The most chill chapter I have ever written. 

Chapter 6

I wasn’t sure when it happened, but it seemed like my internal clock had shifted. The next morning when Dylan woke up for the day, I was up with him once again.

While he was in the shower, I started getting ready for the day.

Jake’s visit to Midnight Moon had been cancelled, but Dylan had scheduled a trip to Locus Pack in two days. I wasn’t sure of the idea, but Dylan was convinced we needed the break. Apparently, being in another pack and discussing a major war about to happen, was his definition of ‘break’.

When Dylan walked out of the shower, his eyes were immediately on me.

I was wearing a pair of jean shorts and one of his t-shirts. It wasn’t my most flattering outfit, but I was well aware that Dylan loved seeing me in his clothes.

His shirt was two sizes too big for me, so I’d done on knot in the back. It made my shirt rise up and exposed some of my skin.

It did not go unnoticed by Dylan, who was looking at me with hungry eyes.

“You’re up again,” Dylan commented, as he slowly began making his way towards me.

I smiled, and shrugged, like if waking up early wasn’t a big deal for me. We both knew it was.

“You slept last night,” Dylan told me when he was standing right in front of me.

His hands wrapped around my waist possessively and I could feel his fingers tracing over the exposed skin on my back.

“It’s easier to sleep with you around,” I admitted, feeling my face warm up when Dylan smirked at me.

“At least you’re useful for something,” I commented.

Dylan growled at my words, and dug his fingers into my skin. I laughed at him because he really did look upset over my comment.

“I want to go for a run.”

Dylan didn’t even think twice before shaking his head.

“No,” he flatly stated, and pulled away from me.

He made his way towards the closet, with me following closely behind.

“Why not?”

“You ran away,” he replied, like if that was excuse enough.

He didn’t even bother turning around to face me when he spoke.

He’d only been wearing a pair of jeans. When he picked a dark blue shirt to wear, I snatched it from his hands before he could slip it on.

Dylan cocked an eyebrow at me, looking amused with my actions.

Instead of fighting with me over the shirt, he just grabbed another one from one of the hangers.

“Don’t bother putting it on,” I warned him, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against the door frame.

I noticed when his eyes trailed lower than my face, and I snapped my fingers to get his attention.

“If we’re leaving two days from now, I have things to prepare. Jace doesn’t want me to go alone, so he’s coming along. My dad and John are taking over the pack in our absence,” Dylan informed me.

He went again to put on his shirt casually, but I snatched it away from his hands before he put it on all the way.

My movements were too harsh, and the white shirt he’d been about to slip on ripped apart.

“Leila!” Dylan snapped in a growl.

“What?” I asked him in an overly sweet voice.

Dylan shook his head at me, and stalked passed me to get out of the closet. I could tell that I’d gotten him riled up by doing that. Good.

Just like I’d done before, I followed after him. Dylan didn’t seem to mind, that was, until we reached the door of the room.

Just staring at the dead bolt locks made me nauseous. Dylan could be extreme— I’d learned that the hard way.

“Eric will be here in ten minutes. He’ll bring breakfast,” Dylan told me, giving me a pointed look.

According to him, I hadn’t been eating well.

“That’s good,” I told him.

Dylan looked down at me for a while, before he turned to leave.

When he walked out the door, I sneaked passed him.

I’d only taken a few steps down the hall when Dylan caught my arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked me.

The frown on his face only made him look much more tempting. Suddenly, leaving him without a shirt didn’t feel like my brightest idea.

After all, I was attracted to Dylan as much as he was attracted to me.  

“If you get to leave the house, then so will I,” I told him.

Dylan gazed down at me in surprise, looking dumbfounded for a moment.

When he finally snapped out of his daze, he shook his head at me.

“That isn’t how this works,” Dylan scolded.

He grabbed my arm and tried— because he only got as far as trying— to get me back into our room.

