Moira

Chapter 24

I was sitting down on one of the couches in the living room of Ace's place in the pack house. I sat looking at Ace waiting for him to say something. But he didn't, he looked as if he was in his own mind. I knew that look, he was having a conversation with his wolf.

Knowing that it might take Ace a while before he finished his conversation, I stood up and began to walk around. I looked around the room looking at everything, not at anything particular but just at anything that caught my eye.

I was looking at the bookshelf in the room when my eyes caught something peeking out from behind a book. Reaching over I grabbed the end of the paper and pulled it out from behind the book. When I looked down at the piece of paper. I noticed that it wasn't a piece of paper but a photo.

I couldn't stop the gasp from leaving my lips when I noticed that it wasn't just any girl in the photo. I was staring at myself. No, I was staring at the girl I used to be.

The girl in the photo was sitting in the middle of the forest behind the pack house. It was a sunny day and the sun was shining down on her in the photo. The girl was sitting with her back against a willow tree and her hands were held out with a bird nesting in them. She was smiling at the bird with an innocent look in her eyes.

I remembered that day well. I had been given a hour where I had nothing to do and seeing the sun shining outside, I had gone to explore the forest. Upon entering, I had heard a couple of birds chirping and I had followed the noise. When I had heard the chirping just a few feet from me, I had stopped and sat down. I had closed my eyes and listened until I felt something land on my hand. I opened my eyes to see a bird on my hands chirping at me.

I was holding the photo tightly in my grasp when I felt a presence behind me. Ace came closer to me and reached around me causing his chest to press into my back. Before I could control myself, a breathless gasp escaped me from feeling the sparks from the places we were touching.

Ace didn't say anything, instead, he took the photo from my hand and backed away. I turned around to see Ace walking back to the couch he was just sitting on. I leaned back against the bookshelf as Ace sat down.

Looking at Ace, I needed to know. I needed to know why he had a photo of me from before. Why would he have one when he was the one who rejected me? He hated me and yet he kept a photo of me for years.

I felt a feeling of loss like I had never felt before. I was confused and hurt. Why did he have that photo? I had so many questions for him.

I whispered, not wanting to break the silence but needing an answer, "Why?"

One word, three letters, a beginning of a question. Not enough meaning behind it but he knew what I meant. Even if I didn't know what I wanted it to mean. Because in my head, a thousand questions I needed him to answer.

Why did he reject me? Why take a picture of me? Why keep that picture of me for years? Why did he choose Brittney? Why didn't he love me? Why was I not good enough?

But instead of asking all these questions, I chose to ask one word with only three letters. Because that one word held all my questions in it. It held the pain that I felt. It held the rejection, the hope, and the anger.

Ace looked at the picture, "I needed you."

Ace looked up from the picture and stood up walking towards me. I walked towards him and smiled causing him to give me a small grin back. But unlike him, I was fuming inside. So when he held his arms out about to take me in them and hug me.

My face contorted to anger and I raised my hand. Before he had time to stop me, I smacked him hard across the face. The sound of my hand connected with his face echoed through the room.

Ace stood with his head to the side. The smack had caused his face to turn with the impact of my hand. I let my hand fall as Ace turned back to look at me with a blank expression.

I glared at him, "You needed me."

Getting angrier as his statement processed in my head I shouted, "You needed me!"

I pointed to myself laughing in his face, "That's funny because you had a fucked up way of showing it."

Ace's nostrils flared as he tried to control his anger, "How is that so hard to believe?"

I shook my head, he wasn't even worth my anger. If he didn't know what he did wrong, I wouldn't be able to get it through his thick head. Turning away from him I made the move to leave his room, but a hand grabbing my arm stopped me from taking another step.

Without turning to him I listened to him, "I needed you, I just couldn't have you."

With that statement, I felt the anger in me rising once more. I turned around raising my hand ready to slap him again. But before my hand connected to his cheek, his hand caught mine.

Ace yanked my hand causing my body to collide with his. I struggled to free myself, but he was too strong. Silently in my head, I cursed Ryan for training Ace. With all the training Ace had done since we got here, he had gotten stronger and I couldn't get out of his hold.

Allowing myself to relax under his hold, I looked up waiting for Ace to explain himself. Ace was already staring at me and when he saw that I had stopped struggling, he let me go. He walked back towards the couch again and sat down staring at me like he was waiting for me to do something. With my arms crossed, I waited for him to speak up.

Ace let out a sigh, "Kathryn please sit down."

I just stared at him causing him to curse, "Kathryn please."

Him saying this caused me to sigh and give in. I wanted to just curse his name and leave not giving him the satisfaction of me staying. But I needed answers and the only way to get them was to listen to what he had to say.

Sitting down on the couch opposite of him, I waited for him to begin.