Drawn To The Enemy

Chapter Twelve

Drawn To The Enemy: Chapter Twelve

"So Alaric, I mean, your Alpha, decided he'd turn me into another set of claws instead of release or kill me. Therefore I'm here," I finish.

"And you say your family is gone? Like really gone? Like-"

"Dead --- yes."

"I'm so sorry," Her face falls into a deeply mournful expression. I shake my shoulders. "Its fine."

Liyun's head bolts to the doorway, where the knob twists and pushes open to reveal Alaric. His hair still looks damp, and his fitted gray shirt is discolored at his chest and armpits, like he'd just got back from a ten mile run and was sweating his flank off.

His scent is overpoweringly strong, so much that I have to clamp my nostrils shut.

Liyun rises from the bed, eyes wide. "Alpha..."

"What are you doing in my room? Aren't you supposed to be in training?"

"Yes Sir, I-I-"

"She was talking to me," I say aloud, releasing the clog.

Liyun darts her gaze back to me, her face panic-stricken and pale, like she's telling me mentally not to intervene with the conflict at hand. But I just can't hold back. I feel something bubbling inside of me, and I want to knee Alaric in his pup-producer.

He's staring at me, hard. Then he looks at, Liyun, and nods his head out the door. "Go,"

She doesn't spare me a glance before fleeing all too swiftly. He slams the door behind her and his eyes meet mine again. "You are not to let anyone else in this room, do you understand?"

I ignore his command. "Were you with her?"

"What?" Confusion.

"Don't act stupid. Were you with her? Your Beta?"

He rolls his eyes. "Why do you care?"

Why did I care?

"Its not like my time with you mattered much. You forced me away from you. If I decide to go to someone else, that's my business --- not yours. Do me a favor and stay in a cat's place,"

"Why won't you just reject me, Alaric? Matings were crafted with the choice to accept or deny the person you ended up with. Id rather be rejected and live my life without being tied to you, even if I have to abide by your immature rules and thrive in a place not meant for my kind --- instead of stay here attached to someone who obviously doesn't give a fuck one way or another if he can't get what he wants," I get up from the bed. My hands are clenched into two tight balls, and I hiss the words venomously. "Its like she's your own personal intoxication and you can't function without her presence, without her touch. For God's sake, its like she's your damn mate! I didn't ask to be in this position but Ill beg of you to release me from the hell you're putting me through if it'll diminish these fucking forced feelings!" I shout. "Let me out of it, Alaric! Reject me!"

He squeezes his eyes shut, and I can sense his heart is withering up whether he admits the fact my words actually got to him or not.

"No!" He finally rages. "You talk to me as if I don't know all of this! If I didn't want you I would have killed you! You wouldn't even be talking to me right now, persuading me to let you out of the grip I just can't seem to retract... I knew all of this would become too intense for you, I just needed to .... to hear it," He inhales deeply and blows out a breath. "Zara, I'm not rejecting you, just like you're not leaving the pack. Not leaving me. You won't even talk to me. Won't even entertain the hatred you supposingly have balled up inside of you. I went to her because I wanted you so bad!"

Tears are falling from my cheeks. I just wish I could be amongst my family, in the center of mixed feline species, cuddling up to the cubs that were my two younger brothers, grooming mum as she rested her head over my father's large paws. Waiting, waiting for a man who understood me and wouldn't be so selfish as to run to the next person like a little kid when the heartache of distrust leaked through the barrier I tried to maintain.

I wasn't going to suck up to a dog and give him the impression I was a easy going girl that would fall into his arms and give him his happily ever after --- but the temptation of our collision was proving harder to avoid by the day. Maybe there would have actually been a chance if not for his reckless decision to return to his side chick after uttering useless nothings into my ear every night.
"I don't want to be here. I don't want to be with you," It hurt to say the words, it was more like I was trying to convince myself to mean it rather than actually feeling it. "Am I allowed to go for a run or will this be another problem for the almighty Alpha?"

He runs a hand through his hair, his face comforting into an unreadable form of distressed, mute, communication. Almost weakly, he steps off to the side, exposing the closed door to me.

I approach it, slowly, and place my hand on the knob. Electrical elements attack my core as our bodies mirror one another in reversed directions. I close my eyes, and I can feel more tears slide down my face to taint the carpeted floor. Alaric's eyes come to look at me, and he doesn't have to verbally say a thing for me to know how he feels. His mind says enough.

I shake my head. "Don't apologize. Its unnecessary ... and nothing but a lie used to detour my sight from the truth." I pause, wanting to say more, but figuring he'd know what was going through my head without me wasting my breath. Twisting the knob, I step out into the hall and pull the door closed behind me. My eyes immediately drift off down the hall, and I see Harley. She stares at me, rubs her arm, and turns away. Narrowing my eyes, I say, "You can have him, ya know. Its pretty obvious the two of you will find your way back to each other no matter the circumstances. I know this is what you want --- what the both of you want." I say the last part a little louder, so that Alaric is aware of my forfeiting.

"I'm sorry..." She says the words so quietly, but I shake my head.

"Yeah ... I know," Turning the other way, I begin to carefully remove my clothes. I wasn't in the mood to be shameful of my body, or destroy a outfit that could be used another day. It was rare I got to an uncontrollable point of shifting without doing so, whereas others so naturally change with everything on and look stupid when they come back to themselves and have nothing to return too but their skin.

I fold them into a neat pile at the foot of the door as Harley's wolf breaks through and sprints down the hall.

I glance over my bare shoulder, and close my eyes, giving in to Liana's yearning for freedom, and me yearning for darkness.