Chapter 11: Chapter Ten

DAX

The kiss was like a vacuum, pulling the breath from my lungs and leaving me trembling in the field like a frightened pup. The gentle press of her lips against mine, the knowledge that she initiated it rather than me imposing myself on her.

She ~wanted~ to kiss me. Now that I’d cracked the armor around her heart, it would be easier to dismantle it.

~“Where is she going?”~ my wolf demanded. ~“Come back!”~

~“Calm down,”~ I replied. ~“She’ll return.”~

After that kiss, there was no way she could stay away. All I needed was patience.

***

Braxton

Lycan duty tonight at nine.

The next day, I found myself staring at a text from Braxton. Lycan duty would be a welcome distraction after yesterday. Kissing Savannah had eased some tension, but not enough to make me entirely at ease.

After lunch, Kayden knocked on my door and lobbed a football at me. I caught it before it could hit the wall. “Fancy a game?” he asked.

I glanced from my ~Pack Responsibilities~ assignment to him and back again.

He smirked. “You know you want to. That assignment is dull anyway. The answer is always C.”

I closed my book. “Your pack has my sympathy. The responsibilities of an alpha aren’t dull. They’re crucial to becoming a good leader.”

“Come on,” he said, leaning against my desk. “Or are you too lovesick to venture outside today?”

I stood up and stretched, arms reaching for the ceiling. “I’m fine,” I said, a smirk playing on my lips.

Kayden eyed me. “Why are you smiling? Since when is your love life something to smile about, no offense.”

I shrugged. “Since yesterday.”

“Are you going to spill or just stand there?”

“We had a confrontation in the field behind the cafeteria.”

“So you’re happy about fighting now? You really are desperate, Dax.”

I kicked off my boots and pulled on a pair of tennis shoes. “No, she kissed me.”

“Hallelujah!” he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. “So, what’s the status? Has she dumped her boyfriend yet?”

I sighed. “Slow down,” I said. “It wasn’t exactly a friendly kiss.”

Kayden looked at me, puzzled. “What do you mean a ~friendly kiss~? Since when are kisses not friendly? If you ask me, kissing Stephanie is ~pretty friendly~.

I ran my fingers through my hair. “It was an angry kiss, Kayden. She’s overwhelmed by her emotions and doesn’t know how to handle them.

We had a heated argument in the cafeteria, and then she chased after me. I might have provoked her a bit, and she kissed me… angrily.”

Kayden threw his head back and laughed. “Man, your luna is nuts.”

“Watch it,” I warned. “She is—”

A chorus of wolf whistles from the foyer interrupted me. Normally, I could tune them out, but her scent caught my attention.

~“She’s here,”~ my wolf announced.

A heavy knock on my door jolted me from my thoughts. Landon opened it a few seconds later, a grin on his face, and gestured behind him.

“I took the liberty of escorting her up, since she was being harassed by some of the freshman alphas downstairs.”

Savannah stepped forward, dressed in workout gear. I had to fight the urge to gawk at her like a hormonal teenager.

She swallowed nervously, and interlaced her fingers behind her back. “Um, can we talk… alone?”

Landon excused himself, but Kayden didn’t move. “We were just about to play—”

“No,” I said, knocking his hat off his head and tossing his football to him. “Later. I’m busy.”

He growled at me, but left, muttering under his breath. Savannah glanced around my room. As she crossed the threshold, she swallowed nervously.

“Hey,” she said. “I, ~um~, my professor thinks it would be beneficial if we practiced our double-leg takedown together. Do you have time?”

~“Yes!”~ my wolf shouted. ~“Do it now.”~

“Of course,” I said. “Just give me a moment.”

She leaned against my desk, taking in my bare walls and neatly made bed. I felt on edge having her so close to my bed, and my wolf urged me to pull her closer, but I resisted.

I grabbed a workout shirt and stripped out of my current one. Savannah’s heartbeat quickened, and I glanced over, watching her gaze drop from my abs to the floor.

Her fingers gripped the edge of the desk, and she bit her bottom lip.

~“Do it. Pull her closer,”~ my wolf urged.

~“Stop it,”~ I snapped, not realizing I’d spoken aloud.

“Stop what?” she asked.

I chuckled, knowing she didn’t have a wolf whispering in her ear yet, and shook my head. “Nothing,” I said. “You ready? We can go practice in the gym downstairs.”

