Chapter 23

Locked in the bathroom of the guestroom, Alise stared at her wound in the mirror.  The bite was deep, and it was still bleeding.  The crimson blood was stark against her skin.  Her heart was still hammering, her breathing was still escalated.  She felt…weird.  It felt like something was swimming violently through her veins, and she tried to ignore it because she knew what it was.  Need for Chief.  She wanted him so damn bad right now, and it made zero sense.  He’d attacked her!  He bit her!  After telling her how much exchanging mate marks would hurt them, he’d done it anyway. 

Eyes flooding with tears, she stared at her reflection.  Why?  Why would he do this? 

A knock at the bathroom door had her startling hard.  Backing up to the shower stall, she clamped a hand over her wound.

“Alise?  It’s Chloe.  You okay?  I smell blood and tears.”

“I’m…f-fine.”

“I’m coming in.”

The door was locked, but it didn’t stop Chloe.  Alise watched as the doorknob turned and when it caught, it stilled only a blink before a cracking sound was heard and then the knob turned all the way.

The door opened slowly, and Chloe peeked her head in.  Her hair was mussed, and she was wearing jammie pants and a tank top.  Eyes dipping to Alise’s throat, Chloe frowned hard. “What happened?”

“Chief…bit me.”

“I can see that,” Chloe entered the bathroom and rifled through the cabinets, pulling out a washcloth that she rinsed in warm water before crossing to Alise and shoving her hands aside.  With a wince, she held the cloth to Alise’s throat.  “Geez, he went deep.”  She shot Alise a grimace.   “Must have really wanted his mark to stick.”

“But why?”  Alise asked.  “He said it was a bad idea. He told me he refused to do it.  Then not even thirty minutes later, he’s got me shoved up against the truck and is attacking me.”

Chloe’s hands dropped from Alise’s throat.  “He attacked you?”

Looking repentant, Alise dipped her chin.  “I mean, not attack attacked, but…”  The image of Chief on his knees, telling her to run in that snarly animalistic voice came flooding back.  She wondered what would have happened if she’d stayed.  Part of her regretted it.  She knew!  Deep down, she knew that if she wouldn’t have run, she’d be Chief’s now fully.

“But you didn’t know he was gonna bite you,” Chloe bit out angrily drawing Alise from her thoughts.  Chloe muttered, “Motherfucker,” before lifting the cloth back to Alise’s throat.

“He said it would bind our souls.  That if we did it and separated that it’d be a worse pain than the physical…  Hey!”  Alise’s eyes rounded.  Reaching up, she curled her fingers around Chloe’s wrist and was shocked when there was no pain.  “It’s gone,” she breathed and then grinned.  “It’s gone!”

“Yeah,” Chloe pursed her lips. “The mark will do that.”  Brows furrowing she asked, “Did something happen at dinner?  I mean, I just can’t see Chief going all feral for no reason.”

“Is that what happened,” Alise asked. “He went feral?”

“Well, when a shifter refuses to mark his mate and then does it so viciously, it’s usually because something triggered his possessive side or his animal broke free.  Something had to have happened.  I know Chief, and yeah, a lot of people are afraid of him, but I’m not one. I see the good in him.  And, I know he was at the pack battles because he wanted a mate.  He’s trying, Alise.  He’s really trying.”

“The night was good,” Alise supplied.  “We talked, had pizza and beer, relaxed.  It was…nice.  Then I went to the bathroom, and some guy grabbed me.  It hurt, I screamed, and all hell broke loose.”

Chloe’s eye went wide. “Chief didn’t shift!  Did he?”

“No!  No,” Alise hurried to answer.  “He just,” a giggle escaped her.  “He beat everybody up.”  She was trying not to laugh, and Chloe was grinning now too.

“It’s hot right?  The way they go to war over you?”  Chloe’s eyes took on a far off look.  “When Dell goes all protective and possessive,” she fanned herself.  “Just holy hell!”

Sobering a little, Alise nodded.  “It did make me feel special…safe.”

“And then he attacked you.”  Chloe rolled her eyes. “Men!  Fucking idiots in all species.”

“Well in two days I’m done with him.”  Alise took the cloth from Chloe and faced the mirror, wiping the blood off her neck.  “When the full moon comes, I’m marking him and going home.  I’m not doing this anymore.  I just…I can’t.”

Chloe opened her mouth and closed it several times, mimicking a fish out of water.  She was torn between telling Alise the truth about the full moon thing but knew that if she did Alise would demand to leave tomorrow, hell, probably even tonight.  Curious, she asked, “Do you even like him, Alise?  I mean could you even see yourself with him?”

Alise glanced at Chloe in the mirror and then lowered her hands. Bracing them on the vanity, she stared down at the sink.  “I’m not gonna lie.  The second I saw him, I found him highly attractive.  When all this buzz started going around about being stricken and me being his…I honestly was a little excited.  But it doesn’t matter.”  Lifting her gaze, she stared at Chloe in the mirror.  “None of it matters.  You heard what he said about his mother.  He’ll never see me as anything but a lowly human.  He hates me, and because of that I haven’t been given the opportunity to see him as anything but a shifter who’s stuck with someone he doesn’t want.”

That cemented it.  “Two days then,” Chloe agreed.  “You’ll mark him back and then you two can separate.”  She was going to buy them time, not only because they needed it, but they deserved it.  They deserved to see if this thing could go anywhere. 

Alise nodded.  “Two days.  I’ll mark him back, and then I’m going home.”