-Chapter Three-
The Heat

True to his word Braxton and I left shortly after our discussion, to say I was less than thrilled with the idea of leaving when friends and family need us would be a huge understatement.

For the first time ever, I was genuinely mad at Braxton.

"Pout if you want to gorgeous, but this is something I will not budge on." He sounded tiresome.

As we rode on in silence I was beginning to feel antsy, I kept fidgeting and get frustrated with my seatbelt.

"Are we almost there?" I asked annoyed, "I need to get out of this car." I finished, feeling more than a little restless.

"We'll be pulling in soon."

And just like he said, we did in fact pull up to the familiar large lake house.

In the year that we have been together we did manage to get our house together as well as the lake house. Before, the lake house had seven rooms but most of the rooms were mainly doubling as storage so only three rooms were only ever used for company to stay in overnight.

Since then, Priscilla and I sorted through all of the random belongings, she kept some but sold off or donated most of it.

He had all of the bedrooms done over, we donated all of the old bunk beds and instead put twin beds into the rooms that way if couples stayed in the room they could push the beds together, other rooms had trundle beds so this offered more bedding for multiple people to sleep in the rooms.

Lastly my handsome boyfriend converted one room into a library just for me. With large comfy love seats and floor to ceiling bookshelves that lined the walls perfectly, only one wall was left bare and Braxton had a large window installed for maximum lighting and an amazing view of the trees and the lake.

Having planned to come to the lake house Braxton grabbed our bags out of the trunk and I used my keys to open the place up.

I turned off the alarm and turned on the lights.

I had to admit, it always felt good coming back to the lake house.

But even as I smiled at the place I felt...off.

"You okay gorgeous?"

I turned to see Braxton setting the bags down and locking the door behind him.

I nodded but he walked over to me, he caresses my face gently before taking me into his arms, I rested the side of my head against his body.

"You're heat has started." He acknowledged softly.

"Please don't leave me." I was scared, I didn't know what this whole 'Heat' would entail.

"I won't leave you, not tonight at least, but I may have to go to check on the pack...and like you pointed out, the guy could try and attack us for holding his sister and mate...a retaliation ambush."

I hated myself for even bringing it up now.

"Dumb question, but is it normal to feel so hot?"

He nodded sadly, "how about I set the alarm and meet you up in the room, I'll draw a cool bath for you to try and ease some of your discomfort."

I nodded and did as he suggested, only instead of waiting for him I started my own bath.

I stripped out of my clothes just as Braxton was walking in.

"Shit... sorry." He sounded of walking in on me fully naked now.

I got into the tub and relished in the feeling of the cool water touching my skin, as weird as it was I felt the need to have Braxton in there with me.

"Don't leave." I urged.

"Uh." I could see he was struggling with himself to keep from outright staring at me.

Granted we've messed around before it's always been in the dark or or with some clothes still on, but here I was in the bright restroom on full display for him.

I should feel even a little self conscious, and yet, I didn't...actually, quite the opposite.

Something in me was wanting him to see us like this...needed him to see us fully.

"This is a little tempting for me Gorgeous." He sounded unsure.

"Look at me." I pleaded with him...even I could hear how seductive my words had come off now.

That was all it took for him to carefully look at me.

First he locked eyes with me and kept his eyes on mine, but all too soon I watched as his gaze strayed away to take in my body fully.

I could almost feel as his eyes raked over my form and my center throbbed for his touch.

I carefully moved to enter the tub now, I took a seat on the ledge of the tub, my back to him as I tested the water with my feet first.

It was cool and did in fact feel amazing on my skin, but there was something else I want...his touch.

I looked back at him and smiled as I noticed he was still watching me.

"Join me?" I asked softly.

And that was all it took...Soon Braxton was moving to remove his own clothes and join me.

I didn't hide the fact that I was staring at him as he made his way over to me. He got into the tub behind me and pulled me into his chest, a certain member of his pressed against my lower back.

The feeling of our bodies together in the water was wonderful.

He kissed my shoulder before he laid back and let out an audible sighed as he tried to relax now.

But our lovely calm was soon interrupted by this growing agitation in me.

I sighed heavily, "I just want this to be over already." I said through my teeth.

He sat forward and hugged my upper body as he placed another beautiful kiss a top my shoulder, "if you want, I can take it all away, no more discomfort." He said as he kissed me closer to my neck, "no more heat," this time he kissed my jaw, "no more sexual frustration."

At this I rolled my eyes, I was enjoying his kisses before he mentioned sex and I grew extremely irritated. "You only want to mark me so you can have sex."

"That isn't true and you know it." He stated calmly, I could even hear the small smile in his words.

"Oh please." I sounded as I began to get out of the tub, I walked over to the linen closet and wrapped a thick towel around my body, "just admit it, you hate that I'm saving myself."

"I respect that you're holding onto your virginity until you are ready." He corrected me.

I shook my head, "fine, then admit that once you mark me I'll be more willing to have sex with you."

He got out of the bathtub as well and also grabbed a towel, only he tied his around his waist.

"Of course once I mark you our bond will be stronger and the urge to fill our sexual needs will be stronger, but I would hope you know me well enough to know that I would not pressure you into anything you aren't ready for."

"Oh like how you're not currently pressuring me into taking your mark?" I asked sarcastically.

He sighed but remained calm, "Gorgeous, I'm not pressuring you, I'm merely stating that my mark can remedy all of this... including this urge to want to fight with me tonight."

"I can assure you that I don't want your mark tonight, and as you mentioned I am too much of a temptation for you during my Heat Braxton...if you're going to be here at the lake house you might want to choose another room to stay in to insure we don't both do something we'll regret."

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A/N:

I know that Harper seems super bipolar in this chapter and I'm sorry that may upset some of you, but it's all because of her Heat. The Heat will make the female feel angry, horny, sad, and insatiably hungry all while an intense pain grows until the week is up or until she gets marked.

If the female refuses to be marked and the week passes by she will go back to normal until the next full moon where she will experience the heat again (and every full moon after until she is marked).