A Wolf's Duty (6 page)

The nothingness now made
perfect sense. She had cut herself off from the world when her
mother died, the emotions probably proving too much for her to
handle. “Are you an orphan then? Did your mother leave you with no
one to look after you?” His grip on her hand tightened slightly as
he became angry with a woman he would never meet.

If only…being
an orphan would be a dream compared to what I’ve right now. I can’t
believe I’m actually envious of orphans,
she scoffed. “No, my father is still alive and
well.”

His grip eased as relief
flooded him. “Well at least you weren’t alone, I can take comfort
in that. You had me worried for a second.”

Life would
have been so much easier if I were. There wouldn’t be any beatings
because I have mum’s eyes. There wouldn’t be any beatings because
he’s drunk. There wouldn’t be any beatings full stop. There
wouldn’t be any drunken friends with circumspect intentions.
Her mind conjured up the image of Sean, complete
with the uncomfortable sensation of his arm around her.
I could keep my own pay cheque.
I could do what I wanted to do. In short life
would be perfect.
“I don’t want to talk
about this anymore,” she sighed, tearing her mind away from the
horrors of her past and forcing it into the present.

Flooding her
mind with the warmth and strength of his own, he forced himself to
smile at her, squashing his protective instincts and pushing his
desire for the complete truth to the back of his mind.
She’s not telling me something, but one thing at
a time. There’s no need to create problems. She can keep this
secret for now, it isn’t as though I’m telling her the whole
truth.
He concluded, running his tongue
over his larger than normal canines
.
“I think we’ve talked enough about
the past, it’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, it’s not
raining which is a rarity in itself in this country and a beautiful
girl has promised to spend the day with me. Life is good,” he
laughed. Finding his loud laugh infectious, she couldn’t help but
chuckled a little with him, her memories fading to the back of her
mind.

“When you put it like
that, life does seem a lot better.”

“What other way is there
to put it?” He smiled, reaching across the table to clasp her hand.
"Now you've promised to spend the day with me and I'm going to hold
you to your word."

“I don't recall agreeing
to an entire day.”

He shrugged at her
comment. “I've been told that I only hear what I want to hear,” he
informed her chuckling. “Now according to what I remember you
definitely agreed to the day.”

She smiled, amused by his
antics. “Fine, let's say that I agreed to a day, the day ends at
six, I have to get home ok?”

“I can deal with that, now
where is our food? I'd like to get on with the day.”

The waitress returned two
large steaming plates in hand; she placed them on the table before
turning on her heel, leaving them to eat their meal.

“Eat up sweetheart, we've
got a long day ahead of us.”

“A day of doing what
exactly?”

“Not sure
exactly.” His eyes wandered over her frame, his brows creasing in
dissatisfaction.
But there will definitely
be an element of shopping in there somewhere.

Chapter
Five

“Xandria, this is getting
ridiculous,” Tobias groaned running his hands through his thick
hair. “We’ve been at this all day and I’ve bought you nothing,” he
sighed as she continued walking down the street, dismissing yet
another store.

“I think you’ll find that
was part of the plan. I told you this morning, you can’t just throw
money at people and expect them to do whatever it is you
want.”

Gripping her shoulders, he
forced her to stop and turn to face him. “That isn’t what I’ve been
trying to do. I just want you to have nice things, is that so
wrong?”

There’s
nothing wrong with that, but I won’t be able to keep anything he
buys me. Fred will destroy them just to spite me and then I’d have
to explain to him that I’d lied to him this morning and that would
just earn me a beating.
She shivered as she
remembered the look of anger on Tobias’ face when he had seen the
bruises on her wrists when they had first met.
If he doesn’t know about that then I’m not going to tell him.
I have a feeling he’d do something stupid, like try and give Fred a
beating.
Examining the muscles of his arms
and the tight fit of his shirt she had no concerns for his safety,
but didn’t want Fred to try and involve the authorities.

“It’s a nice sentiment but
I really don’t want anything, okay? Can’t we just leave it at
that?” she sighed, extricating herself from his firm grip and
walking on ahead.

Her voice told him to let
it go and simply enjoy being around her but the wolf in him
demanded that he provide for her and he struggled to decide which
one to listen to, before deciding to let Alexandria win.

Look
, he told the wolf inside him,
trying to exert his dominance so it didn't try to take over and
resolve the situation in its own way.
We’ll let her have this for now, but once we claim her we can
buy her anything we want and she’ll just have to get used to
it.
His wolf growled but otherwise remained
silent and Tobias decided to take it as a sign of agreement. “Fine,
I’ll stop trying to persuade you to pick something for me to buy
you. Ok?” His statement was met by silence, walking up to her he
found that she was statue still and immediately became concerned.
“Alexandria? Is something wrong?” She still failed to respond, but
his sensitive ears told him that her heart had sped up and his brow
furrowed in confusion before he simply placed his hand on the
exposed skin of her forearm.

She’s excited
and happy?
His frown deepened.
What’s there to be so happy about?
Crouching slightly so that he was about as tall as
she, he turned his face in the direction she was staring at,
noticing only a small store called Petal Power, with what appeared
to be a small jungle growing in the display window.

“My mum used to grow
flowers.”

The sound of her voice
drew his gaze away from the shop and he stood to his full height
once again towering over her. She continued to speak, though he was
no longer sure if she was even aware of his presence, but he
decided to listen rather than interrupt.

“We had the most beautiful
garden you could ever imagine, there was nothing that she couldn’t
grow if she put her mind to it. I remember the garden in the
spring; it had the most amazing smell. This might sound strange but
I always thought it smelled of life. And mum, mum was always there,
it was our special place. I practically lived in that garden when I
was growing up. But when she died, the garden died with her,” she
choked, blinking and coming out of her daze.

