Bitten: Dominated By His Inner Beast (2 page)

Alexa was doing her
damnedest to not stare at her best friend. Why Seth had to be an
absolute beefcake of a man and just throw their heavy ass stuff
around like it was weightless, she didn’t know, but it was
decidedly distracting. His black hair had gotten shaggy the last
month and he hadn’t bothered to shave for the trip. He was
looking grungy and headed straight for recently fucked, and she was
having a hard time keeping her tongue off of those bulging biceps.

“I was thinking we’d go for a hike—And
not just because of that bullshit you told that guy,” Seth said
with a strained sense of cheer she was far from blind to. The kid was
still hurting from that stupid Chloe bitch and Alexa was determined
to get his mind off of it. A whole year together and then dumped,
just like that, right before this big, terribly pink trip. It was a
shit thing to do and the bitch had footed Seth with a bill he really
couldn’t afford seeing as Chloe had been paying half the rent
at their apartment at the time. The apartment that was too big and
too far from Seth’s work because she had insisted and Seth
never stood the fuck up for himself.

All while saying she could see into the future. If
the bitch could see into the future that just made her an extra nasty
cunt for this shit.

Alexa closed her eyes, counting to five before
pasting a smile on her face. “Hey, we could totally fill one of
the ice buckets with sand and walk around pretending it’s ‘Ms.
White’s ashes.’ We’ll talk in hushed voices every
time we look at the ice bucket like it’s really full of the
dead remains of a purse and shoe mauled by werecats.”

“Werecats are the fucking nicest shifters ever,
Lexa. You should have said wererats. They’d eat a person if
hungry enough.”

Alexa shrugged, trying not to stare too obviously at
the single bed in the room. “Werecats are funnier. They purr at
everything. They would totally purr a person to death.” The bed
was one of those circle types but at least she was pretty sure it
didn’t actually rotate. Still, she should be saying something
cutting and flippant instead of wondering if they’d be sharing
the bed. “Besides, they’re still predators. I’m
sure they could slice someone dead if they tried hard enough.”

Would they be sharing the bed? She’d shared a
bed with Seth before when they were younger. But… But they’d
been younger. He’d been a tanned but gangly nerd and she’d
been a total angry outcast. Seth sure as fuck didn’t look like
a mammoth of a mountain back then with his now rippling muscles and
broad shoulders she could happily sit on for hours. She had little to
complain of when the bastard kept flipping her over said shoulders
like she was as light as her bag of clothes—Shit, when the fuck
had he gotten so strong?

“Come on, smartass.” Seth threw a bottle
of water her way, Alexa catching it on reflex. “Let’s get
you walking off some of those energy drinks you gulped down.”

Nodding, she put the bottle down, glaring at the bed.
Pink bedspread with pretty flowers. She had plenty of reasons to hate
this place, namely Chloe, but the disgusting color choice was
definitely giving her a more immediate incentive to get the fuck out
and never return. It was like the annoying bitch was mocking her from
across two states with all this ugly ass pink. “Let me just use
the bathroom first.” She left Seth flicking through the
television channels while she slipped into the adjoining bathroom and
pushed her shorts and thong down, checking on the still sensitive
flesh of her new tattoo.

The black and purple wings curved up her navel from
above the crest of her pussy, her shaved mound only a little red and
sore to touch. The ink was enchanted, the tattoo created to look like
the wings flapped whenever it was touched. She was a fucking idiot to
have forgotten her ointment. She had always had ridiculously
sensitive skin and even though the damn thing was practically healed,
she was still sore. Now she was stuck an entire weekend trying to
hide her first, albeit totally badass, tattoo from her
over-protective friend. Seth had flipped out over every eyebrow
piercing she had gotten without him, although he had at least kept
his mouth shut over her many ear piercings. She didn’t want to
hear what he’d have to say about the dangers of getting a
tattoo, especially in such a spot. It would probably be along the
lines of it being skeevy to let some guy with a needle stare at her
snatch for hours on end. Which was why she hadn’t brought him
and why she couldn’t tell him she needed to find a damn store
with some fucking salve.

