushing me back, then catching my legs. He rotated me and moved us the few steps so we were fully on the cot. I was flat on my back. Before I could react, he was crawling atop me to straddle me.

I was pinned.