Chapter 3
A high-pitched sing-song voice preceded our visitor. “Oh, Abey! I’m here to take care of you!”
Peyton, the pack mate who’d been the least welcoming and had proven on multiple occasions that she’d gladly get rid of me to get to Abraham, walked through his bedroom door. She came to a screeching halt, eyes widening in shock when she found us standing there. Abraham yanked his hand out of my shorts, the waistband snapping loud against my skin in the awkward silence of the room.
Her face reddened as she stared at where Abraham’s hand had been, and then up at me. Her eyes narrowed to thin slits as she placed her hand on her narrow hip.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she spat.
My spine stiffened, and I took a step forward. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Abraham stepped around me and put himself between the two of us, his back to Peyton. He held his arms out wide as he tried to catch my eye. “Peyton is probably here to clean, El. That’s her job, remember?”
Peyton scoffed behind him, and he turned to her. “What other business would you have in my bedroom, Peyton?”
Her mouth opened and closed a few times while she floundered for a response. Finally, her eyes settled on me again. “Well, what the hell is she doing here? Did you hire her for something too?”
Her insinuation wasn’t lost on me.
A deep snarl fell from my lips as my body began to shake uncontrollably. My vision narrowed as I watched Peyton’s pinched face study me from head to toe. It was clear she found me lacking.
“El, you need to calm down,” came Abraham’s placating voice.
“Yeah, El,” she sneered. “You need to learn your place, and it isn’t with him. You just got here. What, did you think sleeping with the alpha would get you somewhere in this pack? Well, get in line, honey.”
“Peyton! Don’t talk to her like that!” Abraham reprimanded, but it was too late.
The shaking in my limbs had now reached category ten.
Abraham was mine.
My bones cracked, and my muscles shifted as my body fell to the ground, deep in the throes of the shift. It was quicker this time and within seconds, I stood on four legs instead of two.
I shook out my coat, but the hackles raised on my back weren’t going anywhere. I stared Peyton down as a smug expression slid across her pinched face.
“God, Abraham, she can’t even control herself. She’s a menace.”
I snarled loudly and took a predatory step toward her before Abraham blocked my path.
“El, you don’t want to do this.”
What the hell did he know?
I bumped him with my head, nudging him out of my way so I had a clear shot at Peyton. She stood there with a satisfied smirk on her face, taunting me with her eyes. I growled again and took another step toward her.
Abraham stepped in front of me once more. “Elizabeth. Please.” His voice was deep, pulling at me, begging me to listen. I took a deep breath and tried to reign my temper in.
“That’s more like it. You might need to muzzle her in the future. We can’t have a full-grown wolf this out of control. It’s pathetic.”
That was it.
I launched myself at the dark-haired woman, ready to tear her to shreds when Abraham tackled me from the side.
We went tumbling into one of his dressers, splintering the wood. Clothes and debris rained down on us as I mindlessly tried to get out of his hold and sink my teeth into the skinny bitch just out of my reach. I clawed and squirmed, desperate to be free to act on the driving force in my gut that demanded I take out the threat against me and my mate.
I growled and pushed hard with my hind legs when I heard a short hiss of pain and smelled the coppery scent of blood in the air.
Abraham’s blood.
I went completely still while Peyton screamed like someone had set her on fire. “Oh my God, you hurt Abey! What is wrong with you?” She scrambled toward our still interlocked bodies, but Abraham halted her with a glare.
“Peyton! Leave. Now.”
She looked like she wanted to argue, but when Abraham growled low in the back of his throat, she straightened up and left the room, slamming the door behind her. When she was gone, my body relaxed, and Abraham’s hold finally loosened.
I scrambled out of his arms, so I could see the damage I’d done.
Abraham’s shirt was torn and across his chest were four long gashes that bled freely. I yipped in alarm and rushed toward him before I stopped myself and walked to the other side of the room.
I wanted to comfort him, to make sure he was all right, but at the same time, I knew it was me that had done that to him. I knew I was the reason he was hurt. He was bleeding because I hadn’t been able to control myself. I felt awful.
A mournful moan left my mouth, the closest I could come to all the apologies that wanted to spill from me. I paced the floor as Abraham inspected his cuts and dabbed at them with the shredded shirt he’d removed.
A short, sad howl fell from my lips, and I sat down hard on the wooden floor. Abraham looked up at me with kind eyes and a sad smile.
“Come here.”
I shook my head and stayed where I was. Far away where I couldn’t hurt him.
His lips quirked into a crooked grin. “Come on, El. Come over here. I’m fine.”
I looked at his ripped open chest and back to him incredulously. He laughed lightly and then winced from the exertion.
My spirits sank further.
“You worried about this?” He waved toward his bloody skin. “This is nothin’. You shoulda’ seen the damage Bea did in her first few months as a wolf.”
I wanted his light words to help my drowning heart, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his wounds. From the damage I’d so easily caused. All because I let stupid Peyton get to me. Let her spiteful words take over and turn me into this.
Abraham sighed from across the room and rose to his feet effortlessly. He walked toward me, and I shrunk away, backing up until I hit the wall behind me. I hung my head as he took a seat a couple feet away and reached out to stroke my head.
