I slowly put dinner together, while keeping an eye on Austin's door. It was still closed and I hadn't heard him move, not even once. I finally turned my back on it, convinced he would wake when he wanted to, and focused on cooking instead. We both skipped lunch, but I knew he wasn't in the mood to eat then.Neither was I. The whole thing about Eric and Catherine bothered me. How was she so flippant with the mate bond? It is, afterall, the strongest bond known to mates and werewolves. How could she have rejected him, cheated on him and gotten pregnant for someone else all while knowing he was her mate? It didn't make too much sense to me.Or maybe I just couldn't relate to whatever she had felt because I wouldn't be able to do it to Austin. With the way I felt for him, I could as well be his mate.I kept the ladle I had been working on, my breath hitching at the thought. My mate died and...he rejected his mate, Catherine. Does that not mean we are both free wolves now? Does that not me
I watched him, his voice replaying in my head, even though he had just said it seconds ago.'I really wanted to be kissed.'I blinked, clearing my throat. "You tend to be very honest sometimes."He shrugged. "Maybe."Silence fell between us and I adjusted my sitting position."Are there...other times when you want to be kissed too?"His eyes widened a little and his gaze darted between both of my eyes. I could see the amusement slowly creep in, before he started to laugh, throwing his head back."Really?"I nodded, smiling too. The first and only time I saw him laugh was when Eric came. He burst into another round of laughter again, this time even clapped his hands. I leaned away from him, my smile widening. He really was beautiful.When he managed to stop laughing, he shook his head and looked at me."I don't think I'll answer that." He chuckled to himself as I rolled my eyes, feigning annoyance. "Fine, don't."He laughed again, then stood up and put the plates away. I sighed, throw
He turned off the light in the room when I was done, leaving only the bedside lamps. It gave the room an illusion of sunset, and I smiled at it."It's really pretty."He nodded. "I guess." I stood up from the bed just as he put the covers around and straightened the pillows. I noticed just how extremely clean he was.I sighed, hating that I had to leave now. "Goodnight then." I said, shrugging so he wouldn't see just how much I hated the idea of leaving.Without waiting for him to say a word, I turned to the door.He caught my arm again, just before I got to the door. "Where are you going to?""Uhh..my room. I thought you were getting ready for bed."He nodded. "I am. But where are you going to?"I was blank. "What...""Share my bed. Share my room."I felt my throat go dry with the intensity in his eyes. I blinked to snap out of it, but it felt like I was only falling deeper. Hell."Uhmm...okay. I will shower first."He slowly let go of my arm and nodded.I swallowed, all though extr
"You know nothing, Catherine."She laughed and pushed her hair away. "Of course. I don't even want to know. I already know everything that I should know, and you are nothing but a mate killer."I blinked back the tears that filled my eyes. Way to ruin the perfect morning."Get out. I thought you at least deserved pity because, look at you. You are pregnant, mateless, and the wolf who knocked you up is running to his mate..."She raised a hand to slap me but I caught it mid air, my anger rising. Who the hell did she think she was to talk about me killing my mate?"What? You hate the mention? But it's true, isn't it? Go tell everyone I killed my mate. Add the little detail that you, the alpha's real mate, couldn't get married to him because you were pregnant with someone else's pup.""How dare you?""No, how dare you, Catherine?" My voice went higher and colder and I struggled to not give in to the anger that was threatening to consume me whole.She forced her hand out of my grip and s
Breakfast was silent and awkward especially for people who had such a blissful night. It was crazy just how much one bad thought can ruin everything.I watched as Austin ate slowly, as if he was a little wary of me. Or maybe he just had his own thoughts too."Maybe we should start locking the doors," He suddenly said, dropping his fork. I looked up to him."What do you mean?""Catherine came in because the doors were open, isn't it? We should start locking it."I swallowed. "Why? Are you scared she might do something or...that she might be able to convince you?"He looked at me for a while. "Convince me regarding what?"I swallowed. "I don't know, I just... Forget I said anything."I dropped the fork too and leaned back. Looking at my plate, I realized I had only made a mess of the food and not actually eaten anything.Austin seemed to notice it too. "You seem different."I looked at him. "I was expecting you to pick offense at that."He sighed. "It sounds more like you want to pick a
"What do you mean?" I asked Austin, searching his face for an answer, but the resolute expression he had betrayed nothing."You were only there. As a bait at that. I killed him myself. I got rid of him for the pack. You had nothing to do with it." He said like it was the easiest thing to explain.Of course, it crossed my mind. It would be easy to say it was Austin. So easy because who would question him? No one. But I didn't want to be the kind of person who dumps her problems on someone else. I didn't want to be the one to demand that he led me out of the maze every single time."But..""There are no buts, Hazel. You, in the end are a victim in all of this. I don't even know how you managed to be fine through that.""It was because you were there," I said, feeling a wall in me crumble. "It's because I wanted to believe that I at least, had you."He blinked, and I saw his lips slowly part. He said nothing however, just stayed there.."Catherine and Lily have...""Lily? Is she still he
All I could hear was the sound of the omegas cleaning out the house. It appeared Austin had brought some things over here so the load they had to move was more than I had expected. But Austin obviously didn't want the house stripped bare, neither did he need to do that. The alpha's house had more than we both needed.I finally pushed away the encounter to the back of my mind knowing fully well it will definitely surface later, and made my way to the bathroom. That was perhaps the safest place for me right now.I still wasn't comfortable with Simon and Austin appeared to think I ridn't want Simon to think of us like that, I mean the way he had seen us.But now that I think of it...what could that even be? There was definitely a little more to us now, I can't lie. But how much more was it? What did it mean to Austin? I sighed and turned on the shower. The warm water hit my skin, flattening my rather unruly hair down to my back, as I stared at the large mirror on the other side.Hazel.
My eyes widened as I realized what I had done. Austin froze in place, his hands dropping to his side. He looked like he couldn't believe what I had done, but neither could I.None of us moved, and my eyes started to fill up. How could I have slapped Austin to protect simon? What does that even make me?Slowly, Austin raised his head and turned to me. The betrayal I saw in his eyes was more then enough to force the tears out of my eyes even harder."Did you just.... " He let his voice trail of.I shook my head. "Austin, please. I am so sorry it was in the heat of the moment. I didn't want to do it, I..."He lowered his head as if he was thinking about it. He looked up to me again, then to Simon, and he walked away slowly from us."Austin, please."Simon gave a small laugh behind me and I turned to him."Simon, pleas get out .""Hazel...""I said, get out.." He didn't object this time as he pulled his body to a standing position and limped away.I turned to Austin who still looked a lit