Chapter 10

Shemika had encountered a handful of she-wolves, each of them giving her disdainful glances, and a multitude of men, all of whom leered at her with desire, before the dinner bell finally rang. This was the one meal that the entire pack shared together. Everyone, except for Lyosha and Caturix. But now, she was joining them.

She had excused herself from Nikandr, citing a stomachache. She told him and his friends that she would retire to her room for a bit and might join them later if she felt better, but not to hold their breath. After she had slipped away from Nikandr and his group, she found her way to the hallway that led to the door Caturix had vanished behind earlier that day.

Soon, the mess hall was filled to the brim and there were no latecomers. Every hallway was deserted, the only sounds being the distant chatter from the mess hall.

Shemika was seated on a vibrant red lounge chair in front of the heavy metal door, waiting for it to swing open again. She tried to come up with clever things to say, a seductive way to kick off their brief affair, but the door opened sooner than she had anticipated.

It burst open and out stepped Caturix. Up close, he was even taller and broader than she had imagined. He was the biggest man she had ever seen and suddenly, Shemika’s mind was flooded with indecent thoughts. A surge of wicked images and urges overwhelmed her.

She felt a rush of heat, as if Caturix could somehow hear or sense the direction of her thoughts. All the words she had prepared to say suddenly deserted her. “Uh…,” she managed to utter.

Caturix stepped out of the doorway, his long dark hair damp with sweat and clinging to his forehead and cheeks. He noticed her and his eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared as if he was taking in her scent deeply. He let the heavy door slam shut behind him and started to walk away.

“Wait.” Shemika stood up abruptly from the chair. Her dark red skirt swished around her legs. He was ignoring her again. Not giving her a second glance. She wasn’t going to let that happen. No one just walked past her. She had let it slide the last time, since he hadn’t even seen her, but this time, he had looked her straight in the eyes and chose to walk away.

He stopped and turned to face her, his stern eyes pinning her in place, but he remained silent, simply waiting for her to speak.

“My name is Shemika,” she squeaked, suddenly feeling uneasy under the weight of his gaze. “I’m the new she-wolf. I’m sure you’ve heard about me.” She flicked her golden curls over her shoulder, trying to sound confident, but her voice still came out higher than usual.

His expression remained unchanged. He seemed completely unfazed by her. In fact, he seemed very…uninterested.

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. His gaze never wandered from her face to scan her body like the other men. This time, she wanted it. Desperately. She wanted him to look at her breasts and down her exposed belly, to think about the depths of her womanhood.

He turned to leave and Shemika felt empowered by her embarrassment. An embarrassment she thought only Mileva could induce. She grabbed his arm to stop him from moving and while she knew he could’ve kept walking, he stopped for her to speak. “I find you attractive,” she confessed, her entire body blushing with mortification.

He turned back to face her, his straight brows furrowed above his eyes. Up close, Shemika noticed that his eyes were not black at all; they were gold, like Ylenia’s but framed by thick black lashes. He was truly breathtaking.

“You don’t want to spend time in my bed,” he responded gruffly.

“I do,” she countered, placing a hand on her jutting hip. Why did everyone keep saying that? It was starting to annoy her.

He took a deep breath and scowled deeply at her. “You’ll lose interest if I don’t give in.”

She wouldn’t. She was a very persistent person. Mileva often said she had been a relentless child. She never backed down. “I disagree,” she began, but she read his expression. “Are you not attracted to me?” she asked angrily, but her heart ached from his rejection.

He shrugged nonchalantly. “You’re too pretty for my taste.”

She could live with that rejection. “You can turn off the lights,” she suggested.

His brows furrowed further with irritation. “That’s not how I like to fuck…” He paused as if trying to recall her name. The action stung her deeply.

“Then tell me,” she purred, moving closer to him. “No one else will.”

“I’m sure our appetites are very dissimilar,” he said, rather judgmentally.

She opened her mouth to speak again but he turned to leave. She felt the urge to curse and stomp her perfectly manicured feet. Why was he just as infuriating as he was attractive?

This time, Shemika didn’t let him just leave. She followed after him, walking quickly to keep up with his long strides.

He ignored her at first, his steps confident.

Not that Shemika minded too much. She was captivated by his scent and couldn’t take her eyes off him. His strong nose and harsh jawline. “You’re not very friendly,” she observed aloud.

A muscle under his eye twitched, but he refused to respond to her.

She was okay with that. Having only lived with Mileva, Shemika had learned to be her own friend. “I’m from the Vale Pack in the valley. It’s not as lush as your pack territory and we don’t have a river,” she said, picking at her cuticles. “If we did, I’d probably have spent a lot of time in the water.” The idea of lounging in the river all day was appealing. Not that the men would make it easy.

He continued to ignore her, as best as he could.

“Do you hunt for your own dinner then? I heard you never join the group meal. I was wondering, cause, you look like you need a lot of food.” She paused, wondering if it sounded like an insult, then added, “Cause you’re beefy.”

He snorted, but quickly his scowl returned.

That was a good sign. “Have you ever thought about going to the human town? I have. I’ve always wanted to go to a mall and a nightclub. It’s one of my biggest dreams,” she continued.

He tried to walk faster, probably hoping to outrun her, but it was futile. She would sprint to keep up.

“I heard you’re a ‘punisher.’ Does that mean that Lyosha decides what bad things people have done and he passes them off to you to punish them?” she asked curiously.

He seemed to falter, but quickly resumed his path.

Ah, there were buttons there. But she wasn’t sure if the results would be what she wanted. So she didn’t push further.

“Are you going to say anything to me, Caturix?” she asked softly.

He didn’t respond.

“Just so you know, I will annoy you until you give me a response,” she threatened.

He still didn’t respond.

“You haven’t even rejected me? Does that mean you do want me sexually?” she asked cautiously.

His jaw clenched, as if he was contemplating answering. But his reaction was all the answer she needed. He did want her sexually, but he thought she didn’t really want him. He thought she would tire of him easily if he didn’t immediately sleep with her.

Perhaps he was afraid to sleep with her, considering his previous lovers had all ended up regretting their time spent in his bed. She wanted at least just one night with him.

One night in his arms. Or on his face.