After a minute of snuggling, she dipped her head to his abdomen, and tore into his abs.
If I’d been in human form, my jaw would’ve dropped.
She wanted to mark his damned sexy abdomen? What the hell was her problem?
After she’d bitten him, she started the shift back.
And the pain was absolutely excruciating.
My eyes were dripping, my body was covered in sweat, and small whimpers were escaping me when I finally made it back to my human form. My bare body was pressed against the smooth wood of the porch, and I was pretty sure I was shaking in pain.
Sobs tried to escape me—awful, painful sobs.
Dax carefully picked me up off the floor, cradling me to his chest so gently you would’ve thought I was his great-grandma’s insanely expensive china. He murmured apologies to me as he carefully carried me into the house.
“Im going to get you cleaned up, and then call the pack. They left notes on our door; they’re worried about us,” Dax murmured to me as we moved.
They were worried about him, he meant.
And was my house our house?
We might have already talked about that, but I didn’t feel like we had. I felt like things were still up in the air.
I made a noise of agreement anyway, too tired to protest or otherwise disagree.
Dax carried me into the bathroom, turning on the shower and holding me easily to his chest as he waited for it to heat up. I’d already lost a bunch of weight since becoming a werewolf, and I was starting to think that would only get worse if I continued shifting the way I was and experiencing the pain and exhaustion that had become a part of my life.
I’d expected everything to be roses and chocolates and sex after I met my soulmate, but… it wasn’t.
And I wasn’t sure how to deal with that.
I stood shakily while Dax scrubbed my hair and body with shampoo and soap. The moment should’ve been romantic, but it wasn’t either. It was just… mundane.
And I loved that he was taking care of me, but the way my mind was moving, the way my body was still aching, everything felt more difficult and more painful.
Dax cleaned himself off much faster than he’d cleaned me, making sure to get all the blood off his abdomen, before he shut off the water. This time, he noticed the bath robe hanging off the wall, and slid it over my shoulders before grabbing a towel of his own.
We made it to the bed before collapsing. My pain was fading, finally, but my exhaustion hadn’t budged. My wolf had slept plenty when she was in the driver’s seat, but shifting took so damned much energy.
My eyes closed, and my face was buried into the pillow while Dax grabbed one of our phones off the nightstand. I wanted to groan; the pack would insist on coming over here, and they’d want me to pretend that I’d never felt like I was on the outside at one of their damned dinners.
I could pretend like the best of them, but I despised doing so.
“Hey, man. Yeah, we’re fine. Learned some stuff about Sabrina’s wolf, and then our wolves stayed out in the forest for a few days. When we got back, her wolf decided to bite me.” There was a pause. “Mmhm. The climax will start any time now.”
There was another pause.
Shit.
The climax.
I wanted to cry just thinking about it.
I did trust Dax, and I did love having sex with him, but I was just so damn tired.
“Yeah, that would be great. Thanks. Can you let everyone else know, too?” Another pause. “Alright, thanks. See you in a week or so.” He hung up the phone, and I squeezed my eyes shut more tightly.
“How are you feeling?” he murmured, his hand sliding over my arm.