Wow. I try to get away from the man as quickly as possible, speed walking to the nearest obstacle and hiding behind it. So embarrassing. That was so weird.
How could I have known he was an Alpha? And h- Not finishing that thought.
I look down my body, the pants still tenting as my body still remembers his soft touch. I reach down, moving myself and making everything a bit more comfortable.
I can't stay out here. I quickly get back into the large hall and lean against the wall the furthest away from the door. That way he can't sneak up on me.
A waiter comes by with glasses and I grab the one nearest to me, quickly gulping half of it down before I realise it's red wine. I shudder and down the other half of the glass. Don't care, alcohol is alcohol and if I'm to survive the night I need to at least be somewhat buzzed.
I look around the event, the Alphas in here are so much more obvious about their status, parading around the place like they own it. Which they probably do.
There is a lull in the music and the dance floor clears some. I step forward positioning me at the edge of it, ready to step in if any pretty girl steps onto it.
I need to put the guy out of my head, he was just playing mind games with me. I don't care about that. I'm here to hook a girl and that is what I'll do.
A petite woman in a long red dress steps onto the dance floor and I join her immediately.
The woman looks at me curiously, but then frowns and shakes her head.
She grabs me and starts to lead the dance. A sly smile playing on her lips.
I look down, right into her dress, maybe a bit too obvious but I need to remind myself. This is a woman, I prefer women to men. I've never ever been interested in a guy before, so this must be some sort of weird trick.
"Don't try to hide from him. You're his now." The woman gives me a quick peck on my cheek before she lets me go.
Though letting go is too gentle a word for the way she flings me away, not in a nasty way, but definitely with a purpose.
Two arms surround me, holding me so I don't fall down as I try to catch my footing. My body tenses as I catch the scent of the man holding me.
Him again.
I push away, getting out of his grasp. "I don't want to play mind games.
Like I said, I'm not interested in men."
"We'll see. I know you're hard already. Before the end of the night you'll come to me." He puts his hand under my chin again. "I won't chase you any more, you'll come chasing me."
With that he turns around and leaves. Leaving me behind at the edge of the dance floor. Someone bumps into me and I almost lose my balance, only just being able to stay upright.
My brain blanks out. What was that? Was that a threat, or maybe a dare?
One thing I do know is that this is not right. Never before have I been interested in men and I won't start tonight, whatever that guy thinks.
***
The rest of the night the man keeps to his promise. He talks to some people, even flirts with a couple of them, but he stays away from me. I'd sometimes catch his eyes on me, but he'd look away as soon as I caught him.
Nearing the end of the night I see him with the woman in the red dress, they're laughing, chatting, goofing around. And it shows a totally different side to him. His face more at ease makes him look younger, easier on the eyes. He looks like a tree next to her, though, since I've danced with her, I know how short she really is. But the way they interact makes it definitely obvious what he is. He oozes power and dominance, his posture wide and even when he is laughing loudly you can see his control.
It makes me regret being nasty to him, but not enough to come to him.
I'm straight, it's just not going to happen. He's gotta find another guy to play with, or girl, whatever he prefers.
A woman comes over to me, tapping on my shoulder. "You'd like to dance?"
"Sure." I smile at her as I wrap an arm around her waist to guide her to the dance floor.
The woman leads, easy, comfortably, and I follow her every move. Song after song we dance, just the two of us, as we talk about easy things. We love the same bands, like the same shows, even studied at the same college, just different classes. She is easy to talk to, making me forget what happened earlier in the evening.
We look up as there is ruckus right next to us. The woman in the red dress and my stalker are dancing together, out of sync, constantly in each other's way. The man looks up, eyes locking with me and then with the
woman I'm dancing with. It's funny to watch, but when I look at the woman I'm holding, our connection is gone.
I see the same thing in her eyes, that moment of realisation. "It was nice to dance. But I'm not fighting him just over a lay. Have a nice evening." She steps back, nods at me and chooses another man out of the crowd to dance with.
I almost had her. Almost.
I turn to the man, who is now dancing with the woman in the red dress again. "I hate you! Leave me alone! Leave my life alone!"
People start to stare at me, including the man.
I feel my cheeks heat up, that was uncalled for. But I nearly had the woman far enough to retreat together for the night, I was nearly close enough to that ten grand. I turn around and stalk out of the hall again.
Towards the garden, towards some quiet place.
Fuck, this was totally not what I wanted. A freak-out like that could lead to more than not getting the ten grand for the night, it could lead to me not getting paid anything. They don't care about us, we're just bodies at the event, not one of the werewolves that they created the event for.