“Baby, I’m not mad.” I looked up incredulously and he laughed. “Really, I’m not. I know how hard it is to control your emotions your first few months. What you did was perfectly normal.”
I made an incredulous sound, something between a snort and a grunt.
He laughed again. “Even as a wolf you’re giving me lip.” He shook his head good-naturedly. “Come on and shift back, El. Let’s talk about this.”
I met his eyes with fear. I didn’t know how to shift back. Last time the power of the moon had done it for me.
He must have noticed the look in my eyes because he stroked my head again. “It’s easy, you just have to will yourself into your human form.”
I closed my eyes, ready to be a woman again. It would be much easier to grovel if I could talk.
Slowly my bones began to crack and shift as my body rearranged itself into my human form once again. Soon I was sitting naked on Abraham’s bedroom floor with my knees pulled up to my chest and tears streaming down my face.
He immediately pulled me into his firm embrace and rocked me as I cried. I tried to mumble out apologies, but they were lost between my sobs. He rocked me harder and soothed his big hand down my back.
“Ssh, baby, it’s okay. I’m okay. Please don’t cry.”
“But, I hurt you,” I whimpered.
He pulled me back and pointed at his chest. “Look, it’s already healing. There’s no reason for you to be so upset.”
He was right. The bleeding had stopped, and it might have been wishful thinking, but the gashes appeared smaller too. I looked up to see absolute forgiveness shining in his denim blue gaze. My lip trembled, and I sniffed, feeling utterly inadequate and unworthy of him and his compassion.
“Please, El. Stop crying. This is hurting me way worse than anything your claws could do.”
I took a deep breath and tried to stem the tears.
He placed a sweet kiss on my forehead and gently wiped the leftover wetness from my face.
“I’m so sorry, Abraham. I don’t know what came over me. I can’t believe I hurt you. I’m so sorry,” I repeated. I was dangerously close to tears again when Abraham placed his fingers against my lips.
“It’s okay. I told you, this is nothing. It’s expected.”
I frowned. “You’re expecting me to lose control of myself? To hurt you?”
He shrugged. “Kinda’. It’s like a rite of passage. We’re all out of control when we’re young, with our emotions close to the surface and our reactions sometimes disproportionate to the situation we’re in. We’ve all been there, El. Although the rest of us went through this so long ago, it’s easy to forget how it was.”
“So, you were like this as a teenager?”
He shook his head. “Worse. Way worse.”
My lips twitched with a watery smile and Abraham grinned. “There she is.”
“Why was Peyton in here?”
“I told you, she works here. She comes in to clean my room. I’m usually already gone by the time she gets here, but I was late to breakfast.” He slid a rough finger down my bare spine and I shivered.
“I don’t want her in your bedroom.” The words fell from my mouth before I was able to think them through.
Was I allowed to make demands like that?
Was I being unreasonable?
Abraham nodded once. “Done.”
I jerked back in surprise. “Done? Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why?”
He shrugged. “I have other housekeepers and it’s not worth upsetting you over. If you don’t want her cleaning my room, she’ll never do it again. You have my word.”
“Wow, that was easy.”
He rolled his beautiful eyes. “Not everything needs to be a fight, Elizabeth. You could learn something from me.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. “Yeah, we’ll see.”
He sighed long and loud but kissed my head again as he continued to rock me back and forth. We were quiet for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s company when I felt I needed to speak up again.
“I really am sorry, Abraham,” I whispered.
He squeezed me tighter. “And it’s really okay. I’m fine.” He kissed my head again and then stood with me in his arms. He set me on my feet and grabbed my hand. “But, if it’ll make you feel better, you can help me clean them, so they don’t get infected.”
He dragged me to the bathroom and pulled out the same first aid supplies he’d used on me the day I met him. The difference was, he hadn’t been cleaning wounds that he’d inflicted.
My heart sank further as I dabbed a wet cloth along one of the four gashes marring his tan skin. I could feel him watching me but ignored him in favor of concentrating on my job. It was bad enough he had these wounds, the least I could do was make sure they wouldn’t get infected.
When I was done, I picked up some gauze and tape, but he shook his head. “That’s not necessary. They should be gone in an hour or two. They weren't very deep.”
I continued to eye the angry red marks. Abraham grasped my chin and tipped my face to meet his. “Hey. Stop. I’m fine. It’s over. We had a great morning, let’s not let this ruin it.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He didn’t want my apologies. He didn’t want my remorse or for me to continue to beat myself up. He wanted to move on. For him, I would try.
“It was a great morning.”
His smile was dazzling. “The best morning I’ve ever had.”
I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. “Really?”
He leaned in, letting his soft lips graze mine as he spoke. “By far.”
Then he kissed me until I forgot about the way I’d lost control and the injuries I’d inflicted on him. Until his lips and tongue and stroking hands were the only thing I could focus on. I drowned in him and let the rest of the last horrible hour be eclipsed by the perfect morning I’d spent with the amazing man in my arms.
I only hoped I could gain some control over myself before someone else got hurt.