When Dylan started tugging me back into our room, I twisted myself uncomfortably until Dylan was forced to let me go. It was either let me go or break my arm. It was a bit exaggerated on my part, but it got the deed done.

Although Dylan seemed angry, he still let me go.

“You want something,” Dylan growled out.

“I want to go for a run,” I told him.

“Forget it. You and Eric will only run into trouble. I won’t have that!” Dylan snapped.

“Then we can go for a run together,” I suggested.

My idea was a complete surprise to him. He hadn’t been expecting that. Just like Blake, Dylan was slightly paranoid that I would plan something against Jake behind his back.

“I need to get back to Jace. Today is a busy day,” Dylan slowly said, in a low and serious voice.

I smiled up at him, and shrugged. “I can wait.”

“I’ll wrap things up early,” Dylan told me, unsurely.

He still sounded suspicious, but he didn’t make a mention of it.

“I’m not staying in there again. I know you did it to punish me, or whatever. I’m done with that,” I told him.

“Done with running away?” Dylan asked, looking at me defiantly.

“No, I’m done with that punishment. I’m not going to run away and I’m not going to run into trouble on purpose,” I assured him.

Dylan looked at me thoughtfully, his eyes studying my face precariously.

“What will you do in the meantime?” Dylan asked me.

“I could go with you if you want?” I suggested.

I was not interested in hanging around Dylan while he made pack plans. The last time I had done that, it had not worked out too well. Eric and I had left before Dylan’s work day was done. The only reason I was doing it now was because I wanted to get out of the house.

I found myself really wanting to be near Dylan. I knew he wouldn’t trust me alone, so it was better to offer to go with him.

The only problem was that Dylan saw my actions as something out of the ordinary, therefore it was suspicious. I deserved that from him, but it still annoyed me.

Before we left the mansion, Dylan finished getting dressed.

Dylan, Eric, and I arrived at the pack prison early. It seemed to always be the first stop Dylan made on his day.

Some guys were taking off for rounds, while others were checking in for the day. Things were just as they’d been the last time I was there.

I even had everyone staring at me, which was something that irritated Dylan to no end. His main problem with the staring was that they were all guys.

It had taken a few looks from some younger Wolves to have Dylan on edge.

“Untie your shirt,” Dylan ordered me on the way to wherever we were going.

The shifters around heard his request, but everyone pretended like they weren’t listening.

“What?” I asked, acting like I didn’t know what he was going on about.

I noticed the looks I was getting were mainly because of the shirt, which showed my midriff area. I laughed at the deadly look in Dylan’s eyes when Jace stared at me longer than was necessary.

Jace had seen me in less and the way he was staring was really pissing Dylan off. It almost seemed like he was doing it on purpose.

“Hey Jace,” I said, waving at him.

“What are you doing here?” Jace asked, offering me a smile.

“Just getting out,” I shrugged.

He was probably the most shocked of them all. There was no doubt he and John probably thought Dylan would keep me locked in the house till the end of time.

Jace eyes were once again lingering on me after that.

“Did you need something?” Dylan snapped at him.

When I felt Dylan tugging on my shirt from behind, I realized he was trying to untie the knot I’d done to make it tighter on me.

He was mad— too mad. And he was too strong. Only a few tugs from him and the shirt gave way, leaving me standing in the middle of the hall with only my black bra on.

When the pieces of shirt fell to the ground, Dylan growled loudly and shoved me against the wall, putting his body over me to completely block me from everyone.

“Uh… You can have, this,” Eric awkwardly said, filling in the silence that had taken over the entire area.

I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I did feel when Dylan roughly began shoving a shirt over my head.

It had Eric’s scent all over it and I could tell that it bothered Dylan.

“Let’s go.”

Dylan grabbed my hand in his much larger one and started dragging me down the hall. Eric didn’t follow. When I turned around, I noticed he was picking up the pieces from the ripped shirt in the ground.

