Chapter 70

Anila’s POV

“Don’t think just because my brother marked you, it means I’m not going to try and get into your pants,” Zach said with a smirk as he pinned me to the ground.

Fury boiled through me from his words; how could he be so arrogant?

“Mate!” My wolf insisted.

I used all of my strength to kick him off me and to my surprise, he actually tumbled backwards.

“You can try all you want, Zach,” I said through my teeth. “It won’t change anything.”

I could see the irritation on his face, and I wondered if it was because Xaden had marked me, or because Zach couldn’t have his way with me. My mind instantly went to Harley and all the things we’d done together, and I felt a ping of guilt in my chest.

“How’d he convince you to do it anyway?”

I looked at him, confused.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“How did you convince him to mark you?”

His question took me aback and I knew I must have looked dumbfounded. Did Zach seriously think I somehow convinced Xaden to mark his claim on me?

“I didn’t have to convince him to do anything,” I said stubbornly, folding my arms across my chest.

“Everybody should be doing our assigned exercises,” the professor said loud enough for the entire room to hear, though his attention was on Zach and me.

I felt my cheeks flush as I turned back to Zach.

“Again,” he said, getting into his stance.

I went to attack him, but he easily dodged out of the way. This time, he didn’t counterattack as he had previously, which landed me on the ground and pinned me beneath his body. My wolf, evidently, didn’t mind the fact, but I very much did.

Even if I could feel every rippling ab on his body. My cheeks warmed from the memory and when I looked up at Zach, he was smirking at me like he could read my thoughts. I really needed to get myself together and I honestly had to speak to Xaden about all of this.

I hadn’t actually spoken to him about Harley; in fact, I’ve been kind of avoiding the subject. It’s not like Xaden didn’t know something had happened between us. He basically gave us permission to do what was necessary to calm his bear. But I still feel guilty for not directly talking to him about it.

I hadn’t really been around much since I got my spirit animals, mainly because I wanted to spend time getting to know each of them, and the fact that I now had a baby dragon I needed to take care of.

That fact still boggled my mind; I have no idea where it came from and for all I knew, the mom dragon was probably out searching for her.

“Where did you go just now?” Zach asked and his tone was surprisingly tentative.

I snapped back to the present moment.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, shaking my head and getting into my own stance. “Let’s do this.”

He didn’t look convinced, but he also didn’t argue.

When class ended, I knew I needed to get back to my dorm quickly and check on the baby dragon. I had to pick up some more bugs and leaves too. I just hoped that the baby dragon remained in its cage and there weren’t any issues.

“Where are you going in such a rush?” Zach asked as I scrambled to grab my things. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

A couple of girls walked by, giggling their hellos to Zach and he gave them a wink in response. I had to bite back a growl; my wolf wasn’t happy about those girls flirting with what was supposed to be mine.

I quickly dismissed the thought from my head; Zach wasn’t mine. He wasn’t a possession and even if he was, I didn’t want him. He was a playboy, a flirt… he was…

“Mine!” My wolf interrupted my thoughts, and I sighed in response.

I didn’t think I was going to convince her otherwise.

“It’s none of your business,” I said as I finished grabbing the last of my things and headed towards the door. But Zach stepped in front of me, blocking my way.

“What if I want it to be my business?”

I wasn’t sure if he was trying to be funny, but he was successfully annoying me.

“Then, too bad,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “Can you move; I have somewhere to be.”

“Somewhere with Xaden?”

I should have told him yes and that I was late to meet with him. But I somehow knew that would only hurt Zach and the thought of hurting him didn’t sit right with me. Besides, I wasn’t going to meet Xaden and I didn’t want to lie to him about it, so I shook my head.

“No,” I answered. “I’m not meeting Xaden.”

“Then, you wouldn’t mind if I came with you,” Zach said, pushing himself off the wall.

I raised my brows.

“Why would you want to do that?”

He shrugged.

“I got nothing else to do,” he answered.

“I beg to differ; those girls who just walked by looked as if they were willing participants,” I muttered.

He looked at me with a confused expression; for a second, the mask he had always worn lifted, and I saw a bit of vulnerability in his expression. It threw me for a loop and my heart flipped in my chest.

“Those girls only want one thing,” he murmured as he led the way out of the arena.

“And you don’t?” I asked.

He was quiet for a moment.

“Maybe at one point I used sex to distract me,” Zach said, shrugging.

“And now?”

“And now I found something better to occupy my time.”

My mouth dropped from his admittance; was he talking about me?

He glanced over at me and to my surprise, he let out a laugh.

“Don’t let it get to your head,” he muttered, shaking his head as he laughed.

