by Amber Lynn
I could’ve done it while he was away at work, but after the two years that I’d lived through, I wanted him to know I was leaving. Coming home to find an empty house was too good for him.
“Selina, you stay here and watch your sister. Sierra, you be a good girl and play with your toys for five minutes while Mommy goes and grabs something. Then I’ll take you guys swimming.”
Both girls had green eyes to match mine, and they lit up when I mentioned one of their favorite activities. Sierra also had matching black hair and my overall attitude. I was thankful Selina hadn’t inherited the latter. There were days I wished she’d gotten the hair color, but her blond hair suited her fine.
If either Paul or I had blond hair, it would’ve been better. When anyone asked where Selina picked up the fair hair gene, I just said she was Ying to Sierra’s Yang, and that made sense to most people. Telling them that I assumed her real father was blond didn’t seem like the best way to carry on a conversation.
Sierra tottled over to her toy box and started pulling things out. Both girls were a little advanced for their two-year-old minds and bodies. It was normal for werewolf children, but it wasn’t easy to explain that to their human father and his family. I managed to keep the others from having too many tests done on the girls, but they all showed awe when the girls did something they shouldn’t.
“Mommy, should we pack our toys?” Selina asked in her quiet voice.
I knew she wasn’t talking about their pool toys. The girls had watched me pack my bags and store them in my closet, a place I was sure Paul wouldn’t see them.
“We don’t have room for everything, sweetie. The ones I thought you’d need most are already waiting for us in the car.”
“Okay, I’ll make sure Sierra stays in here.”
“Thanks, Selina. I promise to only be a few minutes.”
I should’ve had the girls wait out in the car. They’d hear everything wherever they were, so giving them a few more minutes in a place they were familiar was what I decided was best. I was calm and collected as I walked to the bedroom me and my soon-to-be ex-husband shared, so I didn’t expect any yelling from my side of things.
Paul had been nice enough to start inviting his personal assistant to spend a little quality time in the private section of our home not long after the girls were born. From a wife’s standpoint, I hated it, but I also recoiled and about attacked the poor guy anytime he tried to touch me, so I understood.
People have needs, especially a mid-thirties man who ran an entire state. Paul had always felt like he needed to be in charge everywhere. When our bedroom relationship changed, and I was the one running things, he found someone else he could master.
He didn’t, and couldn’t, understand how much I loved him to allow him any control over me from the beginning. He was strong and powerful, but my mind was wired to only submit to a wolf. Falling in love with Paul had been illogical, just ask any member of my family.
They’d had plans for me, searching the other local packs for an alpha male worthy of my attention. Being a pawn in a political move wasn’t for me, and dealing with the way they prepared me for the world was something I ran from as soon as I could. I didn’t help familial relations when I ended up marrying into human politics, but Paul was the closest thing to the powerful husband I craved, without the fur.
I had to laugh about the fact that in the end, an alpha did find me and took away the perfect life I’d built for myself. He complicated things as far as my exit strategy went. I planned on eventually leaving the city and settling down with the girls away from the flashbulbs of media cameras going off in our faces.
I wanted to do that without moving closer to Selina’s father, and I had no idea which direction to go. I assumed he lived up north somewhere, since that’s where we had our encounter. Going south seemed to make sense, but nothing guaranteed that was the right move.
I pondered life and next moves during the minute it took to get to my bedroom. It helped keep me from registering the fake moans coming from behind the closed door. A part of me was glad Paul had only ever invited the one woman over. A steady stream of bimbos would’ve been a little much.
I’d never had any issues with Katie before I smelled her presence in my room. She seemed like a young, eager to please woman barely out of college. The fact that Paul made her cover her blond hair with a black wig put her solidly in the eager to please category. I didn’t know a woman alive who liked a man pretending she was someone else while in bed.
Finding synthetic hairs in my bed had caused me to laugh out loud one day while I was changing the sheets. I didn’t think Paul realized that the sheets got changed after every time Katie came over to play. It was for his safety more than anything else. If I had to breathe in the scent of another woman where she shouldn’t have been for a prolonged period of time, my wolf would come out, and nobody wanted that.
I didn’t bother knocking as I made my grand entrance. With the bed directly in front of the door, all I could see was the well-muscled back of Paul as he appeared to continue going about his business.
Even if I didn’t enjoy his touch, I still enjoyed the beauty that was his body, and it looked a little more rigid than I expected. I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out why he was tense, since I had limited time to get on with my business.
“Don’t mind me,” I said, walking over to the closet, which brought me into the view of the bed’s occupants. “I just need to grab a couple of things, and then I’ll be out of your hair. I do have to say, Katie, you look better as a blond.”
I managed to block out my peripheral vision as much as I could. It was for their safety that I did. All my actions were about the safety of others it seemed. Even with my marriage over, I still felt possessive of Paul, and I was trying to keep from growling as it was.
Katie made a noise that sounded like someone stepped on a dog toy with a squeaker. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing as I opened my closet door.
