Chapter 9 - Hunger Pains
Something bright was irritating the corners of Adalyn’s eyes. She rolled over to try and shield her face and then slowly opened her eyes. Sunlight was streaming through the shutter windows. She blinked a few times and her surroundings slowly came in to focus.
“Where am I?”
She sat up and the silk bed sheets slid away from her. She was in the most enormous oak four poster bed draped with rich white muslin across the top.
'What happened?' she questioned herself again. She put her hand to her head as she tried to recall last night’s events. The last thing she remembered was Kai trying to stop her from leaving, then there was nothing. Had her wolf taken complete control over her again. A full takeover hadn’t happened in a seriously long time, and when it did she had at least been conscious in the background or able to recollect what had happened. This time there was nothing, a complete void in her memory. She’d have to think about all of it later. She needed to figure out where she was and how to get back home.
She could hear seagulls squawking in the distance. 'Am I by the coast?' She tried to peer through the partially open shutters but the blinding morning sun beaming through made it difficult for her to make out anything distinct.
She had been kidnapped a grand total of two times in less than 24 hours. “Good going Ads,” she verbally chastised herself. This particular time seemed a lot more hospitable than the last one though. No handcuffs and the room she was in was vast and comfortable. If this was one of Kaiden’s homes it definitely showed how much money he and his family had. She shuffled to the end of the bed and stepped out on to the hardwood floor. That was when she noticed that her clothes had changed. She was now wearing a cream coloured cami top with thin straps and some loose fitted matching shorts.
Had he changed her in to them? She flushed again imagining him dressing her. Whilst her new attire wasn’t overtly sexy, it was still more feminine than she was used to. She pulled the silk bed sheet towards her to make her feel a bit more comfortable then proceeded to explore her surroundings. The room was beautifully decorated with soft furnishings with the huge oak bed as the centrepiece of the room. A plate of some fruit, cheese and hams was placed on the side board. Her stomach growled as she walked past so she picked up a grape for now and popped it in to her mouth.
She approached the door that lead out of the room and rested her ear against the door. She couldn’t hear any movement directly outside. She tried the handle and to her surprise it opened. She held on to the door handle with one hand and then rested the other on the edge of the doorframe to quietly ease it open.
'Please don’t creak' she prayed in her head. The door was heavy but opened softly with little effort. She peered through the crack.
Silence.
Nobody appeared to be guarding the door, but she could sense some activity further down the hall.
She would usually try and use her wolf senses to work out how many people were there but her wolf had gone silent. Most likely still affected by the wolfsbane restraints that she had on before. It was unlikely that she’d be any help in any attempt to escape. After closing the door and easing the door handle back in to position. She briefly looked around the rest of the room to see if there was something that she could use to help her escape or defend herself if needed.
Barefoot she padded across the room and into a walk-in closet. There she found her jeans. They were washed and folded neatly on a chair in the corner. She couldn’t find any sign of her t-shirt though. She remembered that it was ripped so it had probably been discarded. She slipped out of her shorts and pulled on her jeans. She’d just have to stick with the cream cami top for now. After dressing she found a few drawers at the back of the closet and pulled a few open to see if there was anything useful there. The first 2 drawers were empty but she found a small chrome letter opener in the third. She slipped it in to her back pocket thinking that it might come in handy later. She continued checking around the rest of the room, but beside a bunch of old papers there wasn’t anything useful that she could see.
“Crap” she uttered. She was just going to have to take her chances and leave with what she had. If she moved quietly she might be able to avoid bumping into anyone at all and slip out of the building completely unnoticed. As she shut back the last cupboard she heard the sound of someone biting in to an apple.
Startled, she turned around hastily to see Kai leaning against some of the cupboard doors. He was standing close to the entry way of the walk-in closet eating a green apple. He was causally chewing the piece that had alerted Adalyn to his presence. He looked at her curiously but said nothing as he carried on eating his apple.
Adalyn slowly rose from the floor from where she was searching. She felt like prey being stalked by a predator. A very sexy predator, but a predator nonetheless. How had she not sensed him coming in to the room? She hadn’t even noticed his scent. “Oh yeah, no wolf” she remembered. How long had he been standing there just quietly observing her?
Kai had his hair tied back with a piece of red thread and was wearing a pair of black track pants that hung loosely from his waist. From the waist up he was completely topless. Whilst she had caught a brief glimpse of him naked back at the abandoned building, here he looked even better than she had remembered. Smooth olive skin draped his washboard abs. A few small scars marked the top of his chest but it only added to his charm. He was the embodiment of perfection. Her mouth instantly went dry and she swallowed hard to try and moisten it.
