Chapter 38
Dominic balled his hands into fists. He bent a knee and dropped one fist to the ground, a storm of fur bursting from him before his knuckles hit the dust. The white wolf held his head low to the ground, teeth bared at the pack beside me.
Marek leapt first and my hands flew to my mouth as a frightened squeal came out. Dominic dodged Marek by side jumping and lunged over my head, I ducked instinctively as snapping snouts reached upwards.
In a crouch now, I turned on the balls of my feet to watch Dominic disappear through the trees. The others barked and howled but, to my relief, stayed by my side.
I fell back onto my butt from my crouch and waited for my shaking hands to calm. Why couldn’t using my powers ever go to plan?
I wished I had someone to explain how they worked. The wolves had their own generational books and family to lean on, I only had what I’d learned so far.
I reached for the locket that hung around my neck, the pendant tucked safely in my bra. I had always appreciated that my mother kept the mysterious nature of my father from me, so I could enjoy a normal life, but now I was angry at her for it.
A muzzle lifted my arm up and a small light colored wolf peaked around from behind me. It took me a moment to recognize Jax in the beasts face.
It was easy to tell Marek from the rest since he was large and dark brown with highlights mixed through his thick fur. Julien and Jax were similar in color, both lighter mixes of white, gray and tan. Jax was only slightly smaller with a patch of brown at the tip of his fluffy tail.
The night had arrived while Marek circled me, growling at the empty space before us. Julien stood guard, watching carefully beyond where Dominic had escaped. Only darkness looked back.
I hadn’t moved from my seat and Jax sat by my side, leaning against me with his tail tucked underneath him, glancing back and forth between the other two wolves.
I sighed, well at least I would be getting to sleep with the pack tonight like I wished. I thought about conjuring my powers again, to try and strip them of their werewolf forms like I had done before when Grayson was being attacked.
It was too risky now, I thought. With my luck, I would end up getting them stuck in this form indefinitely and I would have nobody to talk to. I looked over at Jax and rubbed my fingers against his neck.
"Well crap, Jax. What do I do now?"
His head leaned back as his big golden eyes looked at me innocently. I smiled and moved my hand to scratch behind his ear, a back leg coming up and pawing at the air as I did so.
After some time, Julien left his post and sat on my other side. He nuzzled my neck gently before curling into a ball beside me. My hand threaded into his fur, as well. I felt comforted feeling their fluff so close, like a favorite stuffed toy or weighted blanket.
Marek took a while, but eventually sat behind me. I leaned against his back as he continued to keep watch. I stared at the stars, listening to their collective panting until Marek sank to the ground, head over his paws and eyes still watchful.
I used the fur at Marek’s back as my pillow. Jax had spread out, his head laying across my chest. Between Jax, and Julien curled up beneath my arm, I was warm and comfortable in my nest of wolves and soon drifted into a dreamless sleep.
The light woke me before the noise did. I could see the sun behind my eyelids and was enjoying the warmth of the sun while my mind slowly awakened.
A throat clearing interrupted the drowsiness and my eyes popped open, squinting now against the ball of bright light.
Adjusting my sight, I could see Dominic standing above me, his arms folded across his chest.
"Tell me Rebel, are they still under your little command?"
I tried lifting up but found myself weighed down by twists of tan, nude limbs curled around me. The blonde mess of Jax’s hair stuck to the sweat around my collar bone as his head rested on my chest. Julien was using my arm as his own pillow, the tips of my fingers felt numb from the pressure.
I leaned my head back slightly to look up at Marek’s state but was met by a rather large penis instead. I jerked at the sight of it, waking my sleeping mates.
"Hey!" Jax groaned and stretched out while Julien sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. I sat up, covered my eyes and stayed perfectly still, waiting for them to realize their condition.
"Good morning kids, sleep well?" Dominic taunted.
"Oh hey, Dom. What’s up?" Jax asked lightheartedly, like they hadn’t been at the ready to rip his throat out only hours ago.
Marek turned over behind me, and grabbed my waist. He pulled me in like a blanket, trapping me against his chest in his sleep. His thing poked at my back and I squirmed to get away. Dominic watched in a quiet amusement that both confused and pissed me off.
"What the hell happened?" Asked Julien, elbows on his knees while he rubbed his temples.
"The princess here put a spell on all of you to attack me, in an attempt to keep her from her duties."
I elbowed Marek to wake him and was greeted by a huff. His eyes struggled open and I was able to sit up again. I glared at Dominic.
"None of this would have happened if you would’ve let me make my own decisions."
His eyes closed and he let a breath out through his nose, containing his frustration. I had successfully turned the table and now we both had to be careful around one another.
"If this is how you want to spend your nights, so be it. But don’t think I won’t still claim what’s mine." He sauntered off then towards the huts, leaving me surrounded by the naked men.
I looked around, avoiding eye contact with the members between their legs. Jax spread out, a wicked smile forming as he enjoyed the open breeze.
"For heaven’s sake, could you all please get dressed?" I snapped while scrambling to my feet and rushing to hide in the bunkhouse.
When I was called for breakfast, every face except for Jax’s was turned away from me. A wave of embarrassment spread through me as I realized they were mad at me. Dominic I was glad about, I wanted him upset. But Julien and Marek’s anger gave me a deeply unsettling feeling.
I sat beside Marek who scooted further down the bench at my presence. Julien was too quiet as he stewed over his omelet.
I lowered my head and mumbled out, "I’m sorry."
Julien met my eyes, his expression softening slightly. "You can’t do that to us, it isn’t right."
I felt for him, for all of them. But how was what I did any different than how I was treated? My choices were constantly being taken from me for the benefit of others, at least what I did was for protection instead of desire.
"I hadn’t meant for it to go that far," I admitted. "I only wanted to make my own decisions and that seemed like the only way. I just....can’t control it."
"So why don’t you practice more, preferably not on us next time?" Jax joked.
I hadn’t thought of that, I didn’t know where to start. What would I even do to practice? It wasn’t like I was shooting laser beams from my eyes. I asked for help and something inside of me would answer.
"How?" I contested.
"You’ll figure it out," he offered. "When I started wolfing out, no one taught me how. They just told me it would happen and it did, took me years before I could control when I turned."
"How old were you?" I asked curiously.
"Fifteen," he anserwered.
"I was twelve," Julien chimed in.
"Marek over there was born a wolf," Jax teased. "He had to learn how to stay human, isn’t that right buddy?"
Marek grunted in response and I could tell their discontent was lifting.
"How old were you, Dominic?" I asked.
He eyed me curiously, like it was a trick question. "Eighteen."
"Ooh, a late bloomer. Bet you were super happy about that," Jax said sarcastically.
He was the same age I was now when the thing that made him inhuman emerged. That gave me a strange sense of comfort. I noticed an eyebrow twitch as I realized he was reading me again, a faint smile rising that flipped my stomach and I turned back to my food.
Maybe Jax was onto something. If I could control my powers better than I would have the upper hand when it came to Dominic. I wouldn’t have to worry so much about the pull between us and it would be an interesting distraction while I rode out the moon’s cycle.
I just had to figure out where to start while also avoiding the gravity of the bond tugging at my core.