I have no reading material to occupy the spinning and turning wheels inside my mind. I've given up on that dream and knowing it's not such a great loss to me makes me realize that I never really wanted to take that path. It makes me realize that I was rebelling, that I just didn't know the path I wanted.
The knocking on the front door is incessant. It's rushed and sloppy and sounds almost frantic.
I flop from the bed and open the door.
Gem
Out of breath and crying.
She looks like she's been through hell and back just to get here, just to take a step into this cabin where I am.
I take her shoulders, walk her to the sofa, closing the door on the way In. I may think her a whore, but I'm a future alpha, so to a certain extent I do care for her well being.
I sit beside her while she empties her eyes into her hands. I don't touch her. I just wait patiently for her to respond to my presence.
"I need to tell you something." She rubs her nose with her hand and sniffles.
"What is it?" I lean back against the couch, casual.
"I..." She doesn't get to finish because someone has burst through the door uninvited.
She seems to flinch and move close to my side, trying to use me as a shield, seeking protection from me.
"I told you to stay away from him didn't I?"
Graham.
He's almost red in the face. What is he trying to hide?
He's closing in on us, on her. She's shaking and scared for her life, but this must be important if she is willing to face Graham's wrath.
"Graham, stand down! Can't you see she's scared?" I hold my hands out, trying and failing to calm my mate. I came here to escape him and yet he's here and invading my space, my need for privacy and making it even harder on me.
"You suddenly care now? You never did before!" He's so close that he's almost touching her. I stand to cover her, to protect her.
"That doesn't mean I won't listen to her! That doesn't mean I won't hear what she has to say! What? Now that she's not fucking you, you suddenly hate her guts?" I step towards him, aggressive, flailing my hands around as I speak and reaching out to shove him.
He growls low at me, but doesn't push back. "I told her to stay away from you. That was an order from her future beta and she is breaking that!" He seems proud, like he's got this in the bag.
"Leave!" Pointing my finger at the door.
"No. Not until she's gone." Arms crossed.
"That wasn't a question Graham. That was an order. An order from your future alpha so I expect you to listen or I won't have a choice in what I do next." I can feel the Wild in me. It's crazy and dangerous, wanting to snap teeth, snap necks. It doesn't like the way we've been treated and it doesn't like the way were being undermined, the way our own mate and beta is keeping things from us.
"No." It's like he wants a fight. He wants the consequences of his actions to be set in place.
I shove him again, showing him that I mean business.
He budges, but barely.
I throw a punch, catching him in the chin. He was off guard, unsuspecting. He touches his chin, locks his jaw.
He comes at me so hard that we ram into the coffee table, smashing straight through the glass until he has a chance to give me a punch that will surely leave a black eye.
We're lying on the floor and Gem is yelling, trying to pull us apart, but hesitant, not wanting any bodily harm to herself.
Our strengths are closely matched and I'm a lot smaller than him, but I manage to lock behind his legs with mine and flip us until I'm slamming another fist straight to the face, hoping to give him a matching shiner.
"What are you hiding from me, huh? What is it that you don't want me to know?" It hurts my heart, it pains me deeply the way we are beating each other, the way I still get tingles no matter how we touch each other.
"It's none of your business!" Shoving me off him, skidding across the ground, banging my elbow against the opposite wall.
I launch up and back at him, hitting him square in the gut, making him cough, making me wince from the pain I can feel from him, slowly seeping into my mind.
He doesn't stop coughing for a while and I stand up, hands on my knees, glaring at him and trying to catch my breath.
"I want you to leave."
And he's gone, limping and holding his arm that has a long cut from the glass we broke through, rolled in.
Gem grabs some paper towels to help me, but I push her gently back to the sofa.
I run my hands through my hair.
"What was it you wanted to tell me?" I ask as I hold the paper towels to my own cuts.
"I'm... Pregnant."
YOU ARE READING
Hidden Bonds
Werewolf(Book3) Talon Blackwood has had feelings for his best friend since before he can remember. He can't stop the staring. He can't help the glances and the slow, easy perusals. He can't change the way he is. In love, in love with his best friend ...
