Truths Collide (WolfGirl 2)

Chapter 9: Three Musketeers

(Scarlet James)

I wake up to a feathery touch on my naked back. My eyes open to find Caius next to me, watching me. He brushes aside my hair from my eyes and kisses my nose.

"Good morning gorgeous," he whispers and I get flashbacks of countless mornings starting like this.

I sink back into the covers and mentally groan. I knew this would happen. I knew coming over here, even just for dinner, we'd have sex. We always do. I turn away from him and start to get out of bed, even though it's the hardest thing to do right now because all I want to do is snuggle with him.

"I have to go," I tell him as I look around for my clothes.

I hear him sit up, "Okay...why?"

I pull my dress on and turn to look at him, "Why? Because this was a mistake Caius. Nothing's changed."

He gets out of bed and pulls on a pair of pajama pants, "No it wasn't a mistake. Why do you keep doing that? Why won't you let me cherish these few days I have with you before you have to leave and I have to marry someone who's not you. Why won't you give us that?"

"You really have to ask?!" I exclaim as my throat starts closing up and tears threaten to spill, "It hurts too much. What part of that do you not understand!"

"I know it hurts!" he replies, his eyes flashing red for a second showing his wolf, "But these next few days are all that I'm going to have left of you. But all we keep doing is fight. I don't want to fight you. I just want to hold you and love you because I will never get that chance again!" he exclaims. His light brown hair falls dangerously into his eyes with the intensity of his argument, "After the next full moon, I have to spend the rest of my life fucking a girl I don't want, knowing my brother's spending the rest of his life giving my girl the world to try and fill the void in your heart.

"None of this is fair, Scarlet," he says, angrily, walking up to me, "I just want to spend the next few days with you. I love you so much and I wish I told you that more before. I wish I did everything differently," he continues. He's standing in front of me with his head hung low, not looking at me, "I'm scared. I'm so scared to spend the rest of my life without you. I don't know how I'm going to do it. I don't know how I'm going to keep Olivia from learning the truth. I don't know how I'm supposed to see you with Tristan at my parents' home for the holidays."

The way I've been seeing you and Olivia for as long as I can remember.

I take his face in my hands and make him look at me, "Spending more time together will just make things worse. You all are so hell bent on going through with this, I'm just trying to make this easier for me. Please don't ask me to come over again. Don't text or call me. Focus on Olivia and let me cope with this my way."

He shakes his head, "I can't. I can't just stop seeing you or talking to you. Please don't do this."

How the hell did I become the bad guy here? I pull away from him and start picking up my stuff, "I didn't do anything. This was all decided before I even came into the picture. I'm just doing my part now."

"Scarlet..." he reaches out for me, but I back away and shake my head.

"Caius, please don't," I beg him, "I can't be with you knowing we don't have a forever like we're supposed to. And I can't be with you if that means jeopardizing my future with someone who's willing to sacrifice his chance at finding true love for me."

Caius stands up straighter as I mention Tristan and I can sense his defenses are up. He takes another step closer to me and says, "You really think when Tristan finds his mate he won't leave you?"