Ocean Eyes

Chapter Thirty-Three

“You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, I told him, like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again.”

~Aar Nafisi 'Reading Lolita in Tehran'

So Parker survived the talk with my father. I don’t know what miracle he managed to pull out of his ass but when they returned to the kitchen my dad was actually smiling. I could hardly believe it.

The rest of the day was relaxed and spent lightheartedly, as we all knew what awaited us soon. I spoke to my father about returning to North Carolina. He seemed relieved at my decision and everybody began packing immediately.

I was sitting on the steps away from all the commotion in the house. Gemini sat across from me, Eli standing behind her, and Parker was pacing along the sidewalk. We had just filled Eli in on everything.

“Will you be safe in North Carolina?” Eli asked.

“Probably not,” I mumbled, “but everybody else will.”

“So selfless,” Eli sighed. “June, you make it incredibly hard to hate you.”

I smiled sadly. My thoughts were tangled and I was having a hard time dealing with what I had to do. In my heart I knew it was the right thing, but my mind couldn’t quite wrap itself around it yet.

“I’m going with the pack when they leave,” Gemini told Eli somberly as she looked up at him.

“What?” he dropped to the ground beside her. “What do you mean?”

“It’s not safe here anymore. Not for people like us. We need to go and we need to be a part of a pack. It’s in our nature, anyway.”

Eli clenched his jaw tightly. “Then I’m going, too.”

I sighed. “Eli, you know I can’t let you do that.”

His eyes were blazing. “Why not?”

“Because. Regardless of whether or not Gemini ever marks you and shifts you there is a life for you here. You have family.”

“So I’m just supposed to step back and let my girlfriend go? You’re crazy if you think I’ll passively back off and do that.”

“Eli . . .”

“I’m coming too. End of story.”

Convincing him, I knew, would be pointless. Besides, I just didn’t have the energy for another argument. “Fine.” I took a deep breath. “Then I need to tell you guys something.”

Parker stopped his pacing and walked over, kneeling by me. We created a mini circle out on the stoop.

“Together through the end, right?” I questioned, and all three of them nodded.

“What’s wrong, June?” Gemini asked, lips turning downward.

“There is something I have to do. Something my father doesn’t approve of, something my pack would never let me do. But they don’t understand. I have to go. I have to see her because she’s planning an all-out assault and I don’t want that.”

Silence as what I said soaked in. Gemini’s eyes widened and Eli blinked. Parker sought my fingers and gripped them tightly.

“I don’t know what will happen. I’ve never been good at planning and I usually just go with the flow, so I can’t promise everything will turn out okay. Not for me, at least. But for all of you—I will find a way to keep you safe.”