Kacie
After they left I talked to Jamie and basically cried my heart out. She tried to reassure me that I was enough and it was completely understandable why I’d cry.
“This whole situation is fucked up,” Jamie said. “I don’t know how you’re holding up so well. In all honesty, if I were in your shoes I would not have been as calm or as composed as you were yesterday.”
A laugh escapes from my chest and I wipe my tears.
“I would have ripped her hair out of her head. Shit, I would have bitten her. She waltz onto our territory like she already owned the place,” Jamie spat.
“The day a witch becomes Luna…” Jamie stops talking and looks at me apologetically. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking,” she whispered. “She won’t become Luna. Viktor isn’t stupid enough to… do anything.”
“I know. I’m just trying not to overthink but it’s hard not to in this situation.” It feels good being able to openly speak about how I feel. All of my emotions were suffocating.
Jamie reaches over and gives me a friendly hug. “Thank you for helping me talk about,” I wave around, “all of this.”
“Come on,” Jamie said and grabbed my hand.
“Where are we going?” I asked as she pulled on my arm for me to follow.
“Let’s go for a drive,” she said with a smile that suggested she was up to something.
She drove for a long time, first in one direction, then in the other. I was sure we were getting close to the border of our territory.
Was Viktor having a good time with Clara? Was he thinking of me? I wasn’t sure. The thoughts left a bitterness in its wake. My heart ached when I thought about him. Viktor was a man who had proven I could trust him. I had his trust. And he had mine.
“Does he still have our trust?” Athena asked, interrupting me from my thoughts. “Because you already know I hate this whole situation. I-”
I cut her off. “And I LIKE this situation?” I was mad. No, I was angry.
“I don’t think I can trust him right now!” Athena growled. Actually growled at me. “And you’ve agreed to let him ride off in the sunset with her!!”
“Do you not believe in his love? Hasn’t he shown us how he feels about us?” I ask her. “Is our faith in his so weak, our relationship so easily phased because… because what? Clara showed up?”
“If we really loved Viktor, we wouldn’t question or doubt him. We’d trust that he wouldn’t do anything to embarrass me or make the pack members be ashamed to be apart of our pack.” I tell her.
“By the end of the night, you’re going to be saying Viktor who?” Jamie laughed as she sped down the highway.
***
Viktor
I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. Her thick lavender scent filled the car and was driving my senses haywire.
“Why don’t you ask me what you’ve wanted to ask me on the drive over,” Clara says as we wait for the waiter to bring the drinks we ordered when we walked through the door.
I sighed as I leaned back in my booth. My head pressed into the wall as I stared up at the ceiling. The sound of eggs sizzling and the smell of bacon had my mouth watering.
When I looked back at her light blue eyes almost looked gray. “I wanted to know what would happen if I rejected you as my mate.”
Her eyes widen at my words before she becomes so still I wonder if she’s still breathing. My eyes are drawn to her throat as she swallows slowly.
“Are you already thinking about rejecting me before you get to know me?” She asks.
“I have a mate already. There’s no room in my life for you,” I tell her honestly.
Leaning forward across the table between us she reaches for my hands. I ignore the urge to pull away and I ignore the urge to open my palms to her. Her fingers touch the top of my hands and a small jolt of electricity runs up my arms.
Clara looks up at me before looking back down at my hands. Her hands look tiny compared to mine and I fight the protectiveness that threatens to come up. Moving faster than I meant, I jerked her hands away.
“Let’s keep our hands to ourselves. You don’t need to touch me to get to know me.”
“Okay,” she gasped.
The waitress came back with drinks and took our order. Award silence stretched out between us. The barrier I had placed between us was slowly growing. When we’d finished our breakfast we walked around town and ate lunch together as well.
She didn’t try to touch me again and I kept a small distance between us the rest of the day. When Jake linked me asking me where I was I was more than ready to end the date after lunch. There was trouble at one of the surrounding packs and I needed to go to a meeting tomorrow. “I have to meet up with Jake so I’ll take you home before I meet up with him,” I tell her.
“You don’t have to take me,” she says and I can hear the disappointment in her voice.
“I’m taking you back,” I tell her. “You can’t walk around here without an escort.”
“Right,” she says. I can tell she’s upset but I don’t care. I’ve spent enough time with her today and I need to put more space between us.
When I pull up in front of where she’s staying I hop out and open the door open for her. When she comes out her body brushes against mine and my body hums with excitement. I step back away from her and wait for her to go in.
“Be safe,” she says as she heads in without another word. Ignoring the way my eyes want to watch her walk away, I turn away from her retreating figure and hop into the car more than ready to put space between me and the witch.