She could feel her uncle's patience wearing thin the longer it took her to verbalize something.
Anything.
She chewed at her bottom lip in desperation.
“Ella?” Abigail put her hand to her arm and rubbed. “It's okay, tell us.”
She knew she had to, she had to say something about her mate. “Well, it-it all sort of went down the first two weeks I got there. I met this girl; Cheri, and she invited me to this big party and I said yes, because I had no friends and my roommate is a total weirdo, like she actually hates me!”
Abigail and Colten stared at her, not saying a word through her ramble.
She paused though, when she was about to get to the part about Braxton. “So, anyway... I went to the party and he was there.”
“Your mate?” Colten waited for her to elaborate.
“Yeah.” She looked down to her hands, away from the focused stare of her uncle. “His name is Braxton.”
“Is he not nice, Ella?” Abigail asked softly.
Ella didn't want to cry anymore but a few tears did trickle her cheeks and she rubbed them away in rigour. “That's what confuses me.”
Colten didn't look too happy. “Ella, that's a pretty straight forward opinion.”
She nodded in agreement. “Normally.”
“Why are you marked?” How Colten kept his tone so cut-throat Ella didn't understand, but she guessed it had to do with his authoritative position.
She tried to piece that story together in her head.
“Ella, it's okay, please tell us.” Abigail soothed her.
She glanced at her aunt and nodded. “It-it's just sort of embarrassing but --”
They stared at her in silence again, waiting.
“Kind of stupid... more like it wasn't my choice--”
“You didn't consent to it!” Colten almost shouted.
Ella tensed. “Kinda.”
“What?” Her uncle looked throughly confused and that was her fault, she just couldn't seem to explain what had actually happened when Braxton had marked her.
“It was me but it wasn't. When I'm around him, things are fuzzy.” She explained.
“Instinct.” Colten didn't seem surprised and she was relieved by it.
“She doesn’t know what she's doing around him?” Abigail asked.
Colten grumbled, “Mating instincts are hard to control, the wolf likes to take over.”
“I've noticed.” Ella took a sharp breath as her memory jaunted back to Maine. “And now I have this aching in my sides.”
“That won't go away, but you can manage it.” Colten told her.
“How?”
“Time will pass and the pull will fade, if he stays away. But the mark...” Her uncle shook his head as his words faded.
“I'm stuck with a red burn on my neck forever?” Ella concluded in a dead voice.
“Were you about to mate, when it happened?”
Ella stared at him, blinking. “Do I have to answer that?”
“Yes.” Colten exasperated, his annoyance starting to return.
“N-no.” Ella got out.
“So the mark was what?” Colten snapped, “To tide him over?”
“I don't know what it was, things just happened!”
Colten sighed, disappointment washing over him.
Ella felt her tears again. “I didn't know what was happening.”
“It's okay, sweetie.” Abigail tried to console her.
“It's not, Abigail.” Colten grunted, “Mating him is going to be inevitable.”
Ella's eyes widened. “You're saying I have to mate him!”
“Ella, you shouldn't have let him mark you. He'll seek you out now, hard for males to deal with, too much instinct involved. And depending on how ruthless he is, destroying him would be the only way to stop him.”
“No!” Ella almost shouted.
Colten and Abigail both looked to her, falling quiet.
She choked on the lump in her throat. “He's-he's not that bad.”
“Oh?” Colten leaned back in the couch. “He put a mark on you, against your consent. My opinion on his moral is not high at the moment.”
“He confuses me, I guess, some part of me is afraid of who he is, what his pack is like--”
“You left home for Maine, but you're afraid of integrating into another pack?” Colten questioned.
“Y-yeah.” She answered honestly.
“Why?”
“Because he's the only heir to Crest.” She whispered.
“Alpha.” Colten said in a gruff voice and Abigail produced a small gasp to conclude the news.
Ella nodded. “And I'm just having problems trusting him.”
“Trusting or committing to being a luna?” Colten questioned. “He won't get it for awhile, if there still is an alpha for their pack?”
“Yeah, his father.” Ella told him quietly.
“So, let's rewind.” Colten adjusted himself on the couch. “He marked you and you came back home?”
“Well...” Ella sighed, “He marked me last month.”
The corner of Colten's mouth twitched with discontent. “What have you been doing the past month?”
She hadn’t wanted to tell her uncle about Braxton and she definitely didn't want to tell him about the stalker. “There might be another issue.”
“What's that?” Colten growled.