He held the door open for me to walk outside first and I paused to look at him, like really look at him. When he smiled in the way that he was currently, he looked so boyish and innocent. I wondered, more than once, what had happened between him and Xaden that caused Zach to put on his mask for everyone.

It hurt my heart just thinking about it.

As we walked across campus, I thought about how I was going to get the bugs and leaves for the little dragon if Zach was just going to tag along with me. I thought about ditching him, but that thought didn’t sit right with me either. I spent a lot of time alone with Damien during our training, and I spent time with Harley when we….

I shook my head trying to think about anything else other than that before my face looked like it was on fire.

I obviously spend a lot of time with Xaden because he’s my boyfriend and he marked me.

But I haven’t really gotten to spend enough time with Zach other than inside of class. I didn’t think that was fair to Zach and I wanted to give him a fair chance just like the others. Maybe I didn’t need to get the bugs and stuff right now.

“Want to go for a run?” I found myself asking, turning to Zach.

His brows raised.

“A run?”

I nodded, a smile spreading across my face.

“In our fur I mean,” I clarified. “I could use a run right about now. Want to join me?”

I didn’t miss the surprised expression, but he nodded.

“Okay,” he finally answered.

I led the way into the forest and once we were deep enough in the woods, I turned to face him.

“I’m stripping now. Turn around.”

He looked comical.

“Seriously? We are shifters, Nudity isn’t really that big of a deal.”

I folded my arms across my chest.

“Well, it is to me. Turn around, Zach,” I ordered again.

He sighed and did as I asked.

I turned around too to give him some privacy. I could hear him unzipping his pants and removing his shirt. I did the same and stripped until I was in my bra and panties.

I chanced a glance over my shoulder to make sure he truly wasn’t watching me and to my surprise, his back was still turned. His very toned and muscular back. He was completely naked, and I couldn’t help but check him out.

He was very attractive and the sight of him completely naked, even if his back was turned toward me, made my mouth water and my wolf yip with excitement.

“It’s not fair that you get to look at me and I can’t look at you,” Zach said in a low and husky tone.

I quickly turned back around; I was pretty certain I was going to die from embarrassment. How did he know I was checking him out when he wasn’t looking at me?

“I wasn’t looking at you,” I lied.

He laughed.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

I finished stripping off the rest of my clothes and then without another word I shifted. He turned to look at me and then he shifted as well. I beamed up at his large wolf and my wolf hopped around him in excitement.

Together we ran through the forest.

I’m pretty sure we both lost track of time. We could have been running for minutes, or hours. I wasn’t really sure. I lost all concept of time the moment I shifted and started to embrace my wolf. Zach’s wolf seemed to be having just as much fun as mine.

By the time my wolf started to tire out and returned to our clothes which remained on the forest ground, I didn’t care that Zach would see me naked. I shifted back into my human form. I was breathless as I grabbed my clothes off the ground.

Zach’s wolf sat back on his hind legs and stared at me with his head cocked. I should have felt embarrassed because I was still completely naked. But I wasn’t embarrassed at all; it almost felt natural.

Once I had my bra and panties on, Zach shifted as well.

My eyes immediately went to his manhood and my mouth started to water.

“Eye up here,” Zach teased as he grabbed his clothes off the ground.

“Sorry,” I said quickly, as I turned away from him and pulled on the rest of my clothes.

“Don’t be,” Zach whispered into my ear, startling me because I hadn’t realized he was that close.

Once we were both completely dressed, we walked back to campus. Neither of us said a word to one another until we reached the campus circle and saw a bunch of people surrounding the dormitory castle.

“What’s going on over there?” I asked, my brows furrowed.

Zach’s silence proved that he didn’t know either and he looked just as confused as I felt. Before he could answer, I felt my phone ringing in the pocket of my pants. I completely forgot I had my phone on me.

I reached into my pocket, and I frowned when I saw Penny’s name flash across the screen. She had called me 4 times in the last 15 minutes.

Something must have been seriously wrong.

“Penny?” I asked when I answered the phone.

“Oh, thank goddess,” Penny cried. “I have been trying to call you. I was so worried it might have gotten you or something.”

“What might have gotten me?” I asked, meeting Zach’s concerned eyes.

“The dragon!”

My heart fell deep into my stomach, and I thought I was going to drop the phone on the ground or pass out.

“Dragon?” I asked, my voice barely coming out as a whisper.

Zach’s face showed surprise, but also confusion too.

“Yes!” Penny cried. “Didn’t you hear the commotion at the dorms?”

“I was out for a run,” I admitted. “But I see the commotion now. What’s going on?”

I was afraid to know the answer, but I knew I had to.

“There’s a baby dragon in the dorms,” she informed me. “And if there’s a baby, there’s a mama. We are in grave danger.”