Terr5tory (13 page)

Chapter 22

Eleanor woke as soft light filtered through the sheer curtains and danced upon her closed lids.  Blinking awake she squinted, allowing her eyes to adjust to the half-light before she stretched.  Sucking in a sharp breath at the soreness that greeted her, memory came flooding back.  She remembered patrolling outside the domain with Delano, hunting for the outsiders May and June had invited into their territory, and then being…
shot?
 

She bolted upright in bed and all color left her as the room spun. 
The lust tranq!
  She remembered the burning pain that felt like something was eating her flesh from the inside out.   She’d needed something, someone. 
Delano!
  She buried her face in her hands as mortification seared her.  She’d given herself to the Alpha!  No, not given.  She’d thrown herself at his feet and sucked his cock even as he’d tried to deny her. 

Her face flamed so brightly that she felt tears threaten. 
Oh God!  What did I
do
?
  How could she ever look him in the eye again?  Any of them?  Peeking through her fingers, she eyed her room, knowing that Delano must have carried her back after sating her carnal needs.

Peeling the sheet back she examined her still-naked body.  He’d cleaned her and tended to her wounded shoulder.  She was sore between her legs and her breasts still felt heavy and swollen with remnants of the drug still in her system.  She licked her lips and they too were swollen.  She lifted shaky fingers to her lips and licked again, swallowing as she recognized the earthy taste of Delano’s semen still on her lips.  They’d fucked in every manner possible and the realization was humiliating.  She’d done things with him she’d never even gotten the opportunity to do with her mate.  She tensed slightly and gasped when she realized her backside was sore.  Too sore.  Her head fell into her hands again.  He’d taken her anally as well.  She hadn’t been in her right mind and he should have refused.

Her anger was short lived.  She remembered him begging her.  Just as she hadn’t been strong enough to fight off the heat, he hadn’t been either.  He was part beast after all, and while she hadn’t begged him, she didn’t need to.  She’d all but forced him into taking her. 

She kicked the sheets off her and moaned.  Her sex was still swollen and whether it was from overuse or from remaining need, she couldn’t tell.  The memory of what happened, while humiliating, still had her pussy clenching with un-fulfilled need.  She wanted Delano again! 

Groaning, she flung herself back on the bed and closed her eyes. 
What in the fuck do they put in that drug?

A light knock at the door had her reaching for the sheet and covering herself even as she ground out, “Go
away
!”

The door opened and May entered.  She carried in a tray with a cup of something steaming and what looked like a hot ham and cheese sandwich.  Startled, Eleanor realized she should be able to decipher the cups contents.  She sniffed, but all she could smell was Delano, herself, and their combined sex.  Her body was infused with his scent and inhaling it, her body began to drum its demand for him.  She could actually feel the need for him pulsing in her veins.  The heat was still there.  Only residual now, but enough that if Delano was anywhere in her vicinity, she’d be jumping him.

Her furious gaze locked on May.  “Where is your sister?”  Her teeth were clenched so hard she thought they were going to shatter.  Sensing her master’s fury, her inner wolf stirred and finally came fully awake to growl at May.

“She’s gone to town.” May’s eyes were rounded in fear.  “We’re…we’re real sorry about what happened to you.”

Any hope she had that Delano had been able to keep their secret was shattered.

“We just wanted to meet some males from outside this pack.  We didn’t know…”

“Didn’t know what?” Eleanor growled as she sat up, pulling the sheet with her and ignoring the delicious sensation the friction caused as she sneered at the younger woman.  “Didn’t know you’d invited
rapists
into our territory?  Didn’t know you’d put every female in this pack at risk?  Didn’t know that it should have been you out there with a fucking lust tranq shot into your weak little arm?”  With each word Eleanor grew more and more incensed.  May knew it too, if the way she kept backing up was any indication.

