THE SORTING

THE APOLOGY

Dom flinched. The tone of my voice was lethal, and he knew it. I could tell. He lifted his head, looking at me with annoyance. He was a wolf after all. Talking to him like this was basically signing my death warrant. Male wolves, so I've been told, were very macho. They liked to be dominant in nature. But I didn't care. He deserved it.

"So?", I pushed further, my tone never shifting. He needed to know how I felt, how he made me feel. When he didn't push her away, he made me feel ugly. Worthless. Used. Manipulated.

"Watch it, Vivienne. We can have a civil conversation about this," Dom offered sternly, motioning for me to calm down with his hands. Oh, he wanted me to be civil. When he practically broke my heart? Yeah, right. Rather than making him more upset, fearing if that happened, we would never resolve anything, I moved on.

"Who is she?" I prodded. I kept my head high and stared at him directly in his eyes. I was not going to shy away from this. Just because I was human didn't mean I was weak, and he would know that. Today. I crossed my arms and lifted my eyebrows, my body language letting Dom know that he was taking to long to respond.

"Sarah is a trainer with the Royals. She travels between regions and helps Alphas who need to strengthen their armies. We had a," Dom paused. He eyed me cautiously to make sure he was saying the right things. I had no idea if he was or not, my body language never changing. "Thing before I found you. She was supposed to be back tomorrow and I was going to talk to her about us and break it off but before I could, well, you saw," Dom spoke quickly, tilting his head down.

"What do you mean a thing?" I asked, fully aware that the answer was just going to make me more upset. I knew deep down that it didn't matter what they were before us. He was with me now, but I was far to angry to let this go yet. And he didn't push her away.

"We were dating, okay?" Dom answered, shrugging his shoulders in a frustrated way.

"Did you sleep with her?"

This warranted a long pause. I knew that I might be being unreasonable. Dom had a life before me, and he was entitled to it. For some reason, however, the thought of him like.... that.... with another girl made my blood boil. Maybe it was because I hadn't been with anyone like that or maybe it was because I was jealous. Could be both. I already knew the answer when he just stared at me, refusing to speak. Tears started welling up in my eyes, my anger transforming into the feeling of betrayal. A feeling I had no right to have. It was incredibly unfair to make him feel bad for his past, and I would apologize for it later. Right now, I couldn't turn off how hurt I felt. I looked towards the floor because looking in his eyes waiting for him to say something, anything was getting too painful. My voice was quiet and mousy as I asked him the one question that had been plaguing my mind since the incident.

"Why didn't you push her away?" I cried.

"Vivienne," Dom tried to reach out for me, but I moved back, almost stumbling because my eyes were too blurry to see anything.

"Why did you just stand there? Why didn't you stop her? Is she better than me? Is that why? She's a wolf and I'm not. Is that it? Am I not good enough? Do you want her instead? That's it, isn't it? I'm not as strong or as pretty or as worth it," my word vomit getting the best of me, tears welling in my eyes, not quite falling down my face. I couldn't look at Dom because I was afraid, he would tell me it was all true. I tried to turn and run, which is apparently my new thing, but my arm was grabbed. Sparks flew from the contact, so strong that I thought they were actual sparks and not all in my head.

"Little one, please," Dom easily pulls me back to him. I felt numb, my body too tired from all the sudden changes in emotions. Being sad and then angry and then sad again was really taking a toll on my mental and physical strength. I suddenly had no energy left. I let Dom pull me towards him, wrapping his arms around my upper back and shoulders as I slumped against him. He released me after a minute, but only enough for us to look at each other. I didn't want to, afraid that he would entertain my insecurities. Dom lightly grasped my chin, forcing me to look into his deep green eyes. He looked sad, guilty.

"You listen to me right now. You will always be good enough. More than, in fact. You are so perfect, and it kills me that you do not see that. I am so sorry if I made you feel like I felt anything less. I was stunned when she grabbed me. I should have acted quicker and I regret it every minute. She does not and will not ever compare to you. You are so much more. I do not care that you are human nor will I ever care. You are the one for me. You are the most important person in my life and I will do everything in my power to remind you of that every day. I promise," Dom finished, never breaking eye contact. He spoke with certainty, his voice never faltering. I believed him. Or at least I wanted to.

Dom led us back to his room. My brain was pretty much running on empty, so the walk was pretty uneventful. He led me to the bed and laid me down, after I changed out of the clothes I wore for too long into one of his shirts and a pair of his sweats. Though Dom was taller than me, his clothes weren't too big. They were comfy. I took it upon myself to lay down, making myself at home. Dom went to the bathroom and emerged wearing just a pair of sweatpants, no shirt. If I wasn't so exhausted, I might have been nervous. All I could think about, however, was sleep. He cuddled up next to me, pulling my back towards his front, spoon style. This made my insides flutter. The last thought I had before drifting off was how happy I felt and how, despite our argument, I couldn't remember the last time I felt this safe.