So I cut him off before he could get a word out. I know I’ll never be able to bear hearing him utter a single word to me.
It will only remind me of the raspiness in his voice when he drawled against the shell of my ear, whispering words of praise that only turned out to be lies.
“I’m sorry,” I say bluntly, spinning on my heel and rushing in the opposite direction of the kitchen as some pack members taunt and mock me for tripping over someone’s foot. I have every reason to believe that it was no accident, and instead a purposeful attack to humiliate me in front of everyone.
But I can’t be anywhere near Dominic right now, even if it means I miss a chance to defend myself. I’ll deal with the repercussions later; I just need to get as far away as possible.
“Cecelia!” Dominic’s voice stops me in my tracks just outside the pack center, my cheeks coloring with embarrassment.
As I turn around slowly, a gentle breeze carries his scent toward my nostrils, stunning me with the impact of the minty notes that I’ve been safe from for three years. Now that we’re alone outside, it’s impossible to ignore how intense his presence is, how his aura naturally exudes command, as if he doesn’t need the trials to determine who the alpha will be.
Gulping hard, I lift my eyes to meet the warm depths of his dark brown orbs, feeling my heart skip a beat when I remember how intoxicated I’d become by his eyes once, and how it led to the ultimate humiliation. Hardening myself with every step he takes, I hold my breath so I don’t become consumed by his presence.
“I saw you when I arrived back in town,” he says casually, his voice as soft as it was in the bar that night.
But I remind myself that I shouldn’t be manipulated by the sweetness of his tongue. It’s bound to follow with harsh words, like the ones that left me broken that night.
“Why didn’t you come over to greet?” he asks with a frown.
Scoffing under my breath, I cross my arms over my chest to stay sturdy and defensive. Why would he care if I greeted him or not?
“I didn’t think it was important if I did,” I shrug nonchalantly, and Dominic stares at me as if I’d just struck him across the face, his brows raised.
“Cecelia, can we—”
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out bluntly, not wanting him to finish his question. There should never be any sentence that involves a “we.” He made sure of that when he broke my heart, and I won’t be fooled by his act. Spinning on my heel, I throw over my shoulder, “I have to go.”
Without waiting for a response, I race toward the woods, securing enough distance between us so I’m no longer consumed by his charming scent.
The distance I place between Dominic and me is as far as my cottage is from the pack hall, near the harbor. I bolt for the front door, letting out the breath I’d been holding in, only once I’m behind it and feel the sanctity of the four familiar walls embrace me. I collapse to my knees, the influx of disrupted emotions acting like the foot that had been stuck out in the hall to trip me. Too overwhelmed to act like I have everything together, I crumple mentally and throw my face into my hands to sob.
I wish there were some way to get Dominic out of my head, but it’s impossible when he was the one who broke my heart. I’ve been hanging onto my hatred for him like a lifeline that got me through the past three years, even in the face of all the harsh treatment I’ve been dealt.
Tonight’s incident wasn’t unusual, but the only difference was that Dominic was there, three years after ripping my heart to shreds. As regret for ever slipping my hand into his washes over me, I lift my face and sniffle as my eyes land on the photo frame perched on the entrance pedestal.
Tentatively reaching for the picture with trembling fingers, I pull the frame in front of my face as a reminder of why I’ve struggled through the tortures I’ve been dealt by the Lunaris Pack. Not only was my father shunned because he fell in love with a human, but he’d been wrongfully accused of a worse crime when I was only seventeen.
In my quest to clear his name, because my inner wolf somehow won’t allow me to rest until I’ve made amends with the Lunaris Pack, I’ve stuck around. I could have run away a long time ago and become a lone wolf out in the forest, but my inner wolf won’t allow me to leave so easily. Not until I’ve cleared my father’s name and proven that he wasn’t deserving of the exile that led to his death.
Even if it means having to face the one man who broke my heart, I know I have to clear my father’s name. Just because he fell in love with a human and had a half-breed child didn’t mean that he was guilty of the crimes he’d been accused of.
I’ll just have to suck it up, as I’ve always done, and harden my heart against Dominic Rivera. It’s the only way to clear my father’s name and leave with a clear conscience.
Chapter 4 - Dominic
Bracing my palms on the tiles in the shower stall as I hang my head, the warm water cruising down my back is comforting, allowing a sigh to leave my lips.
I tried talking to Cecelia and failed. It was expected that she wouldn’t want to speak to me, but it still bruises my ego enough to leave a lingering aftereffect of her indifference.
At least it feels delightful to be washing off the day’s travel in the comfort of my home, which I haven’t had the pleasure of in three years. As a groan escapes me, as if buried deep inside my chest and left pent-up for years, a faint trace of a floral scent enters my airways. It’s the sweet scent that spurs on my next movements as my hand absentmindedly drifts to my growing erection between my thighs. My cock feels hard and heavy in my hand, throbbing as if it’s begging to be touched.
I give in to my baser desires, having been starved for three years of a woman’s touch. The vow of abstinence wasn’t something that I consciously took, but it was as if my inner wolf dictated a clause that kept me away from the throes of passion, even at my own hand.
Now that I’m back in Nightmist, I can’t seem to stop myself, stroking the velvety shaft as the warm shower water sprays droplets on the tip, the moisture lubricating my cock.
“Oh, my Goddess…” I murmur, my voice strained with another groan of satisfaction and relief. As my grip tightens on my way to the bulbous crown of my cock, I imagine the way I slid between the thighs of one particular she-wolf.
Her tight walls had held me so perfectly, inviting me into the depths of pleasure that I’d never found anywhere else. As my eyes close and I pump my cock faster, I see her face behind myeyelids, painted exactly the way etched into my mind three years ago.
