Bound to the Billionaire

Chapter Eight: Sincerely, Your Local Freak

Close up, the wolf was even scarier. He must've been beautiful, all cleaned up.  Every muscle rippled under his pelt, defined, and those green eyes could've stolen him a couple hearts if he wasn't, say, snarling at you. His upper lip curled back, the blood dribbling off this razor-sharp canines. My wolf had never gotten quite so big, much to his chagrin. Alphas were supposed to be huge, bigger than any other wolf in the pack. That's what made them so intimidating. In the olden days alphas had to fight for their role as pack leader, so they were big for it. Built, snarling, ready to tear. 

You'd assume I'd be hulking. I'm not. 

I was a strange kind of wolf. Long legs, thin body, oversized ears and fur that half-curled. And if you want to colorize the image so your understanding of 'Dimitri the freak' can be finished: orange fur, black legs. What kind of wolf is that? Not exactly all wolf. 

The  alpha tipped his head for a second, sizing me up. I could see it in the way his pupils slimmed. He'd never seen anything like me before. And I took advantage of that. I'd never been the first to attack, but urged by my wolf, my oversized legs went sliding on the bloody floor. I pounced. I sunk my claws into his side. He slid, then tumbled; l turned, then charged. I flattened. Let him run right into me, let him trip over my strange, lanky body. It hurt. f**k, it hurt. But I couldn't lie there, I picked myself up, skating on the too-big paws, swung my head back and sunk my teeth into his shoulder. 

The wolf made a sound that wasn't all wolf-like. A gasp. I pulled my head back. I couldn't tell you why. Couldn't tell you why I let the angry wolf tell me what to do, but I did. I yanked back on his shoulder, heard the flesh stretch and start to to tear in my jaws. The wolf's eyes went big, his body convulsed, shrank, dropped out of my mouth.  I looked down and saw a man, naked,  in the pool of blood we'd created. 

"Freak! D-demon!" His eyes were big round coins in his scrunched up face. "Demon!" he said it again, louder, clearer. 

My chest heaved. I could've killed him, easily. He was muscular, taut, but he was still a frail human and I had big, meaty jaws. But something was wrong; my wolf was shaking. Never before had he so easily let me take back control. Normally, I had to wrestle with him, struggle for that last grasp of my body. This time he receded softly back into my chest and let my small, human form unfold crisply out. 

"Demon! Nico Asim associates with vermon?"

My teeth ground. 

Well, that's what you think of me, don't you?

I didn't have time for it. "Get out," I said, my voice a little more snarly than I normally would have let it get. I'd always tried to give myself a distinction between the wolf, and the human. Made my voice a little more lilting and soft for my human voice, as far from the snarls and growls and guttural sounds as I could. Unlike most of my packmates, my wolf didn't speak. 

Until now. 

The man scurried away, his bare feet leaving angry echoes on the hard floor as he ran. I waited to hear the door slam, then turned my back to him and toward Nico, who laid there, silent, no longer a wolf. Just this beautiful man, his hair messy and lying a little to the side, his soft skin stained with blood and bruises. 

I pushed a strand of that silky hair behind his ear, wrapped my arms under his. It took all the strength left in me just to lift him up on to the bed. The pretty, broken man. His black eyes widened, focused on mine. "How are you feeling, big fella?" I asked, forcing a smile. 

"Dimitri, what are you?" Nico asked. It hurt my heart. He hadn't even said it meanly, he used the same voice he always had. Stern with that light edge. I didn't see fear in those eyes. I didn't feel anything harsh or angry in the grip he held on my elbow; he was gentle. When we weren't messing in the bedroom, he was always gentle.  "I mean what—"

"Shut up and let me fix you." 

The little flair of light that touched the corners of his eyes. The way his shoulders tensed. No one talked to Nico Asim like that. And here I was, his puny little mate that had the stature and air of an omega daring to disrespect him like that. I should've been afraid; I hardly knew the man, and most alphas would tear me a new one for addressing them like that. But I was tired, I and my funny wold had saved him, and that made me bold. Sometimes that funny wolf made me a touch aggressive, and sometimes I didn't mind. 

"Are you okay? Dimitri, you don't sound like yourself."

"You don't know me," I said. His shirt was sitting on the floor, untouched, the smell of him wrapped all over it making me twitch. I picked up the harsh fabric, stretched  it in my hands while Nico watched. My chest heaved. I should've squeezed him tight into my arms, should've nuzzled his neck and smothered him in kisses. Instead I twisted his shirt into a fabric knot, my entire body trembling with an energy I couldn't name. Rage? Fear? "And I really don't want to talk about it."

"Dimitri—"

I leaned over him and shoved it into his mouth. "Just stop talking!"  I couldn't tell you who was yelling, me or my wolf. Maybe both of us. He looked up at me, those eyes big and flaming. But it was too late, I was already tearing toward the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. It felt like my body was going to cave in, too much information, too much had happened. I couldn't deal with it, that, or I didn't want to deal with it. 

There had been an attack from another wolf. The city could be plunged into a pack war, a phenomena my pack hadn't seen since I was a child. And Nico would want the truth, a truth I wasn't prepared to give to him.