Chapter 34: Chapter Thirty-Three

SAVANNAH

With a defiant lift of my chin, we emerged from the woods, our clothes rumpled and hair windblown. Dax was a silent presence beside me, his warm hand resting reassuringly on my lower back.

The words of the alphas had left me feeling small and insignificant. Landon was dead because of my rescue mission, and the thought of his mate’s grief was unbearable.

As we neared the Luna House, Dax hooked a finger through one of my belt loops, pulling me closer. I didn’t want to face them, but I needed to show that I cared, to try and mend the rift that had formed between us.

Climbing the stairs, I felt the air in my lungs thinning, a slow suffocation. “You can do this,” Dax murmured from behind me.

I knocked on the door, unsure if I was still welcome, and waited. My heightened senses picked up the sound of someone rushing towards the door, and then the soft whoosh of air as it swung open.

Missy stood on the other side, looking more worn than I’d ever seen her. Worry lines etched her face, and deep creases of sadness framed her mouth. “Savannah,” she said, her shoulders straightening.

I braced myself for a tirade, but instead, she reached out and pulled me into a hug. I melted into her embrace, fighting back the tears that pricked at my eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” I managed to choke out.

She shook her head, pulling back to look at me. Her small hands rested on my shoulders, her blue eyes filled with kindness. “Savannah, none of this is your fault.”

“Landon’s mate,” I whispered.

Missy nodded, opening the door wider to let us in. Dax moved in front of me, as if to shield me from any negativity that might be waiting inside. I was grateful for his protective instinct.

Missy closed the door behind us and gestured towards the sitting room. The house was eerily quiet, the silence only broken by the faint sounds of the other lunas nearby.

“Her name is Amanda, and she’s taken a leave of absence for the rest of the semester,” Missy explained.

I felt a strange mix of relief and guilt. I was glad I didn’t have to face Amanda just yet, but I hated that she’d had to leave her studies because of me.

“Do the lunas hate me?” I asked. “I know I’ve caused a lot of trouble, and things with the alphas aren’t great, but I didn’t—”

Missy cut me off with a shake of her head. “Savannah, stop. None of the lunas are mad at you. You didn’t ask to be kidnapped, and your mate did what we all hope our mates would do. We’ve left some food for you in your room. Go upstairs and relax. You can meet with the lunas tomorrow. I’ve asked them to give you some space for now.”

I was stunned by her words, especially after the alphas’ reaction. I hugged her tightly, letting a few tears escape.

Missy cupped my cheek when we pulled apart, then left Dax and me to make our way upstairs to my room.

It felt like I hadn’t been there in ages. Everything was as I’d left it, except for a tray of food on my bed.

Dax quickly changed into a fresh T-shirt and lay down on the bed, patting the spot next to him. “You need to eat,” he said. “Come here.”

I picked at my food while Dax devoured his. The tension in the room was palpable, and I could feel it knotting in my stomach.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, reaching over to rub my thigh.

I shook my head. “I hate that your entire brotherhood hates me. Will they ever accept me? And the wolves in your pack… what about them? I can’t go back there after I graduate, if I make it, and be their Luna. They hate me. They hate that I’m a lycan, and I hate it too. Why did my mother do this?” I asked, standing. I rubbed underneath my eyes. “Why did she sleep with a lycan, Dax? She knew about the rivalry.”

Dax stood up slowly, tilting his head and taking in my anger. “Baby,” he whispered. “I like your dad. ~You~ like your dad. I can imagine your mother did too. He saved us, don’t treat him like this because the alphas are butt hurt right now.”

He was right, and I hated his rationality in the situation, because I didn’t feel rational. I felt out of control of my life, as if I had any control over it since I graduated from high school.

“Someone lost their mate because he was trying to help save me.”

“Wolves die in battle all the time, Savannah. It hurts. I loved Landon, but it wasn’t your fault.”

My anger boiled over into a fit of tears. Everything that happened in the last week slammed into me, causing an emotional roller coaster to twist inside of me.

The hot tears on my cheeks were from being shoved into a cell, promised to a lycan king, and killing someone, even if he deserved it.

I killed a lycan.

I was a killer.

My wolf was a killer.

My wolf was a hybrid, and no one around me understood what that meant, including me. Dax grabbed my upper arms, trying to console me, but I shoved him off, hating myself for being an emotional wreck.

But everything suddenly hit me since the drama had died down.

Dax grabbed the back of my neck, and forced me to look at him. “Savannah, calm down.”

But I couldn’t resist. I let loose all the pent-up frustration on him, knowing he would absorb it, until he pinned me against the door and kissed me.

My entire being unraveled into our kiss. Dax’s rough fingertips dug into my hip and the back of my neck, obliterating any memory of a past kiss in my entire life.

