Chapter 93: Dorian’s Mess
Lost in thought, she doesn’t realize the door opens. She only hears the door shut, followed by the strong scent of unfamiliar Alpha pheromones.
She looks up, only to find Dorian looking down at her intently.
"What? Not what you were expecting?"
Nyra’s frown grows slowly. Why exactly is he here? Especially because something about his tone makes the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
"What are you doing here?"
Dorian closes the door behind him. "Am I banned from talking to you? What if I just came to say hi?"
He takes a slow step toward her, grinning like he’d done in the infirmary. But this time, it makes Nyra’s entire body lock.
And those hazel eyes...they look almost identical to one of those Alphas in the warehouse that almost raped her. It doesn’t help that Dorian is so huge, broad-shouldered, and tall.
She tries to breathe through the panic, reminding herself that it’s all just in her head. She’s safe now. She had beaten those rogues.
Most of all, Adrian had come for her. He’d saved her.
But it’s useless to just try to wish the fear away. Everything feels too real. She starts spiraling when she remembers how they’d torn her clothes into shreds, the helplessness she’d felt when she’d been unable to fight them off. It all comes rushing back with full force.
"D-don’t come closer."
She scrambles backward until her back hits the headboard, clutching Adrian’s hoodie tightly against her chest.
Dorian immediately stops. "Why? What happened?" His brows knit together for a second, then his face straightens again.
Oh.
"Adrian told you something about me, right?" He rolls his eyes. "I can assure you, whatever my cousin has told you about me is a misunderstanding. I just want us to be friends, nothing else."
"I said don’t come closer!" Nyra doesn’t even realize she’s screaming until Dorian flinches.
"Okay...now you’re overreacting. I’m not going to bite."
Nyra doesn’t respond to his comment, curling in on herself, one hand pressed over her chest as she struggles to breathe.
Dorian’s expression changes to worry, realizing something is really wrong now. "Hey. Hey, what’s wrong?"
He raises both hands, taking a step backward. "Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ll leave."
It’s too late, however. Adrian and the others have already heard Nyra’s scream from the end of the hallway.
The door flies open before he can leave. Adrian storms inside, worriedly checking on Nyra first.
"What happened? I heard you scream. What’s wrong, baby?"
Then he turns, and the moment his eyes land on Dorian, looking confused on the other side of the room, he fucking snaps.
"What the fuck did you do?" He bellows.
Before Dorian can answer, Adrian crosses the room and punches him squarely in the face, hard enough that everyone is sure his jaw cracked.
Dorian staggers backward, but Adrian isn’t giving him room to get himself together. He punches him again, and again.
"How dare you come near her?" Adrian snarls. "What the fuck did you do to her, you fucking bastard!?"
"Fuck you, Adrian!" Dorian shoves him away, sending Adrian stumbling into the side of the bed.
"Why do you always assume the worst of me!?" He straightens, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth and the one dripping from his nose. "I didn’t even do anything!"
Adrian’s eyes flick toward Nyra.
She’s still trembling, fingers gripping his hoodie so tightly her knuckles have gone pale.
Then he remembers the night he had found him and Anna together last year. A tipsy Anna lying flat on her back on the bed, Dorian’s finger deep inside her, while she moaned shamelessly.
He sees red. "Did you try to touch her too?"
His shout seems to pull Nyra out of whatever trance she was in, and she looks between them.
Too? What does he mean by too?
But before she can process it, Adrian lunges again, this time with more rage than before.
Dorian tries to block the punch, but it’s useless. His ears start to bleed as Adrian punches the side of his face so hard his neck snaps to the other side.
Adrian’s pheromones have spiked, filling the room with the scent of pure, undiluted Alpha rage.
Dorian stumbles again, this time taking longer before he stands up again, his ears ringing, vision a little blurry.
"Adrian, please leave him," Nyra begs him, still clutching the hoodie against her chest. "Please just...he really didn’t do anything!"
Nyra is panicking not because she cares about Dorian, but because she cares for Adrian. If he gets too angry, he might lose control and transform to his Enigma form just like last time.
Werewolves are very territorial creatures, and often times they tend to make themselves look even more powerful to assert dominance.
In this case, if Adrian is pushed enough, he might transform into his Enigma form just to put Dorian in his place.
