Gif: not what I think Dominic looks like, but I feel he carries this expression most of the time. That over-confident buttmunch
What do you think of the new cover?! I think it is very pretty. It is beautifully simplistic, which is my favorite and I 100% believe less is more and the talented girl who made it definitely captured that in the cover. It was done by daisiesxflowers . She did it on her own, without me having to ask, which is like such a big honor to me so once again, thank you so much! If you guys are ever looking for book covers for your own stories, definitely check her out because her other work is great!
Hey, guys! Happy Holidays!
Have any of you guys' had your college finals yet? How did they go? Or if you're in high school and had finals, how about those too? I think I might be getting out of this college semester with a 4.0!
This is somewhat of a filler chapter, but it's kinda cute, I think.
Chapter Thirty One
C A R O L I N E
Being the stubborn yet terrified of sexual encounters girl that I am, I didn't get on the bed or take off my top. Not to be mean or bratty to Dominic, but I truly didn't want to play games with him like this.
"Dominic, I think I'm starting to feel better now. I'm just going to go downstairs and make breakfast. What do you want?" I asked, hoping to get him to move onto another subject.
The bathroom door opened, but I didn't look over. Instead, I strolled with a facade of confidence towards the door out of the bedroom. Dom didn't let me make it that far though. His hands gently caught my hips, making me stop as he bowed his head into the side of my neck that bore his mark. "Sugar, am I scaring you?" he hummed.
Turning around to face him, I frowned. "No. I told you, I'm really not in the mood to battle your sexual advances right now."
His fingers slipped under my shirt, brushing against my skin gently until he reached the front of my stomach, his palm hovering over the exact spot that my cramps were the worst. Our eyes met and I gave a sheepish smile. "We can feel your pain, sugar. And I told you earlier I'm not going to anything sexual. But you keep bringing it up," he added with a little teasing smile. "Lay down, Caroline."
Without letting me move myself, Dominic turned the two of us around and backed me up until my legs hit the bed. I expected him to roughly shove me down, so I grasped his shirt tightly and narrowed my eyes up at him. The Shifter rolled his eyes at me before kissing the corner of my mouth softly, distracting me just enough to slowly lower me back onto the mattress. He set one knee on the bed and hovered over me, causing my stomach to flip.
This felt sexual. Definitely. I hated myself for how much it frightened me. There was something about the intimacy of it that made me want to run. "Caroline," Dominic hummed, blowing lightly on my face, his minty breath making me open my eyes. I hadn't realized that I had my lids squeezed shut in my discomfort. "What are you so afraid of, sweetheart?"
"I dunno. I just am."
"You're afraid of getting close to people because it increases the pain you may feel if they leave you," Dominic answered, one of his hands stroking my hair over the crown of my head as he trailed soft, feather-like kisses from my temple to my ear. "I'm yours, Caroline. All that I am belongs to you now. I am the one here that is more likely to get hurt, to be left."
Once again, my eyes shut. This time due to the painful truth of what Dominic was saying. I didn't want to hurt him in that way, but I was more of a runner than a fighter. "I'm sorry," I whispered sincerely.
He pressed a hard kiss into my hair before using a hand on my lower back to drag me further up the bed. "Now, let's get rid of these silly cramps."
Dominic pushed my shirt up to the band of my bra and shifted my pants as low as I would allow. He started with his thumbs pressing into my lower abdomen and it immediately distracted from the pain. The fingers nimbly rolled around my skin and slowly walked up towards my navel and back down again, to the edge of my panties. It wasn't hard to miss the way his gaze darkened when Dom realized how close to the most private part of me his touch was, but he shook his head once, to himself, and kept to the task at hand.
"You don't have to," I said softly, but was already feeling better after only a couple minutes.
"I live to serve you, my Queen," Dominic said with a grin. "Really, I want to."
