THE BREAKUP

The room felt like I tomb. There was no way I could go out without being unnoticed. I knnew he was watching. I knew if I tried to use the phone, he would hear me. 

I stood at the window, staring out at the dark dense tree line. Somewhere out there, Liamm was risking everything to save me.

I have to get to him, I thought. I have to tell him to run.

I didn't have a plan, just a fantic, desperate instict. The window. It was my only exit. I didn't think, I just let the girl I had been holding back for five years take over.

My bones cracked and reformed, a painful, familiar heat surging through my veins as I tumbled onto the grass below. Jaxson was probably going to catch me, but it was a risk I was willing to take.

I picked up Liam's scent after running for more than five minutes. I was a little rusty, but I was a able to find him. Shiting back was agonizing, my skin knitting together as I gasped for air, collapsing onto cold dirt. I was shivering, completely naked and exposed. Forgot about that part of the shift.

"Ava?" 

He was standing ten feet away. He hadn't seen the wolf, but he saw me now.  Shivering. Naked. Covered in dirt.

"Liam, what are you doing here?" I rasped, letting out a deep sigh.

"I tracked your phone after the call I made this evening. I was already at Silver ridge then but I didn't know exactly where to look. I've been looking for days." he said, stepping forward, his eyes filled with terryfing innocent kindness. "Ava, come on. Put my jacket on. Let's go home"

He wrapped the jacket around me immediately, ashamed to see what he had seen countless of times. I could understand him though. It's not everyday you see your girlfriend naked in the woods.

I looked past him. A pair of glowing golden eyes watched us from the shadows. Jaxson. He was waiting for me to fail.

​I took a breath and hardened my heart. I had to make him hate me so he’d never look back.

​"Home?" I laughed, the sound cold and hollow. "You think I want to go back to that boring life? You think I was 'lost'?"

​Liam stopped, confused. "You disappeared. You told me you were going strictly for business."

​"Well this is the business,," I lied, standing up as much as I could while staying in the shadows. "I found someone better, Liam. Someone with actual power. Someone who owns everything you see here."

​"Ava, look at yourself. You’re... you’re not okay." he said reaching to me.

​"Don't touch me," I snapped, pulling back into the shadows. "You think I'm a victim? I'm naked because I just came from the lake nearby where I went skinny dipping with my fiance, Liam. I didn't want you to 'find' me. I wanted to see if you were still pathetic enough to follow me like a lost puppy."

​Liam froze, his face turning a sickly shade of grey. "You... you're staying here? You're leaving me? You're leaving us?"

Ouch. That words hit me like a physical blow, but I kept my mask of cold indifference. I had no choice.

​"He's my fiancé. He's richer, more good looking and wonderful in bed," I lied, the words tasting like poison. "And you? You're just a mistake I’m finally erasing. Go home, Liam. Before I have security show you what we do to trespassers."

​He didn't say another word. He just looked at me with pure, unadulterated disgust, turned around, and walked away into the dark.

​As soon as his footsteps faded, I felt a presence behind me. I didn't have to look to know it was Jaxson.

​"That was cruel, little wolf," he whispered, his hands lingering on my neck. "I almost belived it myself."

​"He's safe," I whispered, my tears finally falling. "That was the deal."

​Jaxson leaned down, his teeth grazing my ear. "Oh, he'll live. But he’ll never come back for you. There's no one left to save you now, Ava. It's just you and me. And tomorrow... you become mine forever."

​"Take it off," Jaxson’s voice rasped from the shadows. He stepped into the moonlight, his golden eyes fixed on the jacket with a look of pure loathing.

​"No," I whispered, pulling it tighter. "I’m cold, Jaxson."

​"I said, take it off." He didn't wait for me to obey. He reached out, his fingers brushing my collarbone as he jerked the denim away.

​I gasped, stumbling back, my hands flying up to cover my chest. I thought this was it. I thought he was going to take advantage of me right there in the dirt, punishing me for even speaking to Liam.

​"What are you doing?" I choked out, my eyes wide with terror.

​Jaxson didn't answer. He threw Liam’s jacket into the mud and stepped into my space, his heat radiating off him like a furnace. Before I could scream, he was unbuttoning his own heavy, expensive wool coat.

​He draped it over me, the silk lining sliding against my bare skin. It was warm—unnervingly warm—and it smelled entirely of him: cedar, rain, and the metallic tang of an Alpha's power.

​"Nothing touches you but me," he murmured, his thumb catching a tear on my cheek and crushing it against my skin. "Not even a thread from that human’s closet."

​He didn't give me time to process the fear. He swept me up into his arms, his grip bruisingly tight, and began the long walk back to the mansion.