Thankfully, he listens to her, stopping his fist just short of Dorian’s face, hand hovering mid-air.
Then he turns to meet her eyes, checking if she’s saying the truth.
Nyra forces herself to sit straighter despite the tremor running through her body. "He didn’t do anything," she whispers. "Just let him go."
Adrian’s chest rises and falls heavily, knuckles clenching and unclenching, fighting the bloodlust and adrenaline pumping through his veins now.
Slowly, he steps away from Dorian, lowering his hand.
"I don’t want you anywhere near me or my mate," he growls at him. "Do you hear me, you damn son of a bitch!?"
Dorian’s eyes narrow, flexing his wide shoulders. His pride is hurt -- Dorian is physically bigger and taller than Adrian, he should have won this fight.
Refusing to accept defeat, he uses the distraction as leverage and suddenly swings, hitting Adrian hard across the jaw.
The punch hits Adrian like kerosene to a flickering flame. He is going to kill this fucking bastard...!
He grabs his cousin’s shirt, slamming the huge boy against his chest with surprising strength. He raises his fist, but before he can hit him again,
"Enough!" A deep, rumbling voice fills the room.
Three pairs of heads turn to the source of the sound at once. A tall man stands in the doorway with a deep scowl on his face.
Caius, Dorian’s father. Adrian’s uncle.
His gaze moves between the two boys, looking disappointed. "You’re brothers," he says coldly. "Why are you both fighting like dogs?"
Adrian scoffs. "Brother? I don’t have a brother!" He wipes the blood from beneath his nose. "I’d rather drink dog piss than accept this fucker as my brother."
Lena and the other girls watch the drama unfold intently as Adrian continues, pointing toward his uncle.
"Tell your son to stay the fuck away from me." He wipes his nose again. "Even you. The both of you...just stay the fuck away from me and my mate!"
"Adrian!" Selene scolds, frowning. "That’s your uncle!"
Adrian just ignores her, stepping closer to Dorian until they’re almost chest to chest.
Dorian is a few inches taller than him, but he doesn’t back down. He lifts his lips so that only Dorian can hear.
"If you try anything funny with my mate this time, Dorian..." He smirks wolfishly. "I won’t be lenient like I was last time."
Dorian’s eyes narrow. "What makes you think I’ll be afraid of you?"
He broadens his shoulders too, releasing his pheromones, trying to make himself look more imposing and Adrian more threatened.
But Adrian doesn’t flinch. Instead, the grin on his lips stretches.
"You don’t know what exactly you’re dealing with."
Dorian frowns. Adrian is smiling like he knows something he doesn’t, and technically, he does.
Because an Enigma would rip an Alpha into pieces within seconds.
Adrian doesn’t wait to watch his face. Ignoring the shocked look on his mother’s face and the thunderous anger emanating from his uncle, he pushes Dorian out of his room and slams the door against his face.
Shutting them all out.
Inside, Nyra is slowly starting to relax. Her breathing is still harsh, but it’s evening out as she clutches Adrian tightly.
"What happened, baby? Why did you react like that when he came into the room?"
Nyra doesn’t respond, hugging him tighter. She hasn’t exactly given Adrian the full details of what happened before they finally rescued her.
He doesn’t know those men touched her body. Doesn’t know they almost raped her.
And something deep inside her is reluctant to tell him anything. What if he thinks I’m dirty now? What if does not want to touch me anymore?
What if he...
Before the voices in her head can spiral further, she grabs his jaw and slams their lips together.
Adrian is shocked. One moment she’s shaking, the next she’s kissing him desperately like she’s trying to erase something.
And Adrian, so damn weak for this girl, kisses back for a while. He grabs her jaw, taking the lead, tongue licking into her mouth.
The kiss quickly turns rough and urgent. Too much teeth and tongue. What started as something soft quickly turned hungry.
Adrian lets out a loud groan, pushing her back into the bed, caging her with his arms as he kisses her senseless.
"Adrian, wait..." She tries to pull back to breathe, but Adrian doesn’t let her, using his big frame to press her deeper into the bed, panting heavily.
The scent of his pheromones has changed, territorial and hungry. His Enigma wolf is agitated, clawing at the edge, eager to possess its mate and wipe off every trace of any other Alpha.