Eleanor dropped her head, struggling to keep her wolf at bay.  “It could have been Riss out there.  It could have been,” she blanched before rage seized her.  “What if it had been
Shade
!  Do you have any fucking idea what they would have done to her?  Do you know what being taken like that would have done to that little girl?  What that would have done to Delano, the choice he’d have to make?”

May shook her head but kept her head bowed, too cowardly to own her actions.

Fury like nothing she’d ever experienced shot through Eleanor when she thought of young Shade no longer being safe in their own territory.  “When I’m healed, I’m coming for you and your sister!  Get the fuck out!”

When May didn’t immediately move, Eleanor’s head snapped up, her wolf’s amber eyes flashing through.  “GET THE FUCK OUT!”

May raced out of the room, slamming the door behind her.  Eleanor slumped back onto the bed and rolled to her side, curling into a tight ball as she finally let her tears come. 

Another knock on the door sounded and she couldn’t even muster a good mad.  “Go away,” was her weak reply.

Again, the door opened anyway, but this time she didn’t roll to see who’d entered. 

Heavy footsteps sounded on the floor as they slowly approached.  She felt the bed sink on one side and knew without looking that it was Delano. Her belly fluttered with an achy need as his scent covered her.  He smelled like both of them too.  It was little comfort. 

While her senses were all haywire from their night together, her wolf’s senses were heightened to his presence.  Inside, the wolf pranced with giddy anticipation, as if there’d be a repeat of last night, as if Delano had actually wanted her, as if he was now hers.

“You alright?” his tone was soft, concerned.

“What do you think?”

“Look,” he began, and she heard him expel a deep breath.  She could imagine him plowing a hand into his hair as he sought the right words.  “I’m sorry about last night, I…”

“Don’t!”  She didn’t want his apologies.  By all rights, he’d saved her life.  She knew females shot with lust tranqs and left with no mating couldn’t take the overwhelming effects.  Still, she didn’t want apologies and she certainly couldn’t bring herself to thank him.  “Forget it.”

“Eleanor, I…”

“I
said
forget it!  You did me a favor.” Her voice was thick with emotion.  “You saved my life.  Any other Alpha would have done the same.”  Why did it feel like she was trying to make him feel better for experiencing the gift of her body?  Because that’s what it was.  Unlike other females in her pack, Eleanor didn’t sleep around.  She wasn’t looking for a hook-up, she sure as hell wasn’t looking for a mate, and she didn’t share her body freely.   As a matter of fact, her deceased mate had been the only other male to experience the honor, but now, because of those two fucking nitwits…  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Delano’s tone was angry. “What in the hell do you have to be sorry for?”

“For hesitating.  For getting shot.  For not being…
stronger
!”

“Christ, Eleanor!” Her bed moved when Delano got up. 

She heard him pacing, but still refused to look at him.  She couldn’t.  Her emotions were in turmoil and her wolf was convinced that he was hers.  If she looked at him now, she’d lose it and seek comfort from him.  But he wasn’t hers and she didn’t have the right.

“It’s not your fault.  None of it was, and what happened between us was nothing,” he’d been about to say nothing less than beautiful when there was a knock at the door.  “Go away!” he commanded on a growl. 

Rapidly retreating footsteps could be heard.

Still facing the wall, Eleanor felt as though she’d been slapped. 
Last night was nothing?
  A hollow feeling settled in her belly as self-loathing washed over her.  Swallowing back her tears she commanded, “Leave!”  She heard Delano’s growl of disapproval.  No one ordered the Alpha around.

“Eleanor!”

She didn’t want to do this with him right now.  Her emotions were too raw and she was still too exhausted and too
needy
.  She didn’t want to slip and give any more of herself away than she already had.  She needed him out before she broke down and she knew she was mere seconds away from that happening. 

“
Please
!”  She let the tears sound in her voice, praying he’d take pity on her.  “I want to be alone, Alpha.”

She listened to the clock on the wall tick out long seconds before heavy feet thudded to the door. Delano sucked in a breath as if he were going to say something, then he must have thought better of it because he left without another word.