“What are you doing, Nikki?” Paul asked.
His voice sounded strained, but the noises of physical assertion had stopped. Thinking about it, other than the fake moaning, there hadn’t been a whole lot of noises going on. I supposed that said something about the quality of intercourse.
“Something I should’ve done when you two first started your relationship. I’m taking my daughters and moving out. You’ll find all the paperwork you need to sign in my empty top drawer. I’ve been very fair, only requiring custody of the girls. You can keep all your money, and since this house doesn’t technically belong to us, there’s no need to fight over who gets to keep it.”
I hadn’t trusted a lawyer to do the paperwork, so I wrote everything up myself. It seemed pretty easy after a little research at the library.
“You can’t do that, Nikki.”
The statement almost caused me to turn around and ask why not, but I promised Selina I was only going to be a few minutes. Getting into an argument about what I could and couldn’t do would’ve taken all day.
“You can explain why that is to my lawyer.” He didn’t need to know that I didn’t actually have one.
My two bags were tucked away right inside the closet, so I grabbed them and turned around. They didn’t include every single piece of clothing I owned. In fact, there was only about a week’s worth of clothing in them. Most of the space was taken by the various photo albums I didn’t want to leave behind.
When I turned to make my exit, Paul was standing in the closet doorway blocking my way. Over the years we’d been married, he hadn’t learned it was a bad idea to trap a wolf in a small space.
My eyes remained focused on his face. Seeing it flushed from his recent exertion made it impossible for me to keep the growl I’d been holding back inside my chest. It came out menacing, and Paul’s eyes widened when the noise vibrated in his eardrums.
“I would move out of my way. As much as I still love you, I will tear you to pieces if you stand there stinking of another wo
man.”
It was odd saying the word love out loud, at least when it concerned Paul. I hadn’t told him I loved him since he’d stepped outside the bounds of our marriage.
“You can’t leave me, Nikki.”
I didn’t understand the fear I saw in his eyes, or his insistence. He’d only seconds before been engaged in an activity that made things pretty clear to me that he didn’t care whether I took my next breath.
“Save your words for someone who cares, Paul. Everything that needs to be said is in the papers I already mentioned in the dresser. Now, move out of the way.”
I miscalculated my ability to keep my temper under control. If my eyes hadn’t turned gold, they were on their way. I didn’t bother wearing contacts that would block the change, but even if I did, the anger that accompanied the change could be felt by anyone.
Including Paul, who took a couple of steps back, which cleared space for me and allowed more of his mostly naked body to come into view. Somehow he’d managed to put on a pair of skintight black shorts.
As much as I appreciated looking at his offerings, they pissed me off. I should’ve been able to enjoy them. He was my husband, but the thought of him touching me curdled my blood.
“Please, just wait a second and talk to me.”
I put his glorious abs out of my mind and headed for the bedroom door. Katie had disappeared, taking her small pile of clothes with her. Evidently the wig wasn’t hers to take, because it laid across my pillow.
“Sorry, Paul, I have an appointment I have to keep and sincerely feel like we have nothing to talk about. You want to play kinky dress up with your assistant, that’s fine with me. I do recommend you get her a better wig, though. That synthetic stuff has to be itchy.”
As much as he wanted to run after me, I knew he wouldn’t be seen running down the halls without decent clothes on. There were security people and our daughters about. Paul had always been about keeping up appearances. I assumed that was why he used our bedroom for his dalliances. It was the most private place in the city.
“Wait, Nikki.”
I heard him rummaging around trying to get dressed, which meant I didn’t have a lot of time. Thankfully, my brilliant daughters where waiting outside their room by the time I walked the two hundred or so steps it took to get there.
Sierra looked like she was fighting to hold back tears, while Selina was her usual stoic self. They held hands as Selina pulled her sister into action.
“We’re going swimming, remember?” she said, trying to cheer up Sierra.
“I know. I was just wondering when we’d get to see Daddy again.”
“Soon, sweetie. Don’t worry,” I said as I guided them down the stairs. I needed to get us to the car before Paul came running after us.
“But we’re not living with him anymore,” Sierra pushed.
Sierra had a stronger connection to Paul, both biologically and just in general. Paul doted on her endlessly, sometimes to the point I questioned the attention. Not that I thought anything horrendous was going on between them, but it was odd that he didn’t do the same for our other daughter.
There was no reason for him to know Selina wasn’t his. I’d found someone willing to accept money to help make sure all records indicated Selina was both of ours, which included a DNA test someone in Paul’s family had done. His father was a little old school, and, like most people, he’d questioned the blond hair.
I threw my bags in the trunk of my newly purchased used sedan. As part of my divorce settlement, I didn’t want any of Paul’s material items. I had my own money and could provide just fine for my girls without his salary.
The girls had already opened the door to the backseat and climbed into their booster seats. I clicked the necessary buckles in place and hurried to my spot behind the wheel. For someone who didn’t like a lot of drama in my life, my actions didn’t exactly convey that mentality.
