Chapter 45
The next day when I woke up Alaric was gone, his side of the bed was made immaculately, giving me no indication as to how long he had been gone for. The clock on the nightstand read nine–thirty in the morning, Alaric must have left hours before.
When I got out of bed, the first thing I did was inspect the mark on my neck, in the bathroom mirror. The strangled bruises and Alaric’s mark, made my throat and neck look like I had been resurrected from the dead.
I knew all about marks, and how they were a deterrent, showing who are–off limits. They also showed a lot about the male wolf such as the indentation represented the length of the male’s canine. The size of the mark showed what status the male had and let’s just say mine was really huge. White scar tissue was indented on my neck, showing a true bite mark. It was large and slightly ugly looking but the more I stared at it, I could see the beauty behind the mark. It looked like it was meant to be on my neck. Of course, the added strangled bruises were ugly and made me think about how weak I was. But never did I think that I would ever be marked by anyone let alone the Demon Alpha.
After showering, washing my hair and getting dressed, I bounded downstairs to find Dean standing in the foyer. He leaned against the wall next to the front door, watching me cautiously.
“You smell slightly different,” he said, frowning. Slowly, he walked up to me his eyes zeroing in on the mark on my neck; as soon as he was close enough.
“He marked you?!” Dean exclaimed in shock.
I trusted Dean, but did I trust him enough to tell him how I ended up being marked?
“Um yeah, I didn’t know marks change the way females smell,” I said.
“You smell a bit like the Alpha, it’s not strong but it’s there,” Dean said, walking towards the front door and opening it.
“You have a proper protection detail now, did Alaric tell you?” he asked, beckoning me to the door.
I walked to stand by him and peered outside. “Nope, he didn’t tell me that.‘
I saw multiple men stationed outside the front of the house. Their backs were turned to me but from what I could tell they seemed well trained and disciplined.
Taking a step back, I let Dean shut the door and I turned to the direction of the kitchen.
“Alaric left a stack of books for you in the lounge,” Dean called after me.
Why couldn’t Alaric tell me this himself? Was he angry with me? Was he annoyed because I couldn’t feel the connection between us, despite being marked?
“Okay thanks,” I called back, continuing my way to the kitchen.
It was safe to say that my day had been drama–free. Whilst Dean watched TV, I had read and flicked through pages of the books Alaric left me. Some were interesting and some a little on the boring side. Just before five in the evening, Dean had left telling me that he would be back the next day. I had found it odd that he left so promptly, especially before
Alaric had even come back. I didn’t have time to overthink it, as within two minutes of Dean leaving; Alaric came into the lounge.
From my peripheral vision, Alaric stood by the entrance of the lounge holding a small bouquet of flowers.
“Valerie,” he greeted awkwardly.
“Alaric,” I responded not sparing him a glance.
He walked over to the sofa I was sitting on and sat down, leaving a gap between us.
I kept my eyes on the TV, food network was playing and Ina Garten was making some sort of chicken dish.
“How was your day?”
“Good, and yours?” I asked politely.
Alaric didn’t reply, so I turned to look at him. As soon as my eyes met his handsome face, I breathed in and exhaled, completely forgetting that I had decided to be less social with him.
His hair was styled effortlessly, as usual, his stubble had grown a bit but not enough that he needed to shave it to maintain it. His eyes were distant and held an unfamiliar emotion that I hadn’t seen on him before. Just like yesterday, he was dressed in smart casual attire, a light blue shirt with black fitted smart pants. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing his tanned, muscular forearms.
“Like what you see?” He teased cutting me out of his trance, I looked back to his face to see a smirk tugging at his full l*ps.
I knew a red blush made its way onto my face because he chuckled lightly.
“These are for you,” he said, pa*sing the bouquet of red roses to me. I took them and brought them up to my nose to smell the sweet floral scent.
“This is your way of apologising?” I asked him, looking up to meet his eyes.
“I’m not sorry for marking you,” he said firmly. “Only for the way it happened.”
I sighed heavily and placed the bouquet on the coffee table in front of me.
“So you’re aware that you should have asked me?” I asked quietly.
