Escape | ✓

25

I stormed through Oakwood, not caring who saw me and how they reacted. I reached the apartment complex, entered the front door, and strode up the stairs until I reached Reuben's place.

My hand banged on the door loudly as the anger inside of me burned hot. Reuben opened the door moments later and I pushed my way inside.

"What gave you the right?" I asked him the moment the door closed and his eyebrows shot upward.

"What?"

"You heard me. What gave you the right to invite Fen here?" I glared at him and Reuben ran his hand through his hair.

"Eli, calm down—"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I was sick and tired of people making demands or making choices for me. I was tired of it all.

"I was trying to help," he said and I couldn't help but scoff.

"Cut the bullshit, Reuben! You weren't trying to help me. You were looking for an excuse. You brought him here because you're looking for a way out of our bond and figured he'd work. You wanted an escape and were too much of a coward to approach me."

"A coward?" He asked disbelievingly. "I told you this wasn't a good idea and you went on about one chance so I gave it to you—"

"But did you really?" I asked. "With every step forward we took, you always found some reason to pull away. You were never really giving me a chance, Reuben. You were biding your time until you could up and leave again—or rather, until I left and when things started getting complicated you got scared."

Reuben's eyes filled with rage, but I wasn't done. "You act as if you have all the answers and are fixing problems, but you're not. You create more problems than you solve, Reuben, and then you just leave without fixing them."

"Don't act as if you know me, Eli."

"You're right, I don't know you but what I do know is that I'm fucking tired, Reuben. I'm tired of feeling like I'm the problem. I'm tired of walking on eggshells, worried that I'll do something to upset you. It shouldn't be like this—we're supposed to be mates and yet, I feel like we're on entirely different planets. I'm tired of walking in circles, Reuben. I'm done."

A silence fell over us and I took a deep breath. "Clearly, as we are right now we're not going to get anywhere together and it fucking hurts to say that, but I feel like I'm the only one putting in the effort here and I don't know what you want. If you aren't willing to do the same then I don't want a relationship with you, Reuben. When we first met you told me you'd show me why we weren't meant to be and you were right, you did."

Reuben didn't say anything. He only stared at me with wide eyes, but I didn't care anymore. I walked past him and left. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew it wasn't the apartments or anywhere near Fen, so I ran.

I ran through Oakwood, not caring what the people around me said. I ran and tried to get everything that just happened out of my head. I ran until I reached the woods.

I didn't bother to strip but just shifted instead. I continued to run further and further until I nearly ran headfirst into the brown wolf. The sun was starting to set and the wolf looked as if it was getting ready to lay down. Upon seeing me, it tilted its head but didn't run away. I stopped and let out a sigh.

Everything was fucked.

I disappeared behind a tree where I'd hidden a bag of clothes and shifted back before going back around and taking a seat beside the brown wolf. I rested my head against my knees and closed my eyes. Why couldn't anything work out like I wanted it to? What did I do to deserve such shitty luck?

The feeling of a nose brushing against my arm caused me to look up. The wolf's eyes stared at me and it let out a low whine. I raised my hand and gently rubbed its head.

"Thanks for staying with me," I told the wolf. "I've had a pretty bad day, to be honest, so I didn't bring any food this time. I'm sorry."

The wolf obviously didn't respond, but it nudged me again with its nose and I smiled. I opened my mouth to say something, but the words died in my mouth when the wolf moved back and its bones began to crack.

It was shifting.

Before my eyes, I watched as the tiny brown wolf was shifted. Brown fur was replaced with long, brown hair, and a warm skin tone. In the place of the wolf a girl. She stared up at me with wide, brown eyes that reminded me of my own. Without thinking, I reached back behind the tree and grabbed another shirt before pulling it over her head.

"Eli?!" I heard Cronan's voice in the distance and the girl jumped slightly.

"He won't hurt you," I told her and I placed my arm on her shoulder.

Cronan came into view, but he wasn't alone. Behind him was his brother and they both stopped a few feet away when they saw the girl.

Cronan's eyes widened and I thought it was because the wolf had shifted after so long, but his head turned to glance at his brother and I followed suit.

He...he and the girl looked really similar. His hair was darker than hers, but it was still obvious.

"Eli, what is going on here?" Cronan asked me hesitantly.

I kept looking between them. "I...I don't know."

"Why do the three of you look alike?"

I paused. "Three?"

AN: We've reached the end of part one! This is the last update for the day and part two will start soon. Some guessed that Eli and the wolf in the woods were related, but did you think that Cronan's brother would be too?

Part two of this book will focus more on Reuben and Eli separately and Reuben will hopefully get punched in the face with character development (maybe literally as well. Hint hint, wink wink.) Eli will also be returning to his pack as well which means that we'll also be seeing Tatum and Nixon again and Reo will be making a cameo as well.

So I'll see you soon!