In Reach?
The morning after

Liam’s POV

I’m stirring in my sleep as I wake up. But my body feels very heavy, but very relaxed as well. And that scent, that amazing scent is all around me. I know that scent of chocolate and raspberries.

I slowly open my eyes and in front of me is Mira, sleeping in my arms. Her beautiful hair is in her face, but I don’t hesitate to smell it so I can get more of that scent.

I love being with her, with her in my arms. I slowly brush her hair out of her sleeping face, but as I put it behind her ear, I see a big bloody plaster covering half her neck. Fear strikes me immediately at the thought of what happened to Mira. But just as quickly, flashes of last night pop into my head. Flashes of her walking away from me, of her kissing Ashton, the sound of her screaming and her limp body in the living room.

Shit! What did I do? What did my wolf do? He took control, and marked her. He forced me to mark her!

Guilt runs through my body like waves as I realize what is to come when she wakes up. I slowly get up, making sure not to wake her. I silently pace the room, thinking of the situation. I’m not going to lie that I like the idea, knowing that she bears my mark, that she’s finally mine, and no one can take her away from me now. But, this is not how I wanted things to happen.

How will she react? I know she’ll be pissed. Probably shout my head off again. Will she hate me? Oh Goddess, I pray she doesn’t. I will do whatever it takes to make her realize that I never wanted things to happen this way, and that everything that happened before was just a misunderstanding. I can’t have her hate me, not when she has my mark, not when we’re supposed to be together now.

I just need to be calm and try to talk to her without turning this into an argument.

Mira’s POV

My body feels weird, it’s like I’m lying on something soft and smooth. I open my eyes and notice the black silk sheets I’m lying on. I’m in Liam’s room. How did I get here? Is this a dream? I snuggle my head slightly into the pillow, enjoying his scent. But my neck feels oddly warm. I lift my hand to feel what’s there, but I feel something stuck on my neck.

But just touching it sends tingles through my body, and I get glimpses of last night running through my mind. I see my argument with Liam, me walking away with Ashton, and then Liam, charging at me like he wants to kill me.

I sit up quickly with panic at the memory. Liam tried to kill me,….. again. I saw the look in his eyes, I felt the pain of him gnawing at my neck. I was trying so hard to push him off me, punching his shoulders just to get him to stop. But he didn’t.

I look to the side of the bed, hearing some stirring. There, sitting in a chair next to me and in front of the large window, is him, the man that tried to kill me.

He’s standing up as he’s slowly walking to me. But the light coming in from the window behind him makes his body look like a shadow, big and tall. It reminds me of last night, of when he attacked. Is he going to attack me again?

“Mira?” He says softly as he walks closer to the bed.

But I don’t want him closer. He hurt me. He probably wants to hurt me again. I’m angry that he would do something like that just because I left with Ashton. But I’m hurt that he would rather harm me because of it.

I need to get away from him before he decides to hurt me again. The closer he gets to me the more I try to slide back up the bed. But my back hits the headboard and I panic. I put my hands out in front of me to keep distance between us.

“No, no, stay back, no don’t hurt me.” I’m trying to be firm with my words, but they’re coming out shaky.

He stops, luckily. But he looks like he’s the one that’s hurt. Why?

“Mira, I’m not going to hurt you.” He says in a soft voice ass he walks slowly towards me again with his own hands up.

But, I can’t risk it. He clearly doesn’t need his hands to hurt me. I’m starting to shift backwards to other side of the bed. He isn’t stopping, and I’m not even looking where I’m going. I yelp as I slip off the bed and fall onto my side on the floor.

I hear Liam rushing over, to me. But I need to get away from him, crawling isn’t going to work. I quickly get up and start running towards the door. But I barley make it three steps away from him, when he grips me by my waist lifting my small frame.

“Get off of me.” I claw at his arms as I’m thrashing in his hold.

But he’s already swinging me to the nearest wall and holding me captive against it with his large frame. “Mira, stop.”

But I don’t. I’m hitting against his chest to get him away from me, so I can leave. But he grips both my wrists tightly, I can’t hit him anymore. But I’m still trying to move away with my body.

“Mira, please.” He says softly as he’s moving in closer with his body against me. But he’s just trying to make my cage smaller. And I don’t want him to bite me again.

“No, no, don’t. Don’t hurt me.” I’m starting to sound desperate as I realize I’m too weak to fight him off.

And he proves it when he grabs me into his chest in a tight hold. I can’t move my hands, I can’t get out, I’m struggling.

“Mira, Please. I’m not going to hurt you.” His own voice sounds desperate now.

It’s hopeless. I can’t get out. I can’t do anything but beg. “Please.” I say with my voice breaking.

But his grip tightens at the sound of my voice. And I can hear him smell my hair as he places a gentle kiss on my head. His actions are confusing, I can’t help but go still in his hold. We stand like this for a while, I’m not sure how long. But his scent calms me as it always does.

He eventually loosens his hold and looks down at my confused face as he cups it, with such a sorrowful look in his eyes. I don’t like seeing him like this, it’s making me sad. I don’t now why, but it’s making me want to cry.

He leans his forehead down against mine and says, “We need to talk.”

I look back at him confused. “Talk? You want to talk?” I raise my hand to my neck. “After you attacked me, and now you want to talk?” I’m getting a bit angry now.

He leans a bit back now, at my words. “Please Mira. It’s not like that. I didn’t attack you.”

Oh really?

