by Simone Elise
“Yes.” I cocked my head to the side, trying to work out why he looked slightly pissed off. “Why are you angry?”
“Just doesn’t seem fair. That’s all.” Alec hid his emotions and turned his eyes back to the road. I saw his knuckles turning white from clenching the steering wheel tight.
“I suppose it’s not fair, but it’s in my best interest. And, on the bright side, I won’t be around annoying you for a full year.” I made light of the subject but Alec shot me a dry look.
I didn’t see why this killed the happy mood so quickly. Frowning slightly, I thought a change of subject was needed. “So, um, what are you doing tonight?” I asked Alec.
“I got a date.” Alec signaled to pull into my driveway. “You?”
“A date? With who?”
“No one you would know.” Alec’s smirk made an appearance and he slowed to a stop outside the house.
“Well, good luck on your date.” Our eyes were locked for a few moments, his shielding emotion and showing only calmness. “I’d better go.”
Alec nodded his head and I opened the door, picking my bag up off the floor.
“Thanks for last night and today.” I gave him a small smile before I closed the car door. I saw his head nod in acknowledgement before the door shut.
Turning around, I sighed looking at the overly large house. I suppose it was time to see why my parents were trying to track me down. I just hoped it had nothing to do with Xavier because just the mention of his name was like rubbing salt in a flesh wound.
“Someone got drowned.” Chad teased as I walked into Dad’s office.
“Actually, I went surfing,” I corrected him and sat in the chair beside him. Dad looked at me frowning, as I slouched in the chair.
“You don’t surf.” Chad was amused by the idea.
“I got a lesson.” I shot him a wink and turned to face Dad. “So, dear old Dad, what are you chasing me down for?”
“Whom did you get the lesson from?” Chad asked, clearly not dropping the subject.
“Alec.” I brushed it off like it was nothing, and it was nothing. We were just friends. Just friends. I bit my lip. “So, Dad, what did you want?”
“Xavier called,” Dad answered with a raised eyebrow.
“Of course he did.” I rolled my eyes. “So? What do I have to do?” I gave in to defeat before bothering to defend myself. A blind man could see I did it.
“I bet Alec helped you.” Chad smirked from his chair and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Do you have a point, Chad?”
“Nothing.” He leaned back in his chair, amused by something, but I sure as hell didn’t know what it was.
“Nothing,” Dad cut in, stopping our pointless conversation. “I told Xavier that I would deal with you directly.”
“And this is you dealing with me?”
“Yes. I don’t think you deserve any more punishment.” He smiled warmly. “After all, I saw the video. I think that’s enough punishment in itself.”
“Video?” I frowned, not getting what dad was implying. “What video?” I glanced at Chad who was shaking slightly with laughter.
“Let me guess. I’m surfing?” I bitterly shook my head. Damn Alec! He had actually given up on me by that point and was sitting on the beach. I thought he was playing on his phone, not filming me!
“I’m going to kill him!” I snarled. Chad however couldn’t contain his laughter any longer.
“Aw, Sis, I think nearly all of Facebook has seen it by now.”
“Oh, that boy knows how to push the limits.” I gritted my teeth and started plotting my revenge by the second.
***
The wind blew around my naked body, swirling my hair freely around my face. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in of the fresh night area, smelling the loose soil, the animals’ scents that lingered in the forest.
I stood still for a few moments, draining the moment for all it was worth. Then once peace filled me, I launched. Running along the open forest floor and then jumping in the air, I changed into the beautiful wolf that was always within side of me.
My paws landed on the dirt and my pace quickened. If I could run from every problem I had ever had, this was me doing it. It fuelled my legs, imagining that every step I took carried me further away from my problems.
I was losing myself in the nature that surrounded me. For too long I hadn’t let myself run.
To be free.
The grass and forest were flashing past me, and I wasn’t even focusing on where I was heading. I was alone and free. Well, that was what I thought until something launched from the side of me, tackling me and bringing me to a stop on the forest floor.
