Chapter 16-- Mysteries

“I can’t fight!”
“The body never forgets.” Bane, Dean’s beta and third in command said.
He was a massive man about three inches shorter than Dean and he was asking me to fight Lyle. Was he insane? Lyle smirked at me as he toyed with his gloves.
“Ready Little Wolf?”
I shook my head. “There are easier ways to kill me Dean.”
He growled, “He won’t hurt you.”
Embarrassment is bad enough. I swallowed the lump in my throat then Dean came up behind me and held my shoulders.
“Just dodge his attacks at first everything will come later.”
I grinded my teeth together. I wish he gave me more time to prepare for this.
“Don’t worry Little Wolf, I’ll go easy on you.” The corners of Lyle’s mouth lifted.
Lyle charged. I couldn’t tell where his first attack was going. I failed to block him. He kicked at my ankles and sent me landing on my ass. Snickers came from behind me. Ginger and her buddies watched.
“This is so embarrassing.” I muttered.
“Try again Layla.” Dean said.
I glanced at the three older wolves standing behind me, arms folded across their backs. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of letting them see me down. When Lyle charged at me again he came in slow motion. I knew where his arms were aiming for, I knew his next step. I recognized his weak spots. I could feel the blood pumping in his veins and the breath escape his lips. I blocked his arm and lifted my knee and shoved my boot into his belly.
Lyle landed with a huff.
“Fuck. If it didn’t hurt like hell I would think that was incredibly sexy.” His head landed on the grass.
Dean tucked me under his arm and my hands instinctively went around his waist.
“That’s enough.” Dean commanded.
“But Alpha—” Bane started.
Dean shot him a glare that leveled him. Dean held my shoulders and lowered down to my height.
“Feel any different?”
“I want to kill you a lot less than I did a couple minutes ago.”
The corners of his lips curled. “Of course. Let’s go shopping.”
Before we left I locked eyes with Gabe. His eyes held darkness, but not something as dark as accusation. It was desire. Desire for something he couldn’t have. Me.
***
The sky rapidly went from blue to tiny cotton candy clouds to grey with lightning bolts cutting the sky into sections. Dean loaded bags of clothes into the back of his double cab pick-up truck. Dean insisted on getting me a whole new wardrobe. A battle he won. If he hadn’t spent so much time shopping, we would have made it out before the storm started.
“Shit.” Dean spat as he closed the door behind him.
I bit my bottom lip.
“You think this is funny?” He asked, running a hand through his damp hair.
“I haven’t said anything.”
He brought the car to life. Seconds later tapping noise came from the windscreen. A harder knock then sounded from the passenger window.
“Shit. I didn’t read about a storm today.” Dean drove into the street.
Hail hampered down on the car like a million golf balls from the sky.
“The road to the castle becomes almost impossible to drive on when it rains.” Dean said.
I had to hang on to my seat as Dean took the dusty road that was now a landslide of mud up to the castle. I could see the imposing castle but the fallen tree in front of us blocked our path. The rain hammered down on us and the wind pushed the trees to the point they were being ripped from the ground.
“I know another way.” Dean said.
The car tossed us violently. It seemed Dean was rather comfortable in these conditions. My heart was slowly failing me. There were trees everywhere. Sharp rocks sticking out of the ground. What if a tree fell on the car and crushed us? Dean gripped my thigh and squeezed.
“Don’t worry. It’s just a little rain.”
Thunder chose to roar at that exact moment and I jumped. Dean brought the car to a sharp halt and cursed. Two trees had fallen over one another. I turned to him.
“Are you going to tell me there’s another road?”
He gripped the wheel and cursed. “No. I know somewhere we can crash.”
Minutes later and he was right. We would be crushed in there. Though, being crushed in the car didn’t sound fun either so we raced into the house. Not fast enough because by the time we got inside we were soaked to the bone.
I shivered. Dean hit a light switch and the lights came on. I didn’t think this rickety old place would have power.
“You okay?”
“I’m soaking wet.”
He caressed my cheek. “I love the look.”
“Oh shut up.”
He lowered his head to kiss me. Lightning flashed and thunder roared seconds later before the house violently rocked. Dean pulled me into his arms. The windows shattered, letting in the wind razor droplets of rain.
“Shit.”
“We’re trapped!”
An oak tree landed on the front porch. Dean yanked the door open and a thick tree crossed the door.
“I’ll have to remove it.” He ripped off his shirt, his back muscles relaxed as he lowered his arms to his side.
I dragged him away from the door. “Just leave it not right now.”
“Are you scared something’s going to happen to me Little Wolf?” He pushed wet hair out of my face.
“Of course not—” It the first time I noticed the black mark on the side of his torso. There was no way I could have missed that. My hand hung in mid hair, but I was too afraid to touch the scar. It couldn’t have been fresh either. It looked like a decades old scar.
Dean took my wrist and placed my hand flat on the scar. It was bigger than my hand. I stared into his eyes as he did to me.
“What happened?”
“I got the mark when my mate died.”