Mine to Protect Chapter 103: LET'S ALL BE FRIENDS

*Derek*

“Kitten, you look radiant today! How can you get more and more beautiful every day?”

She arches an eyebrow unconvinced, her lips set into a line. This woman is a hard cookie.

“Why are trying to butter me up? Spit it out, Derek.”

She’s seen completely through my scheme; I might as well be sincere and try my luck.

“Since I am feeling better, and the situation seems quiet, why don’t we go for a small trip together? We have barely had any fun since we got together.”

She seems surprised for a moment, probably not what she was expecting, then she smiles sweetly and nods her had in approval.

“I’d love that, Derek, it’s a great idea.”

And now the bomb.

“I was also thinking that we could invite Emma and maybe Damon to join us, I’ve hardly spent any time with them since we came back, and Emma will have to go back to her pack soon.”

Hazel’s sweet smile drops from her face, replaced by a hard expression I can’t read completely, but it is pretty clear that she is not happy with my proposal.

“I am not sure I want to go on a trip with her; maybe you two should go, since she is leaving soon.”

Her voice is levelled and poised, but there’s a chill in her tone that promises nothing good, and the jealous vibes coming through the bond are loud and clear.

“No, kitten, you got it wrong, I want to go with you; if you don’t feel comfortable in bringing her along, we’ll go by ourselves.”

Hazel silently looks at me for a long moment, I can practically see the clogs working in her brain.

“But you wish she would come with us?” she asks me.

“I am ok both ways. After she goes back to her pack, I don’t know how long it will take before we see each other again, and with everything that happened during her stay here, I feel like I need to make it up to her somehow. But if you don’t feel comfortable in her presence, we’ll go by ourselves, just you and me.”

I know I am being unfair in guilt-tripping her like this, but I need to get them together, so that they can get a chance at talking things out and clear the water between them.

She stays silent for a few long moments, until finally she rolls her eyes and says, “Ok, fine, we can go on a trip with her, but it’d better be short, and if she says something mean to me, I will not be held responsible for what happens to her.”

Total win! Yehia!

“Thank you, kitten!” I say, while hugging her tightly. “I swear I’ll talk to her and make her behave during the trip.”

“Yeah, whatever,” is the only reply I get, plus another eyeroll, a toss of her hair, and then she is gone with a murderous stride. She’s not happy, and I wouldn’t want to be the person who’s going to be the target of her wrath now.

The next day we are all set to leave. Damon declined the invitation because he had too much work to do, I feel a little guilty for putting all the work pressure on him, but I will be coming back full time as soon as the trip is over.

Then, Hazel asked Macy to join us, but she is too busy with her dance lessons, Alice has stayed behind with Ryder at Woodrock’s Pack to manage things, so, in the end Hazel asked Grace, who eagerly agreed to join.

I am still not one hundred percent sure of this friendship they have established; sometimes I fear it is just a machination on Grace’s part, to hurt Hazel somehow, but then I see them together, and I feel that I’m just too paranoid.

For our trip, we’ll go to Lake Opaline, which is a couple of hours distance by car; once there, we’ll board on a yacht, where we’ll spend two days, swimming, fishing and having fun. I am sure Hazel will love it, and I can’t wait to see her in a bikini. I have seen her naked countless times, but there is something so sexy in a skimpy bikini, that just makes blood rush south.

We take a seven seats car for the trip; my driver is driving, as I am not still in top form, while Grace is sitting in the back, Emma is sitting shotgun, and Hazel and I are sitting in the middle.

Emma and Hazel haven’t exchanged a word yet, they just smiled tensely at each other, upon meeting at the car, but that’s as far as they have gone.

The atmosphere in the car is quite tense, and I can feel annoyance drifting to me through the bond, I try to replace it with calmness and optimism, but it doesn’t seem to be working much.

I switch the radio on, and Cheap Thrills starts blasting through the stereo. Emma immediately starts dancing to the music, and Grace does the same, while Hazel remains unmoved, her arms crossed on her chest.

“I love this song!” Emma shouts over the music.

“Hazel likes it too!” I reply eagerly, happy that I could find something they have in common.

Hazel, still with her arms crossed, not swaying to the music like the other two, turns her murderous gaze on me, her eyes poking out like she’s trying to put me on fire and reduce me to ashes.

“I don’t like this song, at all,” she says stubbornly.

“Come on, you told me you liked it not long ago, you even danced to this song in my car!”

“I did not!”

Her tone now is as glacial as her stare, and I decided I need to shut up, and let the chips fall where they may.

Hazel turns her stare to the window, ignoring me completely. I am not sure what I have said wrong, but I think it’s better if I let her cool down a little. I bet it’s taking a lot of her self-control to not move to the rhythm, seeing how she loves dancing, and this is possibly adding to her bad mood.

Finally, we get to the lake; it was just a two hour-drive, but it felt like ten hours.

Hazel gets immediately out of the car and goes to retrieve her luggage from the trunk, I hurry behind her, trying to get the suitcase from her, but she moves it out of my reach.

“You are still convalescent, I can manage,” her words are thoughtful, but her tone is still freezing cold. Great, I hope she is not going to stay angry for the whole trip, this is not how I envisioned things going.

We take all the luggage down, and our driver and the yacht’s crew help us bring them onboard. I am ready to board the yacht myself, when Emma calls me from the car,

“Derek, I think you forgot something!”

What could it be? I don’t remember bringing anything else. Hazel and Grace board the yacht, while I make my way towards the car, and when I get there, I lean inside the car door, looking at the spot where Emma is staring at.

“What is it? I don’t see anyth…”

Before I can finish my question, I feel the sting of a needle on my neck, my strength immediately leaving me. Before I can do anything, someone places a rag soaked in chloroform on my mouth and nose, I try to struggle, but in vain, eventually I drop unconscious, even if my mind is screaming for my kitten. Please, Goddess, protect her!