Chapter 36
Mira
It is hard to know what was real and what was imagined, the lines of consciousness were so blurred from Lila’s cocktail.
I saw us as wolves, me and Dominic, playing again in the woods, our bodies crashing together as we scampered through the underbrush.
And then we in our bodies, outside the banquet hall, swaying in each other’s arms.
The black fur of his wolf was a tangle in my eyes.
My fingers traced the small hairs on the back on his neck.
He lifted me, like I weighed nothing, and carried me home. My world was full of his scent.
We were in the bedroom, and I felt his hands carefully removing my dress. His fingers were light, as if he was afraid to touch my flesh for fear of getting burned.
Every brush of his fingers sent a chill up my spine.
As wolves, we tumbled over one another, laughing, nipping, feeling freedom overtake us.
I am reaching for him as he guides me towards the bed, and we are both suddenly falling onto the soft surface.
He held my face for a moment, and I wanted to drown in his kiss.
And then my world goes to black.
Dominic
It seemed like one of the longest walks of my life.
Mira’s body had gone limp in my arms, but with her face nuzzled into my neck I can at least feel that she is still breathing.
She was trying to say something about the champagne— was it possible that something was wrong with the drinks? I drank mine, much slower than Mira of course, and I was completely fine.
I then remembered that she had switched our glasses, what I thought at first was just a sassy reaction from our early heated discussion.
So there must’ve been something in that champagne glass after all, and Mira had tried to protect me from it.
With no time for discretion, I brought her in through the front door of the Pack house. Luckily, with the banquet happening that night, the house was quiet.
Only the groundskeeper and a few maids registered us, and I knew they could be trusted to keep the details of this evening from getting out.
I stumbled my way into our bedroom, and Mira was starting to squirm awake in my arms. She fought me slightly as I tried to carefully put her down, almost falling flat on the floor if I hadn’t caught her around the waist.
As if overcompensating for the weight transfer, she then threw herself into my, her back against my chest. She wrapped her arms around mine in front of her, and swayed into me.
“Mm your arms,” she mused, almost to herself.
I figured she must be hearing music somewhere and was moving in time to it. I was caught between the pleasure of her warm body locked in with mine, and the real fear that I was taking advantage of her in a vulnerable situation.
“We should get you to bed,” I said, unwinding my arms so she spun softly away to face me.
“Oo, yes we should,” she responds with a smirk.
I knew I needed to ignore her comments, but couldn’t help snickering as she tried to flirt with the coordination of a drunk baby.
“Turn please,” I told her.
Her face became serious as she put her arms out to the sides and gathered momentum to twirl herself around. I caught her wobbly body once again, not able to contain my laughter.
“Okay, okay, enough of that,” I brought her back to a stable center. “Here, hold onto this.”
I brought her to the back of the large reading chair and placed her hands on the edge so she could stabilize herself.
I stood behind her and, like I was disabling a bomb, I reached my fingers to the top button on the back of her dress.
Her spine stood straight as she felt me work my way down the dozen or so pearl fasteners, and I could see her fingers squeezing the edge of the chair.
It took all my strength to focus on the fabric in front of me, and not let my hands graze the soft skin on her back as it was revealed beneath.
Just as the dress opening met her bottom rib, I stopped and stepped back. I grabbed her robe from its hook nearby, and draped it over her shoulders.
“I’ll look away,” I said.
I heard the rustling of fabric as the gown fell at her feet. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t see it happen, the sound of it was enough to drive my imagination wild.
I went towards the bathroom just to get farther from the temptation
“Okay,” a small voice said.
When I turned back, slowly, she was wrapped in her robe, holding the top close to her throat. She looked shy, but unafraid.
She knew she was vulnerable, but she trusted me not to exploit her.
And yet, in that moment, I wanted desperately to rip off that robe and bask in the sweet softness of her body underneath. I wanted to protect her and devour her at the same moment.
“Here, I found these in your kit,” I said, handing her two dark tablets and a glass of water. “It’s charcoal, and should help with whatever you got in your system.”
“Charcoal, very good…” she said, seeming impressed. “How’d you know that?”
“A very wise doctor has been teaching me about natural medicine.”
She snorted, abruptly, taking the tablets from me. I could see they tasted disgusting by the look on her face, but she got them down well enough.
I took the glass of water and placed it next to the bed, then took her arm to help guide her over.
“Are you taking me to bed now?” she said with a devilish grin. “Should I be nervous?”
“What? No, no nothing like that,” I answered, slightly shocked by her. “You can have the whole bed.”
“Aww, you’re no fun!”
As I attempted to put her down carefully on the bed, she held tightly to my shirt and pulled me down on top of her.
She burst into laughter, her mouth nuzzled into my neck, and I couldn’t help but join her in the absurdity of the moment. We untangled ourselves so I wasn’t crushing her, and the energy calmed between us once more.
She softened into that sweet place right before one is taken by sleep, and I was almost overcome with how peaceful I felt just looking at her.
Without thinking of it, my hands moved up to each side of her head. I held her face in my hands, allowing myself to bathe myself in the honey-colored pools of her eyes.
“I’m so happy you’re mine,” she repeats her sentiments from earlier, but they seemed more weighted now. “You’re the best man I’ve ever met.”
Then her eyes rolled, and she was fast asleep.
