Free Web NovelChapter 63: Holding Up The Bargain
"Make sure you keep your wounds dry," Nicole nagged, tightening the gauze that was wrapped around my wrist. "If it gets wet, you’ll need to redress your bandages. Either come to the infirmary or get someone else to help you."
"Who is there to help me?" I asked with a snort, shaking my head with a solemn sigh. "Blaise isn’t here anymore, is he?"
"He left," Nicole said with a sad smile. "A few days ago, actually. But it’s no matter, the Alpha will surely help if you ask."
"Damon?" I asked. I shook my head, rolling my eyes in disbelief. "Forget it. He’s the one that got me looking like this in the first place."
"Only because you asked for it," Damon said. His voice startled me, causing me to jerk a little, sitting straighter on the bed.
Nicole smiled pleasantly, nodding in respect at her leader before looking back at me.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," she said, her voice sing-song. "I’ll leave you two alone."
She winked knowingly at Damon before quickly gathering all of her items. With everything bundled in her arms, she quickly hopped out of the room, skipping a little as she did.
That, unfortunately, left me alone in the room with Damon.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, scowling. I turned to the bed, gathering my items while trying not to pay him any mind.
"Just making sure you’re not dead," Damon said, shrugging nonchalantly. He leaned against the wall, folding his arms across his chest and he looked lazily down at me. "How are you feeling?"
"Why do you care?" I shot back. "You certainly didn’t bother holding back during the fight."
"It was a challenge," Damon said pointedly. "It’s only respectful to the opponent to show go through with the challenge seriously."
"So you’re saying that even with you at your most attentive, I still managed to land a hit on you?"
Damon stopped short, the lazy smile that had been building on his lips quickly falling. It changed into a scowl, his eyebrows furrowing as his eyelid twitched in annoyance.
"I suppose," he finally said through gritted teeth. "If that makes you happy."
"Very," I replied, my nose mightily high. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
The conversation died there, and an awkward silence quickly befell us. I shuffled awkwardly where I sat, unsure of what to do or how to act. Damon’s eyes were watching me like a hawk’s, staring and judging my every movement. Once I had the little belongings that were brought to me here at the infirmary, I stood up.
There was still a good amount of pain that pierced through various parts of my body. Not a surprise there, seeing as to how battered and bruised I had been. Nicole truly managed to work wonders on my body, pulling me back from the brink of death in just a short week.
My legs wobbled and all of a sudden, my knees went weak and I fell to the floor. Right before I landed, however, a pair of strong arms came to wrap around my body, holding me up right before my kneecaps could crash against the floor.
I looked up, my heart still beating wildly in shock when my eyes made contact with Damon’s piercing blue ones. Those irises seemed to look right through me and into my soul, holding me captive.
Sparks danced across my skin where he touched me, a warm sensation that was all too familiar. While I could easily attribute it to the times we’ve spent together in bed, it was also an entirely different matter. There was something about his touch that reminded me of recent times, but I quickly shook my thoughts away.
That was... perhaps just a figment of my imagination, right?
Could it truly have been Damon by my bedside after all? Nicole did say that Blaise had left a few days ago. Yet, despite that, there was always someone who looked awfully like him tending to my wounds, a face I only saw when I was slipping in and out of consciousness while recovering.
His hands wrapped tighter around my waist, and it was only long after I was already standing on my feet that I finally snapped back to reality.
"Uh..." I hesitated. "Thanks."
I didn’t know how to handle the reeling news that it could’ve been Damon showing me such slivers of kindness after all. Though, of course, I had no idea why he would ever do so, when he was never too against putting me in my place.
"Your belongings are in my room," he said.
My head snapped up to face him. Whatever good, warm fuzzy feelings I had of him quickly dissipated into nothingness. A scowl quickly shaped my lips, and I took a step away and out of his hands.
"Why?"
"You lost the challenge," he said. Now that I was standing upright on my own, he had the luxury of folding his arms across his chest once more, a pose which I came to realize he adored doing whenever he didn’t know what to do with his arms. "As per the agreement, you’re going to have to spend the night with me." ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"I didn’t know that sex required all of my personal belongings as well," I snarled. "Besides, I won’t do it. I have a mate."
"You and Blaise might’ve marked each other but you nor I have rejected one another," he said. "That means that you are still rightfully my fated mate."
"Fine," I said. "Then―"
"And I am not accepting your rejection," Damon added, adding to my frown. "Try it again and we’ll have a repeat of whatever happened the last two times."
"Or you can just accept the rejection and move on with your life," I frostily said.
"As I said when we first met," Damon said.
He took a step closer, and with every step I took away, he advanced. In the end, I had nowhere else to go. The back of my knees knocked against the side of the bed, and I tumbled back. He leaned forward, placing one hand down on either side of my body, trapping me in place.
"I finally found you, little rabbit. And I have no intention of letting you go anytime soon."
