Mated To An Enemy

For a week and a half, Ashleigh had been enjoying her time with Granger; they had been on moonlight picnics and walks. Had long conversations about anything and everything. It was almost like the time after the Blood Moon never happened.

She was happy. It was nice to reconnect with him… every day.

It was nice to feel so close to him… all the time.

She loved him, but he was driving her crazy.

Before, they would spend time together every day, but it wasn’t all their time. They would see each other for an hour or two most days and spend several hours together on the days they didn’t have duties.

Now, when she woke up each morning, she already had a message waiting from him. He went on her morning runs with her, to her morning sparring. He would leave for his training with the representatives throughout the day, but he would find her for lunch or breaks. They had dinner together every day and would share evenings in the moonlight.

Ashleigh began to feel overwhelmed by his desire to always be together. She wanted just one night to herself. So, reminding him that she hadn’t seen her friends much since being back and that Renee had asked her to hang out. Ashleigh was thrilled when Granger had agreed, and she had thanked him for understanding.

But when Ashleigh arrived at Renee’s house, Granger was already waiting inside.

Her last hope for any alone time was the comfort of her usually busy schedule of training and patrolling. But even that was too much to ask._.

Her duty rotation had already been divided up amongst other pack members since she was supposed to be training Caleb during this time. So, when Saul had asked Ashleigh for help with the attack formations and the sparring sessions, she had been overjoyed.

It was clear that Granger didn’t like the idea, but he hadn’t told her not to do it in the end. So, of course, she was glad, and the following day she woke up excited about the new activity. But, unfortunately, Saul had changed his mind.

Before she had even finished her breakfast, she received a message that they had decided on a different approach.

Ashleigh was disappointed. She ended up spending the first part of the day by herself, which honestly gave her some peace and quiet. But by lunch, Granger was knocking at her door. Having handed off the representatives to Saul and not seen her with them, he guessed there had been a change in plans. So, he surprised her with lunch.

Ashleigh decided that it was as good a time as any to talk about how much time they were spending together. She playfully asked if he wasn’t afraid that they would get bored of each other.

“Bored?” he asked. He turned and looked at her.

“I just meant that we spend so much time together, we’ll run out of things to talk about, things to do,” she sighed, taking a small bite of an apple slice, as she walked over to the window looking away from him.

“I could talk to you about paint drying on the wall, and I would find it fascinating,” he said with a charming smile.

She didn’t look up, just gave a half-hearted smile that fell almost as quickly.

Granger felt a surge of fire swell in his belly. He clenched his jaw and then swiftly pushed it away.

He smiled to himself as he moved carefully behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders; she flinched just slightly. He began to knead at the muscles in her shoulders with just enough pressure to draw a surprised gasp and a moan from her lips.

“Oh, that feels so good,” she said quietly.

He smiled to himself with pride. He continued to massage her shoulders and neck, rubbing away the knots and stress.

Ashleigh was surprised by how good it felt when he rubbed her muscles. She didn’t even realize how tight the knots had gotten. She relaxed more, putting down the apple slice on the window sill and spreading her shoulders to give him more access to the places that ached.

Feeling her relaxation and watching her shoulders spread, inviting him to continue, he bit the inside of his lower lip. His hands moved down over her shoulders, squeezing her upper arm down to the elbow. Then, never breaking the rhythm of the massage, his hands moved back up towards the shoulder.

She rolled her head slightly. His firm grip along her shoulders and back felt amazing, but it highlighted the muscles that felt tight in her neck.

Granger licked his lips as she leaned her head to the side, exposing her throat to him. He felt the low growl from deep within. That part of him wanted to complete the mate bond. He leaned forward and kissed her, running his tongue softly along the nape of her neck. She gasped, and the sound only made the excitement in him grow.

His thumbs pressed firmly along her shoulder blades, a particularly tight spot for her. Between the ministrations of his thumbs working the tight muscles and his mouth stimulating the sensitive bundle of nerves on her neck. She could not control her reaction and let out a shuddering breath.

Ashleigh felt strange. The sensation of his strong hand rubbing away the tiredness and stress of her shoulders was relaxing her. His hot breaths against her throat were stirring the flames within her.

Granger smiled against her skin. Then, feeling encouraged, his hands worked down the shoulder blades and to her sides, creeping under her arms. He kissed along her neck as she drew ragged breaths. He opened his mouth and then bit down on her neck just as his hands covered her breasts. He groped her roughly, pressing her body against his.

She cried out.

Ashleigh felt a swirl of emotions. Confusion, panic, pleasure, pain. His hands were squeezing her breasts forcefully, and he was biting down on her. While a part of her enjoyed the sensation, a more significant part of her felt scared and panicked.

‘This isn’t right,’ a small voice whispered in her mind, ‘I don’t want this.’

It was her voice. Why didn’t she recognize it?

“Granger…”

Her voice was barely audible between heavy panting and soft moans. Granger continued to kiss along her neck. He pulled her harder against him, and she felt his excitement pressing firmly against her butt.

“Granger… please…” she tried desperately to speak to be heard.

“Yes, baby…” he moaned against her neck between kisses, “tell me what you want…”

One hand continued to knead at her breast, but the other moved down to her waist. He slid his hand under her shirt, moving back up toward her breast once more.

‘Stop! Stop!’ she screamed inside her mind.

His fingertips began to slide under her bra, and the panic overwhelmed her.

“Stop!” she screamed. Then, pushing against the window sill in front of her, she knocked him backward. Unfortunately, he fell against the table covered in sliced fruit in the process, sending apple slices all over the floor.

Ashleigh’s panic overwhelmed her, and she fell to the floor. She crawled away from him toward the wall. Then, bringing her knees to her chest and she hugged them tightly, as tears poured from her eyes, streaming down her face.

“Ashleigh, what the hell— Ash?” Granger started to respond angrily, but he felt a cold wash over him when he looked up and saw her state.

Granger dropped down on his hands and knees; he was shaking. He looked at her and realized she was too.

‘What happened to her?’ he thought to himself, fear and concern overriding any other thoughts he had at that moment.

“Baby…?” he called out to her, crawling in her direction slowly. When his hand got close to her foot, she turned her body away from him. Crying even harder.

He heard her soft sobs; it broke his heart.

“What have I done?” he whispered out loud.