The bed dips and I open my eyes to see Andrei lay down on the bed. “Shift back,” he growls, visibly annoyed.
He has said the same thing more than a couple of times during the last few days, annoyed that we returned to a more comfortable form. But being comfortable isn’t the only reason why we remain in our wolf form.
Donnie is getting anxious to mark us. Sierra and I both know that we can go into heat the moment he does. Andrei can’t mate us in this form, but Donnie can, so if needed, at least we would be able to shift back quickly.
“Sierra, shift back, please,” Andrei repeats, radiating a stronger sense of annoyance as he fists our fur and tugs us closer. I growl at him as I manage to force control and bite his hand.
Donnie is angry with him. Andrei clearly never possessed as much patience and self-control as his wolf does. Ironic, isn’t it? The beast is more human than the human himself. Donnie proves the fact as I hear him apologize to Sierra.
“Fuck!” Andrei hisses, clutching his bleeding hand.
He growls at Sierra, and she cowers. I try to tell her to remain calm and not bow down to him, but the Omega in her makes her climb off the bed and crawl under it to get away from him.
“Why did you bite him? You made him mad,” Sierra whines at me.
I shrug. I am still terrified of him, the fear doesn’t go away that easily. But since he keeps us hostage, either way, I would rather end this show before it drags out. That table in his basement has been calling my name for days now. If I was going to end up on it, I’d rather it be over and done with than for me to go crazy waiting for the pain to start.
“He shouldn’t have pulled on our fur,” I inform her.
The bed moves above us, and Sierra looks up from where she is lying on her belly. Andrei walks into the bathroom, leaving a nice trail of blood behind him. He turns the tap on as he mutters something to himself and after a moment, the water shuts off.
“Sage, get out from under the bed!” Andrei snaps at us.
Sierra shakes, and I roll my eyes at her. She says he won’t hurt us, yet she is still petrified of him. It makes no sense to me. I told her he would hurt us, and she is only just realizing that now. Why does she keep insisting that he wouldn’t do anything if she’s aware that he would?
“He hasn’t hurt us,” Sierra defends him. It’s a bit laughable how passionate she is with her insane need to make Andrei look like a saint, but her fear is still there.
“Sierra, just give me control if you can’t handle him. You said it yourself, he won’t hurt us,” I mock her.
“Yeah, but he has been strange the last few days. You saw him last night, it was like he didn’t recognize us. He called us Angie. That’s his dead mate’s name, Sage. Andrei might be losing his mind, we must be careful,” she cautions, and pain spreads through my chest.
I know Andrei’s slip-up hurt Sierra more than she would admit. She insisted that she understood. But, we never called him Lyle.
A hand grips us and Sierra whimpers as we are yanked out from under the bed by our tail. Her claws dig into the floorboards, scratching the stained wood. She doesn’t want to anger him, but all he does is scare her more.
He growls at us. “Shift, now! Why are you ignoring me?” Andrei raises his voice.
Ah, so that’s what’s with him. He thinks we are ignoring him.
To be honest, I was. I want to leave the house, and he promised to take us to see Kat. But he broke that promise with ease as soon as I started behaving better. Kat even said she was coming to visit us the other day, but Andrei told her not to come over. I have a strange feeling it has to do with whoever he has in the basement.
“Sage, I know you can hear me. Shift,” he orders, grabbing the scruff of our neck, just to keep us under control. At least he is not inflicting any pain.
He sits on the bed, holding us between his legs, and then, slowly, leans his face toward our furry one. Sierra sniffs his face, and he sighs. Andrei lets her go and focuses on stroking her chest. His hand moves under her neck and then, his giant hands ruffle her fur. He rubs her ears, which she loves. Sierra presses her face into his lap, making Andrei chuckle as he finds her weakness.
“It would be nice to have a mate, not just a pet.” Andrei whispers as he keeps ruffling our fur.
His words irritate me. I know he meant that he needs someone he could talk to, but the word pet rubs me the wrong way. His hands go under our front legs before he lifts us onto his lap. I try to tell Sierra she needs to get away from him, but instead, she shifts.
I growl at her, scrambling to get off his lap. Why does she keep doing this? My own wolf betrays me over and over again. And for what? A man that holds us locked in this house? One that will eventually strap us to a table and have his fun with us?
Andrei hates rogues. He might have been one long time ago, but regardless of his reasons, he still hates us. Even if he doesn’t say it out loud. It’s long overdue for Sierra to understand the severity of her actions and the constant need to please him.
I hope she will feel truly happy, blissful even, once her own mate guts us.
Andrei’s arms wrap tighter around my torso as he refuses to release me. He holds me flush against his body, no matter how hard I try to break free of his hold.
My breathing becomes rapid as panic seeps into me. It surges through my body faster than ever as the realization hits me. I am sitting on him, butt naked. He moves his hand, and Andrei tugs his shirt off and over his head. My heart is hammering against my chest when he hands it to me. “Here, I am not looking,” he says, handing me his shirt.
A part of me feels such immense relief, I could cry. The other part, however, is still very angry with Sierra and annoyed with Andrei. I shake my head to get rid of the thoughts and pull the shirt over my head, happily covering myself and hiding my naked body from his eyes.
“That’s better.” Andrei chuckles. “Now, I can speak with you,” he says, fiddling with my hair and tugging it out of his shirt.
I use the chance and quickly get off him to move beside him. Talking is one thing, but sitting on his lap at the same time is another.