Olivia Blake
By day two, I was bored out of my mind. Caleb was due back tomorrow afternoon and with him gone, it made the time go by ridiculously slow. I had nothing to do. It really put in perspective how much time I spent with him on a daily basis and more specifically how much time we spent passing time together. I'd already exhausted my ability to take any more naps and was wide awake as the clock crept midnight. I heard some clanking of pots and footsteps downstairs and went to see if Krissy had snuck out of bed. I was hungry anyway, so it seemed like a good direction to be headed. As I came into the dim kitchen I saw Lara, cooking at the stove, mixing bowls and other products strewn around. She looked to be baking.
“Hey?” I tried not to scare her but she still spun to face me, a bit of flour on her cheek. Her eyes looked puffy and red. I'd obviously walked in on something I wasn't too keen on finding out about.
Lara huffed, turning back away. “Did you have a bad dream?”
I sneered. “No, I can't fall asleep.”
She sighed, turning to grab the butter. “Me either.”
“Why not?” Ugh, I was going to regret questioning her, I could feel it. To distract myself away from a possibly dramatic answer, I grabbed the milk from the fridge while watching her mix a chocolatey substance in a bowl. “What's that?”
Lara glanced up at me. “I'm making brownies. They are Caleb's favourite.”
I grimaced as she turned away, muttering, “I thought he just had a thing for mint ice cream.” It had amused me enough for me to almost choke on the milk I'd taken into my mouth as Lara shot back around to give me a glare.
“Well, he's always had a thing for that.”
I paused, even my breathing as she looked me over and turned back to the stove. “What's that supposed to mean?”
She snickered as she mixed the dessert batter, looking almost amused when I realized we both knew the same thing about mint ice cream and Caleb Wyler. I felt my cheeks redden when she glanced up to me.
“Oh.” She stared with a blankness that told me all I needed to know. “You don't know...”
“I don't know what?” I growled but I knew. I knew perfectly well and it all made stupid, perfect sense! No wonder she clung to him and tried to please him constantly, while he tried to protect and save her from his brother. They were fucking or had been or...
Lara swallowed. “I thought he would have told you about...us.”
I wanted to laugh and puke at the same time. Why was this happening!
“It was a awhile ago,” she whispered. “But he's always been there for me.”
What did that mean!?
“Err.” I stared at her as my wolf inside begged to rip her face off. That was petty behavior, I was much above that.... but I sorta wasn't. Besides it wasn't her who needed their face ripped off, it was my secretive mate! He was gonna get it and not in the way he expected. “So, Caleb and you were in a relationship?”
“I was his... you know, well, you know what he's into.”
My mouth felt like it'd dislocated from the way it dropped so fast. “One of his subs?”
Lara took in a sharp breath. “I've never felt so complete before. Then it was all ripped away from me in an instant. A mating pull is impossible, even against... love.”
Love?
I stared at her blankly.
What the fuck did she mean by love! Caleb- I was pretty sure- was immune to love, but he had told me he loved me. I felt played. I felt cheated. I felt pure anger.
“Caleb said he'd always take care of me.” A smile almost budded her lips making me antsy with annoyance. “Jackson isn't capable of that.”
“Yeah, no shit,” the words exited my mouth faster than I had time to process.
Lara’s eyes flashed to me. “I'm sorry, Olivia, but he will always have my heart.”
My wolf inside growled deep, confusion had taken over my core but I knew one thing- Caleb didn't deserve me. He didn't deserve a mate when he was clearly protecting an old girlfriend – or whatever the hell she was to him!
“I need to go to bed.” I left her to bake her Alpha his brownies and booked it for the upstairs. When I got in the room, I began to pack a light bag. The bag I planned on traveling with between my teeth as I booked it far and wide away from Silvermoon.
I spun to face the small desk across the room and my hamster jogging on his wheel. I couldn't take him, but I doubted Caleb would feed him. So I jotted down a note and walked the cage quietly into Krissy's room, where I left the hamster for her to care for.
I had to take care of my possessions and that was it. All I owned was a hamster.
Opting for minimal luggage, I waited two hours for Lara to finally head to bed and then I snuck out the back door by the kitchen. Lara's brownies were cooling on the counter and I had to stop myself from sticking my finger in the middle to ruin the perfect surface of the icing.
When I got outside, I weighed my options of getting out of Silvermoon territory. There were only two places I could get out without a patrol catching my scent, the cliff or the lake. I chose the lake. Stripping, I put my clothes in the duffel bag and shifted. It'd been a while since I'd be in my wolf form but I shook it out like it'd been yesterday. I had to run and it had to be fast.
I took off at a full out stride, dodging trees and little streams, spooking the deer from where they were bedded down. Then I was at the outer edges, close to freedom and never mating Caleb Wyler. all I had to do was swim across the lake.
I adjusted the bag back in my mouth and waded into the water, preparing for hell – I wasn't much of a swimmer. I mean, it was so low on my list of talents, I was sure to drown but at least I wouldn't be mated to a lying piece of...
I swallowed a mouthful of water but swam diligently, getting tired as I neared the shore on the other side. Close but so far, I began to tire as my paws dug at the heavy, cold waters. My mind wandered, was death worth the escape of Caleb Wyler? He'd never once mentioned fucking Lara, being in love.... like what the...
My head ducked beneath the water and my bag dropped from my jaw. Panicking, my wolf and it's slick coat shifted away to leave me naked and freezing in the cold lake. I gasped for air as I started to swim as hard as I could toward safety. With sand beneath my feet, I crawled up the beach toward a log. No clothes. No warmth. No one knew where I was...
I tried to shift to get my body warmer but she wouldn't, almost like a punishment for running from my mate in a fit of jealousy and hurt. Would he find me? Would I live... I took in a staggering breath as I lost the feeling in my toes. My head dropped to the log I had curled against and my eyes, watching the water lick the shoreline, closed.