A/N- Hey guys, So sorry for the wait on an update.
Alots happened since my last update.
First off, my sister in law is here so you know I've got to spend time with her and the family staying here at my house.
Second, I got married on the 11th, and then we had Easter. I've also been feeling kinda sick and lethargic.
This is kinda TMI but my menstrual cycle hasn't come yet; I'm over a week late but when I take the tests they say
I'm not pregnant so of course I'm worrying about what's going on with my body.
*SIGH* Im kinda sad and worried. We are trying for a baby so when
the tests tell me it's negative it always breaks my heart. I'm scared I wont be
able to conceive and make a family for my husband.
Anyway I hope you all like this chapter. I worked hard on it since
my mind hasn't really been in the right frame to write and it's been hard
to tap into my imagination lately so I hope this chapter isnt too sucky. Lol.
Though I will say this; There is gonna be some big drama in the next few
chapters, you're finally going to get some answers about why the pack
house was attacked by rouges!
CHAPTER20
Bella's P.O.V
I continue to blindly stare at the bathroom door, my mind sorta going off into space as images of Sam's body flash play through my mind. That man is going to be the death of me. My hand wanders into my damp hair; tugging my fingers through it roughly and sigh then turning around at my vanity to start on my hair and makeup. I finished getting ready before Sam was done in the bathroom, instead of waiting around for him I decided to go find Kim and hang out with her for a while.
After cleaning up my vanity area I slipped on some black strap flip flops that were resting under the table and walked out the door, down the hall and to the elevators. I screamed in surprise when I stepped off the elevator into the hallway when someone tackled me with strong arms.
"Jared could smell you from the elevator and I just couldn't help but get excited!" Kim said, squeezing me around my waist tightly.
What did she mean when she said Jared could smell me? I squirmed, trying to get out of her tight little hug and lifted up my arm to smell myself. When all I could smell was my deodorant and body wash I frowned in confusion. Running my hand through my hair my fingers accidentally brushed the bite mark Sam left and my cheeks heated up as memories from this what we had done this morning. I still find it crazy how my body reacts to him and how fast my feelings are changing towards Sam. It's only been a few shorts weeks and we're already getting sexual. Maybe I should tell him to slow down.
Shaking my head I bring myself back to the task at hand.
"What do you mean he could smell me? I showered this morning." Kim stares at me like I grew a second head. She shifts from one foot to the other and reaches up and grabs the collar of my shirt, pulling it to the side to reveal the bite mark on my neck. My eyes widened in shock, my body jerked just the slightest to give space from her hand. Having her so close to it gave me this weird feeling, like having others so close to it was wrong and only Sam should be the one to touch it.
"He marked you Bella." She said. The way she said it made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Now it was my turn to look at her like she was the one with two heads. Before I could tell her that I didn't know what that meant, she gasps, her little hand flying to her mouth in astonishment.
"You mean he didn't ask first? He did it without your consent!?" Her eyes were so large I feared they would pop out of their sockets. I made a gesture that showed my bewilderment and impatiens for a explanation.
"Kim, I have know clue what you're talking about." I said, my voice taking a slight tone with her. I was becoming frustrated. I stared at her, Kim's eyes started to change from shock to pity and understanding. She moves to give me a side hug while pulling me over to the living room to sit down on the big leather couches. When we get settled she turns her head, giving the others that were lounging around us a hard stern look. It gave me the impression of a mother reprimanding her child for being impolite. Why was everyone staring at me? What has gotten into all of them?
"Bella. Sam bit you, yes?" I nodded slowly, My eyebrows knitting together in confusion, trying to figure out where she was going with this. But then it hit me, cementing my earlier thoughts. This was definitely some werewolf thing. I wasn't really 100% sure before but from the way everyone was acting around me; staring and whispering about me, the bite obviously meant something more than I had thoughts. I suck in a fast breath through my nose and wet my lips, it was a nervous habit of mine -same with biting them-. I continued to watch Kim's eyes, waiting for her to explain things more to me.
"Bella. You now smell like Sam because of the bite he gave you. With that mark on your neck all and any werewolf will know you are his and only his with that mark on your neck, It signifies you are now claimed by your mate. That mark does a lot; It slows down your ageing process, it allows the two of you to communicate telepathically, it makes it so your body will only be able to bare his children.
