Saving Nicole

Chapter 48: Possessive

Dallas's POV
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I immediately sit upright in my bed on high alert. I don't know if she's in Marking mode or if she's normal.

Her head flicks side to side and then back behind her before she walks into my room completely. How did she get out of the room? I thought my dad locked it.

She walks towards my bed, her eyes seeming to illuminate the darkness surrounding us.

"Nicole?" I whisper, just barely audible. As she gets closer, I notice her eyes are dark. Great.

She's in Marking mode.

Scooting back, I shove my wrists behind my back. I want her to Mark me, but not like this. Not in the middle of the night. I'm tired. And I know she is, too.

How ironic now that the roles are switched.

She climbs onto my bed while I rub my eyes with one of my palms. When I pull it away, she's hovering over me. Her skeptical eyes seem to scan me as I slowly put my wrist behind my back again and look up at her.

"Not now, Nicole. Not now." Her eyes glint, as dark as flint. In the darkness, I see her nostrils flare.

Her scent is different. It smells like honey(like usual), but there's something else. Faint, but growing stronger.

The realization hits me.

I'm smelling myself. I completely forgot that when you Mark someone, your scent gets mixed with theirs.

That oddly pleases me.

I can see her lick her lips, her eyes on my arms behind my back. "No, Nicole." I can sense her feeling of bafflement through the Link. She wants to stop because I said 'No,' but her instincts are too strong.

She presses against me and reaches for my wrist, which I quickly shove further behind me. I stop when an agonizing pain flares in my stomach. The arrow wound.

Unable to stop myself from crying out, I instinctively move my hands to support myself.

Nicole's movements halt. I curse in my head now that my wrists are exposed.

But she doesn't move. She doesn't reach for my wrist. She looks at me, and now that my eyes are adjusted, I can see that the darkness in her own is gone. She's normal now. She squashed the instincts.

With a quick movement, she rolls off of me and sits up, brushing her fingers on my side. "I'm so sorry! I'm so so sorry. Goddess, I'm sorry!" She whispers rapidly, her eyes wide with worry. I lean back further and close my eyes now that the impending danger of her Marking me is unapparent. I let out a quiet sigh out of my nose as the familiar ache of my insides floods me. Will I ever actually heal?

I hate Wolfsbane.

When I'm finally able to stand the pain, I open my eyes to see a frazzled Nicole kneeling next to me on my bed with her head in her hands. Sitting up, I grab her arm and gently pull her next to me. The familiar sparks flare through my body, tingling and crackling. She looks up at me, studying my expression. She opens and closes her mouth as if about to say something but thinking better of it.

We sit there for awhile, me closing my eyes and her watching me. I'm not made of glass. I hope she knows that.

Finally, once the horrible ache in me fades almost completely, I turn to look at her again, noticing how her wide eyes seem to watch every movement of mine. My gaze flickers to her neck. "Are you okay?" I ask and she looks away.

"Goddess, Dallas." I tilt my head and my eyebrows furrow in confusion. What did I do? "I just hurt you and you're asking me if I'm okay?" Her blue eyes turn back to me. Now it's my turn to look away.