Everyone else in the hall, including Jace, seemed to be frozen in place.

It wasn’t until Dylan was a safe distance away from everyone that they slowly continued what they’d been doing.

“That was a bit too much,” I told Dylan once we were alone.

We were in one of the large conference rooms in the pack prison. It was nice and modern. I had only been to one of them, but it paled in comparison to the one we were in.

“I shouldn’t have brought you today,” Dylan told me, and he was still frowning at the shirt I was wearing like if it had the plague.

When I noticed his eyes traveled down to my shirt and a frown formed on his face for a second time, I began taking it off.

I was only left in the jean shorts I’d been wearing and my black bra. The look on Dylan’s face was a mix between arousal and confusion. He still looked mad from the earlier scene though.

“What are you doing?” Dylan slowly asked.

He was staring at my breasts openly, and I couldn’t help but smile at him.

I had missed that from him. It wasn’t until I was standing there that I realized how much I’d been missing us.

“You’re here half the day. I’m sure you have some other shirts lying around. This one’s uncomfortable,” I told him, dumping Eric’s shirt over one of the chairs.

The words had just left my lips when Dylan was pulling his shirt over his head and handing it to me.

When I took it from him, Dylan gave me a hard look.

“No tying it and making it shorter,” he said, sternly.

I rolled my eyes, but still nodded at him.

The morning with Dylan went by without incident. He really did have a busy day ahead of him. Shifters came and went all day.

I could tell when a new round around the pack was starting and when one finished. Usually, the Wolves taking off or coming back from their run would make a big deal.

They were joking around and being loud. Even though I was with Dylan, I was able to hear the commotion from inside the conference room we were in.

John had stuck around in the conference room all morning long.

Dylan didn’t only have to take care of pack stuff. He needed to make calls, give signatures, and anything else that was expected from him.

I never gave much thought to how Dylan made so much money. I knew it didn’t just appear out of thin air, but it was something that hardly ever crossed my mind.

“You can take off for lunch,” Dylan told John around midday.

It had been the first time either of them said a word in about an hour.

“You two staying here?” John asked, as he began gathering a bunch of papers that were scattered in front of him.

The table they were working on was a complete mess, but they both seemed to know where everything was at. I was sitting down next to Dylan, with his laptop in front of me.

I had been reading online most of the time. Whenever Dylan or John needed to make a copy of something or needed to get a paper from someone else in the place, I’d volunteer to do it for them.

Dylan usually agreed with a groan, but I noticed he didn’t relax until I returned from whatever errand I was running.

“We’re going out for lunch,” Dylan replied.

I smiled at him, and Dylan just shook his head at me. I could see in his eyes that he was still thinking I was up to something. I wasn’t, but it was funny to keep him wondering.

“I’ll see you two later,” John said.

He waved at both of us, and then strode out the room.

“How come you never go eat lunch with me on your break?” I asked Dylan, curiously.

Dylan looked up from the paper he was finishing up to find me staring at him.

“I run through lunch and finish up earlier for the day,” he replied, casually.

I hadn’t ever really considered that. His words made me smile.

“Do you want to go into town for lunch or do you want someone to bring something here?”

“We can go to lunch,” I replied quickly, getting up from the chair I was in.

I was more than excited to be going out somewhere. I assumed that even though Dylan didn’t have me on lockdown, there was no way he would let me drive with Eric into town.

With how alert everyone in the pack seemed to be of my escapades, I figured Dylan had warned everyone to stop me if they ever saw me out and about.

The drive into town was quiet. Dylan didn’t want to stop by at the house so that I could change into something nicer. Even though I approved of my sandals and jean shorts, I wasn’t too thrilled about wearing Dylan’s oversized shirt.

When I tried to knot it to make it look more presentable, Dylan stopped me. After the episode from earlier, I wasn’t looking forward to an argument.

I ran my hands through my long black hair and was glad that at least that looked presentable.

