Chapter 74

Ollie’s POV

All throughout our evening together, Declan doesn’t touch me – or himself – even once. He commands me through two more orgasms before checking his watch and announcing that it is time for him to leave.

Before he does though, he wets a washcloth in the sink and then gently wipes down my sweaty body, cleaning and comforting me in a wordless, soft way that I never would have expected from him.

This clear distinction, the difference between his cool commands and this warm softness has me desiring him even more.

He was right. He was gentle with me this time. This felt like only a taste of what was to come in the future if I allow it. And I really want to allow it.

After making sure I’m comfortable, he starts to step back away from me.

“When you need your master again, you will contact me,” he says.

Overconfident bastard. He talks as if he’s certain I’m going to want him like this again, and soon.

Damn him for being so right. He hasn’t even left yet and already I’m eager for the next time. I’m so curious about what he has in store for me. Will he push me a little farther each time, playing my body like an instrument?

Would he eventually touch me himself?

A shiver runs down my spine and I whimper from the force of it.

The edge of his lips quirks up into a smirk. He doesn’t call me out. He doesn’t have to. We both heard the noise I just made at the promise of more.

That’s the look that stays on his face as he turns and leaves me. And it’s the look that stays in my mind long after he’s gone, when I change, then shift, and race through the woods back to the estate.

I feel refreshed and exhilarated, my wolf happy, the bond sated, and my mind clear.

I’m able to sneak back into the estate without being questioned, feeling confident about just how well everything has gone this evening.

Until I open the door to my room.

There’s a man sitting on the foot of my bed, his feet on the ground, his hands clasped between his knees as he looks down at them.

When I stand in the doorway, frozen, he glances up.

It’s Jake.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

He immediately stands. “Waiting for you.”

“What? Why?” I ask, then realize it doesn’t particularly matter. “You have to leave at once.” If the brothers catch him in my room, there will be hell to pay for both him and me. I doubt they will listen to any explanation from me, they will just assume the worst.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” he says.

“Get out, Jake. I mean it.”

“I can handle myself against the Alphas.”

The last time he’d thought that, Conrad broke his nose. “You really just need to get out of here, Jake. I’m serious.”

He comes toward me, hope in his eyes. Grabbing my hands, he brings them to his chest where he holds them captive. I try to tug away, but his fingers are like shackles around my wrists.

“Jake –”

“I’ve been dying to see you and speak with you alone, Ollie,” Jake says. “You keep pushing me away, but I know you actually care for me. You fear for me because of the Alphas, but I’m not afraid of them. I’m not afraid of anyone who might stand in our way. Our love is so much stronger than that.”

“Our… love?” What the hell is he talking about?

“I will save you, Ollie, from this dire fate.” He glances around my small room. “They keep you here like a prisoner. You deserve so much more…”

While that may or may not be so, it’s not Jake that I want to save me. He is totally misguided about my feelings and my desires. It’s almost like someone is purposefully feeding him misinformation. Or he’s just breaking with reality somewhat.

I’ve never really given him reason to hold onto his feelings for me like this. I have no idea why he feel so strongly. Have I ever given him any indication that I felt the same? Even accidentally?

I genuinely couldn’t think of any time. Other than just being nice to him… Surely that wasn’t enough for him to hold onto, to create this entire fantasy around, about me being some kind of damsel in need of his saving.

“Jake, you have this all wrong,” I tell him. “If you would just listen to me for one minute –”

A loud knock on my door stops me suddenly. Actually, no. It’s less of a knock and more of a fierce pounding of the meat of a closed fist against the wooden door.

That has to be the brothers. No one else would be that forceful. As my room is in the basement, underground, there’s no other way for him to escape. I could hide him in the closet, but that would only make us look guiltier. The brothers would scent him anyway.

A pit opens up in my stomach. Gods, there’s no way out of this. And Jake is standing tall and determined, like he’s ready to face what’s beyond that door.

The door that’s not even locked.

“Jake –”

The door swings open, revealing Conrad, Wes, Hugh, and Sylvia. My only saving grace is that Declan is noticeably absent, but that doesn’t save me from the others.

They look around the room quickly, but their eyes veer straight onto Jake and me, and where he holds my hands prisoner against his chest.

“See!” Sylvia says, pointing at us. “I knew she was acting suspicious, and I was right! She sneaked her boyfriend right into the estate!”

“What? I did not!” I say in my defense.

Conrad starts to growl. Hugh glowers, and even Wes glares like he’d like to kick us both off the premises.

The settle for Jake.

“You need another lesson,” Conrad says, stepping into the room.

“I’m not afraid of you!” Jake says. “Ollie loves me, and I love her. You can kick me out but you’ll never be able to stop the force of our love.”

Such valiant words that would be romantic if they weren’t entirely one-sided and nonsensical.

“Jake, I don’t feel that way for you!” I snap. “I keep telling you that!”

“You don’t have to lie anymore,” he says to me.

“Get it through your thick skull! I’m not lying!” I’m so annoyed by him and all the trouble he’s been getting into that I don’t have it in me to be kind to him anymore.

I’ve tried too much to softly reject him. If harshness is the only thing he will listen to, so be it!

“Stop trying to save your own skin,” Sylvia says. “You only hurt yourself with your lies, Ollie.”

“I’ve had enough,” Conrad says, stepping forward. He grabs Jake by the shoulders and physically throws him into the hallway. As he flies, Jake finally releases me.

I rub at my wrists, which have gotten red and raw from the force of Jake’s grip.

As Wes and Hugh grab Jake in the hallway, Conrad turns to me, anger in his eyes.

“You lose your privileges to leave the estate, Ollie,” he growls. “You are banned from leaving without Sylvia, one of my brothers, or me from acting as escort.”

I open my mouth to argue. None of this is fair! I don’t even like Jake like this, and I didn’t invite him here!

But Conrad’s sharp glare silences me before I can even begin.

I know, even without his saying so, that if I argue, it will only make things worse.

Sylvia clucks her tongue. “You are such a disappointment, Ollie. Always causing trouble for my brothers.”