The spa was out in the middle of nowhere. It was a
nice enough nowhere, but the GPS hadn’t had anything for sites
or gas stations, restaurants, etc. to mention in the local area. She
remembered seeing a convenience store a few miles back but she wasn’t
sure how she was going to convince Seth to let her run off with his
car. She could lie and say she needed tampons… But Seth was
the kind of guy that would easily come along for such a trip. The
idiot was too nice and clearly didn’t want to be alone.

Alexa sighed to herself, carefully sliding her shorts
back in place. The material rubbed over her flesh and she bit her
lip, holding back a groan. The tattoo looked amazing, it did, but the
current level of soreness in the area was just making her horny as
fuck. She was glad she was wearing black because she was pretty sure
she was so wet that she was dripping at this point. Not great. Not
when she was supposed to be cheering her best friend up from another
shitty breakup with a girl that hadn’t been good enough for him
in the first place. Not when she kept noticing just how fucking hot
Seth looked and didn’t have the excuse of him being spoken for
to keep her from fantasizing.

He had fucking thrown her over his shoulders and
fuck, when she had slid down his back it had felt so good. Goddess,
how could he not have noticed how wet she was? Thank fuck he hadn’t.
Thank fuck he was a fucking boy scout most of the time, his mind
obsessed on his perfect girl of the moment and not much else. He was
always looking for his true love, some bride that was going to raise
him up beyond a man to some valiant prince charming. It was annoying
to watch him look for his self-worth everywhere but inside. Annoying,
frustrating, and overall exhausting. Each ideal girlfriend had only
torn Seth down more and Alexa was again left to have to mend the
pieces together.

This time, though, it was too different. She was
losing perspective and he was… Well, he was oblivious, as
usual. Thank fuck.

It was her own fault. She shouldn’t have agreed
to this weekend. Sure, it was what a good friend would do—and
she was determined to be a good friend—it was just really
difficult when she found herself with the worst fucking crush on her
best friend. She couldn’t even remember when it had started or
why. One day a little after her month long trip to hunt for fairies
with her mother and stepdad, Seth had gone from her all around
goofball of a best friend to something, well, hot. Sexy. Fuckable.
And she didn’t say that easily. She was really picky when it
came to what she liked in a man.

But she had always liked Seth. Like a brother. As the
most loyal friend she had. She would never ruin the relationship they
had for just some quick fuck while he was trying to get over another
lie of a girl.

She glanced in the mirror, grabbing two ponytail
holders from her wrists and twisting her hair into low pigtails to
keep it from getting too messy on the hike. Her purple streaked locks
reached down to her breasts, waving into loose curls to cling to her
star dusted tank top. She had put on too much makeup for this, her
lipgloss too shiny, eyeshadow too sultry. She had made herself look
trampy, and available, and fuck—She might have it bad. Still,
she leaned close, making sure her eyeliner wasn’t running from
all her laughing earlier. She stuck her tongue out, her tongue ring
glinting in the obnoxiously pink tinted bathroom. If she ever saw
Chloe again she was going to permanently spell the bitch’s car
black.

Whatever. She was just antsy, horny, and waiting for
this day to get over already. Five hours in a car with Seth had not
helped on the crush level. No, she had been about ready to climb into
his lap after his fifth stupid ass joke about Cosmic Races. Fucking
sexy nerds; they were the worst. She just needed to get through this
stupid weekend and then she’d be able to get away from Seth and
his hunky muscles and stupid gorgeous face.

“Fuck—Mother fucker!”

Seth’s shout rang out through the woods, Alexa raising her
head to hear from where she had been poking around what she thought
was a pixie burrow.

“Get off me!”

“Oh, fuck,” she gasped, grabbing the pack from her
shoulders, throwing it down, and unzipping and grabbing the spelled
bar of metal out in record time. She was running before she fully
felt it, her eyes wide open, ears straining, and heart pounding as
she headed for where Seth had wandered off to. No one at the spa had
warned of anything dangerous in the woods, but that didn’t mean
it wasn’t possible. They were out in the middle of nowhere in a
nearly untouched forest. Whatever was attacking Seth could be
something as deadly as a crazed shifter to a swarm of angry
brownies.