“There's this wolf, and he--” She said, “He's... well, Braxton and I think he's an alpha, after he attacked me one night. Braxton sorta saved me and so, I moved into his house, because he said he didn't trust the guy wouldn't try it again...”
Colten stared at her, not saying a word, which meant, the new information was pissing him off. “You moved out of your dorm room to live with your mate and decided not to say a word to us? On top of it, you have some wolf attacking you!”
“I'm sorry.” Ella bit at her lip to hold back bursting into tears.
He put his hands to his forehead and said nothing.
Abigail sighed. “Sweetie, you should have told us all this.”
“I didn't know how to say it.”
“It's really not hard.” Colten shot.
“I thought I was safe with Braxton!” Ella exploded into emotion. “But his pack is so much different than Forenone, and him, he's so different than anyone I've ever met--”
“Alphas a whole other ball game.” Colten stood. “He won't let you go and depending on his pack, I'm surprised you got away from him.”
Ella nodded.
“He's going to want you back.” Her uncle said in a cold voice. “You're his life line.”
“That's what scares me.”
“Regardless, he'll have to prove himself to me.”
Ella knew that was the final word, if Braxton Hall was going to have anything to do with her, he was going to have to get past her uncle first.
“And this wolf attacking you is serious, Ella, but I won't know how to deal with it till I can get more information and I don't know how to go about that.”
“Maybe me leaving Maine will be enough?” She suggested, “And maybe it was just a random attack?”
“Let's hope.” Abigail said softly.
Colten agreed. “Time will tell, for now, I suggest you stay home, and if you do want to go out, go with one of us or your friends.”
Ella nodded.
“So, that all of it then?” Her uncle asked, “Nothing else happened?”
“No, that's it.” And it relieved Ella that her family now knew everything that had happened in Maine.
Abigail leaned into her and hugged her, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. “You'll be okay, Ella.”
She cuddled into her aunt and they all found comfort in the new silence.
#
Ella woke with a broad smile across her face, it was the room, the Texas sunrise, all of it made her unbelievably happy.
Rolling on her side, she looked across her baby pink room to the styled papered walls and matching curtains. She'd never let them redecorate it, it had been the room Abigail had grown up in and that for some reason, had always meant a lot to her.
She got up slowly, savouring every minute she took in the bright, warm room of her home.
At her dresser, she found some clothes she'd left behind, clothes that she didn't think would have made her fit in at University. She dressed in a styled pocketed jeans and embellished tank-top, suddenly feeling very at home.
Glancing at her desk as she went to leave the room, a rectangular box with a bow on top caught her attention.
She went to it, picking it up. “Brant's gift.” She'd forgot about it, completely, hadn't even thought of it since he'd given it to her the night of her going away party. Guilt shot through her, making her cringe from her crass behaviour. Brant had once been her best friend, and she had seemed to forget that, on her running toward Maine.
She ripped off the bow, and tugged at the dark wrapping paper, free it from the long box. It was black velvet in her hands and upon reveal of the spring-up top, sat a silver horse shoe on a delicate chain. There was a small note laying inside the box and it read; Good luck at University. I'll miss you.
She choked on the way her heart beat in her chest and removed the necklace, holding it up so it could catch the light. It was beautiful, perfect, appropriate, so Brant.
She loved it.
Dropping the box and note to the desk, she put the necklace on and did up the clasp in the back. A glance in the mirror had her heart pounding, she couldn't wait to see Brant. He meant she was really home.
She left her room and the smell of breakfast greeted her, leading her down stairs to the kitchen, but before she rounded the corner, she paused, hearing the low voices of her aunt and uncle.
Abigail stood at the sink, washing a plate in a sink of soapy water as Colten walked up beside her, his arms wrapping around her large middle. He kissed her cheek and whispered something in Abigail's ear, which made her smile and nudge him with her shoulder.
More guilt pinged within Ella as she watched them, feeling like she had intruded back into their life.
Ella took a meek step into the kitchen. “Morning.”
Colten and Abigail turned toward her, both greeting her as they dispersed from their moment together.
Abigail dried her hands on a dish cloth and went to the stove.
“Need help?” Ella offered as she walked over to her aunt.
“Almost done.” Abigail said, stirring eggs around a frying pan.
She nodded and walked to the table, sitting across from Colten. Upon her adjustment of her chair toward the table, her uncle looked up from the paper in front of him.
“Have a good sleep?”
“The best.” Ella smiled widely at him.
He nodded once and looked back down to the news paper.
She tapped the table as Abigail dished up food and she helped her, sitting back down with aunt as they all started to eat.
