“That’s no way to talk to your future Alpha,” Bella snaps. I might have lost my wolf last night, but now she’s determined to make herself known. She presses forward, chomping at the bit and wanting to rip out Bella’s throat. A growl rumbles in my throat and I look at Bella. I don’t look away when she glances at me.
“I thought that bitch was supposed to be gone by now, baby,” Bella whines, looking up at Keiran.
Baby.
Luna. Gag me.
I step forward with a sigh. “Well, funny thing, I was about to do just that but then you showed up and stopped me. Now, answer her. What do you want?” I ask and Keiran’s mouth well and truly drops open. I’ve never spoken to him like this, much less anyone else.
Bella’s eyes go wide and she takes a step towards me. “You don’t talk to me like that or I’ll split your lip again, orphan whore.”
I drop my bag on the table and stalk towards her. “I’d like to see you try without the Alpha backing you up.” My wolf howls with excitement. I didn’t get to go on a run last night and she’s here and awake. She’s ready for revenge, too. It doesn’t matter that we’ve never been in a fight, she knows she can take Bella.We’re strong. We will destroy the bitch who took our mate.
My wolf is keyed up to fight and if I’m honest, so the fuck am I. I’m about to challenge Bella properly when Keiran interrupts.
“We’re here to announce our engagement.”
All eyes go to Keiran and I stop walking so fast that I stumble and nearly fall, which gets a mean laugh from Bella.
“That right?” Maud leans casually against the doorway. “I guess I am the one to tell, seeing as I’m an Elder. You’ve come for a blessing then, have you?”
“That’s right. This is my pack now.My home,” Bella says and smiles smugly at me before she looks at Maud. “And be quick about it. We have a family brunch to attend in Winthrop and don’t want to be late.”
Winthrop is the town I’m supposed to catch my bus from.
Of course we’re going to the same place.. My wolf isn’t interested in fighting now. She’s feeling heartbroken again. She curls up snout to tail and goes still. I wince and turn my back on Keiran and Bella to feign interest in my backpack. I make a show of rearranging the foodstuffs I’m taking while Bella and Keiran talk to Maud. They’re her problem now but honestly,from the attitude Maud is throwing, realisticallyMaud is their problem.It’s a small comfort while I pretend I’m not here. I take a steadying breath and look down at the pack I’m holding. Just a few more minutes and all of this will be over. All I have to do is tune them out until Maud gives them her blessing and then I’m free. We’ll go straight to the bus station and that will be the last I ever have to think about Keiran or this nightmare of a pack.
I’m studiously zipping my backpack up when I hear Bella. Her voice is pitched higher, meant to make me hear her even with my legendary effort to disassociate into the ether.
“I didn’t even get to show off my ring because last night was ruined but we’re making the most of it. Keiran proposed before the moon run. Don’t you think my ring is perfect?”
I look because I’m a sucker for punishment. There’s no way I can’t not look. I try to act casual, turning and slinging my backpack over one shoulder as I do. Anger flashes hot in me when I see Bella holding her hand out to Maud, who’s shuffled over to her work table and is mixing up the necessary incense to give the couple her blessing. Maud hardly gives the ring a look and a half-hearted ‘that’s real nice’ before she lights a charcoal disc. Bella isn’t fazed by Maud’s lack of interest because it was never for Maud to see.
It was for me.
I see red when I see the damn ring. It’s the one that she slapped me with, the one that split my lip. The big shiny diamond looks huge on her left hand. My lip throbs even though the cut is healed by now. My wolf coming in sped the normal quick shifter healing up so there’s nothing on my lip that would ever tell you it was split last night.
Still…I know.
Bella gives me a sidelong look and steps towards me. She’s in Maud’s hut, halfway in and I hate seeing her in this place I’ve loved so well with my mate at her back. In all the years I’veknown Keiran, he’s never been here with me. Not really. Our time was always in the woods, out back where no one would see us.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” She waves her hand at me.
I don’t answer her, I just tighten the straps of my backpack and look around the hut one last time. I can’t stay here with Bella and Keiran so close. I want to remember it as a refuge, not like this. I have to get out of here before they taint my memories.
“I’ll wait by the truck,” I tell Maud. I sidestep Bella and squeeze past Keiran before he can move. My shoulder brushes his chest and it feels like I’m hit with a lightning bolt. I hear the sharp intake of his breath. Even if our bond is broken, he felt that touch too. I’m tempted to look at him but I don’t. I can’t. I hurry forward into the misty morning and it’s only when I’m halfway to the truck that I let out the breath I was holding.
“Fuck,” I whisper and press the heels of my hands to my eyes. I can’t stand to look at anything right now in case I see Keiran. I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly before I do it again. “I’m okay.I’m okay.”
My wolf surges forward. She wants to go back and claim our mate.He’s ours,she insists with a howl and I stagger forward. “No. No, not now.” If I shift right now my clothes will be ruined and my bag too. I can’t lose my supplies like this.
It’s a struggle to keep moving forward towards Maud’s rusty old truck, but I manage it. Images of my wolf leaping forward and ripping Bella’s throat out come hot and fast. Even as she wants to claim him, she wants to tear Keiran to pieces too. To destroy every part of him that Bella touched. It scares me, even if I understand the rage. Isn’t this supposed to go away with me accepting his rejection?
Why is she still acting like Keiran is ours?
“He’s not ours. He never will be,” I tell her. I will her to understand but communicating with her feels like a slippery thing.
“Please,” I beg my wolf. “I have to find somewhere for us to go. Away from him. Once I’m there you’ll be free. I’ll let you out and we’ll run, we’ll hunt, I swear,” I bargain. A growl rattles in my chest but thankfully my wolf settles and I’m in control again.
