My Happy Ending

Chapter Nine: Jealousy Rears Its Ugly Head

Ayame sighed wearily, thankful to finally get away from Hotoru. He was handsome, as humans went, with chocolate brown hair that fell in graceful waves to his shoulders. He had a body most men and women would die for, beautiful honey eyes, and a contagious smile, but she just wasn’t interested. Worst of all, he was becoming annoying in his advances toward her. She thought it ironic that the situation mirrored the Kagome saga almost exactly. It was like divine payback to Kouga, but why did she have to suffer too?

Speaking of Kouga, there was another nuisance she was dealing with daily. She loved him dearly, but sometimes she wanted to throw something at him. He had hardly left her side since his unexpected arrival in the village. He tried to anticipate her every whim, sometimes going to far too much trouble. And to top it off, she had to forcefully keep him from ripping Hotoru to pieces. Although, she had to admit, it was becoming harder and harder to ignore his advances. She almost wanted to forgive him just to see the happy expression on his face, but she wasn’t quite willing to let him off the hook just yet.

A cool breeze lifted her fiery hair from her neck, cooling her heated body. She hated hot days like this. She was actually thankful that winter was fast approaching. She casually sniffed the air, picking up an all too familiar scent. Kouga was coming. Grimacing, she turned in the opposite direction and began running. She just could not deal with his sickening sweetness today. The feel of the earth beneath her feet brought great pleasure. She loved to run, but lately she hadn’t been doing much of it. Preparing the villagers for the upcoming winter was hard work and left little free time.

She could feel Kouga’s youkai gaining on her which meant he had caught her scent. Most likely he was coming to make sure that her poor little body was doing okay in the heat. Men. Did they honestly think women were so incompetent that they couldn’t tell when and when not to work? Another scent reached her nose. She couldn’t help the groan that escaped her luscious lips. Hotoru was coming straight toward her. Could this day get any worse? In no time, she was face to face with the over eager human.

“Ayame, my love, why are you so breathless,” he inquired slyly. Pervert, she thought. The man wasn’t much better than Miroku sometimes.

“Funny running into you again Hotoru-san, but I’ve got to be going,” she said hurriedly, frantically trying to get around him. An arm shot out wrapping around her slim wrist and yanking her toward a well-muscled chest. If it was a certain other male, her position wouldn’t bother her nearly as much, but Hotoru wasn’t Kouga.

“Come on Ayame, I know you feel it too. We were meant for each other,” he whispered softly in her ear. She snorted lowly, too soft for his human ears to hear her.

“Listen Hotoru, I am not interested in you,” she replied sternly. Kouga’s scent was rapidly getting stronger. If he found her in such a position with Hotoru, there was no telling what he’d do. She was spun around swiftly, pulling her even more firmly against his body. She looked up into a pair of heated honey eyes, lust and love shining in their depths. She wondered sadly why she couldn’t have found someone like him earlier. Then she wouldn’t have gone through the emotional turmoil she went through with Kouga.

“I know you are attracted to me, care about me. Don’t deny what we both want,” he said heatedly.

“Hotoru, we can’t ever be anything more than fr…” she began to say before his mouth claimed hers roughly, plunging his tongue into her moist cavern. She couldn’t help felling a bit disgusted with the man in front of her, her eyes wide and angry. How dare he? She moved to shove him away from her when she suddenly met air. Stumbling forward, she barely kept herself from falling before looking toward the commotion in front of her.

An angry wolf demon held the frightened human off the ground, a hand slowly squeezing the air from his lungs. Hotoru was gurgling out indistinguishable words. Kouga was growling menacingly. Ayame ran to his side, grabbing on to his outstretched arm, trying to get him to release the gasping human. If she didn’t do something quick, this situation could just go from bad to worse.

“Kouga, let him go,” she cried frantically, pulling on his arm for emphasis.

“This human dared to touch what is mine,” he growled out, tightening his hand, his claws pricking the human’s skin, drawing blood.

“Let him go. He didn’t mean any harm,” she said heatedly. Ice blue eyes, with just a hint of red stared at her, anger consuming their depths. Ayame felt a shiver of foreboding race down her spine.

“Do you honestly think I would let my mate be with some human,” he spat out, throwing said human into a nearby tree, knocking him unconscious, before roughly yanking the petite red head toward him, their noses centimeters apart. Anger suddenly flared into Ayame’s body. How dare he? After what he’d done to her, he thought he had the right to call her mate. Well, she’d show him.

“And what mate would that be, Kouga. Last time I checked, that was up for discussion. What I do with my life is no concern of yours. Maybe I like Hotoru,” she spat out. A low rumbling growl quickly filled the clearing and red continued to seep into Kouga’s eyes.

“You are MINE,” he roared, pulling her off her feet and unceremoniously tossing her over his shoulder. Yelling in indignation, she began to furiously pound her small fists against his back.

“LET ME GO,” she screamed into his sensitive ears. He hold loosened for a split second before tightening even further. She was having trouble breathing.

“Don’t do that again, woman, or I’ll punish you,” he threatened. Her eyes shot daggers into his back. Like hell she was going to let him get away with this. He had no right.

“She continued to yell and beat her fists against his back for what seemed like hours. Finally, he began to slow down, entering a well hidden cave before dumping her on the ground. She gingerly rubbed her abused bottom while glaring at him hatefully. He just smirked at her, red completely dominating his eyes, before turning to build a fire. She silently rose to her feet and began to make her way towards the entrance to the cave when she was thrown roughly into a cave wall. Angry red eyes glared at her.

“Where do you think you’re going, mate,” he ground out.

“I’m not your mate, bastard,” she spat. He rumbled a warning, but she wouldn’t heed it. She tried to make a dash for the entrance again, but a pair of strong arms caught her around the waist, yanking her into a male body roughly. She growled in anger, struggling for freedom.

“It seems I’ve become too complacent to your tantrums. It’s time you really learn who is the alpha,” he whispered roughly in her ear.

“It sure as hell isn’t you,” she yelled, earning a rough nip to her sensitive ear. She let out a squeak of fright. Maybe she shouldn’t be so mean. She was suddenly thrown to the ground, a dark figure looming over her, his red eyes glowing in the dim cave. She felt fear begin to consume her body.

“I think you need to be punished. By the end of this night, you will know who your master is,” he said darkly before descending on her. She frantically tried to get away from the angry demon above her, but she was know match for him. She was at his mercy. She silently cursed her obstinate attitude for the trouble it had gotten her in. What had she done now?