The White Wolf (2020)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

JAY

The rush of shadows as he jogged towards the blaring white lights in the stadium and field only added to the pumping of his heart.

The memory of Sydney's sweet warm scent filled his mind as though he could smell it now. The short memory when his lips brushed and met her peach ones excited his being. Then the image of Sydney, hair wild from her activities and static, swaddled in a layer of a hoodie and a coat standing in the warm light of the locker room struggling not to smile, was all he could see.

Darkness completely overtook Jay as he was forced through a dark patch of the parking lot.

All those beautiful and bright memories were all dashed when he opened his mind up to the entirety of yesterday. Tears streaking her cheeks. His despicable brother's words cutting her down. Sydney saying they never would have found each other without the power of her attack.

She's not wrong. The dark thought lurked.

Over the curb of the parking lot, Jay quickly was overtaken by the almost unbearable lights of the field.

"And now he shows! What kept you so long Captain? That pretty little blonde back there?" A teammate jabbed.

His wolf was immediately on the prowl and Jay was also put off by this behavior. "Mind your own shit, Dawson!"

Some woops and hollers rang out on the field as the boys rang out across the field. Either because of Jay scowling at Dawson or Dawson's insinuation Jay was sure it was a mixture.

It left a bitter taste in Jay's mouth to find the field wasn't completely curing his abused heart. All throughout school and practice for the game nothing completely took Jay's thoughts away from last night.

Terrence raised an eyebrow, "You guys talk?"

Jay noted the other team was starting to offload from their bus, the game's face-off was approaching fast and, despite his other worries, Jay was excited to show off his team.

And blow off some steam.

He found himself shrugging to tell his friend, "Not too much. She wants to talk to the omega," the word escaped Jay's mouth like it was acid.

His beta grimaced, "That can't be good."

'The omega needs to know Sydney is ours!'

Jay bristled at this. He knew they agreed to be friends, but the pressing of Sydney's body and lips to his made those thoughts flee away.

Everything had built up to cloud nine only to be wrecked by the omega's invasion of their time. From there it tumbled apart even more. The words that tornadoed between them to a point that, when Jay had left Sydney standing alone in her room in tears, an unsettling feeling in his heart questioned what was going to happen to them.

Was it possible their matching as mates was wrong?

The drive home was numbing as trees, lights, and stop signs all blurred by aimlessly. Somehow he had brushed by his parents and their questions, only to end up laying on his back staring at the ceiling in his bed.

A tangle of shifting scenes faded in and out of his dreams, some pleasant, but in the end, they all ended with pain and anger.

Sydney curled into him until Jay pulled back and in a blink of an eye he was not laying in bed with her but, instead, watching from beside the bed, Mathew coxed Sydney into his arms. Jay went to reach for her, but then the comforter would rise with the pair swaddled on the taut fabric, then the edges curled with fire, until it ate the entire thing of fabric, only to find they were gone.