Paul was at the front door when I put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. I’d underestimated how easily he’d be able to separate from Katie. When we were intimate, a natural disaster could happen around us and he wouldn’t get distracted from his goal.
The frustrated look on his face caused me to smile. I’d lived with frustration for as long as I could take it, so it was about time he felt what I did. I didn’t assume his frustration was anything like mine, but between the fear, hurt and vexation going on in his eyes, I was a happy camper.
Once I got on the street and down the block a little ways, I turned to check on the girls in the backseat. Their general moods hadn’t changed. I knew Sierra was still waiting for me to comment on our living situation, but I was trying to come up with the right words. The girls seemed older than they were, but the fact remained they were only two.
“You know your daddy and I both love you girls very much. We’re having some issues right now and I need a little space. Think of it as us going away on a little vacation.”
“But Daddy always goes with us on vacation. He’s going to miss us.”
I started to think I should’ve waited until they were asleep to make my run. I hated not having answers that would make everything okay for Sierra.
“It’s not like you’re not going to see him again, Sierra,” Selina said. “If Mom needs a break from the weird way Dad acts, then she should be allowed a break.”
Words I never thought I’d hear my baby say, at least not before she was thirty. I’d hoped what I was, and therefore what my daughters were, wouldn’t have robbed them of the simple childhood I wanted for them. It was one of my more foolish dreams, right up there with believing happily ever after was possible with Paul.
“Thanks, Selina. Sierra, baby, Daddy will be fine for the few days before he sees you again. I just want to get us settled in. We’ve talked about this, just because I want a little time to think about things doesn’t mean we don’t love you just as much as we always have.”
“But do you still love Daddy?”
“Yes, sweetie. That’s the problem. I love your daddy way too much. Now, we have a little bit of time before we get to the hotel I want to stay at tonight, why don’t you guys take a nap? You’ll need all your energy for when we get to the swimming pool.”
I hadn’t picked a specific next home, so hotel life was going to be a reality for us for a few days. I didn’t plan on it lasting very long, but the pool option gave me something to occupy the girls’ minds while I figured things out.
Sleep wasn’t instant for either of them, but the questions stopped as they tried to fall asleep. The car was quiet until I heard a soft whisper from the backseat.
“He’s getting closer,” Selina said at a decibel I wouldn’t have heard if I didn’t have exceptional hearing.
I looked up in the rearview mirror, but I didn’t see any vehicles in hot pursuit. I also didn’t feel anybody in particular coming closer, so I turned to ask what she meant. Her eyes were closed and the steady rising of her chest told me she was asleep.
I wasn’t going to wake her to ask who she was talking about. My wolf would’ve told me if there was any immediate danger, and she was silent. As far as I was concerned, my new life was beginning and there was no use looking over my shoulder for problems. I’d work out visitation rights with Paul and things would be fine.
Chapter Two
It took me an hour to get to the hotel I picked out for us. It was far enough away that I didn’t think anyone would immediately find us. I knew we couldn’t really stay hidden, but I didn’t think it’d be too hard for us to keep under the radar for at least a day.
I pulled into a spot near the entrance and turned the radio off. I enjoyed listening to some music while my mind worked through my next moves. I didn’t find any wisdom in the country songs I’d settled on listening to, but they were nice to have in the background in case my thoughts started wandering.
The girls still had their eyes closed in the backseat, and I pondered getting checked in without disturbing their slumber. I’d neve
r left them unattended and it wasn’t the best time to start.
All I needed was for some nosy person to walk by and see two kids in the backseat of a car without anyone watching them. I could just imagine the scene when I walked back out to collect them and our things and the realization of who I was by the nosy person. That attention would’ve been great for my goal of getting custody of the girls.
I turned off the car, unbuckled my seatbelt and rotated myself in my seat so I could look back at them. I was tall enough that the headrest didn’t block my view; it helped that it was a new car and I hadn’t worried about adjusting it to fit correctly behind my head.
In the backseat, my two little angels had their eyes securely closed, their heads flopped back against the seat, facing each other. Their hands were connected, like they often were when they weren’t eating or playing.
I grabbed my phone and quickly turned on the camera to get a few pictures. I probably already had a hundred very similar ones, but with how fast the girls grew, they were never the same. As the flash lit up the car, Selina’s eyes opened.
It was daylight out, so it hadn’t brightened the car much, but with sensitive eyes, it was like a flashlight being shone directly in their eyes, even while they were closed. I kicked myself for not remembering to turn it off.
“I can pretend to still be asleep if you want more pictures,” Selina suggested.
“That’s okay, baby. I didn’t mean to wake you with the camera, but we’re here and I was going to try to get you guys moving, since it’d be a little hard for me to carry both of you and deal with the person who’s going to check us in.”
I put my phone to sleep and set it in the cup holder between the driver and passenger seats. I remained facing the backseat and watched as Selina squeezed her hand to slowly and gently wake up her sister. Sierra wasn’t a light sleeper, and if you woke her up too early she sometimes turned into a monster, for lack of a better term.