You will also gain some of the characteristics of the wolf; such as superior hearing, eyesight, scent, and strength. Don't worry, you won't turn into a wolf, so don't worry about that." She states in a hurried breath when I shoot my head up fast from the last statement. I may be cool living around werewolves but I didn't want to be one. I was happy being a human.
I looked down at my hands, contemplating my situation. Her words swirled around in my head. As everything sank in my emotions got more and more upset. He basically took away all my choices! I shot up out of my seat, starting to pace back and forth in front of Kim. Stopping suddenly when the realization hits me.
"He was marking his territory! Like I'm just some piece of property, I knew it had something to do with that!?" My heart began beating wildly in my chest at that very thought. I am no one's property.
"Bella, calm down. All male wolves do it. Look." Kim quickly stands up and walks over to me. When she pulls the collar of her blouse to the side my eyes catch the intricate design of a beautiful tattoo flowing over her neck. It looked like a crescent moon with stars wrapped around it and dangling down. The moon was located just under her ear and the dangling start's ran down her neck, but under the tattoo I could make out a raised silver bite scare.
Now that I thought about it I did notice a lot of people here with neck tattoos and all of them seemed to be themed around astronomy and wolves. But most of them seemed to be females. Does that mean the males don't let their counterparts mark them back?
"Kim, am I going to have to get a tattoo over my bite too? Also why doesn't Jared have a bite and tattoo. I did notice a lot of the girls here have them but I haven't seen any of the males with bites or tattoos on there necks." She fixes her blouse and chuckles softly then moves to go sit back down on the sofa. She pats the couch next to here but i ignore the gesture. I didn't feel like sitting at the moment. She just roles her eyes.
"Well for starters only submissive's get the bite mark of the mated pair, though depending on the rank of the mated pair it is optional for the submissive to mark their dominant partner. Such as the alpha couple, and the Beta couple. But other than those two ranks the dominant of the mated pair don't really let their mate mark them. There isn't a need or want in the submissive to feel like they need to stake that claim. As for the tattoo over the bite mark, that happens naturally after the bite.
Its a werewolf thing and to be honest I'm not quite sure why or how it happens just that it develops on the third day after the initial bite. No ones tattoos are the same and the design reflects on their dominants wolf and personality. I love my mark. I treasure it." She finished with a soft smile. Her mind wondering to when she must have received her Mating Mark. Her hand had subconsciously wanders to her Mating Mark, swirling her pointer finger over the bite like one dose with braille.
Even so the explanation did little to comfort me. True, I am no one's property, but had Sam asked to bite me for our Mating Mark I might have said yes. Instead he just did what ever he felt like and wanted and didn't include me or talk to me about it. He felt like kidnapping instead of trying to get to know me slowly, so he did...TWICE!
He felt like Marking me, so he did. Do I not get any say or have an opinion in this. Its my mind and body for god sakes! I felt like Sam didn't respect me enough to take into consideration of my feelings. Am I just something that needs to be controlled. Sam has some serious splaning to do!
I blew out a long angered breath through my nose and walked up to Kim. "Kim. Do you know where Sam is at the moment." Kim shrunk back, her eyes widen in shock. I paused and straightened up. I closed my eyes and took a calming breath trying to chill a little. This wasn't her fault she was just being a kind friend, helping me understand what was going on and it was wrong of me to take my anger out on her, Though my jaw remained clenched.
Kim stood up and dusted herself off of the nonexistent dust. "Lets go get something to eat and calm down before you try to go find him. You don't want to do anyth-"
I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. She was stalling. Something inside me snapped. "KIM. WHERE IS HE!" I yell out. It resonated through the room and everything seemed to go quite. I felt something surge through me as I had spoke. My words felt heavy as I spoke them and my voice sounded different. Almost two toned. I was momentarily taken aback when Kim jump in fright and eyes grew large in fear before she jumped up. Her back straight as a board with her head tilted to the side in submission and eyes downcast.
"The Alpha, Beta and Jared are at the training fields." She kept her head down while speaking, not once even glancing up at me the whole time.
Something told me that I was the reason she wasn't looking at me. Remorse filled my body, my face scrunching up in a wince for causing her so to be discomforted. Maybe I should apologize. Then again, why should I apologize? I didn't do anything wrong.
