He woke with an unfamiliar weight on his chest and a blonde curl tickling his nose. One hand was free and draped across the sleeping girl's waist. She was straddling him. Her nightshirt was bunched up as her knees were on either side of his hips and her tiny feet were resting against his thighs. It was an intimate position and one that he was not in when he went to sleep.
He frowned. Had the girl crept into his room and thrown herself upon him? Was she that desperate for sex?
She moaned softly, interrupting his thoughts, and moved her head, at which point he became aware of the wet spot on his chest. Was she drooling in her sleep? How long had she been here?
His hand subconsciously moved to smooth the hair from her face. It hung in midair. How had one of his hands come free of the cuff that restrained it? He was confident that it was securely tightened when he had gone to bed. It was close enough to the full moon that he would not have been so haphazard with this measure. There was no perceivable injury to this hand, so it was unlikely that he had forced the shackle. The binding must have failed.
He also knew that hadn't transformed into the wolf last night. He had slept through the night without waking in agony, his muscles didn't ache like they did post-transformation, and she was still in one piece and not a mess of shredded bloody flesh. She must have been touching him and subdued the wolfman. It was the only thing that could have saved her.
She smacked her lips and her small body moved as if waking. He dropped his hand to rub his face as he felt a surge of panic. She probably didn't notice the ropes last night in the darkness, but they would be obvious in the early morning light. He was still mostly bound to the bed.
Having her see him like this would result in too many questions. She was curious enough to start with without her finding him bound to the bed for some unexplained reason. He couldn't tell her of the curse so that left him lying to her about some bizarre illness that meant he had to be restrained.
Even if he was able to convince her of an alternative reason for his situation, that didn't help his cause. He didn't want her thinking him sickly, especially after he collapsed yesterday, nor did he wish to look less of a man to her. It was likely that she would view him like a man with no control over himself. The restraints spoke of failure, weakness, and incompetence. Not only did they show his inability to have command over his body, but they also rendered him vulnerable. He looked like a trapped man, and he didn't need her feeling sorry for him.
She was waking anyway, so he rolled as he stretched out his arm to untie himself. The girl squeaked as she went from lying on top of him to lying underneath him. Unfortunately, her positioning meant that when he rolled, she was rotated so that his hips were pushed into hers with her legs split wide.
It should have been something that needed to be corrected but, as he lay between her legs, he couldn't find the will to remove himself from their gentle cradle. His hips fitted so well in their embrace, and he felt something move within him that had not shifted in some time. He felt like a man.
His other hand was quickly unshackled and then he used both to prop himself up. He had her pinned beneath him. It was the positioning of lovers. It was a place he had no business being in. He had no claim over such intimacy, and yet he wanted to stay, to pretend it belonged to him, and to enjoy the illusion of being a whole man for a little longer.
He should have felt euphoric, but the feeling eroded until he was overcome with hatred for the wolf. If not for the curse, he would kiss this woman and make her his wife in the true sense of the word. If not for the wolf, he would have no limitations on his ability, actions, and no doubts as to his rights. And, to make the situation all the more infuriating, the wolf could do this, the beast could fornicate at will and without the need for restraints, barriers or regrets. The wolf was able to experience lust, to fuck whomever it desired and it seemed more than willing to torment him with those abilities, and yet he was free to do nothing at all even when the woman he wanted most in this world was spread willingly beneath him. If he had a working cock it would be buried deep within her and yet he could do nothing but shake with rage and regret. The wolf was more of a man than him, and this fact made him furious.
"Charles," she squeaked from her position underneath him, "What are you doing?"
"Is this not what you want?" his tone was curt, "Is this not why you invaded my bedchamber? Is it not to tease my cock? Is it not to humiliate me by providing me inadequate?"
"Charles," she gasped as she blinked her eyes open, "This is not why I am here. This is not what it looks like."
"Really?" he questioned, "I wake to find you straddling me in my sleep. Your body pressed intimately against mine, your sex tempting mine, and your beauty bewitching me. Why are you here if not to seduce me? Pray-tell-me, what is it if it is not what it seems?"
"I," she stuttered, "I wasn't."
"Do you need some more time to concoct a good excuse?" he asked, "I have no business to attend to this morning. We can stay here, like this, for some time as you search for a suitable reason."
"I was worried about you," she snapped, "But I need not have. You are obviously unscathed by yesterday's incident."
"And you thought I needed your soothing embrace to alleviate my symptoms?"
"No," she interrupted, "I was merely loosening your bindings. I had no intentions of touching you, sleeping here, or even being found in your chambers."
"My bindings?" he repeated, "You know of my sleeping arrangements? You had no intention of being found?"
"What I mean is," she realized her error, "I was just checking on you."
"You are my sneak," he interrupted, "You spied upon me, and you stole my keys."
"I stole nothing," she squirmed under him, but he did not release his hold over her.
"And yet you have my keys," he indicated to the bunch of keys that lay on the floor where she had dropped them, "If not stolen, who gave them to you?"
"I would rather not say," she twisted again, "You are hurting me. Would you mind adjusting your position?"
"I thought this position was favorable to you," he leaned in and brushed his nose against the skin on her cheek, "Your blush does not speak of pain."
"Charles," she gasped overcome with his closeness, "Do not tease me. You have made your contempt for me plain."
"Contempt?" his eyebrows lifted, "Of all the emotions I have for you, contempt is not one I know."
"Please, Charles," she whispered with her cheeks red, "It is pressing into me."
He looked down as if he was disappointed by her request before he dropped to the bed and rolled onto his side to look at her lying there. He was stretched out along her side and, although his weight was removed from her, this was not any less intimate. Despite his accusations and indignation, he stayed touching her as if he feared to be far from her warmth.
"Was it one of my staff?" he frowned, "Who gave you the keys? Which of them would have access and be so willing to betray my trust? Miss Jones?"
"No, not the staff," she blushed a deeper shade, "It was no one who works here."
"Who then?" his eyes searched her face for any trace of a lie, "There is no one else."
"Charles," she grimaced, "Can we drop this line of questioning? I am sure you would be more comfortable having this conversation in the morning room, clothed, and seated."
"No," he shook his head, "We will stay right where we are until I uncover the truth. My nakedness seemed not to bother you before. If it is offensive to you now, answer my question and I will remove my body from your touch."
"It isn't," she stopped herself from finishing and said instead, "I'm offering out of concern for you."
"Answer the question, Anna," he growled, "Where did you get the keys from?"
"It was the wolfman," she blurted, "He gave them to me."
He felt his world shift and his blood run from his body. His veins pumped panic through him as he tried to control his breathing.
She knew. All his fears had been realized and any hope of keeping her shielded from his reality was now an impossibility.
She knew. His secret was out in the open and the horrific extent of it would soon be all too apparent.
Any fantasy he had of having a normal life with her vanished. It was only a matter of time now before she realized the situation that she was in. And once she did, she would have no choice but to leave him. He would have to let her go or else the beast would kill her as it did with Penelope.
He felt any hope he had drain away from him. This was the beginning of the end.