I grimaced as he pressed a little too hard, which Dominic was quick to apologize about. My hands fisted the fresh sheets beneath me as he dipped down to kiss the newly sensitive spot. "Dominic," I hissed in a whisper.
He lifted his head and snickered, smirking innocently. "Sorry, sugar." But his smirk said the opposite, that he just couldn't help himself but he very much enjoyed it. Admittedly, the tender kiss made tingles flow through my body and goosebumps to erupt on my skin. But Dominic's relaxed, playful emotion did ease the tension and I found myself laughing.
After another ten minutes of his careful touches and I gently cupped his hand and lifted it off of me. His massage had helped, but my lower stomach was starting to ache anew from the repeated pressure. "Thank you, Dom."
He grinned and fell onto his side next to me, his face inches from mine as his fingers now stroked up my jaw to make me look at him. "Kiss me."
My response was immediate. With subtle butterflies in my belly, which I convinced myself was just the remnants of menstrual cramps, I lifted my head to kiss Dominic. He inhaled sharply as I did, the once soft touch on my chin becoming rigid and stern to keep me kissing him. Every part of me felt like it was burning up, but the mark was scorching so much it almost made me dizzy.
Some part of Dominic must have sensed this because all at once he stopped kissing me and moved onto the forever stained part of my skin. His sharpening teeth dragged against my throat, causing me to gasp and bite my lower lip fiercely. Each time he became rough, his tongue and lips would slowly soothe my flesh back to normal.
I didn't notice that my left hand had twisted into his shirt tightly until Dominic's free hand captured it, the foreign touch making me jump a little bit. His fingers pried mine open and then entwined them together. How could he do so much at one time? I wasn't even doing anything and I could hardly think, let alone move.
What was this wolf doing to me?
~ ~ ~
Dominic held my hand securely as we walked through the shopping area in town. The both of us had to buy a coordinated outfit for the ceremony tonight, even if it wasn't going to be an official mating ceremony. Strangely, it was tradition for Dominic and I to wear a specific color scheme. But I wasn't about to complain or argue about it especially seeing as Dom compromised with me for the event.
"So it just has to be solid white, but not like a wedding dress?" I asked for clarification.
Dominic gave a short nod before turning into a dress boutique, holding the door open for me. The shop smelled of roses and freshly pressed fabric, with a hint of laundry soap. "Most of the women in my family wore some type of sundress. It is supposed to bear the place of the mark too. Other than that, it is really open for interpretation. Except it has to be somewhat modest, though I doubt you would pick out something too scandalous."
"It would be entertaining to see their reaction if I did," I teased. "Instead of a white sundress, I could go for black leather jumpsuit. Like catwoman."
He rolled his eyes at me, but held a smirk on his face. "We would most definitely be consummating my claim on you in that case." His eyes wandered to a rack that held white and cream colored gowns, which was easy to find since the store was beautiful organized by color.
The owner of the shop appeared a moment later, beaming at us. Until she recognized Dominic. "Sire," she gasped, doing a mixture of a bow and a curtsy. "It is an honor to have you in our store."
"The honor is all ours, Miss Katrina."
Katrina straightened and excitedly bounced over to us. The woman was most likely in her fifties to sixties, soft wrinkles beginning to appear on her face. But it was obvious to see that she was most likely a stunner when she was in her youth. Her makeup was done perfectly, but was more on the natural side. The scent of rose water was definitely coming from her perfume, wafting off of her as she moved.
"My name is-"
"Caroline, yes, I am aware. Dominic is so lucky to have such a beautiful woman at his side. And I heard you bested him in a fight. I would pay good money to see that myself. No offense, your highness, but it is good to see royalty get put in their place," the woman gushed.
I laughed, as did Dom. "Caroline is the only one I allow to do so."
"As it should be," Katrina agreed. "How may I be of service to you lovebirds today?"
