#Chapter 62: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
I didn’t sleep well last night. My heavy heart and scattered hind kept her awake with fitful dreams of being chased and of getting separated from Alex.
I send my mother a good morning text, as I’ve done every day since I arrived here, then climb out of bed.
Alex’s words last night weigh on me. No one has ever spoken the words “I love you” to me except my mother. Even now it makes me want to hug the pillow and cry.
Only I can’t cry now. I need to be strong for Alex. It isn’t fair to make him regret the inevitable more than he already does. He can’t help his fate anymore than I can, and can’t make him feel guilty for choosing to follow the path set before him. It’s not like he has a choice, anyway.
But I don’t have to like it all the same…or Rita.
Speak of the devil, as soon as I walk into the kitchen to get a glass of milk, I see Rita is seated at the table, drumming her fingers. Her scowl sets me on alert. If looks could kill… I try not to make eye contact, picking up my pace and beelining straight for the refrigerator.
It doesn’t work, of course. She stops when she sees me. “Do you know when he left?” she asks with a growl.
No good morning, or how are you doing! Why is she so aggravated, anyway? She’s not the one losing the only man who ever loved her! In fact, she’s the one taking him away!
Confused, I stop dead in my tracks. “Who? Alex?”
She barks, “Yes, Alex!”
I’m taken aback a little; she’s frightening. “I–I don’t know. Isss he gone?”
“No–I’m just sitting here asking about him for no reason. Yes, he’s gone!”
Rita goes back to drumming her fingers, but she doesn’t stop staring at me like I’m the bane of her existence.
I cross the kitchen toward the fridge but can’t bring myself to open the door. Now I’m getting concerned. I cross my arms and think. “With Michael?”
“He’s not with his brother.” She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. “Let’s try this again. Alex is not here anywhere. Did he say anything to you about leaving?”
I shake my head and realize his scent has disappeared from the house, so he hasn’t been here for a while. It hadn’t really occurred to me before, but I smell him even when I can’t see him…
“I don’t know. Where.”
The drumming gets louder, and I want to ask her to stop but know better.
She raises one angry eyebrow. “He was really upset at the Council meeting yesterday. He thinks the Malkeye Alpha is lying…” She isn’t looking at me anymore. “He couldn’t do anything that stupid–his parents would skin him!”
“What?”
I wish Rita would talk faster, but she looks at me, her mouth open, and just shakes her head.
I unfold my arms, aggravated at my ignorance and her inability to just say something already.
I ball up my fists and yell, “Where???”
1/3
+25 BONUS
#Chapter 62. Two Steps Forwath One Step Back
She snaps out of whatever trance her brain was lost in. “Alek thinks the Alpha of the Malkeye pack knows more than he’s letting on. I bet he’s on his way to their base.”
Oh no! “Then we have to go there!”
I start to rush past the table when Rita grabs my wrist, stopping me. “You can’t go anywhere, princess. You’re being hunted, remember?”
“But…”
“But nothing. I’ll go after him,” she says with finality. “He can’t have much of a head start, and I can catch up with him if I’m alone. Not to mention, I can handle myself if something goes down.”
“I’mmm coming!” I say, my stutter reflecting my irritation
She can’t leave me behind! I’ll go crazy if I have to sit here and wait, worrying about whether Alex is okay.
I yank my hand back with such force that I’m able to free it from her grip, surprising both of us, “I mean it!”
Rita’s eyes get hard, and her brows furrow.
“Rooogues…will come. For Alex!”
“And you can’t fight them.” Rita’s voice is stern and quiet. Scary, really.
Deep down, I know she’s right. If we were to come up against a rogue wolf–or even a pack of them–I wouldn’t be of any use. Except maybe to lure them to me… Rita would have to defend me, and maybe get hurt in the process.
But that’s a risk I’m willing to take. I honestly don’t give a shit about Rita, and I have to know Alex is okay!
“I’m gettinnnggg dressed. Period.”
Rita shrugs off my insistence. “Do what you want, princess.“”
She stands up, walks over to the door, and starts putting her shoes on. “I’m going to rescue our future Alpha.”
I run into my bedroom and strip my pajama pants off as fast as I can, yanking on my jeans from yesterday so I don’t waste time trying to find clean ones.
By the time I make it outside, Rita is so far down the street, I can barely see her. For some reason, she hasn’t shifted and started running yet. Maybe she doesn’t want to draw attention to herself. It’s possible no one else knows Alex is gone yet.
I break into a run–as fast as my scraggly legs can carry me and Rita must hear me because she turns around.
The expression on her face is almost…amused?
“I’m coming!” I yell out.
She smirks. “Figures. You’d better hurry then–unless you can find it on your own!”
Then Rita turns and she’s gone!
Fortunately for me, she doesn’t shift into werewolf form, because I never would have been able to catch up with her. And there’s no way I’m riding on her back…that would just be awkward.
But I do catch up, and she makes sure I’m within eye distance of her, though she stays pretty far ahead and it isn’t long before I’m winded and in need of a break.
I stop and bend over, hands on my knees, as I gasp for air.
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Alex, Fonte chatoyaande my wif
