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“Jeremy suggested that we take things slow, seeing as how you just recently decided to forgo yourtrue mate,” Neil spat. He said the words ‘true mate’ like Gabe was some kind of social pariah. “I told him that wouldn’t be necessary because we are alike, you and me. I’ve felt that from the first moment we met, Ella. We like things to be in order, a hierarchy. It’s what separates wolves from other shifters, you know?”
Hoping that was the end, I nodded, but he wasn’t finished. “This will work out; you’ll see. And I’ll forgiveyou for turning down dinner this time, but just know that once you are mine, saying no to anything won’t be an option anymore.”
Chapter 10
Well, that was weird.
I closed the door behind me, immediately locking it for good measure.
I didn’t think Neil would resort to breaking and entering, but his parting words put me on edge. He was someone to trust, though. Maybe I was overreacting, but something inside told me I probably wasn’t.
We need our mate. You should beg him to take us back.My wolf swung her tail low, miffed at the strange beta telling us what to do, but not threatened enough to try and force a shift. She recognized his leadership in the pack, his place as our beta, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed him asserting himself above us in a personal sense. I had to agree with her on that.
Still, it didn’t mean I was going to agree about contacting Gabe. Her wolf brain didn’t understand things like social awkwardness or humiliation. In her mind, Gabe was ours, and staking our claim on him against Samantha was the most natural thing in the world, regardless of what Gabe or I wanted. I wondered if that would change at all after he decided to break our bond. Would it change for herinstantly, like flipping a light switch? Or would she need to see him in person to know it was over? Would I even know when it happened without ever seeing him again?
For some reason, the thought of never seeing Gabe’s smile again made me inexplicably sad. Maybe after he was mated to Samantha, we would be able to be friends or something like that. When I returned to Tumblewild to visit Mariam, I would imagine he would be around, too.
IfI ever visit Mariam.Ifa mate like Neil would even allow me to do that. I sighed and put on the kettle for some tea.
I was being ridiculous. This was what I had wanted, basically; some strict, authoritarian mate who wasn’t a pushover to come and take charge. Neil certainly wasn’t a pushover, but he wasn’t really what I had imagined, either. His brand of control was cold like I was just another subordinate who should follow his orders because he was a hotshot beta. It’s not like he acted bossy toward me because he had any feelings for me or because we were mates or anything like that. I couldn’t even imagine kissing him, much less consummating the relationship with sex and a mating bite.
I had to admit, begrudging, that with Gabe, I was ready to jump his bones the second he kissed me. Despite every attempt to talk myself out of wanting him, I couldn’t help myself. Even the parts of him that had seemed undesirable to me at first now made me want to throw myself at him even more.
The hot tea helped calm my nerves like always, but I didn’t even crack open the book sitting on the side table. I remember being miffed at the airport because I hadforgotten it, and now finishing it felt inconsequential. I curled up under a throw blanket that belonged to my mother, breathing in deeply as I fell asleep. It used to smell like her at one time, but now it just smelled like laundry detergent.
The dreams I had been having were weird, and this one was no different. I couldn’t tell where I was except that it was indoors. It felt dark outside, and other people were around me. Other werewolves, I should say. Someone was talking, but their words were muffled and impossible to understand.
A second voice joined in, and the two of them started arguing. One of the voices was deep, and the other spoke with a higher pitch. It was a male and female, but that was about all I could figure out.
I strained to hear more. Whenever I started to make out a few words, it was like someone increased the volume on a noise machine to drown them out again. I tossed and turned for hours, waking only when I fell off the couch and landed with a thud on the ground.
Groaning, I rubbed my forehead and sat up. My heart was pounding in my chest, and my eyes were wide with fear. Everything I heard felt so real, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was more than a dream.
I glanced at my phone and shock set it when I realized I had slept through the rest of the afternoon, and it was almost eight in the evening. And yet, somehow, I felt more exhausted than when I had first arrived home.
As I stood up and stretched, I heard a knock on the door, likely the same sound that had caused me to wake up in the first place.
I tiptoed to the door, listening carefully for any sounds outside. I peeked through the peephole and saw a tall, dark figure fill the porch.
My heart raced as I recognized the silhouette. It was Gabe. He stood there, his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket, looking down at his feet. I hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. Should I open the door? Or should I stay inside and pretend not to be home?
But before I could make a decision, Gabe spoke up. "Ella, I know you're in there. Can we talk? Please?”
His voice was calm, but there was a hint of desperation in it that made my heart ache. I took a deep breath and unlocked the door, pulling it open slowly. I was instantly hit with the comforting cinnamon scent that I had come to associate with him.
"What do you want?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.
He looked up at me, his eyes intense. "I need to talk to you."
I hesitated for a moment before stepping aside, allowing him to enter. He walked past me, his eyes taking in the family pictures on the wall. His lips twitched, forming a small smile at one of Mariam and me at the beach before our mom got sick. I closed the door behind him, leaning against it as I watched him enter the living room.
"What's going on, Gabe?" I asked, keeping my distance. “What are you even doing in Dark Claw?”
He ran a hand through his hair, looking up at me with a mix of pain and regret. "I made a mistake, Ella. A huge mistake. Or more like several mistakes, really, and I need to fix them."
My heart skipped a beat as I stared at him, not sure whathe was talking about. "What mistakes?"
He took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving mine. “Letting you leave., for one. I told myself I would wait for you to decide to return on your own, but that’s not what you need from me. And besides that, I screwed up big time by trusting Samantha and making you think that you couldn’t trust me to be faithful to you. All those things add up to be the biggest mistakes of my life, and I can’t let you go without knowing that this is really, truly what you want.”