Kai could see that he was affecting her. Her heated gaze fanned his ego but he continued to eat his apple as though nothing had been silently communicated between them.
Adalyn waited for him to say something but nothing came. After finishing the majority of his apple he licked one of his fingers to clean the remnants of some apple juice that had dribbled down his hand. His eyes never leaving her the whole time. It was incredibly suggestive and Adalyn gulped looking at this Greek good stood before her. He was unknowingly putting on the most seductive display she had ever seen.
After setting down the remains of the apple on one of the side boards Kai walked over to her. She took a step back unsure of what his intentions were. He covered her hands with his and then flipped them over to check how the bruising that had marred them yesterday were healing. He then flipped them back over again and used his fingers to feel for any raised sections across her wrist. The bruising had completely gone.
“Huh” he breathed out intrigued. He hadn’t expected them to have completely healed already. Among royals and noble bloodlines, regenerative abilities were typically strongest and bruising like hers would heal in a couple of minutes, even quicker once fully shifted. Commoners or low level shifters would usually heal a lot slower, usually over a period of days and would occasionally require enhancers or potions to fully heal without scarring.
Upon discovering that Adalyn was his mate, he had carried out a background check on her. Whilst he was intrigued to find out that he had mated with a wolf that wasn’t of noble heritage it didn’t phase him at all. There was nothing in her report that suggested that she came from a noble bloodline.
Something was different about her though. Whilst she looked like a commoner visually with her light brown hair, her healing and her wolf’s dominant nature, particularly in the presence of royal such as him suggested otherwise. Her wolf had definitely challenged him which is something that a commoner wouldn’t have typically been able to do.
His eyes lit up as he recalled how she had managed to pin him down. Getting her wolf to submit to him was incredibly erotic. It had him rock hard in seconds. Now that he knew that he could tame her wolf he just had to figure out how to tame Adalyn’s human side and then he would claim her when he was ready. He glanced up to her neck and imagined where his claiming mark would go. Right in the crook of her neck and shoulder where everyone could see it. He could feel his canine’s starting to descend in his excitement and he ran his tongue over them completely captivated by the thought.
Whilst continuing his inner monologue, Kai was blissfully unaware of how intimate his small examination was on Adalyn until his eyes met hers. Heat surged between the two of them again.
Adalyn licked her bottom lip out of nerves and tried to avert her gaze.
'Fuck!' Kai thought. For someone who seemed to be so innocent she sure knew how to seduce him with even the smallest of gestures. She was completely unaware of how alluring she was. Her lips called out to him like a siren. They were begging to be kissed. Unable to hold back any longer Kai’s body moved all by itself. He leaned in to answer her lips call for attention completely undeterred as to where this kiss might lead them. Just as his lips were about to touch hers, Adalyn’s stomach growled loudly instantly breaking the heated moment.
Kai pulled back both surprised and amused. Heat crept up her face again but this time in pure mortification.
“Are you hungry?” he finally spoke. It was obvious he was trying to suppress a laugh from escaping.
Adalyn stared at the ground, willing it to open up and swallow her.
Kai’s smile stretched out across his face. “Come on, lets eat something.” He was trying to conceal the hilarity of the situation and being considerate to her obvious embarrassment, he quickly turned on his heels to hide it and stalked back out of the room. He grabbed a white long jersey top on the way it and threw it over his head.
Adalyn just stood there like a tornado had just passed through the room.
'Ahhhhh!' she screamed in her head. She wanted to curl up and die somewhere. 'How embarrassing,' she thought as she threw her head down in to both of her palms.
“He was going to kiss me, he was definitely going to me” she mused. In that moment she had wanted to as well.
She had been around Kai for less than 24 hours but he was already affecting her in ways that she couldn’t anticipate or predict and she didn’t like it. She was like a giddy school girl at a pop idol concert. This wasn’t her. This wasn’t her at all. She wasn’t the swooning type but she couldn’t seem to control herself in front of him.
She couldn’t stay there. She had to leave at her first opportunity or she felt like he would eat her alive. She felt for the letter opener in her back jean pocket. Kai hadn’t given her any suggestion that he knew she had it. She slapped both her hands to her face to affirm her resolve then followed him back out of the closet.