He was drowning me in the intense taste of his mouth, suffocating every negative thought until they vanished. Dax lifted me to his hips, carrying me with one arm to my bathroom and sitting me on the counter.

I leaned back against the mirror, closing my eyes. I listened to the shower turn on and then the sound of Dax undressing.

A white-hot need scorched me from head to toe, and by the time his fingertips skimmed my heated skin, slowly undressing me, I felt undone. Like if he touched me any more, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

I’d explode.

And frankly, that was what I needed to happen. I needed to explode. Dax drew my mouth to his, keeping me close with one muscular bicep wrapped around my back, his mouth doing sinful things to mine.

The hot water cascaded down my skin, making it hard to hold onto him, but he didn’t seem bothered, leaving the imprint of his fingertips on every inch of me he pleased.

With the shower wall pressed against my back, and Dax’s hips holding me up, every inch of my body felt tender to the touch. Through the waterfall around me, I met Dax’s honey-colored gaze.

His wolf took control, and I needed it.

His free hand tangled into my hair, pulling hard at the roots, while he tilted my chin and pressed himself against my most sensitive spot, throbbing between my weakened legs.

“I’ve missed this,” he whispered.

A hushed cry escaped my mouth when he sank into me, rocking his hips into me like a siren’s song at sea, luring me closer and closer with each thrust.

The minutes rushed by. My body cried out in bittersweet desire from one position to the next. Each one better than the last. I hung my head down low, arching my back for every inch he gave me.

Dax seemed to know everything I needed, and it didn’t stop… well into the midnight hours.

***

When I woke, the sun hadn’t quite made it over the horizon. It lingered there, but the stars still shone in the darkened sky. Something woke me, but I wasn’t sure what it was just yet.

Dax lay beside me, forearm resting over his eyes, his bare chest on display from our wild night in the shower… and too many other places to count.

My body felt sore when I moved, but I loved the sting as much as I loved the bite marks that littered my body. I pushed the covers from me and found myself a long T-shirt to slide on.

I stood in the middle of the room, feeling drawn to something but not knowing what it was. Then I heard it. The pebble against my window. I walked over to the ledge, and swung open my double-paned window.

At first, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but then I saw something move toward the tree line.

~“Lycan,”~ my wolf said.

Shivers raced down my spine. I didn’t know how a lycan could have made it into Werewolf University, but then again, they probably thought the threat was dead and didn’t have as many wolves on patrol.

It stood, waiting on me, not threatening but waiting.

~“What does it want?”~ I asked.

~“For you to follow him,”~ my wolf replied.

Dax’s warm fingertips wrapped around my elbow, startling me, and I jumped back to look up at him.

His hair was a mess on top of his head, and he had that sleepy sexy look from just waking up. “What are you doing?”

I pointed toward the woods, and watched as his gaze followed my finger. “Lycan,” I said.

I watched the hair on Dax’s arm stand on end and his golden gaze flicker over his dark irises.

“My wolf says he wants me to follow him. I think we should.”

Dax gave me an ~are you crazy~ look. “After what they did to you, Savannah? Seriously?”

“Yes. The lycan king is dead, and we’re in a university full of wolves. I think we have plenty of backup, but I don’t think this is a threat.”

Dax’s alpha senses were racing, but he trusted me, and I loved that about him. “Let’s go then,” he said.

I went to jump from the window, but he hauled me back toward him. “Pants, woman. What is up with you trying to show my goodies to the world, huh?”

I chuckled and grabbed a pair of leggings to pull on. Dax jumped first, jogging beside me toward the tree line.

The lycan stood in his human form when we got there. He didn’t look familiar and didn’t speak but gestured for us to follow.

My wolf showed no fear, and I wasn’t sure if that meant she was crazy or secure that he wouldn’t kill me. We ran until the sun was beginning to ascend over the hills, and I noticed other figures in the distance.

Many of them.

I stopped yards away, finding Dax’s hand and squeezing.

When the original lycan stopped, he turned and stared at me. “We know you killed the lycan king,” he said.

Dax squeezed my hand tightly, and I felt nerves race down my spine. Maybe my wolf had been wrong.

“Now,” he said, walking into the crowd. He disappeared for several minutes, leaving me almost breathless. “We want to repay our lycan queen with a little gift.”

He stepped out of the crowd and tossed someone down on their knees in front of me.

When he looked up, I saw fear in the rawest of forms. Trent stared up at me with tears in his eyes, fear etched in every fiber of his body, and I could smell it.

I smelled Trent’s fear, and my wolf chuckled at it.

“For you, my queen,” the lycan declared, his voice echoing through the room. “The traitor who set all of this into motion. I believe you’re acquainted with him. A relative of the lycan king.”

A soft chuckle rumbled from Dax beside me. “~Oh~, we’re well aware of who he is.”