"Where's that?" I ask, trying to soften my voice and keep my annoyance at bay. "There is a path in out back behind the garage. Fallow that and it will lead you to the training fields." I nodded my head, even though she didn't look up to see it. I walked over to her, feeling like I needed to show her my gratitude and apology. I raised my hand, resting it on her shoulder giving it a little squeeze. She raised her head but didn't meet my eyes. I smiled at her.
"Thank you, Will you please find Lucas and keep an eye on him for me while I go talk to Sam." She looked up at me, I could see happiness and respect shown brightly in them. I was glad she wasn't upset with me for accidentally snapping at her.
"Of course, Luna." That shocked me. I wanted to ask her why she would call me that, everyone seemed to be calling me that and I didn't have a clue why. Instead of staying to ask I decided that I would ask Sam instead.
I turned around to head for the garage door and make my way around the building to find the path Kim said would take me to the training area. I had forgotten how beautiful the landscape was around here. The forest lined the front and back yard, the land was well kept and the flowers that grew wild made it seem like something out of a fairy tale book. It was so peaceful; I could hear birds chirping and if I strained hard enough I could hear what sounded like live stock. -Horses, chickens, turkey, cow and I think pigs- I pondered if they raised there own meat….it made sense to me if they did; with how many people lived in the pack, There had to be over 200 people that lived here so growing and raising your own food seemed smart and cost effective. My suspicions were confirmed as I passed a huge farm area that housed the livestock and produce. An urge to go play in the dirt wafted through me. (maybe later id ask to help in the gardens)
As I walked further into the forest -following the path- it lead me deeper in. Animals scurried away as I crunch onward through the clearly well used forest pathway. As I rounded a large tree the training field came into view up ahead. My courage wavered a tiny bit making me halt in my step, sticking to the shadows of the tree line. The thought of seeing Sam again had me blushing, I hadn't seen him since our little ted-a-tet this morning and I was kinda embarrassed about seeing and talking to him. But then I remembered why I'd come out here in the first place. I wasn't going to back down. So I straightened my back, took a deep breath and stepped out of the tree coverage into a large open field.
I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. Wolves were running the perimeter of the field, some were fight training with each other, and to my astonishment, there were even some wolves fight training with humans and others were fight training or exercising in human form.
I looked around at all the half naked men, wait...Mm...no they are all pretty much fully naked. Watching them I smirked. I could appreciate how good they all looked. All masculine and well built. I noticed that Sam was no where to be seen so I started to walk the perimeter looking for him. Half way through my search, a very defined, hairless chest suddenly jumped out in front of me, The person let out a rough growl, It made me yelp and slip on the gravel path almost falling on my toosh but a warm hand shot out and snatched my elbow, keeping me from falling at all. the tingles that erupted and flowed through my arm and up over my shoulder let me know who had scared me. I should have known he's find me first before I found him.
"What are you doing here, Kitten?" Sam's eyes were dark, he crossed his arms over his broad chest, effectively blocking my perusal of the field.
"I didn't know I wasn't allowed to come out here." I said smartly. Frowning up at him as I crossed my arms -mimicking his posture- if he was gonna be that way then so was I.
He left out another small growl, I assumed in warning or annoyance. "That's not what I said."
"Then why are you standing in front of me not letting me pass." I fired back faking innocence. smirking just a little wanting to tease him some more. I try to side step him, craning my neck over his shoulder to watch the man candy ahead of him. He was quick to step into my line of sight, proving my point that he is trying to control me. I just sigh and roll my eyes.
"I'm use to male nakedness." He says with a sly smile. Oh he knew what he was doing. Trying to get a rise out of me. Well it was working but I'd be damned if I let him know that.
"So am I, babe." I said, I cross my arms over my chest, popping my hip out to the side. A sour look passed over his face like he didn't like the idea of me seeing other men naked. It made him start to growl at my comment, and truth be told I didn't know why I'd said it to began with when it wasn't true. I just wanted him to get it through his thick skull that I wasn't to be controlled and that my opinions do matter. I wanted him to understand that he needed to communicate with me and ask instead of telling me. For a solid minute neither one of us spoke. We just stared at each other. So many different emotions were passing through Sam's eyes and face. I wonder if being a werewolf automatically makes them all bi-polar. The sarcastic thought made me want to laugh, I did my best to not let it show on my face how silly it sounded.
I was starting to get fed up with this stale mate and being the impatient person I am, decided to break it with one of my many questions off my list that seemed to constantly grow.