Ella had one pressing question as they came to the end of her meal. “So, what's Brant been up to?”
Colten put his coffee mug down with a shrug. “I don't know. He quit shortly after you went to Maine.”
“Oh.” The information startled her and she raised her hand to her necklace subconsciously. “Do-do you know why?”
Colten shook his head. “I didn't care so I didn't ask.”
“But...” Ella let out a tight breath. “He was your best cowboy.”
“More where he came from.” Colten wasn't concerned. “Like the two new hires out doing chores and checking the stock right now.”
Ella smiled. “But they aren't Brant.”
“All I ever saw Brant do was flirt with my niece.” Colten arched his eyebrow and gave her a look.
Abigail smiled. “Now, that is true.”
“So not true.” Ella said under her breath from embarrassment.
Colten smirked as he closed up his newspaper and stood. “I'll be in for lunch.” He kissed Abigail's cheek before leaving them.
Ella picked up her plate and took it to the dishwasher. “None of my things are here.”
“You left quick, didn't you?” Abigail's voice stayed soft as she joined her at the dishwasher.
Ella nodded. “I was afraid.”
“Oh, honey.” Abigail wrapped an arm around her. “We'll send someone to get your things.”
“Thanks...” Ella breathed, turning towards her aunt. “I'm sorry, if I'm intruding.”
“Intruding?” Abigail balked at her comment, eyeing her. “This is your home, Ella.”
“I know, but--” Ella looked her to Abigail's stomach.
Abigail took her cheeks and pulled her face back up to hers. “You are always welcome home.”
Ella held her rising tears. “Thank you.”
Abigail hugged her and it was then, she truly felt she was home – at least, for now.
#
Forty missed calls, twenty-eight text messages and fifteen recorded voice mails made Ella wish she hadn't ever charged her cell phone.
She put a hand to her forehead as she stood in her room, reading the texts.
Please call me and tell me you are safe. Please.
That was the last one she'd received from him.
She debated what to do, if she didn't call though – she feared he'd come for her and that was something she wanted to avoid for as long as possible.
She put the cell phone to her ear and waited as it rung, once, twice...
“Daniella?”
She took a staggered breath. “Hi, Braxton.”
“Are you okay?”
If she had to put a condition to his tone, he sounded worried out of his mind. “I'm fine.”
“Where are you?”
She hesitated in her response to him and repeated her earlier words. “I'm fine.”
“God, I--” His voice crumbled into nothing.
She winced, feeling like his pain was radiating through the phone line into her.
“I'm so sorry.” He breathed. “So sorry.”
Ella sniffed, holding her hand to her mouth. Her mates voice etched into her with every mutter he got out of him. Her wolf too, settling from his deep inflection.
“I can't seem to function without you here, near me...” He sighed. “I don't know what to do. I can't stop thinking about you.”
“I'm fine though.”
“That means a lot but not enough to calm me.”
She bit at her bottom lip, sitting to her bed and curling into the pillows.
“Daniella, I...” Braxton trailed off.
She whimpered, feeling her tears starting.
“I don't know why I did that to you. I-I don't know what I was thinking.”
She wiped at her cheek, trying not to make any noise that would let him hear her distress.
“Are you not coming back?”
“I don't fit in there.” She admitted.
He went quiet, even his breathing became inaudible to her.
“I just don't see myself--”
“Can I come see you?” He cut in.
“No.” Ella said quickly.
“Please?” He whispered. “Please, I'm so worried... agitated... I don't know, maybe even in love.”
She took in a sharp breath. “You're not in love with me.”
“You don't understand how I feel about you. You're my mate and my luna. You mean everything.”
“You tried to rape me!” She broke into an anger.
“I panicked. You just keep running from me.”
“That's not an excuse.”
“You're right.” Braxton admitted. “I was being a dick.”
“I don't trust you. I don't know if I ever will.”
He sighed. “But I can't lose you.”
“You should have thought of that before you did what you did.”
“I didn't make you leave.” Braxton retorted, “Your mind was already made up, I just helped by acting like an idiot!”
“You can't justify your actions, so don't try.”
“Daniella, we need to figure this out! We can be happy. We can be together. If you'll ever let me be your mate.”
She shuddered, her mind felt numb. Her head told her never but her wolf, her heart, said some part of her also cared for him.
“I need to go.” She breathed.
“Can I call you tomorrow?” He asked.
“No.” She replied, “Goodbye.” Ending the call with him made her burst into tears, but this was the smart thing to do, Braxton didn't deserve her, not at that moment in time.