I blindly take corners until I realise that it has gone very quiet and that the last three corners I took have only led to more rows and rows of green.
Crap, I'm stuck in the maze. I turn around, but the sky above is fully dark and the lights going in every direction looks exactly the same.
***
I take corner after corner, not sure if I'm getting further into or out of the maze. I check my phone, but it's no use, there is no map that can get me out of here.
I sit down at one of the benches at a dead end.
Crap. What did I do? Why did I get so annoyed? There was no reason for me to act like such a brat. Sure, I might have been able to get that ten grand, but to act like this because of it is silly. I'm not like that. I'm calm, not easily irritated. People like that about me.
But now this guy has gotten under my skin and I want to just yell and scream and hit things, people.
I look up when I hear sounds, footsteps, coming closer. I'm about to jump up when the person rounds the corner.
It's that man again.
"You have to stop stalking me." I cross my arms in front of me. "You were in here for over an hour, I was getting worried." He steps
closer and looks me over. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine." I step back, hitting the back of my legs against the bench. "What do you want?"
He opens his mouth to say something, then he closes it again before he answers my question. "Let's get you out of here." His voice is soft as he steps to the side, giving me space to join him without being too close.
We walk side by side is silence as he leads us. I have no clue if we're even going the right way, but I trust him more than I do my own sense of direction.
"I'm Max." The man just talks straight ahead, not even looking at me as he speaks.
"Eric." I stop in the middle of the path. "I'm sorry about before."
Max stops a few steps ahead of me. "It's okay. I get it. I'm sorry for being persistent."
We stand next to each other awkwardly and I feel like such a fool for how I've acted towards this guy for the whole evening. It's not his fault that I'm messed up, that my body reacts to anyone touching me.
But it didn't, not really. Both the woman in the red dress and the other one didn't make my skin tingle, my heart beat faster and got my brain to short circuit. I was right up against them, so close I could smell their skin, could almost kiss their lips. And I was lukewarm at most.
This man, Max, just talking to him, having him look at me, or even chaste touches. It set my body and mind aflame, it pushed me off-balance, and I can't stop it. Even now, with him standing more than an arm's length away from me, my heart starts to beat faster and I become very aware how alone we are in the maze. How quiet it is and how in this vast space, the distance between us means nothing.
I step closer to him, the look in his eyes guarded, and reach out, touching his arms and then his chest. I step even closer, reaching up to him, touching the stubbles on his chin, slowly moving my hands up to his neck. Then I softly tug at him, making him come to my height.
He opens his mouth and I put my finger to it, silencing him because I'm not sure I'll be able to do what I'm about to do if he breaks the spell.
I close the distance between our lips, putting my lips on his, just lightly, experimentally. Max stays still, letting me do whatever I want. I push against him harder, his stubble teasing the edges of my lips. I expect to want to pull away at any moment, but it hasn't come yet.
Max puts his arms around my waist, keeping them there loosely, not holding me, but more like he is holding himself.
I pull back slightly, just the barest hint, and Max lets me go immediately.
His breath comes out unevenly and I know that my own is coming out in short gasps too. That, from something that was barely a kiss, barely there.
I reach out again, pulling him closer faster this time, firmly planting my lips on his. The feeling that courses through me is lust, excitement, not
disgust.
Max wraps his arms around me tightly, now taking control of the kiss. He opens his lips slightly, poking at my lips with his tongue. I let him in, the feeling of his control overwhelming me, overwhelming my senses and making me wonder why I ran away from him.
His tongue seeks out mine, exploring my mouth, battling for dominance. I gasp, barely able to catch a breath.
Now we're this close together I realise something else, I'm not disgusted by his body. My hands start to wander, over his back, his hips, everywhere but the danger zone. I don't dare to try that out just yet.
Max lets me go slightly, still holding me, but no longer keeping me close. "I think it's better if we get back inside. I think that Alexia might worry if I too stay out here that long."
"Alexia?" My brain is finally losing the fog of lust, now I take breathes easier.
"The woman in the red dress, you danced with her." The look he is giving me is curious.
"Ah, her." I try to hide my face from him. Her, the woman I was ogling right before she handed me to him. Yeah. They're friends, that was so not a good move.
Max reaches out to me, holding out his hand, waiting for me to take it.
I slip my hand into his like it's the most normal thing in the world. Part of my brain is trying to catch up with what is going on while another part trusts Max to know what is best. It trusts Max, period.
Though when we get closer to the exit of the maze and the sounds of the party are reaching us more and more, I slip my hand out of his. I might have been okay in the dim lights of the maze, where people couldn't see us. I'm
totally not ready for people to see me hold hands with a man out in the open.