Heart of Stone (Parts I & II)

II. Chapter 1 | Aubree

To say that Aubree was terrified was an understatement.

She'd had boyfriends in the past, and had broken a few hearts, but she had never felt as strongly to any of them as she did with Dan. Needless to say, it hurt to think about leaving him. It would break his heart. How could she not feel guilty about stabbing him in the back after agreeing to marry him?

She knew she had to.

Huddled in his arms, she gazed up at Stone while they waited for Gwen to pack the last of her belongings into the trunk of the car.

She didn't want to return to the city. It was a cowardly thought. She didn't want to hurt Dan, but knew she couldn't lead Dan on and pretend that everything was as it had been two weeks ago.

Nothing was the same and she had to face the truth.

Stone hadn't left her side since that morning when she'd made her declaration to be with him. Not that she had wanted him to, but she hated feeling so vulnerable and clingy. With her heart aching, she knew that she needed him as her pillar of strength. His touch soothed and eased her pain, giving her comfort that she couldn't help but grapple at, like a drug addict clutches to her daily fix.

She wasn't going to be alone and she could call Stone whenever she wanted. Gwen was going to stay with her and protect her from the vampires that wanted to kill her.

Stone would drop them off at Aubree's apartment and Gwen would be staying with her until she broke up with Dan, her boyfriend of three years and recent fiancé. Then, the two women would return to the pack house in the woods.

In theory, it sounded simple. Aubree knew it would be anything but.

Stone assured her to take as much time as she needed, but she worried that if she took too long, the vampires would find the apartment. In her mind, the sooner she broke up with Dan, the better.

And it filled her stomach with prickly briers and clenched her heart tightly in a vice.

Slamming the trunk of their black car, Gwen grunted. "There. All set now."

A sudden rush of fear surged through Aubree as her arms tightened around Stone's waist.

He brushed her hair behind her ear and tilted her chin up with the tips of his fingers. "Relax," he told her as her eyes turned up to meet his.

Mashing her lips together, she nodded as warmth enveloped her from his touch. She still couldn't believe everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours. She'd discovered that not only was Stone, previously believed to be this gorgeous, over-bearing, jerkwad that followed her around everywhere, her soulmate but also a powerful, eight-hundred-year-old lycan (whatever that was) with two three-hundred-year-old children from his previous lycan soulmate, of whom she was supposedly the reincarnation of. To top it off, vampires were after her because she was his soulmate even though she was a human and incapable of having lycan babies with him (although any children that she did have with Stone would be werewolves, of which were a weaker species altogether, or something like that).

Too much information and emotion to make sense of in twenty-four hours, that was for sure.

She knew she made the right decision in choosing to be with Stone instead of Dan. That didn't mean she was unaffected by it. Breaking up with Dan would be the hardest thing she'd ever have to do but she knew she would regret it if she stayed with him.

Stone made her feel things she'd never felt before, and she couldn't begin to fathom those feelings underneath the confliction she felt between Stone and Dan.

When she pulled away from Stone and stared into the depths of his blue eyes, the tenderness that resonated through them lifted her heart. She reached up and touched his cheek. A five o'clock shadow was beginning to form along his jaw, but she didn't mind. She just didn't want to pull away from him.