Mates Inc.

Mate Manual -- Chapter 4

"I want to just breathe for a while. You don't get to manipulate me, you don't get to use me. I know all about that tactic, that strategy." I ran my hand through my hair, god I needed a hairbrush. The hotel didn't provide one of those.

The Prince stood there looking at me silently without blinking, his eyes still glowing. What the hell was going on here?

"Uh, why are your eyes like that Aaron? Why are they... glowing?"

His lips curled up into a creepy smile, "What do you mean, love?" he said in a deceptively quiet, low voice. His voice didn't even sound quite right.

I took an involuntary step backwards, I couldn't help it. I felt this raw, dark power coming from him in waves. For the first time in ages I felt... nervous. Bordering on fear. I didn't really know his wolf at all, I didn't know what he was capable of.

But I had heard the stories...

Tilting his head slightly to the side he asked me, "Are you afraid of me?" He didn't sound sad about it.

I lifted my chin and refused to retreat further. I also refused to answer and just waited for him to do something.

"Interesting," is all he said as he took a step towards me and waited a few seconds. And then took another and another until he was standing right in front of me forcing me to tilt my head way back to look up at him.

He gruffly then said, "Do you know how many people were looking for you?" He waited for an answer I wasn't going to give him. His lip twitched like he was going to snarl, then his face went back to being a blank slate.

"Mate, do you know the resources I utilized to discover that you made it to the city, that you were in a hotel, and that you booked a flight back to Portland?" His impassive face and still body were freaking me out. I couldn't help but take a step back.

His hands shot out and grabbed my waist, his claws out and digging into my skin. That hurt a little but I remained silent.

Then he shouted, "Answer me!" which made my ears ring. I couldn't help but flinch.

But that seemed to wake me up and I tried to push him back, but he was an immovable object. I then tried to wrestle out of his hold but he just dug his claws in deeper and I could now start to feel my blood run down my hips being soaked up by my pants.

"Let go of me! I'm bleeding, ok?" I pushed at his hands but that made it worse. Whatever state he was in didn't include sympathy. Was this his wolf? I had never met any wolf that acted like this. I needed him to let me go.

Standing still and panting through the pain I started to talk to him. "Listen, I'm furious with you right now and I know you're pissed as hell at me too. You just need to calm the hell down, give me a little room to breathe."

I took a deep breath but was becoming a little desperate. "You're smothering me, hurting me!"

Nothing. Nada. I was really getting creeped out.

"What the hell do you want from me?" I yelled at him while squirming a little which hurt even more.

The Prince started growling louder at my movements. I stopped and he stopped. I just stood there panting through the pain of his grip.

I finally asked my wolf for help. 'Find out what this dick wants from me!' I begged her. My wolf leaped forward, she was pissed that our mate was hurting us.