I snapped my teeth, growling. I wasn’t sure if I was being threatened or attacked.
The smell wasn’t unfamiliar. Who in their right mind would launch themselves at someone?
As I focused on the large solid tanned wolf in front of me, I realized immediately who it was. He was never in his right mind to begin with.
“I’m not talking to you,” I communicated to Alec through the pack’s mind link. I eyed him up and down as he stood a few feet away with a cheeky grin on his face. I got up on my paws, and turned away from him, flicking my tail as I took off in the opposite direction at a slower pace.
He quickly caught up to me.
“Seen the video then?”
I didn’t reply. Instead, I kept my head forward and pretended he wasn’t there. All I wanted was a run, by myself. And out of all people I just happened to run into him. Well, he launched himself at me.
“You’ve got dirt on your back.”
“I wonder whose fault that would be,” I shot back at him, “Aren’t you meant to be annoying someone else?” My silence failed epically as why he wasn’t on his date got the best of me.
“Jealous?” he replied and I could hear the smirk in his voice.
“Right,” I scoffed at him. I was surprised that no other wolf was out running tonight, though I was slightly pleased. I didn’t want everyone hearing our conversation.
‘Hey, Chloe?’
I stopped, too consumed by my thoughts to have noticed that Alec had stopped running beside me. Turning around, I looked at him. Amusement was dashing through his eyes.
‘Alec?’
‘You stepped in animal feces.’
***
“It’s starting to become a habit of yours. Laughing at me,” I grunted, walking out of my bathroom, towel-drying my hair. Alec was lying on my bed like he owned the joint.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be so amusing.” Alec grinned at me. “Your phone keeps going off.” He tossed the phone in my direction and I only just caught it.
I shot him a dirty look. Alec looked at me with mock innocence. I unlocked my phone and dread flooded through me.
Xavier’s name flashed and I selected his message, reading his words “we need to talk.”
We need to talk? That’s what he thinks? I wanted to hurl the phone at his stupid head. No, Xavier, we needed to never speak again. Fueled by anger, I replied, “we’re done.” It was simple and summed up everything. We were done. What had he expected? A girl could only take so much.
“You ok?”
I glanced at Alec, though when the phone buzzed my attention was back on it.
“we are far from it, Chloe. I’m not letting you go.”
“don’t contact me again.” I quickly hit the button and watched the phone dim and switch off. I had to cut all ties with him and it was already killing me.
I walked over to the bed and sat on the edge next to Alec. For a few moments I actually didn’t hear him calling my name, until he nudged me.
“You ok, buttercup?”
I nodded my head, not being able to pull my eyes away from staring into nothingness. “I just want the pain to go away.” I wasn’t emotional. I was matter of fact.
“It will.”
“I just don’t un
derstand how this could happen? Xavier and I weren’t meant to be like this. We were meant to be together. It was nature’s plan.”
“Maybe it wasn’t.”
I looked at Alec. I wasn’t emotional. I was just curious as to what he meant. “Explain.”
“If Xavier had met you earlier, before he met Emily, he wouldn’t have had those two boys. The same two boys who are unique and give other wolves with human mates hope that they can have children too. Couples like Dan and Maddison. If you were with Xavier, you wouldn’t have been with Dan and because Dan was with you, you encouraged him to go to Maddison. If you hadn’t, he wouldn’t have went through with the process. Which would of meant he wouldn’t have a mate right now. And then there’s me.”
“Who?” I frowned.
“If Xavier hadn’t denied you, you wouldn’t have gone to Dan. And if you hadn’t of gone to Dan, you and I wouldn’t be hanging out and you wouldn’t have given me….”
“Given you what?”
I had never seen Alec open up before. He was never serious. He never spoke tenderly like he was speaking now.
