VULNERABILITY

Deadlines

- unedited - 

I let out a shaky breath and fought tears as the main entrance was empty. It was just myself and a massive blood stain on the street. A lump settled in my throat. I wanted to scream his name. I tried to feel his emotions through our bond but it was just . . . gone. 

"Poppy." 

"Weston?" I cried and whipped around to him shirtless and covered in blood. I pushed down a sob and ran towards him. I felt the blood from his body stain my clothes but pushed the thought away. Right away his arms wound around me. I didn't notice I was crying until he pushed away the wetness settling under my eyes. 

"Don't cry, Flower, I am here now." 

Despite his request to stop crying, I continued. 

"Alpha, go home. We will clean up the mess and talk to the locals. We have a team tracking him down. He couldn't have gotten far." 

I lift my head from his chest in astonishment. 

"You didn't capture him?" I ask. Weston looks down at me with his mouth is a straight line. 

"Poppy, we will talk later." 

I feel a tinge of anger settle itself in my belly. 

"With all due respect, Alpha, I have a right to know the status of his whereabouts when I was almost kidnapped!" I snap through tears and a runny nose. I feel his disapproval right away and press my lips closed. 

"We. Will. Talk. Later." He grumbles but keeps his hands wrapped around me. 

I sigh and let it go. His arms guide me to his truck that was parked in the middle of the street. I'm guessing he rushed here once he felt my panic or Devin's phone call due to his hazardous parking. 

As soon as my seatbelt is clicked and the truck is slowly driving down the road, he yells. The stress from the day and the situation is coming out now, I assume. 

"You're fucking lucky the mall is five minutes away from my office otherwise you would have been fucking gone. You would have been unmarked and marked by him. You would have finally got what you have been wishing for, you would be away from me, forever-" 

"Is that what you really think I want? You think I would have liked being kidnapped?" I ask in astonishment.  

"Oh fuck off, Poppy. I know how you feel about me. I feel the conflict whenever we are close. I try to be nice to you and take care of you but it's never enough. If you don't submit to me soon . . ." He growls and grips the steering wheel in a white knuckle grip. 

"What are you gonna do if I don't submit, huh? You can't expect me to fall in love with you right away," I point out bitterly and settle my angry eyes on his rigid posture. 

He sighs and matches my stare with one of his own. 

"You have a month to fall in love with me." 

I stare at him and then laugh. I throw my head back and laugh my ass off. I expect him to be joking but once I stop cackling, I can see his face is dead serious. 

"You are seriously going to put a deadline on love." 

He turns onto the highway and meets my gaze with one of intensity. 

"Do you want to know how he can reverse my mark?" 

I pause but then nod. 

"He can reverse our mark because we share a father and you and I have not mated yet."