Page 43 of Alpha's Bullied Mate
“Okay.” She shrugged her shoulders, kicking the box away from her. I shook my head and left.
In my own room, I text my pack’s chat. Some of them were working until the gala would start before returning to get ready and meet us there. I had three guys actually working on the banqueting team tonight and one bartending. Oak Hilllovedcelebrations, and I had no doubt that Silverlake Valley had heard about it tonight.
If Fenrys wanted to talk to Dakota, still, tonight would be the perfect chance to distract people at the party.
Be on guard for Fenrys’s pack. They might turn up. If possible, I want to avoid an ambush. The town hall would be the perfect place for them to divide us up and keep us quiet in front of our town. They could take advantage and pick us off individually, so be prepared. I’ll be with Dakota through the night, but everyone keep an eye on her in any moment I can’t.
I waited for all seven responses to acknowledge my message before I closed the app and headed to the shower. Dakota and I were alone in the house. Had I not messed everything up, I’d have coaxed her into the shower with me, had her against the glass cubicle, maybe boosted her ego by telling her how I’d gotten off to the thought of her in the shower.
But I’d wedged a gap between us, and my dick remained soft, even when the door creaked, and I swore I saw her figure through the fogged glass of the shower.
I stared at her blurred shape as it got nearer. Then she was opening the glass cubicle, standing there, watching me. That was all.
“Do you enjoy hurting me?” she asked quietly.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“Why did you run away from Oak Hill to Silverlake Valley?”
When she didn’t answer, when that defensive scowl scrunched her face up, I smiled sadly. “We all have our secrets, Dakota. We all keep things close, and when people get too near to them, we find ways to push them back.”
“You didn’t have to sleep with me.”
“I know. But I was tired of resisting you.”
“What do you feel, Aidan?”
But again, those words wouldn’t come. And when they didn’t, when Dakota got tired of waiting, she stepped back, out of the cubicle. I started to ask her to stay but she wasn’t leaving, like I thought. She kept her eyes on me as she stripped off her sweater—mysweater—and stepped back into the shower with me. The water slid down her breasts, rivulets going down the center of them, and when she didn’t push me back, I bent to lick the water, tonguing my way over her breasts, circling her nipples, and kissing up her neck.
I pressed a thumb into that space I had to keep avoiding. We both knew no matter how much we danced around the topic.
“Stop it,” I whispered, bringing my mouth to hers, kissing her once.
“Stop what?” Her hand flattened on my thigh, the edge of her fingertips just shy of touching my dick that wasn’t so soft anymore.
“Whatever the fuck it is you’re doing to me,” I said, groaning into her mouth when she took my length in her hand. I was glad my pack wasn’t home. I tugged noises from her, letting them echo off the bathroom, muffled only by the pound of the shower spray.
Chapter 22 - Dakota
The last forty-eight hours with Aidan had been a rollercoaster. Arguing, sex, arguing, touching but still too distanced to give in to each other completely. When he’d thumbed my mating mark, I’d wanted to climax right there and then, knowing what he was saying.
I needed tohearit. I needed him to stop being so scared.
With my arm linked through his, I walked into Oak Hill’s town hall, gorgeously outfitted in a navy, figure-hugging dress that swept the floor as I walked. The bodice was shaped around my chest, leaving one arm bare, and the other side connecting with a bow at my left right shoulder. He’d told me it was a black tie affair, and indeed, Aidan looked so different in his black tie and three-piece suit, with a navy pocket square to match my dress color.
I’d spent a lot of time in the town hall. My parents weren’t officials or had important jobs—my dad working at the local gym as a personal trainer, and my mom a hostess at the only B&B in town—but we’d still attended every Oak Hill function. And it helda lot. The town loved awarding people. Employees of the year, notable public service heroes, top honor students. One particular celebration had included me after I’d graduated high school top of my class.
But now the hall was set up with banqueting tables for the party’s dinner. The bar was open and set up, manned by six bartenders. I recognized Declan already spinning a cocktail shaker for a giggling girl, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up to his elbows. I turned my attention to where I noticed several others from Aidan’s pack all dotted around the room in formal wear or uniforms.
“So they’re employed by… Who?” I asked.
“They get put through the town council’s bank of staff,” Aidan explained. “I volunteer the guy for functions like this if I specifically want them present for something.”
“And nobody suspects?”
He shrugged. “No, they do, I just think they know better than to get involved.”
