A Werewolf After Dark (The Garrison Pack - Book 2) - Complete

Chapter 14

I want to be angry, I want to hate the fact I told her, forced her to see. I want to be angry at her for how she's reacting, for how she's all but rejected me as her mate, even when my wolf knows she hasn't. I want to shift and let my wolf run and roam and escape, but I can't, not yet. I can't seem to find it in myself to feel angry either; I just feel, empty.

For the last few hours she hasn't spoken so much as a word to me. I pull into a small, country hotel and switch off the engine. Silence falls around us as the engine cools down. I look over at her.

Her face is turned away from me and it takes everything in me not to reach out to touch her delicate, soft skin and kiss her. Tell her I'm sorry for hurting her, for keeping it a secret, for not realise I loved her until I was forced to admit it. It isn't because I don't want to love her, on the contrary I think I love her more than I've ever loved anyone else in this world and I know I'll continue to love her more than anyone else in this world, but we both hold dark secrets and neither of us seems willing to share them with the other.

"I'll go see if they have a room for us," I say into the silence.

"See if they have two rooms," she whispers softly and I nearly growl.

"Annie..."

"No, Jason. I just, need space tonight," she whispers softly. I leave the car without saying anything else.

She needs me as much as I need her, she just doesn't seem to realise how much I need her. Until Annie, I never use to be able to sleep at night, not until she was in my arms, her scent surrounding me and filling my lungs. Up until the first night she'd slept in my arms, I hadn't been able to sleep through the night since the night I'd fucked everything up, when I'd killed...Damn it, but I can't think about that now, not when I have to take care of Annie. I can't leave her open and vulnerable like that. If I go down that road now, I'll shift and I'll run and god only knows when I'd come back.

I enter the reception area and head over to the counter, where a human man in his late seventies sits in a chair, his hair thin and grey, his face wrinkled with age. His eyes show a depth of knowledge only time itself brings to a person's eyes. My kind live for a lot longer than a human, but even I'm amazed by human beings. They seem to fit more into their short lives, than any Werewolf ever can with triple the time. A human has a time limit and they seem to cram everything into that time. They enjoy life to the full. See everything they can, experience everything possible.

That's why it hurts so much when I think of losing Annie, because I can see the truth in her eyes. I can see the truth no one else seems to be able to see. She was a human, subject to that time limit and suddenly, her time is cut short. Her life ripped in two and I know, even if she doesn't, that deep down, she just wants a little more time.

"What can I do for ya, sir?" the old man asks.

"Do you have a room going?" I ask. Annie's words slip into my mind, but damn it to hell, she's my mate. She's in danger, she's ill, I won't let her stay in a room alone.

"Just one?" the man asks and I look at him.

"Just one," I agree.

Nodding, he reaches to the left and grabs a key, "Room 29, right down the other end of here," he says, coughing softly, "One room, one night, £59 for a double bed, £39 for a single. I'm guessing you're wanting a double," he says, a laugh in his eyes.

"Yeah, a double would be good," I say and he nods.

"Cash or card?" he mutters.

"Cash."