Bite Marks

Civilized

"Take off your clothes."

"What!? I thought we were doing the whole just friends thing? And besides what makes you think I'm just going to-"

"Cassie. You can't shift in jeans and a fitted t shirt."

"Uh, right. Well I'm not just going to strip down in front of you! What are you doing?"

Kane had pulled his shirt over his head and held the warm material out to me. I was left staring at a well defined chest. My eyes traveled down until they locked on to the black trail of hair that let into his jeans. I swallowed. No touching.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" I asked forcing myself to meet his eyes.

"My t shirt is big enough that you won't get tangled in it once you shift into your wolf form. Now, take off your clothes."

I frowned at the smirk he was wearing.

"Turn around."

"You're kidding right? You know I've seen you naked already, I've bathed you."

My body flushed hot at the memory, Kane too seemed to be affected as he inhaled sharply.

"Turn around," I said again.

"Come on Cassie, is that really necessary?"

"Fine," I said with my own smirk.

I reached down for the hem of my t shirt and pulled it up slowly, over my stomach, across my ribs and finally above my head. I dropped it to the ground and watched Kane's adam's apple bob in his throat as his eyes rested on my chest. I slid my hand back down my body reaching for the clasp of my jeans. Kane's eyes followed the movement. As I unsnapped the button he turned quickly issuing a low growl. I laughed out loud in victory.

I shimmied out of the jeans and bra. I wasn't quite brave enough to get rid of the panties, we would cross that road when we came to it. I could tell Kane knew I was naked because his shoulders had tensed. He was breathing deeply inhaling my scent. I could smell the beginning of his arousal.

"Shirt please," I said gruffly, not unaffected myself.

He thrust his arm behind him and I took his t shirt, careful not to let our fingers brush for fear of what might happen. I had just slipped the shirt over my head when the door at the top of the stairs banged open.

"Kane, I hope you didn't ruin that pretty little face of hers. Mia looked pretty shaken up when she came back in the kitchen after checking on you two."

Sierra had come quickly down the stairs. It took her about three seconds to process what she was seeing. Kane had turned around to face me, and I was standing across from him wearing nothing but his t shirt and a pair of panties.

With a snarl of pure rage she launched herself at me. I landed hard on my back the training mats doing little to cushion the fall. Sierra landed on top of me knocking the air out of my lungs. I bucked up trying to knock her off me. She locked her knees around my waist and grabbed one of my hands attempting to pin it to the mat.

Suddenly her weight left me as Kane grabbed her from behind. I stood quickly meeting her angry gaze. She struggled in Kane's arms and I snarled and made a grab for her. Kane turned quickly and all I caught was empty air.

"Austin! Get your ass down here!" Kane yelled up the stairs as Sierra broke free.

I could tell he was trying not to hurt her. That made one of us. This time I was the one who went in for the tackle. We fell to the concrete beside the mats. My elbow landed sharply and I felt a rush of hot blood. Sierra somehow managed not to crack her skull. Pity. I pulled my fist back for a punch, but arms wrapped around my waist pulling me back against a rock hard chest. Sierra attempted to stand but Austin grabbed her too before she could come for me again.

"That is enough out of both of you! Sierra you're letting your anger affect your fighting. There is no way Cassie should have been able to take you down like that. This has gone on long enough. I understand both of you are stressed, but we are civilized and everyone will damn well act like it."

Kane's last words were said with an angry growl and I became all too aware of the fact that I was mostly naked in his arms. Kane must have realized it as well because he quickly released me. I stumbled forward but managed not to fall. There was blood on the floor, and Kane's shirt from my busted elbow, but the pain had already stopped.

I looked around in embarrassment to find we had an audience. There were a few men and women who had been around at breakfast. Mia was among them. I met her eyes, her mouth was hung open in pure shock. She looked back at me and closed her mouth, a sound came out of her throat then another. She was laughing.

"Damn Cassie, you sure do know how to put on a show," she cried tears streaming out of her eyes.

I looked around again and felt a bubble of laughter rise in my chest. Soon I was crying with laughter as well. All of this was just too much and the laughter felt good. Healthy.

"What the fuck are you laughing at bitch? You think something about this is funny?" Sierra yelled at me.

"Look Sierra if you want him then take him," I stepped out of the way.

Austin released Sierra. Kane quickly looked at me with an angry glance. This was mostly his fault though. Something told me that instead of being up front with Sierra he had just been ignoring and avoiding her advances. It was high time someone set her straight. She walked up to Kane and reached out a hand for him.

He took a small step back, no closer to me than before, but his intention was clear. Sierra's face flooded red with embarrassment and she turned to go, but not before meeting my eyes. I could tell this was only the beginning. Sierra had been embarrassed, but not beaten.

No one spoke, but after a stern look from Kane the small group began to file out of the basement. The only people left were me, Kane, Mia and Elise.

"I don't think you realize what you have done, Kane," Elise said.

She glanced at me quickly, and followed the others up the stairs.

"So who all saw my ass?" I asked Mia.

"I'm pretty sure everyone. At least you have on cute underwear," Mia said with a sly wink.

I shook my head slowly. Why was I always getting myself into these types of situations. I mean not this exact situation, obviously I had never been fighting with a bitchy blonde werewolf over a man, but nonetheless my life always seemed to be just shy of completely ridiculous. Eventually things between Sierra and I would come to a head and we would have a real fight. I pushed my messy hair out of my face with a sigh.

"Mia get out of here. And lock the damn door behind you," Kane growled.