Alexa burst through a stand of brush into a small clearing,
finding her friend on the ground clutching his bloodied leg while
swinging his backpack to the left of him where she could just see
something rustling in the green underbrush. She sprinted over,
swinging her equivalent of an enchanted pipe at the shrubbery. She
heard an angry yelp over the clatter of her metal bracelets although
she had failed to make any content with anything solid and alive.

“Quick, my bag!” Seth shouted, tearing his own
backpack open while his friend stood as a shield in front of him. “I
have a fire ward.”

Alexa jumped away, feeling the heat of the spell toast up her
entire side before the brush before her melted away, purple flames
licking and then immediately puffing away into smoke. Nothing was
revealed but she held her weapon at the ready just in case, listening
and looking intently in case the creature returned.

“What the fuck was it?” Alexa asked, crouching down a
moment for a different view in the hopes of spotting the creature.

“I have no idea. I think it was underground when it found
me. Like a burrow or some shit.” Seth groaned as he moved his
hand, blood seeping down his calf and turning his dirt streaked sock
soggy and red. “I stepped into a hole and when I pulled my leg
out, something bit the fuck out of me.”

“I saw a pixie burrow a yard or so away. Do you think it was
that?”

Seth glared at the large teeth marks ingrained into the side of
his calf. “Yeah, that would be a fuck no.”

“Shit, okay. Are you okay?” She asked, not daring to
take her eyes off of the woods yet.

Seth grunted, hissing as he tried to get to his feet, only to grab
his wounded leg. “I’m not sure.”

“Don’t give me that shit—You’re alive,
aren’t you? Your leg isn’t melting off from acidic venom,
you’re not screaming in pain.” Alexa peeked over her
shoulder for a second, relieved to see that his leg was still
actually attached to his body before turning her attention back to
the unnaturally quiet forest.

“It bit me bad, Lexa. It got its teeth deep into my muscle
and… I think it might have had something in the bite.”
Seth sounded too calm even though his breathing was strained and he
kept grunting in pain as he forced himself to get to his feet.

“Hospital?” She asked, Alexa’s shoulders losing
a lot of their tension when she felt Seth’s body heat as he
stood behind her. He was well enough to stand—it was
something.

“Yeah. I’m not bleeding out or shit but…”
He trailed off, leaving her to fill in the blanks as she heard him
stumble.

Growling under her breath, she spun quickly, getting Seth’s
nearest arm over her shoulder. “This will turn out to be a good
thing, for real. There is no way the fucking hospital will be as pink
as the spa. Promise.”

Seth grimaced, the closest thing to a grin she was going to get
from him at the moment. His face was covered in sweat and had a tinge
of paleness already. When she met his eyes, she could see they were
taking on a glassy sheen. Whatever had bit him had poisoned him as
well. They wouldn’t know if it was a bacteria found in the
creature’s mouth, venom, or some sort of magical defense until
they got to the hospital but given how quickly the symptoms were
coming on, Alexa had a good guess magic was involved.

“Tell me what’s happening, Seth. I need you talking,”
she said while helping to walk her friend forward. She paused long
enough to let him sling his backpack over his shoulder, the brunette
wobbling unsteadily from the new weight for a moment before he
regained himself.

“I’m okay… Just feel a little fuzzy headed.”

“Fuzzy like drunk? Like you’re going to pass out? Like
you’re going to start craving human flesh? Help me out here,
Seth. Details.”

Seth didn’t say anything for long minutes, Alexa turning her
watchful gaze from the trees around them to find his face. He was
staring at her shoulder. It had gotten bloodied from his arm and he
was staring at it with an odd look to his already glazed eyes.

“Come on, Seth, please tell me you’re not thinking of
cannibalizing me,” she muttered, snapping her fingers to get
his attention.

Shaking his head, Seth scowled, tilting his chin up. “You’d
taste terrible. You eat so much shit as it is. I’m sure I could
get someone organic back at the spa.”