“You guys have your own gym?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

She lingered in the hallway, and I took the opportunity to drink in the sight of her. Her curves were accentuated by her tight workout pants, and I found myself clenching my teeth in frustration.

Locking my door, I gestured for her to follow me down the stairs and toward the gym. We passed several alphas who didn’t dare whistle at her while I was near.

The gym was deserted, the midday hour and the proximity to lunchtime leaving it vacant. She glanced around, her eyes wide with admiration, as I flicked on the lights.

A palpable tension hung in the air between us. We hadn’t spoken since our kiss, and the memory of it loomed large, like an elephant in the room. Clearing my throat, I broke the silence. “So, you want to work on the double-leg takedown?” I asked.

She nodded, her ebony hair swinging in her ponytail. “Yeah, Professor Jennifer said she thought it would be a good idea.”

~“Thank you, Professor Jennifer,”~ my wolf murmured.

I began to stretch, craning my neck and loosening my muscles. She followed suit, and a silence fell over us. It was a test of my self-control to watch her bend over and stretch her hamstrings.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“You okay?” she asked.

I glanced over at her, her eyes on me. “Yeah, I’m fine. You ready?”

She nodded. “I’m super sore from the other day…”

“We’ll take it easy,” I assured her.

~“Not easy! Drag her upstairs,”~ my wolf urged.

As I approached Savannah, her body tensed. When I was close enough to touch her, I stopped, looking down into her beautiful hazel eyes. “We gonna talk about it?” I whispered.

She didn’t feign ignorance. “I kissed you… and I shouldn’t have.”

~Oh, here we go.~

“You liked it,” I murmured.

Her breath fanned across my mouth as she sighed. “I—I won’t lie and say I didn’t, because I did, but I’m taken. I can’t just toss him away for… whatever this is.”

~Whatever this is? Wow~. “This is much more than your boyfriend.”

Savannah briefly closed her eyes. “So I’ve been told. Can we just practice this?”

“Did you come here because of your professor or because you wanted to?”

Her cheeks flushed. “Does it matter? I’m here, aren’t I?”

“It matters to me,” I said. “I saw you looking at me in my room—”

“~Oh boy~,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Seriously? A man took off his shirt in front of me, of course I looked.”

“And you liked it,” I said. I took her hand and pressed it against my abs. “It’s yours, Savannah. You can look whenever you want to look. You can touch me whenever you want,” I told her.

Savannah’s palm rested against my stomach, and her gaze lingered. “Are you fishing for compliments?” she asked. “Because I don’t think you are lacking in the self-confidence area.”

She still hadn’t moved her palm. Slowly, careful not to startle her, I lifted my shirt, letting her palm touch my bare skin. Shivers raced over her, and her bottom lip trembled.

“It’s hot in here,” I whispered, discarding the fabric.

She snapped back to reality and tucked her palm underneath her arm. “I didn’t come here for this. I came to practice.”

“Let’s practice,” I agreed.

She braced herself, and I lunged forward, swiping her feet out from underneath her. She huffed when her back hit the mat, and stiffened when my chest pressed against her.

“Again,” she said.

I hid my smile. It was unfair that she didn’t have her wolf yet, but it wasn’t impossible for her to defend herself. I was just along for the ride of getting to touch her like this.

An hour later, she landed on her back, and I caught myself, my hipbones pressing into the insides of her thighs, making my wolf pissed that clothing separated us.

“God,” she hissed, shoving me off. She turned away from me and swiped her palms down her face. Sweat dripped down her neck, and I loved everything about her scent. “Again.”

Leisurely, I faced her, going for her legs. She swung at the right moment, flipped me over, and landed on my hips.

A grin blossomed across her face. “Thank you, God!” she exclaimed. “Finally.”

It took several seconds for her to process that she straddled my hips. Her eyes rounded, but before she jumped off, I positioned my palms on her thighs, trapping her there.

“Good job,” I whispered.

She swallowed and nodded, not moving, her gaze burning a hole into me. My fingers tightened against her, and I so badly wanted to pull her down to my mouth, but I didn’t.

I patted her thighs, knocking her out of her trance, and she hopped up. The evidence of what she did to me was evident in my athletic pants, but if she noticed, she didn’t let on to it.

“Thank you for practicing with me,” she whispered, shaking her head and closing her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Do you hear that?” she asked.

