Syn
“Ihave a surprise for you,” Caspian purred as he appeared in my doorway a week after I’d been cured. He was dressed in a simple, white linen shirt and a pair of loose tan pants. But I had the urge to eat him. All that tan, golden skin was a temptation that was hard to ignore.
“You can lick me later, ladybug,” Caspian said with a cocky smirk. “First, you have to look at this.” He pulled a thick envelope from behind his back and strode towards me, tossing it in my lap after giving me a hot, licking kiss that had me leaning forward, desperate for more.
He laughed and stepped out of my reach. “You’re going to want to see what’s in this.”
I rolled my eyes and huffed before picking up the thick, cream envelope. My name in fancy, glittering cursive caught my eye, and I frowned before carefully opening it up.
The words Shifter Falls University were the first thing to catch my eye, and I stared at it in disbelief, not understanding what I was seeing even as I pulled the first letter out and began to read.
"I am delighted to inform you that you have been admitted to attend Shifter Falls University..." the letter began. I read the entire thing, a strange tingling sensation floating over me as I did so.
"I don't understand," I whispered as I traced my name on the letter.
I looked up at him, tears burning in my eyes. "Is this some kind of joke?" I growled, throwing the paper away from me.
"What? No!" Caspian said in a panicked voice, looking confused.
"I never went to school past sixth grade, Caspian. How the fuck did I all of a sudden get admission to the top shifter school in the country? Why would you do this?"
"I'm not sure what's happening here," said Caspian, holding up his hands beseechingly. "We thought you would be happy about this!"
A hitched sob came out of my mouth. I knew I was overreacting, but it was like my mind couldn't comprehend this. Not being allowed to go to school had been one of the worst things to ever happen to me in a long list of bad things. I hadn't ever dreamed of going to college, let alone a school like Shifter Falls.
"Little wolf, I wouldn't have given up a drop of my very fucking essence to an insane witch just to turn around and hurt you," growled Hendrix, stalking in from the doorway where he'd evidently been listening. "Haven't we proven to you yet that nothing is impossible when it comes to us? If you tell us you want the fucking moon, I'm pretty sure I could figure out a way to get it for you."
"So, you're letting me leave?" I asked breathlessly, my mind suddenly filled with farfetched images of walking around a campus draped with colorful autumn leaves, tall, red-bricked colonial buildings surrounding me.
"Let you leave?" Hendrix asked in a cold, dangerous voice, bringing my attention back to him. My shoulders dipped back, realizing I'd done something wrong.
"Caspian, how about you leave us for now."
"I think this can all be smoothed over," said Caspian warily, eyeing Hendrix like he was about to attack, which maybe he was.
"Leave!" Hendrix growled, and Caspian's hands extended into claws as he fought against Hendrix's command. Finally, his jaw went up and he bared his throat before leaving the room.
Hendrix, Caspian, and River were all Alphas, but even with all of their dominance, there was no denying that Hendrix was always the apex predator in the room.
And right now, I was alone with the predator.
"I thought I made it clear that you would never be leaving me," he said silkily, one of his fingertips extending into his terrifying monster claws. He trailed the tip of the nail across my throat and then down my arm, sending shivers coursing down my body.
My wolf had already flopped over inside of me, baring her belly, and I was about ready to join her.
"I'm confused then. How am I going to attend this college if I'm not allowed to leave? You going to come and be my personal professor?" I asked breathlessly as his claw sliced across my spaghetti strap.
"They offer their full courses online. You'll be able to take all the courses needed for graduation, and I'll have a tutor available to you every day to help you get through everything," he explained as his claw sliced through my other strap, and I barely caught it before it bared my braless chest.
Even with the fear flickering across my skin, I couldn't help the wave of disappointment that hit me. For the one second that I'd imagined attending college, I'd imagined doing it free.
"You still want to get away. Even after everything that's happened, you're still thinking about getting away," he hissed, his claw-tipped hand gripping my chin, the sharp points puncturing my skin. "Did you think that I'd changed my mind somewhere along the way? When I said you belonged to me, what part of that did you not understand?"
My breath hitched, a weird mix of fear and lust barreling through me. I couldn't yank my face away. His claws would tear down my face. I still couldn't prevent the truth from snapping out. "You think that this can ever be real while I'm your prisoner? I've traded one cage for another, and this one may be gilded, but it's still just a cage, Hendrix. How long can this really last when I'm nothing but a possession?"
A silence had never felt so loud as our eyes stayed locked, clashing against each other.
His hand suddenly moved from my face to around my throat, gripping it tight enough that I could only breathe in gasps.
"Let's get one thing straight, little wolf. You are my possession. You are my obsession. You are my fucking everything."
"Am I your love?" I whispered. I wished I had cut my fucking tongue out of my mouth as soon as the words slipped out.
He answered with a growl, and his grip tightened until the edges of my vision started to fade into black.
"A man like me isn't capable of love, little wolf. You'll only be disappointed if you go looking for that."
He finally loosened his grip enough to let me breathe. I closed my eyes, breaking our stare-off. A tear slid down my cheek, and he abruptly licked it off.
"You should have no problem letting me go, then," I whispered.
"Never," he snarled before his lips crashed against mine.
He pushed me back onto the bed. My legs parted against my will as he slipped between them. Hendrix pressed down against me, grinding against my clit as he moved and stoking feelings that I was desperate not to have. His hands fisted in my hair, tugging my head where he wanted it as he devoured my mouth from every possible angle. I tried to push him away, but he might as well have been an impenetrable stone for as much headway as I made.
His chest was all muscles under my touch, and smooth skin that in any other circumstance I would have been salivating over, but not right now. Right now, I hated him for reminding me that no matter how good life here may seem, I’d always just be a prisoner.
I clawed at his back, and he hissed at the sting of pain and restrained my arms. Unable to move, I sunk my teeth into the flesh right above his nipple. Hendrix cursed, and my arms slipped from his grasp. I immediately started pushing at his chest again to get him away.
Was it really going to be like this? Was this really happening after everything?
One of his hands fisted my hair, holding my head arched back. It was just on the edge of painful, and I glared at him, tears running down my face. Hendrix gazed at me, his expression full of anger, that red gleam of his shining from his eyes that told me his wolf was firmly in control.