“Xandria? I know you don’t
want me to buy you things, but one plant can’t hurt. Come with me.”
He smiled, taking her hand and pulling her across the street and
into the store.

The smell of soil filled
his nose as soon as he opened the door causing him to sneeze
repeatedly but he forced the uncomfortable sensation aside and
continued inside as the door closed behind them. The store was even
smaller inside than it appeared on the outside, filled with rows of
tables that were crammed with flowers of almost every kind. There
was very little room to move and despite the unpleasant sensation
that filled his nose, he smiled, as Alexandria was forced closer to
his body.

“Can I help you?” Turning
their heads, they saw a small old woman easily navigating the small
space to make her way towards them, her gloved hands covered in
soil. Her red hair was tied away from her face while her pale skin
was covered in dirty smudges.

“Yes, I want to buy
something for my girlfriend, preferably something potted so she
could take care of it. I want it to last a while.”

Girlfriend!
We’ve barely known each other a day…I suppose that we’ve actually
known each other for years and just not realised it.
Choosing not to correct his statement, Alex simply
smiled at the woman’s kind face before allowing her eyes to wander
the length and breadth of the store breathing in the potent but
familiar scent of the different flowers.

“Is there anything in
particular you’d like?” The woman asked.

Noticing that Alex had
allowed her mind to wander, Tobias pointed to the tall flower that
had captured his gaze since he had entered the store.

“This one?” Picking up the
fragile plant, the woman brought its small white petals to her
nose, breathing in deeply. “Orchids are difficult to take care of,
are you sure this is the one you want?”

Pulling her into his body,
he guessed that his proximity would focus her mind on her
surroundings. “Alexandria what do you think of that
one?”

The warmth of his chest
began to penetrate the fog of her mind and she couldn’t prevent a
shiver running through her body. She felt hot and her face flushed
in response while she rubbed her legs together as the sensation
that had flooded her body chose to settle itself at the juncture of
her thighs. Reaching out for the delicate red and white petals, she
managed to move out of his grasp and the sensation began to fade.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, her voice so low that if his ears
hadn’t been so sharp he would have missed it.

“We’ll take that
one.”

“Ok, if you’d just like to
follow me to the counter.”

Following the woman as
directed, he left Alex behind allowing her to simply absorb the
smells and associate them with the garden her mother had loved so
much. He quickly returned with the plant in hand and guided her to
the door, hating the expression of loss that had appeared on her
face as they departed.

They walked in silence for
a few moments, continuing their journey down the darkening street
before sitting down on a nearby bench, content to let the minutes
slip by. Sliding across the small bench space, he draped an arm
over her shoulders before placing the flower in her lap. She gently
stroked the silk like petals before turning to smile at him. “Thank
you Tobias, this means a lot to me.” He grinned in response, while
she took a deep breath before reaching up to grab his neck and
bring his head closer to her own, quickly placing a chaste kiss to
his cheek.

Tobias growled
in the back of his throat at the fleeting sensation of her smooth
lips on his cheek and the corresponding feeling it elicited in his
lower regions.
More!
his inner wolf demanded, before breaking free of his mental
constraints to take action, having apparently finished biding its
time. He pulled her towards himself draping her legs over his own.
Breathing deeply he allowed the scent of vanilla to fill his
nostrils, ensnaring his senses and goading him into further
action.

His head quickly
descended, his lips capturing hers, claiming them ruthlessly and
stealing her breath while leaving her gasping for more. The first
meeting of their lips wasn’t gentle, fuelled as it was by animal
instinct and aggression but the jolt of electricity that had
sizzled through her when his lips touched her had caused her body
to react. She could feel her nipples tightening to painful peaks
with every subtle movement of his lips and the previous aching
between her thighs had returned and magnified.

This is a bad
idea.
Her chain of thought vanished as she
felt Tobias bite at her lower lip causing her to gasp in shock. His
warm tongue was surprisingly gentle as it laved at his bite, but
his aggressive dominance soon returned as he slipped his tongue
past her parted lips.

More! I’ve got
to claim her. She’s mine.
Dwelling at the
back of his mind, Tobias found he couldn’t and didn’t want to
disagree with his wolfish side, content to simply enjoy the
pleasure a simple kiss brought. His body began to harden beneath
her and he held her tighter against him determined not to let her
escape. His tongue clashed with hers and she moaned in pleasure in
response to his actions, rubbing her nipples against his chest in
an attempt to ease the ache. Her hands lifted themselves to his
head, diving in to the thick strands while keeping him in
place.

His sharp teeth nipped
again at her lip and she felt herself growing damp. “Tobias,” she
moaned against his lips. His head lifted and he felt a surge of
pride as he took in her pleasure flushed face. “Tobias,” she
groaned, instantly feeling deprived when his lips had left hers.
His eyes left her face settling on her neck.

Mark her, mark
her. Do it now.
His lips eased forward to
the slender column of her throat placing a stream of kisses to the
warm flesh. She allowed her head to drop, granting him further
access to her skin.

His lips
should come with a warning label. I can barely think
straight.

His lips continued
drugging her into a pleasure-induced fog while he tugged at the
neckline of her flimsy t-shirt. His canines sharpened and he ran
them gently over the exposed skin where shoulder met neck. He
grinned against the flesh upon feeling her entire body quiver in
response to his action. He placed a quick kiss to the flesh before
he began tonguing it wildly, eliciting another moan from deep
within her. Opening his mouth wider he quickly pressed his fangs
into her flesh, careful not break the skin just yet, that would
have to wait until he had truly claimed her. He withdrew them
almost immediately and resumed licking the skin, soothing the ache
the bite would have caused.