Page 39 of Mated By the Alphas
No wonder Hayden couldn’t stay away from her once he got it.
CHAPTER 16
Ansley
I’ve been left broken on an enormous bed.
Thoroughly claimed.
Thoroughlyfucked.
There is no part of me that doesn’t ache. Parts I don’t remember the name of. I slept for a while. How long, I’m not sure. The sun is high now.
I try to move and immediately regret it. A whimper escapes my throat before I can stop it. Every muscle protests. My thighs are sticky with the dried remnants of our combined cum and a hint of my innocence. My pussy is swollen, throbbing, feeling every stroke that was driven into me by a massive man with the strength of an enormous wolf.
I finally push myself up on my elbows and see Hayden in the kitchen area. This open floor plan makes it easy to find him, at least.
I can smell him on the sheets. On my skin. Inside me. That wild, earthy scent that my body recognizes as mate even if my mind is still trying to process it all.
A shower. I need a shower.
It takes some effort, but I get out of bed. I waddle until I get my bearings and then my muscles remember how to walk. Hayden looks over at me and smiles, then takes a sip of what I assume is coffee, based on the steam and the faint aroma in the air.
“Good morning,” he crows with a certain smugness. “Too bad you got up. I was just thinking about coming to fuck you again.”
“I’ve had… way too much,” I laugh, looking down. “I need a shower. Then I need to go back to my apartment. Change my clothes… work. I need to feed Caddo!”
Hayden is quiet for a moment, then he walks closer. I can sense something, but I can’t really make it out. “Ansley, you can’t leave. Not with all the vampires around. I heard from my brothers this morning. There were some survivors at the cathedral, and they fought a few vampires during the rescue. I have to go meet up with my brothers shortly.”
I listen to him, but I don’t pay close attention to anything after he says I can’t leave. “Wait, Hayden. No.” I shake my head. “I have a job. I have a life. Daisy has a cat. What makes today different from any other day?”
“That vampire? Xander? He saw you. At the bar with Daisy, and at the cathedral. He’ll be looking for you, if he wasn’t one of the ones my brothers took down. Daisy’s safe for a few days. We’ll get her into a safehouse once she recovers,” Hayden explains. “I’ll feed the cat. Where is the key to Daisy’s apartment?”
“In my purse,” I mumble, then I start the shower.
I’m a prisoner? In protective custody? I didn’t realize that’s what he meant when he said safehouse. I just thought we were staying the night here, while his brothers handled the vampires. I can’t stay here. I can’t lose my job. I’ve worked my entire life for the chance to labor under the Ice Queen’s glare.
Yes, I feel different. Changed, even, on some level. But I can’t stop going to work and just be Hayden’s mate.
“How long do you think it’ll take to find the vampires?” I ask, shampooing my hair.
“Hard to say. We were still tracking them when you led me to that nest,” Hayden answers. “Days? Weeks? We have to find them quickly. If they built one blood bank, they’ll build another.”
Days? Weeks? I might as well throw my college degree in the trash. If I quit York Financial, no other firm is going to hire me. Not one that I would want to work for. I don’t think I can explain that to a man who can turn into an eight-hundred-pound wolf.
A lifetime of my grandfather’s expectations and four years of student loans, all wasted because some vampires decided to open a blood bank in Chicago. That’s just my luck.
I finish my shower, find that my clothes have been washed, and put those on. They still kind of smell a little like… that’s probably death, isn’t it? Gross.
The scent of food draws me to the kitchen. It’s been a while since I ate, and after last night, I’m famished. Hayden has prepared a spread of bacon, eggs, potatoes, toast, and even a large stack of pancakes.
“I figured a wolf would just eat raw meat,” I say, doing my best not to limp as I walk to the table.
“We can, but why would you eat raw meat when you can eat carbs?” he chuckles, piling his plate high and going heavier on my servings than I ever would. “Even humans started cooking their food once they discovered fire.”
“Make sense,” I say, my mouth watering when he puts the plate in front of me. “I might even eat raw meat if that’s all you had, considering how hungry I am.”
“Must have left a lot ofwolfin you,” Hayden teases, nuzzling my neck with a kiss before sitting down.