“You wouldn’t have given me hope.” He looked me in the eye. “That maybe I will find someone else to spend my life with and I don’t have to be mateless forever.”
“I don’t see how I have given you hope. I am sure I am going to be spending my life alone.”
“Well, we can be alone together.”
I turned my head to fully face Alec and his soft smile encouraged the one that crept onto my face.
“Yeah, I guess we can.”
We both nodded in agreement with each other.
“Though you are extremely annoying,” I added, with a grin.
“And you are extremely clumsy.” He winked back at me.
Maybe Alec was right. Things happen for a reason.
Chapter 25
“You just can’t get enough of me.” Alec smirked, opening his front door.
I rolled my eyes. “Actually, I am here to see Dan.” I pushed myself past him, inviting myself in. “Are he and Maddison here?”
“Of course they aren’t and you know it.”
I paused at the bottom of the stairs I was about to go up. I turned around. Alec was looking smug like always. “Where are they?”
“Maddison is moving in.” Alec shrugged his shoulders and walked into their dining room. I followed him.
“What? Since when?”
Surely Dan would have mentioned this on the phone when I spoke to him the other night. I knew it would be hard to see him with Maddison. But I knew I always had to be a good friend. After all, he was one of my closest friends and I couldn’t not have him be a part of my life.
“Since Dan asked her to marry him.” Alec’s slumped into a dining chair, and turned his focus to whatever he was doing before I showed up.
“When did he do that?”
“Last night.” Alec glanced up at me. “Why are you so upset about it?”
“Well, he is my best friend. I thought he would at least mention it to me.” I threw my hands up in the air. “Maddison is moving in. He failed to mention that, AND now his marrying her.”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”
“Did you seriously just say the word panties?” I raised an eyebrow at Alec, not hiding the amusement I got from hearing that word come out of his mouth. His eyes narrowed and I noticed the light red touch of embarrassment on his cheeks. He quickly returned his attention to the table.
I took a step forward, interested in what had his attention. Examining it, I couldn’t stop sniggering. “Is that a puzzle? Are you working on a puzzle? What in earth’s name made you want to wake up this morning and start a puzzle?”
“Yeah, laugh it up.” Alec rolled his eyes.
“Oh, I plan to.” I pulled up a chair across from him. Now scenes were flashing through my mind regarding what made Alec start a puzzle. “So, care to explain your sudden liking for pieces of cardboard that a two-year-old attacked with a cookie cutter?”
Alec huffed, giving me a dry expression. “Dan told me I never finish anything.”
“Well, you don’t.” I pointed out. “Remember the car you were going to restore. That’s still in the shed and then there was that motorbike. Oh, and the pool table you were going to make. And how could we forget—”
“Ok, enough,” Alec cut me off, shooting me a drop dead look. He always got touchy when it came to his ‘projects.’ I smiled and leaned over the table, watching him try to find a matching piece.
“So, you’re going to put this awfully large puzzle together to prove you can finish something?”
“Yep.” Alec matched up two pieces, and gave me a smug look. “And then Dan can’t say that anymore.”
I nodded my head. It was a good plan. Though I knew Alec was already bored by the whole thing and itching to do something else.
“That piece doesn’t go with that one.” I flicked him a piece that looked like the one he should be looking for.
“So, are you going to help?” Alec picked up the piece I flicked.
Glancing at the millions of little pieces that covered the table and the few Alec had put together, I said, “I suppose until Dan comes home.” I got comfortable in the chair.
Alec gave me a wide grin. “Awesome.”
“What’s the puzzle of anyway?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Alec picked up the cover of the box, examining it. “It’s like an abstract thing.”
I reached out and took the lid from his grasp and turned it around. “You mean, it’s a collage of birds.” I giggled, as realization crossed his face and he nodded his head.
“Well, that makes more sense.”
“Why couldn’t you have chosen a 500-piece puzzle?” I pushed another two pieces together.
“How was I meant to know a 5000-piece one was hard?”