“Liam, I remember what you did, I felt it. I was begging you to stop hurting me, but you didn’t.”

“It wasn’t me. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.” He huffs out as he takes a step backwards and runs his hand through his hair. “It was my wolf. He took over. I just got so angry when I saw you with that asshole. I lost it, and then he took over. I didn’t think he would,…….I didn’t think,…..”

His wolf? I knew it was his wolf, but how could he not be in control at all.

“You didn’t think what?”

He huffs. “I didn’t think he would mark you.”

What? Mark me?

“What are you talking abou?”

He walks closer again and gently touching my neck. “He made me mark you.”

My breath hitches. “You marked me?” I know this may sound weird, but I’m actually a bit happy that he marked me, especially now that I know he wasn’t actually trying to hurt me. But……”You forced your mark on me!?” Now I’m angry again, gone is my fear of him.

“Mira, please. Understand. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Ouch! What, does his wolf want me more now?

“So you regret it now?”

I know this may sound petty of me, but really. I’m so angry at him for what he did, but hearing him apologize for it, infuriates me.

He’s breathing heavily now. “Fuck!” He runs his hand through his hair again. “There is no right answer with you is there?”

And back we are with our arguing routine.

“It’s either you wanted to mark me or you didn’t, regardless of whether that sadistic wolf of yours forced you to do it.” I look at him questioningly.

I can see him hesitating with his words. “Fuck! Yes!, Okay, yes. I wanted to mark you. I just didn’t want to do it that way.” Now he’s pacing in front of me again. “I came to the cabin to talk with you, to clear up the shit between us. Everything you thought was just a misunderstanding.”

I got a bit excited hearing him admit it, hearing him say that he wanted to mark me. Oh, how long I’ve waited to hear that. I’m actually enjoying this a bit now, our arguing.

“Misunderstanding?”

“Yes.” He walks a bit closer to me again. “Me thinking that you were pregnant had nothing to do with me choosing you. The gala was just for negotiations, there is nothing between me and Izabelle.”

“You choosing me?” I picked up on the words the moment it left his mouth.

He’s closing the last bit of distance between us as he’s cupping my face again. “Yes. Last night I was looking everywhere for you so I could tell you, that I want you, that I choose you.”

I hold his hand on my face. “But what about Izabelle?”

He smirks. “We were just arranging an alliance between our packs.”

Oh. So I was the one that exaggerated? But, no. That wasn’t the only reason I hesitated. Ashton.

“What about Ashton?”

He’s smile drops immediately. “What about him?”

If Ashton is my mate, but Liam marked me, does that mean I’m not his mate anymore? Where does he fit in all of this now?

“I’m his mate,”

But before I could even continue my train of thought Liam growls at me. “You’re mine.”

But now I’m pulling away from him, trying to think this through.

“But Liam. You marked me. Doesn’t that mean you stole his mate from him?”

But Liam just looks annoyed at my question. “I will sort that out.”

“What do you mean? You can’t just steal someone’s mate and act like it’s nothing.”

“I said I’ll sort it out” He tries to pull me into his hold, but I step back.

“This isn’t right Liam.”

He raises his brow.

But guilt is ripping through me. “This isn’t right.” I take another step back from him.

Gggrhh! “Don’t walk away from me.”

“What if someone did that to you?” He stops in his tracks. “What if someone stole your mate from you? Would you be fine with it?”

“I would never let that happen! I would never let anyone take you from me.”

Uhm. Okay. I was just referring to his mate. I didn’t think he already thought of me as his mate. Speaking of which, what happens when his true mate does come along? Will I just become second best? If you ask me, it’s clear that he acted without thinking. But one of us needs to be the reasonable one. There should definitely be consequences for him doing this.

I shake my head. “This still isn’t right Liam.”

But he just seems annoyed again as he points between us. “What about this isn’t right?”

“You ‘forced’ your mark on me.” Do I really need to put emphasis on ‘forced’ just for him to grasp the situation. It’s practically worse than rape.

Gggrh! “This is the furthest thing from rape.”

I look shocked, wondering how he knew what I was thinking. But that’s when I realize that once a person is marked, they share their thoughts with their mate. Great, so now my thoughts aren’t my own anymore.

“No, they’re not.” He says with a smirk.

But I’m still not over this. “I need to go find Ashton.” I can only imagine what he must be going through. He has been so patient with me, and just like that someone forces their mark on me.

Gggrhhh!

I barely walk past Liam to get to the door, when he grabs my arm. “Why would you go to him?”

“Do I really need to remind you?” I try to get his grip off me.

“I’m not letting you anywhere near him. You’re mine.”

“Uuugghh! Mine, mine, mine. I’m not yours until I decide so.” I shove my finger in his chest as I make my way to the bathroom to shower.

Liam’s POV

Of all the thing’s to happen, I never expected her to be afraid of me when she wakes up. I know she was afraid, I felt it through the mark, the bond, growing between us. She was afraid of me. It was worse than the idea of her hating me. It hurt to hear her think that I wanted to hurt her.

But the moment we started talking, it seemed I could finally clear up stuff. But then she just had to bring up fuckface again. I don’t know why she cares so much about him. With my mark on her, she shouldn’t even be thinking of other men. Gggrhhh!

And here she is trying to get ready, to go to him. But I can’t let her just go to him. I don’t know why she wants to go to him. But I’m not going to leave her alone with him. Knowing him, he’ll just fill her mind with absurd thoughts and then she’ll have new reasons to start fights with me

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