The main thing I hated about not dressing up was the he looked so damn good. His dark jeans looked great on him and the snug dark gray shirt he was wearing outlined his muscular form perfectly. His hair, which was sticking up all over the place, just made him look much more desirable.

His grayish blue eyes were concentrated on the road as I admired him.

“You look beautiful,” Dylan told me.

I shook my head at him and sighed loudly.

“You say that because I’m the one swimming in my clothes,” I told him, and pulled on my shirt dramatically.

A perk of wearing it was that it had Dylan’s scent, which was really soothing for both my Wolf and me. But I still wanted something nicer to wear. It was the first time, in a long time, that Dylan and I were going out.

“Do you want to go swimming?” Dylan asked me, completely changing the subject.

“Right now?”

“You wanted to go for a run. We can go eat and then we’ll go out to the lake,” he suggested.

“Seriously?” I asked, because I wasn’t sure if he was just saying that so that I would stop complaining.

Dylan nodded at me in reply.

I threw myself at him. I was aiming to give him a hug, since I was really excited about going over to the lake.

When I landed on his chest, I pushed on his arm and made him swerve the steering wheel too much to the left. We were really close to crashing against a tree, but Dylan somehow pushed me aside and took control of the car.

While I laughed at the near miss, Dylan was growling at me. He was not amused.

After that, I decided I probably should behave, since I really did want to go to the lake after lunch.

Being in a restaurant with Dylan was always an event. It was a small town, most of which was owned by Dylan and his family. Whatever wasn’t owned by them, his family had helped build.

Several of the people in the restaurant were human, but about half of them were shifters that belonged to Midnight Moon.

It was usually when I went into town that I got to see the regular life of most pack members. I got to see families, older generations, and pups.

Usually when I was with Dylan, I only ever got the chance to see his fighters, his trackers, and the members that ran the daily rounds.

“Do you want something?” Dylan asked me suddenly.

I hadn’t realized he was staring at me intently. I’d been too busy observing the people around us.

“No, I’m good,” I told him, smiling.

Although the food tasted great, I had only taken a few bites from the meal.

“That’s not what I mean,” Dylan bluntly stated.  

I looked up at him and waited for him to continue.

“What are you talking about?”

“Did you want to ask me for something?” He repeated, rephrasing his question.

“Uh…. No,” I replied, honestly.

Dylan frowned at my words and continued to eat without saying a word.

“You should eat,” Dylan told me a few minutes after that.

“I am eating,” I told him, and made a point by moving my food around in my plate.

“You’re pretending to eat,” Dylan told me flatly, daring me to contradict him.

“So what are the plans for the upcoming trip?” I asked Dylan, wanting a change in subject.

Dylan’s face lit up with my question.

“You’ll like Locus Territory. Have you ever been there?”

I shook my head, and smiled at him.

“My dad was a bit overprotective on the dating front. Whenever there was gathering, my mom and I usually stayed home. He didn’t want to risk me finding my mate,” I admitted.

“Yet he wanted you to marry Nicolas,” Dylan growled lowly.

I reached over to take his hand. I didn’t think Dylan would bring him up.

“That was different.”

“Because he was twice your age?” Dylan snapped.

His eyes had grown dark in a second and I could see his claws extracting.

“You already know why that was different,” I told him, with an edge to my voice.

“We were both Alphas.”

“Yes, but my dad and Alpha Jackson were closer to Nicolas. Alpha Jackson knew that a union would practically give him free reign with Raven Pack. You don’t even let me intervene in your decisions with the pack. There was no way you would let Alpha Jackson take charge of Midnight Moon,” I shrugged.

The harsh look in his eyes didn’t go away. It had taken practically nothing to get him angry.

“We should go for a run,” I told him, deciding that it was what we both needed.

It was a warm day out and my Wolf had been itching to shift. Dylan also needed to relax and the run was a perfect way to do so.

