The Shadow of Stars

Thirteen [part two]

heyooo, its ya author palski. this chapter is dedicated to @overthemoon4books & @tayd410 for leaving so many amazing comments for me to read through!!! My introverted ass lives for the interactions. 

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The car ride home is far more tense than the one we took getting to the docks and I sit, tightly wrapping myself in his jumper as I stare outside the window, watching the city flash by.

"Have you decided on a day to visit the pack house for dinner next week?" He asks me, breaking the silence. I'd say I completely forgot but I think I just mentally blocked it out.

"Oh, um no actually. I hadn't thought about it," I respond. "Is it still completely necessary?" I ask and he grips the steering wheel tighter before releasing it.

"I tried talking with my Father about it and he asked if I'd prefer you to be at all pack events instead. I sorta guessed you'd be more against that," he explains and I nod.

"You were right," I say with a laugh before turning serious. "Will your parents eat with us again?" My chest tightens with the thought.

"Not if you don't want them too. My father made the terms in a moment of anger and while he never does anything without thinking it through, the speed at which it all went south made it possible for me to negotiate. Dinner lasts as long as you want it to, you can eat what you want, where you want, how you want but I have to be there."

"Isn't the whole thing pointless if we are going to see each other everyday at school?" I ask.

He clenches his jaw and lets out a deep breath. "Let's face it Athena, we don't really see each other at school, not if you can help it. And as much as I'm okay with that, with taking things slow, he isn't going to see it that way." The honesty took me by surprise, from someone usually tip toeing around my many sensitivities it came as quite a shock.

"That's not... I'm not." Avoiding him? It sounds too wrong in my head to even be feasible as a lie. That's exactly what I'm doing, I'd avoid the entire situation if I could.

He flicks his gaze at me, as if to read the lie so plainly written. "Athena if I so much as walk into the hall at school you find a way to be busy and not see me, every time I even consider coming to speak to you it's like you have some sort of radar that makes you hightail out of there," he says plainly with some relief, his words lighter.

"That's," I take a second to stop myself stammering over words. "I spoke to you the other day, and I came on this date, didn't I?" I ask, and he lets out a small laugh though I can't tell if he actually finds what I have to say funny.

"I literally had to run across a football field at a considerable speed to have that conversation before you could run off. Look as much as it pains me to admit it, I know you want nothing to do with this bond. I've coexisted with humans long enough, seen enough humans react to the bond similarly, if not worse, to understand why, but what my father says about me needing the bond to function is somewhat true. And if that means suffering through a dinner once a week he'll make that happen, for the pack more so than for me personally." I should be reassured, having a hint as to where he stands, but overall it makes me just feel sick.

"But it's not just the dinner though," I announce only to be met with silence. "He'll stop at nothing to make sure this bond works out, nothing, that's what I'm afraid of. And something tells me, no matter how much you say you don't want to, that you wouldn't either."

The silence hangs thick for a solid moment, the tension so high I feel like it could suffocate me. "Do I really have no chance? Isn't there some part of you that wants to get to know me, that at least finds me somewhat appealing as a partner?" He asks, dejected and I realise the situation I'm in, sat in his car with his hands on the wheel. Whats to stop him from just driving us straight to the pack house to keep me there? He shoots me a glance and a hard look passes over his face.