“Really?” I looked up at Alec.
Alec scoffed, “Well, I’m not educated in puzzle numbers like you.”
“I always thought you were meant to be smart.”
“I am smart!” Alec flicked my fingers. “Get away from my side.”
“I did the eagle, not you!”
“Yes, but the eagle is on my side.”
“You weren’t saying that when I finished it a few moments ago!”
“Well I’m saying it now.” Alec smirked at me.
“You’re just saying that so you can put the last piece in!”
“What are you two doing?”
Alec and I both looked up to see Dan and their parents standing in the doorway. Each of them had a blank look on their face, stunned. I didn’t remember hearing the front door.
“I was waiting for you.” I looked at Dan, “Where’s Maddison?” I noticed the bride-to-be wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Maybe she got cold feet and ran away. I cursed myself for thinking something so awful.
“Don’t change the subject.” Dan pointed a finger at me. “You two were flirting.”
“We were not!” Alec and I said together at the same time. How could Dan come to such a conclusion? Last time I checked, bickering was not flirting. Especially if the subject being bickered over was puzzle pieces.
Dan arched an eyebrow like it meant something. Rolling my eyes and ignoring his suggestive expression, I asked, “Where have you been?”
Dan looked suddenly uneasy and I had a feeling it had to do with a certain subject he hadn’t told me about. Well, it was only fair he felt a bit of guilt. Who doesn’t tell their best friend he is engaged?
“Getting Maddie’s stuff, we’re, well, we are…”
“Moving in together.” I finished the sentence for him. Clearly, he wasn’t sure how I was going to react and was trying to spare my feelings. Dan really was a great friend. Maddison better realize how lucky she got. “Congratulations on the engagement. I’m happy for you both.”
Dan smiled softly at me. He looked relieved that I was so cal
m about the subject. How could I not be? Sure, it was a shock for it to happen so quickly and it would take me a few days to come to terms with the fact that man that I relied so heavily on was getting married. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t happy for him.
“FINISHED!” Alec shot his hands in the air and completely ruined the nice moment Dan and I were having.
“What? You actually finished something?” Dan frowned and looked over Alec’s shoulder at the finished puzzle.
“Yep, suck on that, Danny boy.” Alec was smug, looking at his puzzle. I remained silent. I just couldn’t take his moment away from him. Finishing this puzzle was a massive thing to him, or at least he was acting like it was.
“Well, I got to go.” I pushed my chair out. Alec’s eyes were glued on his puzzle with pure pride. He was too dazed by the glory of his puzzle to be listening to me. However Dan’s amazement with the puzzle had worn off.
“Can you come by tomorrow?” Dan asked me when I walked past him. “Maddison would really like to get to know you better.” Dan rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, looking guilty. “She sort of keeps asking me to invite you over.”
I smiled at Dan’s parents as they went to leave the room and looked at Dan. “Sure, I will try to come over tomorrow to see her.”
“She can just see Maddie in the morning.” Alec was now in the foyer and leaning against the doorframe, no longer lost in the glory of his puzzle. “You’re staying here tonight, aren’t you?”
“You are?” Dan frowned at me.
“Yep. I rented movies for us to watch,” Alec answered for me, and I arched an eyebrow at his eagerness to spend the night with me.
“I didn’t know you two are hanging out.” Dan was still frowning, glancing between the two of us. I suppose to him this was a complete shock.
“Only because she has no friends. I feel bad for her.” Alec shrugged his shoulders, making hanging out with me sound like community service. I glared at him for that, because we both knew it wasn’t like that.
“Well, we could watch the movies all together then,” Dan offered, “and you and Maddie can get to know each other.”
I don’t know if Alec picked up on my uneasiness about the situation. I just didn’t want to spend the night trying to get to know Maddison. It might have been mean of me. But I wasn’t up for it tonight, not after finding out they were getting married. I had to come to terms with that.