I loved watching Dylan’s large imposing black Wolf. I had my own personal Alpha, something many other She-Wolves would definitely envy.

While I was busy admiring him, I could tell Dylan was trying to cool off. I understood why he was angry, but it seemed pointless now that both Jackson and Nicolas were dead.

We were together. It was all that mattered.

‘Shift back,’ Dylan told me through our mind link once we reached the lake.

We had already taken a few laps around the territory.

Once we shifted back, I only bothered to put on Dylan’s oversized t-shirt. Dylan looked at me with appreciation. It was my turn to smirk when he tried to grab my waist and I moved away from him before he could catch me.

He was only wearing his jeans, which were hanging low on his waist.

“Tease,” Dylan chuckled, shaking his head at me.

I was slightly bummed when he didn’t chase after me, and settled on the ground in front of the lake instead.

I looked down at Dylan, who was looking attentively at the water. A light breeze in the air created small waves in the water, which glittered with the sun.

I focused on the lake as well, since Dylan seemed to be entranced by it.

It wasn’t until Dylan stood up from the ground, closed the distance between us with inhuman speed, and trapped me in his arms that I realized he’d been playing me.

I narrowed my eyes playfully at him, and slapped his chest.

“Cheater,” I scolded him.

Dylan shrugged, and slumped himself on the ground, bringing me down with him. I ended up straddling his waist and Dylan’s hands were tightly wrapped around my back.

“Maybe we should buy this piece of land,” Dylan suggested.

He’d been staring down at my lips. I thought he was going to kiss me, not start talking.

“Really?” I was surprised that he had even proposed that.

He never really seemed too fond of the lake, or the territory surrounding it.

“You like it and I did propose to you here,” Dylan said, nonchalantly.

He was playing it cool, but he was trying too hard to do so. His eyes looked sincere and interested. It wasn’t hard for me to tell that this was something he’d been thinking about.

“Isn’t it a bit far from home?”

“We could buy all of it. It would give us a good reason to expand Midnight Moon. The generation of pups this time around has good numbers. Our pack is getting bigger.”

“You do know that you already have the most land and the most Wolves,” I told him, leaning closer to him to brush my lips against him.

Even though I was only going for a small kiss, Dylan held on to me and pressed his lips against mine hungrily.

I was trying to catch my breath after we broke apart. Dylan hadn’t been wearing a shirt, so I was tracing figures against his bare chest.

I could feel his heavy breathing blowing over my hair, while his hand was running over my thigh. It was enough to get me worked up, and I was sure he could feel it.

“Jace looked into it. The acres belong to the government. A few calls and they could be ours,” Dylan said, picking up where we’d left off.

“When did Jace look into it?” I was genuinely curious to hear that answer.

I hadn’t seen Jace all morning, but I assumed he had been with the guys who were doing rounds in the pack.

Dylan clenched his jaw at my question, and sharply turned away from me.

“Dylan?” I said his name, and placed both of my hands on either side of his face.

He turned back to look at me reluctantly, but his eyes had grown darker.

“I had Jace ask around the day I went to get you from Blake,” Dylan admitted.

I took a sharp breath, and loosened the hold I had on him.

“I thought if I had something you wanted, you would come back home easily,” he finished saying.

I had never felt guiltier about running away than I did in that moment.

I closed my eyes, and rested my head against his chest, nuzzling my nose against his neck.

“I love you, Dylan,” I told him, knowing that wasn’t enough of an apology for running away.

I just needed him to believe me.

“I love you too,” he replied, tickling my waist playfully.

I placed a small kiss against his neck and leveled my breathing with his. Being in his arms was the best feeling in the world. It was moments like those when I had the time to appreciate it.

When it was just Dylan and me.

Happy Valentine's Day! I explain this chapter by saying: I am a Romantic, it is Valentine’s Day, Romance is in the air, Dylan and Leila needed a break. Hope you guys liked it.