Chapter 91
With a curling sweep of his fingers, he gestured for me to approach. As I watched his fingers work, my wolf preened under his attention, blushing to get the confidence to step out of the doorway. Once I was out of the way, the warriors slammed the doors behind me. His eyes darkened with wrath, and I felt a chill go down my spine at the menace of his growl.
I stopped moving completely on an instinct, trying to remain as still as possible and breathe very shallowly so as not to draw any additional attention to myself.
Derrick hadn't looked away from me yet, so even if I were a boring, uninteresting wall, he would still find something to be intrigued by.
"I don't give a fuck about your petty pack squabbles; you will get me the information I need by the end of the day, or I will personally make the visit to get what I want—do you understand?" His words had a dark menace that made my stomach turn, and I looked away from him, not liking the way my body was responding to him so quickly.
I had a task to complete, and bending over his desk was not going to be part of it. I was not going to get him horny again.
"Very well, Sabastian—I will be waiting." With a final utterance, he hung up and placed his phone down on the table. It crashed into the hardwood surface, and the loud bang shocked the living daylights out of me because I wasn't looking at him.
A few of the muffins slipped off my plate and onto the floor when I leaped in astonishment. As I looked down at them, my heart was pounding violently in my chest. Derrick sighed heavily and came over to me.
He looked at me sadly as he grasped my face in his hands.
"Forgive me, angel—I didn't mean to scare you." He said it softly and then knelt in front of me to retrieve the muffins that had escaped my grasp.
He had put on a lot more clothes since I had last seen him, and I looked down at him, admiring his new look. He was wearing a velvet waistcoat with the royal insignia embroidered into the fabric over his breast, along with a black shirt, black tie, and black trousers. He straightened up to his usual height again, looming over me as he always did, and I let out a breath.
With a brief, "I made you breakfast like I said I would," I hoped that he wouldn't refer to me as an angel once more. He was making it impossible for me not to get worked up about something that I was already finding difficult to keep my hands to myself.
He stepped to the side of his desk and tossed the soiled muffins into a little bin, and then he was back in front of me, his hand on my waist, pointing me in the direction of the small seating area in the corner of his office. There was a heavy silence between us.
He took the muffin dish from me and set it on the coffee table, brushing his fingers across mine. He followed suit and drew me to him before I could settle into the couch behind us. He raised his hand to my face once again, his knuckles brushing the underside of my chin as he raised my face to meet his gaze.
Instinctively, my hands reached for his chest, caressing the velvety material of his waistcoat.
"Did you rest well?" He whispered in a kind of haze, and I gave a short nod of agreement. It was better for me to remain silent since I didn't trust myself to say anything foolish.
As soon as he was happy with me, he dragged me down onto the couch and placed his hands on my hips before lowering me onto his lap. I bit my tongue to keep from crying out and spread it sideways across his knees, pressing my face into his shoulder to pull myself together from the taunting feel of his body. As Derrick leaned over to remove a muffin from the platter, I knelt on his lap and compressed my thighs.
With a moan of gratitude, he took a bite and held it out to me. Before I took a bite out of his hand, I observed how his mouth functioned, his jaw moving, and his throat bobbling. I stuffed my face, hoping that chewing my food would restore the logical part of my brain rather than the part where I was dreaming about the last time I'd had my fingers in his mouth.
"How does it taste?" I nervously mumbled, and he made a sound that I couldn't quite make out.
"They're very sweet, but not as sweet as the way you tasted earlier this morning." I took a deep breath at hearing his admission, softening beneath the tender glance he was giving me.
I took the muffin from his hand and gobbled it down, attempting to contain the shame that was spreading across my cheeks. I then gave the underside of his jaw a trembling breath.
Would he hug me in this way once more, or would I lose everything if I told him the truth?
The kind looks, the gentle touches, and the gentle words were all things that would eventually fade into memories.
His low-pitched laugh shook me to my very core. I played with his fingers as I withdrew his hand from my hip, feeling agitation seeping through my body. I was losing the strength I had previously had, and I was losing bravery.
"That phone call sounded intense; is everything okay?"
He buried his face in my hair while humming gently.
Saying, "My Luna, my queen," seemed almost like a prayer. "Always adept at knowing when something is wrong." As his words sank in, I felt my body stiffen.
I was born with a genetic predisposition to being wrong, so it seemed logical that I would be drawn to things that were similar to me.
"As your mate, I want to keep you safe, to keep you hidden from all the bad things." I squirmed in his lap, shifting positions so that I could see him clearly, and I scowled as I drew away from him. My hands went to his face.
He moaned as I ascended upon him; however, there was a discrepancy that had the potential to alter the course of events.
"What bad things?" His hands clasped me to him, and my voice was fervent as I begged.
"You must know that it is my duty to keep you safe, whatever the cost."
I was more afraid of his words now than of the ones I was going to say to him.
"Derrick—" His hands clenched around my hips as his eyes sparkled at the way I spoke his name. The way he held me told me that he wanted to turn me onto my back and have his needy way with me, even though I had no idea what mix of emotions were swirling inside of him.
He fought his wolf for a moment as his vision became obscured.
"The state of affairs involving the outlaws is deteriorating," he growled. "More packs are getting ambushed and more wolves are turning feral—Gabriel thinks that he's found a solution to turning the wolves back to normal, but that too comes with a cost." His features had once again become harsh, and there was a noticeable weight between my ribs due to the stress he was suffering. I could feel his body settling when he confided in me, although it was still a huge, overwhelming feeling.
My chest ached from having a hollowed-out heart.
I was here to ruin everything he knew about me, to take away the one good thing he believed he had, when he was struggling mightily to hold everything together, to keep his kingdom from collapsing and his wolves from dying.
I carried the weight of my own facts, and he was already crumbling.
"I am here with you—tell me how I can help." The things I said were incorrect and shouldn't have been stated, but I was in a hopeless circumstance.