I looked around the empty gym. “Hear what?”

“Someone, a girl, she keeps talking and…”

Laughter slipped from my throat. “It’s your wolf, Savannah.”

She cringed. “Really? I thought I was going crazy. Does yours talk to you?”

I chuckled. “Oh yeah, constantly. The bastard is relentless.”

She smirked, and it felt genuine. “What does yours say to you?” she asked, playing with the hem of her shirt.

I grabbed my T-shirt from the floor and slipped it back on. “Lots of stuff. What is yours saying to you?”

“Slutty things,” she mumbled.

My eyes widened and laughter slipped from me. “She wants you to be with me.”

A blush crept up Savannah’s cheeks. “She’s got her sights set on you, Dax. The things she’s been saying… they’re a bit unsettling.”

“~Hmm~,” I responded, a playful smirk on my face. “I think I like her.”

Savannah shot me a look, bending down to retrieve her water bottle. “Thanks for the practice session. I won’t feel like such a novice in class tomorrow.”

“You’re welcome. You know I’m always here for you, right?”

She nodded, her fingers playing with the cap of her water bottle. “Yeah.” She seemed to be wrestling with her words, eventually opting to stuff the bottle into her bag instead of speaking.

I could tell there was something she wanted to say. “What is it?”

She made a move to leave but paused. “Who is that girl?”

I furrowed my brows, trying to figure out who she was referring to. “What girl?” I asked.

She shook her head, muttering something under her breath. “My wolf,” she said, her voice laced with discomfort. “She wants to know who the blonde is. The one who’s always around you.”

“Your wolf, huh?”

Savannah narrowed her eyes. “Forget it.”

I reached out, catching her wrist. “That’s Randi. Are you jealous?”

She scoffed. “No—”

“Because I am,” I cut her off. “I’m jealous of your boyfriend, the one you send those messages to. I’m jealous that he’s had you. And I’m jealous of the wolf inside you, because she knows you. I ~want~ to know you, Savannah.”

Her gaze dropped to my lips, sending a jolt of anticipation through me. “Just so you know, I’ve been replaying that kiss in my mind. Over and over. I’ve never kissed someone who made me feel like this.”

Savannah swallowed, her eyes meeting mine. “I—I want it again,” she whispered, so softly I wasn’t sure I’d heard her right.

I didn’t give her a chance to change her mind. I wrapped my fingers around the back of her neck and kissed her.

A soft purr escaped her, fueling my desire. This time, I took control, lifting her up to my waist.

She made a small sound that I swallowed. Her fingers tangled in my hair as I carried us over to a weight bench, letting her straddle my waist.

I was consumed by need. I needed this. I needed Savannah Harper. She pressed herself against me, and I knew she could feel how hard I was for her.

It didn’t stop her from deepening our kiss, wanting more. Wanting me.

“Please,” she whispered.

I didn’t know what she was begging for, but I’d give it to her. I moved my mouth from hers, trailing hot kisses down her neck, biting and sucking her sensitive skin.

“What do you need?” I whispered. “Tell me.”

Her thighs tightened around my waist and she moaned, the sound vibrating against my chest. “God… I—I can’t take this.”

It was her first time kissing me with her wolf, and I knew how overwhelming it must have felt. I’d learned to suppress my wolf in situations like this, to the point where I could block him out.

She couldn’t.

And I knew what her wolf wanted to do.

But we weren’t going to do that in the gym.

“Savannah,” I whispered, caressing her cheek. She responded by pressing her thighs against me. I chuckled.

“Stop,” I whispered. “Your wolf is going to drive you crazy. You need to work on suppressing her.”

Savannah shook her head and kissed me again. “No. I need this.”

Every ounce of my self-control was teetering on the edge, ready to plunge into the deep end with her. “Let’s go up to your room,” she whispered.

~Dammit.~

Someone cleared their throat, and Savannah jumped off me. Her eyes, previously dilated with desire, calmed, and she turned a bright shade of red. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t know what came over me.”

She grabbed her bag and bolted out of the gym.

Braxton watched me with an amused smile. “I think she’s loosening up, Dax.”

I ran my hands down my face and chuckled without humor. “Great timing, Braxton.”

“I just came to check on you. You didn’t text me back about lycan duty.”

I waved a dismissive hand in the air. “I’ll be there. Just give me a minute… or thirty.”