The Scarlet Hunter

Chapter 42-2

Isla's body was draped over Alec's. She was sore all over from her muscles to her groin. It had been a week since she had been with him. She spent two days on the other side of a door from him and the rest of the time at Damon's.

A warm feeling fell over Isla when she pictured the little cottage and the three of them staying there, but she couldn't put her finger on the specifics of the reason why. She had post-coital feelings, like what she was experiencing with Alec right now, but there certainly hadn't been any coital experiences.

Returning her attention to her own recovering body, she wondered how she would go eight months without him. She couldn't make it downstairs for dinner after being separated from him for only a week. She was cherishing his fingers dragging up and down her arm, languidly reminding her that he was there.

She saw his room and lifestyle differently now, realizing how rough this packhouse was compared to the Northern Territory. Although his room was exceptional, it wasn't the playboy penthouse he had there. But this is where he chooses to be.

"What happened to your socks, sweetie?" Alec interrupted her thoughts. "The ones you wore the first day of training."

Isla thought back on her inaugural session, remembering the introduction she had to her new alpha. It seemed so long ago that the Isla and Alec from that day were strangers to the Isla and Alec from today.

"My compression socks?" Isla asked, keeping her head resting on his chest, not wanting to move any part of her.

"Is this another hair product conversation?" Alec joked, "Where I'm going to have to take a class to understand what something of yours does?" His chest bobbed Isla's head around with his laugh.

"No." Isla smiled. "I thought they would help me with running, that it would feel better. But I still hate running. They didn't help with that. I still hadn't unpacked that morning, and those were the ones on top of my luggage." Isla enjoyed thinking about that day and all the embarrassment she went through at him scolding her. "Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to know." Alec continued the slow drag of his fingertips across her skin. They weren't done with each other for the night, just having a quiet and calm moment between the storms.

***

She knows she shouldn't be getting pissed off, but she is anyway. Isla doesn't yell. She gets quiet, fuming quiet. Her eyes turn to fire, and she aims her stare at Alpha Alec.

How dare he take this away from me.

Her mind raged as her face held a stern look. The fake fight a week earlier cracked the surface, revealing deeper issues underneath. He always said that she was safer on patrol than wandering around on my own, but now that it's convenient for him, he's going to take this away too.

Part of that internal dialogue must have made it outside of Isla's mouth as she saw his temper rise to his eyes.

"Convenient?" His menacing tone questioned her. "Do you think anything I have ever done with you or for you has been convenient? Do you think that's why I do what I do?" His voice was raised, practically yelling the last part.

He didn't have Jax's support on this decision, and he was compensating for it with his temper. This was the right thing to do though. Alec was sure that Jax's decision would be different if he had seen her like he had. The image of her being overtaken by Alpha Cole and his band of thugs was burned into his memory.

"So you're just going to shelf me until it's safe enough for me to come out?" Isla provoked. Familiar feelings were rising up to choke her again. "It just so happens to be for my own good that I'm always within your grasp?" A flashback to Alpha Johnny ran through her head.