CHAPTER FOUR

I wait for his lips to meet mine and somehow I already know what they’ll feel like. Or at least, I have some sense of them. It feels like I’ve known him in a past life.

I know his scent, how his lips will taste. They’ll be warm but gentle. Passionate. I know our kiss will be more than I could ever imagine.

I wait, but his lips never meet mine.

I’m left hanging and I wonder if he’s just nervous. Is he waiting for me to bridge the gap? Has he changed his mind?

My heart breaks at the thought of him changing his mind. What if he doesn’t feel the same way I do? It seems impossible, but this is so important, so precious, I can’t help but worry. I open my eyes to escape the pain, to assure myself he’s really there except…

He’s not there.

I glance around me, but he’s gone. The man that was in front me disappeared in the wind like he was never even there in the first place.

Did I imagine him?

Even as the thought enters my mind, I know it’s not true. I can feel his presence still lingering around me. I can feel the shadow of his body against mine. His scent is burned in my brain and my heart… my heart is breaking.

I only knew this boy for a moment, and the thought of him being gone forever devastates me in a way nothing else ever has. I’m confused, disoriented. I thought he felt the same way. I thought I saw the connection; it was bright in his eyes.

Maybe I imagined it though. Maybe my feelings were so strong that I imagined he felt the same way too. I need him to feel the same way. I need him to come back and promise he’ll never leave my side again.

A snap of a branch breaks me from my thoughts.

Of course! I knew it. He felt the same way. He’s realized we belong together and he’s come back for me. I turn to face him.

I come face to face with Violet instead.

She looks at me like I’m her prey. A nasty smile snakes across her face as her eyes narrow. Her cruelty radiates off her. She hates me in the worst way.

“What were you doing with a rouge?” she asks, her voice harsh and demanding.

I freeze. If my pack finds out I was with a rouge…

My mind whirls with possibilities. That would be beyond awful.

“I wasn’t with a rouge,” I insist, hoping she didn’t see too much. “I ran out here to get away from you and your awful lies. Now you’re just making up more things about me.”

Violet scoffed. “I didn’t exactly lie earlier. We all know you want to call off the wedding. You just don’t have the guts to do it. I’m helping you.

“I’m not lying now though. I saw you with the rouge. You were going to kiss him.” She made a fake gagging sound. “You would too.”

I want to stand up for him. I hate how she treats it like kissing him would be beneath me. And I want to lie and tell her I would never kiss him; tell her it would be repulsive. But I can’t say that about him. I can’t bring myself to.

So, I stand there and wonder at my future. I wonder at how I got in such a dangerous predicament. I don’t know what to do to get out of it. I’m shocked into silence.

“I’m going to tell Sebastian everything,” Violet says, her awful smile growing wider with each word. “Then he’ll see you for who you really are. He’ll call off the wedding. Who knows what will happen to you and that rogue now.”

“You can’t,” I beg. I don’t care so much about the wedding, not anymore. But I don’t even want to think about what Sebastian would do if he found out. The same strength that makes all the girls love him is the same thing that makes him dangerous. “Please, I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t tell him.”

“What I want is for you to come with me,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I want to watch as Sebastian rejects you and realizes what a bad choice you were. I want to see the regret on his face as he realizes he should’ve chosen me instead. I want to be there to pick up the pieces you stupidly smashed.”

“I’ll leave,” I promise. Leaving doesn’t even seem so bad anymore. I want out of the marriage. I just want to be free to follow Lance. “I’ll leave and you can have Sebastian. You’ll never have to see me again.”

“He’ll look for you,” Violet retorts. Her hurt flashes across her face, dancing with jealousy. “He’ll be torn up about it. He needs to know what you’ve done. That’s the only way to break the spell you casted over him. If you don’t come with me now, I will have the pack sent out to kill you.”

I freeze because I know she’s not lying. She would do her best to send the pack after me. I don’t know if she would be successful. But I am new to the pack. They’d have more reason to listen to her than me.

I look out into the woods desperately. I need to find Lance. I need him to come back and make this better. We can run off together. We can get away before the pack finds us.

He’s gone though. I can’t pick out even a trace of his shadow. I was so sure he was the one too. But if were, we wouldn’t be able to be separated like this, would we? Maybe I’ve got it all wrong.

“If you don’t come with me, I’ll have the pack hunt the rogue down too,” Violet sneers.

That breaks everything within me. I already care about him so much. Just the thought of him being hunted and harmed or… or killed even. I can’t bear the thought of it. I’ll do anything to keep him safe.

“Okay,” I relent. “I’ll go with you.”

I follow her through the woods, looking out for signs of Lance along the way. But I can’t find him, so I’m left to face my uncertain fate alone.