Chapter 11
Apparently, brownies weren't the best idea we could've had. Because right now I was standing in the kitchen, covered in flour, eggs, brownie mix and chocolate. Well, Gemma was definitely worse than me.
"Something tells me we did this wrong," She says as she pulls a pan with a strange, solid, black burnt crisp in it.
I laughed, "I'd say so."
Gemma chuckled, "Think we could get Chad to come over and trick him into eating it?"
Before I could respond, she answered her own question, "No, no I don't think he's that dense."
Smiling, I looked back down at my clothes-- my ingredient-covered clothes. In my defense, Gemma totally started the whole food fight thing.
"So do you think chocolate syrup makes your hair healthier?" I question, lifting a piece of my chocolate syrup-drenched hair.
She nodded, sarcasm dripping, "Oh, yeah, definitely."
Throwing my head back, I let out a loud laugh. Apparently it was contagious, because soon enough she started laughing too and we sank to the ground, clutching our stomachs.
"You should laugh more often," A voice spoke up and I visibly stiffened. Gemma sobered up and straightened, while I remained sitting on the floor in the mess we made, though I did turn to face him. Hayden. He looked around the room, "What did you two do?"
"We attempted to make brownies," I shrugged and stood up, making my way past him and upstairs, straight into the shower. When I was done I threw on a simple tank top and pajama shorts before jogging back downstairs and into the kitchen. I found Gemma standing there, staring at the kitchen with cleaning supplies in her hands.
I smiled, "Come on, let's clean this up."
She gave me a grateful smile and we got to work.
Two and a half hours is how long it took for us to completely clean the kitchen up from our disastrous brownie making attempt. It was a long time and grueling work, but it was better since I had Gemma. We'd joke around and keep each other from going crazy. You know, maybe that's why it took us so long to clean up. We did goof off numerous times.
It was eleven o'clock (PM, by the way) and I was exhausted. Letting out a yawn, I waved to Gemma as she made her way up the stairs, "Good night, Gem!"
"See ya tomorrow, Arleigh," She mumbled, trudging up the steps.
Sitting down on the couch, I folded my legs under me and stared ahead, my mind wandering. I wondered where my parents were and what they were doing at this very minute. I wondered what my sister was doing, and my friends as well. I wondered about my old life and what could've went differently if I had come straight out and told everyone Hayden was my mate.
Maybe I'd still be with them.
I guess the biggest question of all is whether or not I want to be with them right now, or if I liked staying with Hayden. He's my mate, I should love him and make it easy on him. But he kidnapped me, didn't even give me a chance to say goodbye.
Things could've been so different, but they aren't.
"Arleigh," Hayden breathed out and I turned to look at him as he walked into the living room. He sat down on the chair across from me. He looks down and then back up at me, his expression pained, "Can we talk?"
Really, I didn't feel like talking at all, but I knew we had to, so I nodded nonetheless.
He sighed in relief, "Good. For a second there, I thought you were going to say no." So did I. "But, I'm glad you said yes because I really do need to apologize for my actions today. I know that hitting Gemma was wrong, and I'm so, so sorry, but you need to know my wolf was slipping over the edge. He almost had complete control when it happened. God, Arleigh, I was just so worried about you."
Guilt washed over me like a tsunami and I was drowning in it. I looked down at my hands and mumbled, "Sorry to worry you."
"Don't apologize," He all but commanded, "you didn't do anything wrong. It was my fault I couldn't control my wolf."
"I fought the rogue," I started, "because I didn't want him to know about Olivia. I knew he'd probably been catching on and listening, meaning he couldn't walk away alive. I killed him to protect Olivia, because when it come down to it, between Olivia and I, I know you'd pick Olivia."
"That's not--" I knew he was about to argue, saying 'that's not true', but I held up a hand, cutting him off.
I gave him a sad smile, "Before you tell me I'm wrong, which I'm not, hear me out. She's the last of your family-- she can't even shift yet. What kind of a wolf would I be to give up a nine year old girl rather than go out and fight a rogue? That's not the point, though. The point is, you can meet other girls and fall in love with other girls and even mark and mate with other girls. But the thing is, you can't find a new sister. I can be replaced, but Olivia can't. Hayden, I know you'd pick Olivia over me, and believe me when I say I'm okay with that."
He looked down and remained silent for a while before asking me, "Would you choose your sister over me?"
"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "Right now, I'd probably choose her, but I'm not saying that can't change."
He looked hurt, but at the same time like he understood what I meant.
"I wanted you to say you'd choose me," He told me, looking into my eyes. "I knew you wouldn't, but there was a part of me that hoped. But I swear to you, Arleigh, I'm going to make sure that you change your mind."
"How are you going to do that?" I questioned.
He gave a small smile, "I don't know. I've never tried getting my mate to choose me over her sister before."
Even if I didn't want to, I cracked a smile. It was simply a lift at the corners of my lips, but it was a start to a smile, nevertheless.
~
a/n: Sorry it's so short, I just ran out of any more good ideas to add to this chapter. :P the next chapter is going to be a little more exciting, probably a bit of a turning point for Arleigh!!
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Behind Enemy Lines
Werewolf"I don't trust you," I told him, refusing to go. He smirked, "You shouldn't." Arleigh Blackburn has always dreamed of the day she would meet her mate. She imagined he would be her knight in shining armor, smiling down at her with love in his ey...