Dominic quickly explained to her the situation, while I wandered over to the champagne-colored clothing. I knew he said white, but this wasn't too far off, was it? There were a couple that were much too matronly, with heavy, scratchy lace detailing and strange embroidered designs. Then I found one that was off the shoulder with long sleeves, which billowed freely at the ends. It was a simple, flannel-like material that wasn't skin-tight or too flashy, nor was it short. It would fall close to my knees, which had to be good.
"Whatcha got, sugar?" Dominic asked from behind me, one hand moving to rest on my waist.
Pulling it from the rack, I lifted it for him to see. "That is beautiful, Cara. But it isn't quite the right color."
I frowned. "Champagne is too far off?"
"Unfortunately. But it is still yours if you want it. Let's try on some traditional colored gowns too. Maybe they have a similar one in white," he explained, tucking my hair behind my ear.
Within ten minutes, I was in the dressing room with what appeared to be a dozen white dresses hung on the various hooks, plus the one I picked out set aside to try on last. The first three, all sleeveless numbers, Dominic and I had the same reaction to - a nose wrinkled in distaste. The next was a white halter top with a plunging neckline and a bouncy skirt. I liked it, but the fabric around my throat covered his mark. Plus Dom went all possessive-alpha male on me and declared that only he could see that much of my breasts. Two more dresses down and I didn't find them flattering at all and though Dominic liked them, he agreed to put them away.
Just to break up the series of wrong dresses, I decided to put on my favorite one. The material was comfortable and airy, without being completely see-through. It felt modest enough to me, especially with the long sleeves. As I spun in front of the mirror, I only fell more in love with it. It was flattering, modest, and classy.
In order to make Dominic more pleased, I picked a bobby pin from my bag and pinned the section of my hair away from my throat, fully revealing his Claim on me. "Ready?" I called, already smiling contently.
"Of course."
I slowly opened the door and stepped out, biting my lip to keep from grinning too largely. Dominic's gaze softened and the sweetest smile grew on his handsome face. "You look beautiful, Caroline."
"You like it?"
"Love it."
Turning to look at myself in the three-angled mirror, I gave a slow spin. Then wriggled my arms so he could see the loose ends of the sleeves. "Look how pretty these are!" I claimed. "Aren't you getting 70's vibes? Like flower power, maaaannn." Okay, so maybe my 70's impersonation wasn't spot on, but Dominic got my point.
He stood and glanced around to make sure Katrina wasn't looking. The short woman had left the room to go look for dresses in the back. Before I could register what he was doing, Dominic barged into the dressing room and locked it behind us, pressing me into the nearest wall.
I laughed breathlessly, flapping my arms in such a way that the excess fabric of my sleeves slapped his face. "I love it when you're in a good mood," he snickered, expertly capturing my hands and pushing them down to my sides. "And yes, the sleeves are pretty."
"Are you sure? I'm not sure if you got the full idea of how great they are," I teased, wrenching my hands free to wave my arms around again.
Dominic rolled his eyes and took a step closer to me, this time holding my hands up to his face and placing delicate kissing on my palms. "Aren't women supposed to grumpy and bratty this time of the month?"
"Aren't men supposed to be over that stereotype?"
He raised his brows at me. "Touche."
Dom leaned in to press his mouth to mine when Katrina gasped loudly. "Good news, you two! The dress comes in white! I have it right here- Oh."
"I'll be out in a second," Dominic assured her.
My face heated up as I realized just what Katrina was assuming we were up to. "Just... please clean up after yourselves, please. You won't believe how uncomfortable it is having to wipe up a stranger's mess," the woman sighed.
My mate snickered, grinning wickedly down at me. "You won't have to worry about that, Miss Katrina. Caroline's got the clean up under control," he announced with a deadly wink. "It's her favorite part actually. Isn't it, gorgeous?"
I tried to smack him for real, but he still held my hands tightly. "Dominic, you ass! That is beyond disgusting!"
"Don't knock it till you try it, babygirl."
"Dominic!"