Protected Promise by Julie Trettel

Landon

Chapter 10

 

 

 

I’d never really drank before, but I couldn’t remember why. Everything around me seemed sharper and more in focus, though sometimes it wasn’t.

We stumbled into the elevator. Kaitlyn fell into my arms as she giggled. I instinctively protected her and kept her from falling over.

She looked up at me and all I wanted to do was kiss her.

I leaned down to do just that and the elevator dinged as the door opened to our floor.

I took her hand as we walked down the hall to my room occasionally bumping into the walls and laughing.

I somehow managed to pull out my key card and let us in. We both fell inside still laughing, but as the door clicked shut behind us, leaving us with only a dim light shining faintly in the room, everything changed.

I didn’t think, I just acted and it felt so natural and right as my lips collided with hers in a desperate hunger.

She clawed at my back as I clung to her like my life depended on it.

Every few minutes I’d come up for air, but it was like I couldn’t stand to be apart from her perfect lips for more than a second.

Her fingers fumbled for the buttons on my shirt until I couldn’t stand it any longer and I ripped the damn thing off of myself.

I shivered as her soft warm hands loosened my undershirt and slid against my skin. The sensations her explorations caused were indescribable. I’d never felt anything like it before.

The downfall of being from such a small pack meant there were no opportunities for me to really explore my sexual side. I had no clue what I was doing as I gently removed her shirt when she broke away from my kisses to rid me of mine.

I had already seen her in just a bra, but this was different.

I resumed my kisses, desperate for more. I couldn’t get close enough and I never wanted her to stop touching me like that, ever.

My shaky hands fumbled with the clasp of her bra and it took me a moment to figure out how to undo the damn thing without shredding it in the process.

I took a step back and slowly lowered the straps memorizing every moment of seeing her for the first time.

My body was buzzing, and I didn’t think it was entirely from the high quantity of alcohol I had consumed.

My breath caught as I looked at her. “Gorgeous,” I mumbled reverently.

I couldn’t stop my hand from reaching out to touch her. The feel of her taut nipple against my palm made me greedy for more.

My free hand fisted into her hair at the nape of her neck as I brought her lips back to mine.

The next few moments were a blur of touching, groping, and removing the remainder of our clothing until together we fell onto the bed completely naked.

I took a moment to fully appreciate my mate. She was so smooth, everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I didn’t even know that was a real thing. As I touched her in her most intimate place, she shivered in my arms and cried out with a moan. She was so soft. I couldn’t stop touching her.

I had no idea what I was doing, but I was encouraged by her arousal and my own.

“I want you so badly, Kaitlyn,” I confessed as I kissed her some more.

“Take me, Landon. I’m yours,” she said, before mumbling something incoherent.

She pulled back from me and grinned as she exposed her neck to me with a smirk on her face.

I took that as an invitation and I bit down claiming her as mine.

She gasped, but before I could start to freak out, I felt her canines pierce my skin too.

My eyes widened and nature took over.

I suddenly knew exactly what to do. Was it the liquid courage? Was it the bond forming between us? I had no idea and I didn’t care.

I lined up our bodies and I plunged forward. Her breath caught and then she started to move.

It took us a moment to find our rhythm, but when we did, it felt like we were suspended in the most perfect moment, joined body and soul.

My teeth were starting to retract though I didn’t want the moment to end.

She pulled away first as she threw her head back and cried out my name. It felt like the most glorious victory and I was on the high of my life as I brought us both to an unknown peak and then together we jumped.

My body convulsed and my muscles burned. I was lucid enough to know I didn’t want to crush her—my mate, the most precious thing in the entire world to me.

Mine, my wolf growled.

“Mine,” I echoed aloud.

Kaitlyn stared up at me with glossed over eyes. She reached up and placed her hand on my cheek. “Mine,” she whispered.

I rolled to my side and pulled her back against my chest.

Soon we were both fast asleep.

 

*****

 

My head was pounding and I kept hearing a phone ringing nearby. I reached for it, wanting to silence it, but instead my hand landed on soft silky-smooth skin.