"Why did you mark me without my permission?" My voice was firm but didn't hold hostility.
"I wanted everyone to know your mine." He replied. Smiling that heart melting smile not realizing how his words were infuriating me. He stepped towards me reaching out for me, but I flung one of my arms out, planting my hand in the center of his chest to stop him. That's it? That was his explanation!? I got more info from Kim than I've ever got from Sam. "Listen Sam. I'm not something to be owned. You should have asked me first, or hell..talk to me about this whole Claiming bite thing." I was trying my hardest to not yell at him but my voice was steadily rising. Dammit I was so frustrated and I didn't care if others heard us. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the men try to not listen in on our conversation but were failing miserably. Most of them had ceased all training action to listen in on our conversation.
Sam cleared his throat, getting my attention once more. "Would you have let me had I asked you beforehand?" He grabbed the wrist of my hand that was resting on his firm chest, bringing it up to his lips kissing my knuckles than yank hard causing me to fall into his arms. I huffed in frustration.
"Well We'll never know now wont we, seeing as you took that choice away from me too!" Implying when he decided to kidnap me instead of just talking to me and getting to know me like any other normal person would. I put my hands back up to his chest and pushed him away from me, trying hard to ignore the sparks of electricity that was shooting up my arms in to my belly from touching his bare chest.
He didn't seem to like that, His eyebrows immediately knit together in confusion, a little pout formed on his lips and if I wasn't so fucking mad at him, I would have fond it adorable. Sam go to open his mouth in response, but his eyes get that far off look. Then suddenly, all the men in the field shifted into their wolf forms, dashing off into the woods. I watched in confusion when horrific howls and growing resonates through the air. I startle and jump into Sam's arms on instinct, seeking protection. Something was happening, the air felt thick and staticky. My stomach tightened with worry and sweat broke out over the back of my neck.
"JACOB!" Sam yells, causing the reddish wolf to snap his head to attention and look over towards our way. "Take the Luna back to the pack house and protect her at all costs!" Sam says sternly, his voice dropping an octave making it sound even deeper and full of authority. Sam looks down at me, his face held that of determination and something else I wasn't quite sure of. Grabbing my face with both hands he leaned down and gave me a fleeting albeit passionate kiss that spoke volumes. Even though our lips only touch for a mire 2 seconds I could feel all the love and heat he held for me in it. Then he ran off, my stomach clenching tight as anxiety for his safety as well as the packs caused nausea to grow with in me. Where was he going?
"Sam?" I yelled after him. What just happened? Is there another war going on? Were there intruders attacking us. The red wolf, Jacob, yips at me and nudges me on my shoulder gently with his head to get a move on the same way I had come.
"Okay, Okay...I'm going." I say and start walking back to the house. Jake stays close to me, his big wolf body would occasionally bump into my side making me stumble a little. When his head shot up and to the right. I hadn't realized he had stopped tell I was a good distance away from him, startling in alarm I skidded to a stop. Panic rose up in my chest. It felt like my heart was going to flop out of my throat.
"What. Whats going on?" I asked in a hushed whisper even though I knew he couldn't answer me. Then suddenly he trotted back over to me, urgently pushing me with his paw to start moving once again.
I was practically running by the time we got back to the house, I stopped when I hear a mournful howl range through the forest behind me. There's something about the howl that didn't feel right, and it only makes my anxiety worsen when more howls echo out through the forest around us. Panic surges heavier through me, unable to shake the feeling that something is seriously wrong. My knees suddenly buckle out from under me and my chest starts to get this tightening achy feeling.
I claw at my chest, feeling like I'm suffocating. I couldn't breath and the pain in my side and chest was getting stronger with each shallow breath, God this hurt. what was happening to me. Black spots were starting to form around the rim of my eyesight causing me to get tunnel vision. Oh god whats happening to me, is this another panic attack or am I seriously having a heart attack and am about to die. Oh god I cant be dyeing, Lucas...I need to find me, I needed o live for him and Sam. even though I was still mad at that infuriating man I didn't want our last word to be of anger and resentment.
"Luna, are you alright? We need a doctor!" I vaguely here as a man comes to stand in from of me, but the world was getting more and more fuzzy. People began to surround me, but I couldn't make out whom. All I could hear was shouting as the black spots bleed in to patches snuffing out my vision.
Only one sentence was clear as day in my head, right before the darkness completely took me over.
"The Alpha is down."