Crimson Mist ✔️

30: The smell of woods and exhaust haunts me.

I'm waking up to the smell of woods and exhaust, and the slight hint of men's cologne, and my eyes tear up all over again. It's not fair that my mind is constantly on him, and now it's going to play tricks on me as well? Oh, well, might as well go into battle now.

I turn over to see Tristan still asleep on his bed, mouth open with a tiny bit of saliva running down to his pillow. He looks adorable, and it makes me smile just a little to know the big, bad Alpha sleeps like a baby.

But then the smell enters my nose again, and I close my eyes to make it go away.

Elle, are you awake?

My cousin's voice in my mind makes me lose focus, and the smell is still there when I reopen my eyes.

Yes, unfortunately, I answer grumpily. I can smell him now, Michael. I'm officially going crazy.

Um, you should come over here, he replies.

I sigh, and get out of bed. It's probably not a bad idea. We can have ice cream for breakfast, and watch shitty TV shows together, without waking up the big baby I share my room with.

I pull my hair up into a mess on top of my head, because I care just a little bit that I haven't showered since yesterday morning, but I'm not changing out of Jeremy's shirt. It feels like I need it on me to be able to breathe, so I keep it on, and change out of my jeans from the day before. They're dirty from where the snow melted into it, so I put on a pair of black ones that either Liz or Kate donated to me, and pull my boots on.

I hope you've got more ice cream, I say through the link, before I silently unlock the door and open it up to go over to Michael's room.

My mind is silent as I walk over, and the smell just gets stronger. I groan, and hug myself in the cold as I regret not putting my sweater on. The walk is short, and I'm knocking on their door faster than I thought. It has snowed quite a lot since last night, and I would have had snow up to my knees if there wasn't a roof protecting all the doors from the white substance.

The door swings open quickly, and I step inside. The smell of my mate still haunts me as I walk into their room, and step out of my too-big boots.

"Why are you guys up this early? It's barely seven," I say, as I rub my arms to regain warmth, and look into the empty-looking room.

I furrow my brows, and turn around to see Michael walking closer to me with an unreadable expression on his face, and Tyler sits by the table with... him.

My mouth drops open, and I put my hand over it. I want to scream. The pain in my chest intensifies, and my eyes fill with tears again. Tears of joy, pain, anger and confusion all at once. I don't know what to do, or how to react. All I know is that I'm pissed as fuck at him, and he just sits there, staring at me as if I'm some freak who just scared his kid with my morning hair and exhausted appearance.

His eyes flicks down to my clothes, and Michael's arms wraps around me. Protectively, maybe, or to comfort me. I don't know. I don't know what I want it to be either.

"You're still wearing my T-shirt," Jeremy says, and gets up from his seat.

I stare at him in disbelief, before looking at Tyler, who looks at me with an expression full of guilt.

"You're here," I say through my own clenched teeth. "Why?"

"Because Tyler left without saying goodbye," he says, stepping closer to Michael and I. "And because I missed you."

"You don't get to miss me!" I yell at him. "You walked out while I was chained to a wall! You told me you didn't want me!"

"I fucking lied!" he yells back, walking even closer.