Mate.

I jolted upright as my eyes flew open. The room was flooded in light. It took me a moment to get my bearings straight. I was naked, in a hotel room, with Kaitlyn.

The memories of our night before instantly came back to me. My hand flew to my neck. I cringed at the soreness at the point she marked me.

What had I done?

I knew she was having second thoughts about mating me. We hadn’t even begun to talk about lives yet. I barely knew anything about her. It had only been a few drinks. How could I have been so stupid?

According to the clock on the nightstand it was just past eleven. From the light illuminating the room, I knew that couldn’t be PM.

Slowly, I slithered myself away from the naked body lying next to me and rolled out of bed without waking her. I found some clean clothes in the drawer and dressed quickly while also looking for my cell phone that was ringing once again.

“Hello?” I whispered.

“Landon?” she barked.

I groaned. “Not so loud.”

“Oh great. He’s hungover. I knew I shouldn’t have left you. You were supposed to checkout twenty minutes ago. Where are you?”

“I just woke up, okay? I’ll walk down and see if I can get another night here.”

“So we aren’t leaving today? Jackson has to report in on Monday morning. That’s going to be a very long day of driving tomorrow.”

“Tobi, I don’t care. If he has to go, let him.”

“You’re an idiot.”

I sighed, hopping around trying to put my shoes on to go talk to the front desk.

“Listen to me. I get it. You don’t want your mate to leave you behind, so go with him.”

“What? I thought you guys had this all planned out.”

“Yeah, well plans change. I’ll be a day behind you and I’ll swing through Seattle and pick you up either tomorrow or Monday, okay?”

“I’m worried about him,” I heard her tell someone on the other end.

“Just put Jackson on the phone.”

I quietly let myself out. The hallway was still spinning just a little bit as I made my way to the elevator and back down to the lobby.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jackson asked taking the phone from his mate.

“No. Look, I’m in no condition to drive today.”

The lady at the front desk grinned and shook her head. “Another night then?”

“Yes, please.”

I passed her my card and she took care of everything while I worked things out with Jackson to take Tobi and head for Seattle. I’d be a day behind and meet up with them there.

I hung up the phone just in time to sign some paperwork.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, handsome.”

I knew she was flirting with me, but I didn’t care in the least. The only girl I wanted was still asleep in my bed… naked.

I couldn’t get back upstairs fast enough.

When I opened the door to my room, Kaitlyn was curled up in a ball, sobbing.

“Hey, gorgeous, what’s wrong?”

“Landon?” She sniffed.

“Yeah of course. Were you expecting someone else?”

“You were gone.”

“Sorry. We overslept and I needed to square up with the hotel to add another night to my bill.”

I leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled away.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said a little too quickly.

“Kaitlyn, what’s wrong?”

I had never had to use my Alpha powers on anyone before, but I could feel them starting to brew just under the surface. I wouldn’t do that to her, I couldn’t.

“Did we, um, do anything last night?”

I noticed she was no longer naked but covered up in one of my tee shirts that was clearly much too big for her.

“You don’t remember?”

She blushed furiously.

I ran a hand through my hair and she gasped. Her eyes went wide as she reached out and pulled the neck of my shirt down.

“No, no, no, this cannot be happening. Did I do that?”

She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. I heard her squeak and knew the moment she’d seen my mark.

My heart felt like someone had just taken a sledgehammer to it. She didn’t want me for a mate, and I’d clearly made the biggest mistake of my life. I was mortified. How could I have been so stupid?

“We sealed our bond last night?” she practically screamed.

“You don’t remember?” I felt like I was going to throw up.

She shrugged. “It’s all a little blurry.” Her cheeks burned brighter. “I guess I remember pieces of it.”

“I’m so sorry, Kaitlyn. I shouldn’t have allowed this to happen.”

She sighed and sat back down on the bed pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

“You were just as drunk as I was. It’s not fair to put all the blame on you.”

“My people always look to me for the answers. I’m the guy who fixes things, but I don’t know how to fix this,” I admitted sadly.

Day one and I’d already failed at this mating stuff.