The Wild Hunt (Downworlder Series, #1)

Chapter Fourteen: Lost & Found

There was a faint thumping that edged me out of my sleep. It was a steady sound, a calming one. It was accompanied by a rise and a fall that pulled me even further from my sleep but I clutched onto it tightly. It had been the first time on downworld that I had managed to sleep peacefully and completely through the entire night. Sleep for me had never been easy on downworld so I clung to the sleep as tightly as I could. The smell of a storm's fury brewing was entrenched deep into my lungs but instead of making me anxious it seemed to make me sink further into relaxation.

A heated warmth smoothed across my hip and then under my shirt to my back. I stiffened slightly but as my beast gave a contented grumble, I sunk further on to what I was holding. There was a slow moving heat that curled through me. I had never felt so content before, I had never felt so safe and comfortable. I sighed and nuzzled into what I had been using as a pillow. Firm flesh shuddered under me and my eyes snapped open. I jerked to sitting, my hand catching roughly on the cuff.

I stiffened and looked to where Ajax stared at me from his prone position on the leaf bed he had made for me sometimes yesterday. I gave a hard swallow as a blush stained my cheeks hotly. I looked away from his rather intense gaze. It was hard to believe I had gotten the best sleep of my life on a leaf bed, in a cave, in the middle of the wilds and it was all due to the stacked male that I had been laying on. I had to give it to him, I thought the twins had been nice but he had definitely surpassed them in my eyes. That thought had my cheeks flaring even deeper and had me cursing myself out.

"Sutton." The way he rolled my name around in his mouth had my trying to repress the shivers that skipped down my spine. "Hungry?" At the thought of the meal he had provided for me last night, I shook my head quickly even though my stomach rumbled in protest. A hand reached out and cupped my stomach gently and I jumped, moving way from him quickly. He had to stop touching me, it confused me.

"Stomach is empty." He had sat up and he was looking me over and I ignored him as I tried to untangle my hair. I swore I could feel twigs and leaves in it. Hands wrap around my waist and I was set on Ajax's lap. I let out a small yelp of shock before I tried to escape. He held me tightly, a growl vibrating into my back that had my beast immediately submitting. The bitch in heat that she was, she liked our position. "I groom mate." He sounded pleased with himself and I bowed my head, grinding my teeth as he started to gently run his hands through my hair, picking out debris.

I tried to ignore how nice it felt to have him rub at my scalp and how my body unconsciously relaxed against him, leaning towards him. It made me feel panicky. I never had to rely on anyone, I never leaned on anyone. I was not acting normally and it terrified me. I needed to escape, to run far away from the strange man named Ajax who called me a gift from the moon. I hadn't expected a mate, least of all one that belonged to a man who wanted to turn me into a human slushy. Even if I wanted to be with Ajax, which I didn't, I would run all the same due to that little fact.

"Smell like sunshine... like warmth." He buried his face in my hair and I could feel him inhale deeply as he wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me tight to his chest. My arm followed his without a choice and I tried my hardest not to inhale his scent. I felt like I was holding a lightning rod in the middle of a storm but knowing the lightning would never hurt me. I wanted to shake his arms off, shake the thoughts from my mind.

I wasn't used to any of what he was doing to me. I hated males who touched me, hated the ones that got close and took in my scent. I threw more elbows than I gave smiles and I was so used to flashing my teeth at unwanted contact that now that my beast had taken her teeth from me I felt lost and alone for the first time in a long time. I had tried hard to accept my beast and her nature, she was part of me but I had no desire to try and follow her instincts for having a mating dance with the male that was currently holding us.