Nothing?
  Eleanor swallowed down the misery at her wounded pride. 
Last night was nothing.
  Well, what had she expected?  That after one night of passion, the Alpha would walk in and declare her to be his mate? 
Foolish!
  That wasn’t exactly what she’d expected, but she was old enough to admit that it was what she had wanted.

Gritting her teeth, she shoved up off the bed and made her way to her bathroom.  She needed a shower, she needed to rid at least her skin of Delano’s scent as best she could.  Then she needed to eat the food May had brought to sustain her as she got the hell out of Hickory.  She knew it was cowardly, but she needed time before she’d be able to face Delano, and with his scent still strong inside her it was perfect.  Any other shifters she might encounter would assume she was mated and leave her alone.

With impeccably bad timing, there was a timid knock on the door before Riss entered.  Eleanor tried to pretend she hadn’t hoped it was Delano coming back.

The sisters locked eyes before Eleanor tore hers away.  She heard Riss sniff, then gnashed her teeth at the jubilation in her sister’s voice.  “You mated the Alpha?”  Riss rushed to her. “Oh, Eleanor!”

“Don’t!” Eleanor jerked away from Riss’ touch.  “I was tranq’d.  It was a
pity
fuck.  Nothing more.”  She could feel her face burn with shame at the blunt admission.

“No, Eleanor.  I’ve seen the way he looks at you.  We all have.  He…”

“STOP!” Eleanor turned on her sister, her wolf showing through.  Raw, her wolf was too close to the surface, prepared to rip through and defend her human self.

Riss jerked back.  “El…Eleanor?”

For the first time in her life, Eleanor didn’t feel bad for her harsh treatment of Riss.  No, she’d spent too many years coddling her younger sister.  It was time she learned to stand on her own.

“I’m leaving,” Eleanor bit out, dropping the sheet and stalking to the bathroom. She could hear Riss in the bedroom clunking around before she nervously entered the bathroom and eyed Eleanor where she stood under the hot spray of the shower. 

Depositing the bundle of clothing she held on the bathroom sink, Riss closed the door and put the toilet seat down before sitting on it.  Riss shrugged, then looked down to pick at the peeling nail polish on her thumb.  “So, you slept with the Alpha.  It’s no big deal.  You don’t have to leave.”

Hot water pelted Eleanor’s bowed head and she was glad for it.  It hid the fresh wave of tears that spilled free.  “He doesn’t want me here.”  Anguish tore through her with the admission and she had to lift her head.  Emotion clogged her throat so tightly, it was damn near impossible to swallow.

Riss gasped and jerked her head toward Eleanor.  “He
said
that?”

“No.”  As much as disappointment tore at Eleanor, she wouldn’t leave on a lie.  Delano had done everything he could.  She wouldn’t make things harder for him, then run.  “He didn’t have to.”

“It doesn’t make any sense!”  Suddenly Riss erupted into tears.  “You’re both the same age.  You’re both unmated.  Why can’t you two just make it work?  The pack doesn’t care what happened!  You’re perfect for each other.  It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Eleanor felt the familiar matronly tug demanding she go to Riss and comfort her, but she ignored it.

Riss’ tone turned pleading.  “Don’t you like him, Eleanor?  Can’t you make it work?  For me?”

Clenching her teeth, Eleanor lathered her skin and fought to ignore Delano’s scent wafting to her nose in a steamy plume. 
Can’t
I
make it work?
 
For
her
? 
She was so sick and tired of being the one to always have to ‘make things work’.  Why was
she
always the one left making concessions?  No, if Delano truly wanted her as a mate, he could have claimed her.  Clearly, he wasn’t interested in a mate…or was simply uninterested in Eleanor.  Either way, she wasn’t sticking around to see just how awkward things would be.  Delano had done her a favor by saving her, and she’d return it by walking away.