Chapter 74
"Oh." He appeared dissatisfied. "Okay, I'll drive you down there." He obeyed, and I was surprised at how easily he did so, but before I could ask why, he had already begun to move. After giving me a kiss on the forehead, he went back to his room and put on a shirt. I watched as he tugged it on before he took me into his arms once more.
"What are you doing? I can walk!" As I was raised into the air, I cried out, but all he could do was scowl down at me.
"You hurt your foot yesterday." He stated it plainly.
"Don't try to act clever with me; you know it has healed," I said. "You just want to hold me again." Despite my huffing, I continued to cuddle up to his chest and throw my arms around his shoulders.
"Is that such a bad thing?" As he carried me in his arms, I crushed our lips together and drew back from his pack's gaze.
We were starting to develop this as a sort of habit.
A car was waiting for us when he emerged from the front of the pack house.
After settling me into the seat and fastening my seat belt, he went to the driver's side. The residual sensation of his hands still grazing my waist and the manner in which he had leaned over me rendered the thought of him indelible. Eliminating it would have been impossible. I had to contain my lust for him before it filled the car, even if his possessiveness and urge to do everything for me were making me feel incredibly attracted to him.
He shifted into drive, and the silent trip began. As we passed the vast packlands, I tried not to stare out the windows at the way he drove.
How were cars made to seem so good by men?
I longingly replied, "Your land is so beautiful," and as my head snapped towards him, a guttural growl tore from his throat.
How could I have said something inappropriate earlier, or was it possible that he sensed my immoral thoughts about him?
"Our land is beautiful." With a correction, he put his hand on my thigh after removing it from the gear stick. He squeezed my calf, his veins clearly visible, and I watched it stay there for a moment before hurriedly winding down the window.
For me, this was a losing game.
"Do you enjoy traveling across the continent, seeing all the beautiful things, and letting people serve you—I'm sure you've seen more beautiful places than this?" Being the king of wolves meant that he was never truly stationary; he was always called upon and had an obligation to come to their aid.
"It was fun when I was younger, but now all I really want is to settle down and to build a home with the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with." I turned to face him and felt his eyes on me as I inhaled deeply.
"With me?" I gave a little cry.
"Only you." He yielded, his remarks full of emotion that reverberated beyond the car's walls. We lingered in silence for a while, and I could feel his comments chipping away at me.
"And what if you find out that I'm not what you want?" The truth of my fears was exposed for him to take, twist, and shred in those almost whisper-like phrases.
"Not possible." When he pulled into town, he barely entertained them for a second. I was staring at him, my heart racing, observing the way the muscles in his jaw twitched with fury and the tendons in his neck were twisting.
He was only partly aware of who I was, and he despised that I didn't think I was good enough for him.
I unbuckled my seat belt a bit too hastily and shoved open the door to escape the sentiments I had sparked inside of me when he stopped outside the bakery, but before I could get out of the car, Derrick was dragging me back to him.
"You're going to leave me without a kiss?" I turned to face him, and he pretended to be surprised. With his curious eyes fixed on me, his hand was tightly wrapped around my forearm.
"You're a very needy alpha today." I retaliated, but all he did was pull me across the center console toward him. He smirked at me as I stared up at him with wide eyes as I fumbled and braced my hands on his legs.
"For you, I'm anything you want me to be." His eyes shifted to my open mouth. "So what shall I be so that you will kiss me?" He waited for me as I drew nearer, my lips just inches from his.
"No one else," I whispered as our lips met, his excitement igniting a fire under my skin. His hand moved to the back of my neck as he pulled me in closer, kissing me as though he needed my breath to survive.
He was slowly and steadily kissing me, enjoying every second, and when he eventually pulled away, I was in shock.
"I don't want you leaving that building under any circumstances; do you understand?" With my attention firmly fixed on his lips, I blinked up at him. "I will have a warrior come to pick you up in the evening." He brought our lips back together as my desperate cries matched my advances in his direction. With my hand on his chest, I was squeezing the fabric of his shirt, and when my teeth caught his lower lip, he groaned.
With his lips swollen from my kiss, he withdrew from me.
"When the full moon comes and you take my mark, we're not going to be able to keep our hands off each other." As he whispered into the gap between us, the high I was experiencing crashed.
I pulled my hand away from his chest in an attempt to calm my racing heart.
I half heartedly said, "You should probably clear your schedule then," before getting out of the car once more. "I'll see you tonight." A wake-up call was the only thing that could rapidly quell my lust.