Wild

Chapter 34 - Done

A/N: This chapter will begin in Storm's POV and switch to Makai's for a better reading experience.

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Storm

Fifteen times. That is how many times Makai has rejected me in the past two weeks. I counted each time he moved away when I tried to hug him, each time he turned away from my lips trying to kiss him or flinched away from my hand touching his arm.

He won't touch any part of me or let me touch him. He avoids being alone with me as much as he can. If he is not slaving away in his studio, he is at the orphanage teaching the kids self-defense. Other kids have joined so he now has ten students. He rarely uses the studio in our apartment. He's gone back to using the one in the woods. He leaves very early in the morning and comes home long after I've cried myself to sleep.

He doesn't come to our room to share our bed anymore either; he has turned his home studio into his sleeping quarters. Kai makes me breakfast before leaving and leaves messages asking me how I'm doing as if he doesn't know he is breaking my heart. When I manage to pin him down he's always too busy for me.

No hugs, no meaningful conversations, nothing. I'm withering away emotionally and it has taken everything in me not to show any bit of how destroyed I am to anyone else. I've been avoiding my family the best I can so that they don't notice the cracks. I'm thankful that Zane is out of town with Tomas, and Quinn is back in New Orleans following up on a lead with Justin on the breeding camp.

I've become so unhappy these past few days that I'm beginning to wish Kai and I never became mates. At least before, when we were just friends things didn't hurt this much.

I thought we would finally be happy, that we had progressed enough in this relationship to complete our partial mating in a few weeks, but no. We are back to square one. Ha, not even square one. This is much worse, and I'm tired. I'm tired of hoping and stressing. I'm tired of begging my mate and crying in an empty bed each night. I'm tired of being unhappy.

I want to go back to the Storm I was before. The Storm who only knew laughter and happiness. I can't be in a relationship that is going nowhere, mate or not. It has only been two weeks but it feels like two years, and I can't take it anymore. If this is the kind of relationship Makai thinks we're going to have for any length of time, he will have to do it alone, because I'm done. I can't allow any man to make me feel this way, not even the man I'm ridiculously in love with. Especially not him.

Staring at my dull, hollowed eyes in the mirror, I make a painful decision. If Kai does not want this mating, I can't force him.

Rain whines pitifully.

"Stop acting like this is what I want. He doesn't want us, and we can't force him."

"But he does, Storm. He's just afraid."

I unleash some of my frustration on my wolf. "Does he? A lot you know. If he wants us so much why does he keep rejecting us? He has been rejecting us right from the start!"

"Storm-"

I let out a strangled sound. "Rain, please, stop! I don't want to fight with you too."

I feel bad for being short with Rain, but I need to be strong if I'm going to do this. His comments aren't helping to strengthen my resolve.

I'll wait for Makai and force him to talk to me. It's not going to be like all those times I would wait up only for him to give me excuses about how exhausted he is and promise to talk to me later only to disappear in the morning.