Page 7 of Sass Me Again

“I will. Thanks for picking me up.”

“Love you!”

“Love you, too,” Emily said as she closed the door and made her way to her apartment.

5

“Want some breakfast? I’ll make your favorite,” Ian asked, his eyes still closed. His voice still gruff from sleep. He reached for Emily, needing to feel her bare skin next to his.

“She’s gone,” his wolf said. The sadness in his voice was evident. Though only a few hours had passed, he missed his mate. It had been so long since he'd seen her.

Ian’s heart instantly sank. He heard the sorrow in his wolf's voice and combined it with his own. Why he thought Emily would still be there when he woke up was beyond him. But he had. It was a foolish thought. One that he should have known better than to have when it came to his mate. Unlike him, she was fully human and didn’t understand any of the damage she did by running away and staying away each time they were together. He’d pulled himself out of depression more than once, knowing his mate was out there unprotected, unmarked, unclaimed.

“How long ago did she leave?” Ian sat up and pushed the blankets off of him. Glancing at the clock, he’d realized he’d slept in. He didn’t know the last time he’d had that good of a night’s sleep.

“Hours.”

He made his way to the kitchen and flicked on the coffee pot. Checking his phone, he hoped to see a message from Emily. Anything to explain where she was. Why she had left.

Nothing.

Not so much as a single damn message or explanation as to why she ran off…or how. He pulled the curtains back and looked out of the window, knowing he had driven her to his house last night.

No cars. No tire tracks.

Nothing.

“Did she call an Uber or what?” he asked out loud.

Pouring himself a cup of coffee, Ian wondered how she had left without his notice. Swiping through his contacts, he stopped at Jenn’s number. He started to type a message before deleting it…twice.

“Fuck it.” His fingers danced across the screen.

“Where’s Emily?”

Padding onto the back deck with his coffee in hand, he waited for Jenn’s response. Towering trees stood tall in the distance. His wolf whined in his mind, wanting to be free to run.

“Later,” he said aloud. He glanced down at his phone just as it buzzed in his hand.

“At home. She texted me this morning, begging me to pick her up.”

While he was glad that she was safe at home, he was pissed that she had felt the need to sneak out. Who does that? It’s not like they had never been together before. Did she hate him that much?

“Why?”

“Because she’s still torn about being with you. Her parents have this warped hold over her. No matter how hard I try to guide her to the light, she refuses to go against their will.”

Ten fucking years. It’s been the same damn story for ten fucking years.

“Thanks.” What else could he say? It wasn’t Jenn’s fault that Emily refused to break the hold her parents had over her. She lived and breathed by their schedule. She always had, and it looked like she always would.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why, but I really hoped it would be different this time for you. She’s been so sad and withdrawn lately, she doesn’t even realize it. When she saw you at the restaurant, that spark in her eyes finally came back.”

“I didn’t know she had been acting any different.” The information disturbed him more than it should. But then again, she was his mate. Her wellbeing was everything to him. He had spent night after night camped outside of her apartment to make sure she was safe. Ian had done everything he could to catch glimpses of her here and there without her being aware of his presence.

Staying away from her had been nothing short of living in Hell. Watching her live her life broke his heart. Each date she went on was like a knife directly to his chest. His wolf wanted to tear each new suitor limb from bloody limb. By the grace of the Gods, Ian found a way to keep his shit together.

“That’s why I asked her to go to the Annual Convergence. She doesn’t realize that you are her other half. And if she does realize it, she’s allowing her parents to interfere. That’s not cool. The shit has to stop. I gotta’ get back to work. Make sure you’re there this weekend. It may be your only chance.”