(3) Painstaker

Fifteen: Attacker

I woke up to a solid chest pressed up against the side of my face. My body was twined with a larger body and the warmth from him nearly made me break out in a sweat. Blinking several times, I adjusted my sight on the face that was inches from mine. Zeke was asleep, barely making any noise with every inhale.

I was sleeping on top of Zeke. In one bed. Pressed up against him. Eyes wide, I jumped off of him as though there were a fire on the sheets. My sudden movement roused him out of his slumber. "Morning," he muttered sleepily as he stretched his yummy arms above his head.

Oh, shut up, Crystal.

"What are you doing in my bed?"

Zeke shimmied up to lean against the headboards. "It's our bed," he replied cheekily.

"I don't think so."

He looked up at me with innocent eyes. "Well, if you're prefer, I could stay in Quinn's bed. I'm sure she would welcome me with open arms... and other things."

"I don't care if you go to Quinn." This would be the time I wish I didn't sound like a chipmink when I lie. "Really. Go right ahead. Have an orgy for all I care." The wolfish growl slipped out of my lips, letting him know just how annoyed I was about bringing up another girl.

It's the mark on my neck. Nothing else. Annoyed at him, but mostly myself, I stepped across the room toward the bathroom and locked myself inside. Just as I'd expected, my face was a mess. Red eyes, blotchy skin, all from my totally out of character melt down last night. I blamed it on the full moon; that damn thing in the sky always seemed to make my head spin, and not in a good way. It probably didn't help that I was near rogues during that time of the month.

Fun times.

Still; that dream lingered in my mind. Subconsciously, I placed my hand over my stomach. It wasn't as flat as it used to be. I'd been a little too friendly with beer and pizza these past few years. I blamed it on the stress. My body blamed it on me. My hand curled around my clothed flesh, thinking about everything I'd miss out on all because I wanted to be the first out of Donovan and me to see a rogue.

The aftermath of what the rogue did to me was the worst. There was blood, mostly mine. I'd say I put up a pretty good fight considering how much blood I'd drawn from him, but I had a feeling he got off on it. Because of him, because of what he did to me, I couldn't conceive. The medics in our pack didn't realize until they noticed I hadn't gone into heat like the other girls. Years passed and my heat never came.

They didn't do a full body scan until a year after it happened. There was too much damage to fix. Father said that was reason enough for me to not become Beta. He said it was enough for a mate to never want to be with me.

"Enough," I chastised myself. A shower should pull me out of this depressing mood. Dwelling on the past never did me any good.

After a long, steamy hot shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and stepped out of the bathroom. Zeke was nowhere in sight, giving me the opportune time to drop the towel and find myself some clean clothes to wear. Sure enough, the closets were full of pieces that suspiciously fit me perfectly. It wasn't until after I pulled on the soft pink knit sweater and tight fit leggings when I noticed my phone sitting innocently on the nightstand.

Excited, I ended up belly flopping on the bed to get to it sooner. The moment that thing was in my hands, I dialled my best friend. She picked up after one ring.

"Crystal!"

"Hi, Ella. How's life in the pack lands?"

"It's great, but how are you? Everyone's freaking out worried about you."