“And don’t you fucking forget it when you start going
zombie apocalypse on me, buddy,” she shot back, dragging on his
arm to make him take another step. Her tattoo was flaming at her—all
the running had definitely pissed it off. She did her best to ignore
the way that, combined with the adrenaline pumping through her veins,
she was totally dripping for dick.

Seth stumbled along the best he could, hissing with each painful
step. She knew they were leaving a blazing trail of blood but she
didn’t dare stop to patch him up when whatever had attacked him
could still be there. Also, if he was poisoned, she could only hope
that him bleeding out would push out the substance inflicting him.

“Hold on… Just, hold on,” Seth mumbled, using
his free arm to grab onto a large tree trunk. Alexa glared back at
him, her worry only growing when she saw just how pale he had grown.

“What? You going to puke?”

Seth shook his head, tightening his grip on her shoulder. “No…
Do you smell that?”

“Smell?” Alexa raised her head, scenting while letting
her eyes drift to the forest around them. They were only a half hour
up the trail and they’d been wandering slowly through most of
it, neither of them in a hurry to get anywhere, just happy for the
fresh air outside of the car. She wanted to get him back as soon as
possible and she really didn’t think a smell was reason enough
to stop unless it was fire or death. “I don’t smell
anything but your blood.”

Seth frowned, breathing deeper, his blue eyes closing. “It’s
good, Lexa… It smells really fucking good.”

Goddamn, please don’t let this be some sort of fairy trick.
Alexa raised her pipe; it was her own design, a wand enchanted to
repel most predators, magical or not, with its power. And what the
magic didn’t work on, she was happy to beat the fuck out of
until the creature got the picture and left. “Seth, we need to
get back. Now. Whatever is in your system is hitting you fast.”

“It smells so good.” Seth leaned forward, Alexa
jolting when she felt his breath brush hot against her ear. “It’s
heady… like thick honey…”

“If you follow that up with brains, so help me, Seth
Stevens, I will not be responsible for the beating I give you,”
Alexa warned, her hand grasping her wand harder.

“You smell really good… Really good,” he
murmured unapologetically, his nose brushing into her long blond
locks as he inhaled slowly. “Hell, why do you smell like that,
Lexa?”

Alexa took a steadying breath, trying to ignore her growing fear
and really fucking stupid body that wanted more than anything to let
him sniff her neck like some idiot. His lips brushed her jaw and she
gasped, fighting back a low whimper.

“Seth, something has injected you with a foreign, possibly
magical substance,” she said as calmly and rationally as
possible. “I smell the way I always smell, you’re just
perceiving it differently because you’re being influenced
beyond your control. Which means I need you to move your long ass
legs and lug your impossibly heavy body the fuck out of here so I can
get you help.” She tugged hard on his arm to no avail. Seth was
a good head taller than her and was a fucking wall of a man. “Come
on, you big lunk. Move.”

“I’m acting weird,” Seth said after a moment,
his eyes blinking open again. He looked down to where his mouth was
pressed to the side of his friend’s cheek, slowly pulling back
until his breath was no longer tingling on her pale skin. “Sorry…
Sorry.”

“Just walk, Seth. I’ll kick your ass later. Just do
this one little thing for me.” There was no way she’d be
able to carry him. She might be able to enchant a pipe with the right
spell book to scare the fuck out of things, but she didn’t have
anything that could make her mountain of a best friend lighter. If
she had to, she’d leave him and run for help, but she didn’t
want to do that. Not with Seth already so fucked up. Not with that
thing still out there, likely trailing them that very moment.

Thankfully, Seth got a hold of himself. He forced his bloodied leg
forward, wincing as he put weight on it and used the momentum to
start walking. “I’ll make this up to you. I knew this
weekend was going to suck—”

“Like I said; there is no way the hospital is going to be
worse than the spa,” Alexa said briskly, glaring at her
surroundings to fight back the sting of tears. Fuck Chloe for this.
Fuck this entire fucking trip. If Seth ended up dead because of that
stupid bitch…

“I’ll buy you a case of Red Bull,” Seth
muttered, nearly walking into a low branch. “Two.”

A shrill laugh breaking free, Alexa just nodded and clutched his
shoulder tighter. If the idiot made it through, she'd swear off all
junk food forever.