Chasing Charlie

Are You Sure?

"This is your room, isn't it?" Charlie raised a single eyebrow at Liam as he shut the door behind them, suddenly nervous at what her reaction would be to his bringing her back to his den. If she asked he would take her to the suite next to his, but he really didn't want to. It made his wolf uneasy, thinking of walls between them. He needed her close, so that he could protect her and after the last year he was certain that he could control himself until she was ready to take their relationship further.

Liam sighed and ran his fingers through his hair for what felt like the hundredth time since his brother had called the previous afternoon, raising his eyes to meet her curious gaze, before answering her question. He knew she already knew the answer. Why was she making him say it?

"Yes. After learning about last night's phone call, and with our new suspicions about your ex possibly being a werewolf now, especially a newly shifted one, I don't want to let you out of my sight. I've decided to allow you to stay." He felt his wolf let out a huff of air in his chest at his wording, "and it's my duty now to protect you, especially since-"

"Especially because you think that I'm your mate?" A small, seductive smile curved up the corners of her lips as she gazed up at him from where she stood at the end of his bed. "Hmmm. I thought that a wolf finding his mate was a little different than-" she paused and looked at him and then cocked her head to the side before looking up at the ceiling- "well, I guess I thought it would be different than this."

"What do you mean?" His voice was low and dangerous and she saw his pupils dilate as he watched her from where he still stood near the door. She almost thought that the edges, where she could still just barely still see the irises flashed gold for a moment, but then it was gone.

"Oh I don't know. I mean I'm not a wolf. I didn't grow up hearing these stories. But Luke told me a little bit about it on the way here, because he thought you would come around to helping me. You know. So that we could pass as a couple." Charlie ignored the growl that rumbled loudly in Liam's chest, but the smile that lingered at the corners of her full mouth grew ever so slightly.

"I was just imagining what it would be like if I were a She-Wolf and I had a mate and he found me, when he was telling me about it, you know. I kind of thought that it would be a little bit like when I met Brenden." She shrugged her shoulders, tugging at the bottom of his brother's football jersey, which he suddenly realized that she was still wearing.

"I was at a party at school. It was the first and really only one I'd gone to because I'm not really part of that whole scene. I lived a lot before getting to college and I know the importance of getting an education because I don't have a safety net or a fallback plan and if I lose my scholarship I'm out on the street."

"But I'd had a shitty day at work and gotten yelled at by my boss for something I didn't do and I got a crap grade on a test for the first time in college and I just felt awful. One of the girls I worked with saw me leaving, and I guess she could tell I was upset and she invited me to go out with her and I did, because I just needed a night to let go."

Liam's eyes followed her as she walked across the room to the enormous floor to ceiling windows that covered one entire wall of his bedroom.

She stared out into the forest as she brought her fingers up, running them lightly against the thick glass.

"You don't want to hear this."

"No, I do. I'm curious what you thought finding a mate would be like, little human." His voice was amused, but she could hear the dangerous current flowing just under the surface.

Intentionally making this man jealous was playing like playing with fire. She knew it, innately, and yet it was still so tempting.

Shaking her head she let out a short laugh before removing a hair tie from her wrist and using it to pull her thick red waves up in a ponytail. She hadn't brushed them since she'd woken up that morning, and her hair had been falling in sexy waves all the way down past her elbows.