Trashed & Treasured

6

Dominic.

Pouring myself another shot of tequila, I quickly threw it back allowing the burn in the back of my throat to ease my mind as I laid back on the bed and tried to forget her. I could still smell her scent all over my room. That soft and feminine aroma like clean cotton sheets blowing in a gentle spring breeze just wouldn't escape me. I inhaled it deeper, remembering how good her small frame felt in my arms, how tender her plump lips moved against mine, and how aroused she made me just off of the sounds she made when my tongue caressed hers.

I really need to stop thinking like that.

She came onto my beach and disrupted my life. I should've been pissed off. At least angry enough to break something, yet all I could do was ask myself the same question over and over again―why did I let her leave?

Everything that is wolf inside of me wanted to chase her down, tackle her, and reel in that heavenly scent until my last breath. Yet the man in me was just as confused as she was over the fact that I attempted to claim her as my own.

Why did I even do that? Was my wolf so lonely that he claimed the first female that came along? She wasn't just any female though, that much I could tell from the way she reacted to me, to my touch. There was a feeling of warmth to her, a pull that wasn't like anything I've ever experienced. But a definite pull that I still felt as I laid in bed wishing I'd had the pleasure of having my bare chest against hers.

Pushing up harshly, I abandoned all hopes of forgetting the girl with alluring amber eyes, who forced my hand, and awakened my wolf who'd been in mourning for the last five years.

After filling my glass to the rim once more, I found myself in front of the very last picture I'd taken of Alice. We'd spent that whole day together and finished it off with a picnic under her favorite tree. There, she'd fallen asleep with her head in my lap. Just as I was about to snap that picture, she woke up and threw her hand over her face but somehow I still managed to catch every bit of her smile. That smile.

Running my finger along the outline of her lips, my heart breaks all over again and my wolf howls his pain. If only I had mated with her like she asked or at least claimed her before the fight, I would have sensed her and could have protected her. If I'd been a better mate she'd still be alive and be with me.

As the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, I eased out of bed careful not to wake my sleeping mate. She'd spent most of the night begging me not to fight in this war and eventually fell asleep on my chest with tears pooled in the corners of her eyes. Once the bed shifted back into place I glanced down at her to make sure the creaking springs hadn't awakened her.

Then, I slipped into the shower and dressed in the darkness of our room.

Slowly making my way over to the bed, I gazed down at her sleeping figure once again in adoration. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a bun. Her lips were pouted in a way that made me smile and long for the feel of them against mine. I knelt down with one hand on the bed and quickly pecked them and pulled back, inducing a catlike purr from her before her eyes opened one by one. She smiled at me so sweetly that I felt like I was falling in love with her all over again and at the request of my wolf, I leaned in for another kiss.

"You know how I know that you truly love me, Dominic?"

"How?" I ran my nose along the curve of her neck enjoying her scent of lavender.

"Because you're the only man I know that would kiss me while I have morning breath."

"I better be the only man kissing you!" I growled against her skin and playful grazed her neck with my teeth making her moan.