Sorry for the little bit late of a post! Hope you enjoy!
I tapped my pen on the desk. There were a bunch of different things I needed to tie up with the new buildings. Usually, I enjoyed paperwork. I could sink into it and not think about anything other than the words in front of me. The problem was I hadn’t seen Sky in a week. Niru was is a mood because of it and I really wasn’t much better.The reason for that was laying on the couch in my office, snoozing away. Justin was still in wolf form. We had tried a few different things but nothing was working. He didn’t even seem like had a human side, which worried me. Right now, he was the pack house pet who loved getting scratches and stole food from your plate if you weren’t looking.My lips thinned as I closed my eyes. Sky’s conversations over the phone were short and clipped when I talked to her. Normally, I would have gone to her but Justin was so attached to my side that even when I headed into the city without him, he would either jump in the back of the truck or just follow the Jeep. I h
I hadn’t practiced this enough. My work with Sky helped me know what it felt like to shift within her mind but actually doing it on my own was another story. Let alone feeling like I was running for my life. I closed my eyes and tried to picture slipping back. Getting the hell out of here while behind me the monster roared and screamed. It seemed like I had gotten out of its reach but the pull to it was back and that wasn’t helping.Squeezing my eyes tighter shut, I focused on the task of getting back to my own mind. I blocked out the chaos behind me. I blocked out the pull. I blocked out the fatigue I was feeling. I blocked everything until I felt myself weightless again. The air bent and shifted around me until I slammed into my own body.Falling forward onto my hands, I coughed and sucked in air. A hand was on my back and I looked up to see Kev, a worried look on his face. Shaking my head, I took gasping breaths to reign myself back in. My body felt lethargic and I wanted to collaps
It had finally snowed. Overnight, the skies decided to dump a nice layer of snow over the entirety of the territory. Not having gone to sleep after the connection with Skylar, I ended up shoveling the driveway and the walkway into the house. There was a light dusting since then but it wasn’t bad enough to need to go over it again. I was leaning against the pillar of the deck as I looked out over the road. Sky texted me this morning that she would come by after having some coffee but never gave a specific time.‘I hate when she does that.’Niru chuckled. ‘I know you do. You’re brooding.’‘That’s not why I’m brooding.’He snickered. ‘Oh, I know.’ There was a pause before I could feel his excitement. ‘Were her lips soft? Or were you too stunned to even realize it?’Groaning, I tossed him and his snickering ass back. Niru hadn’t stopped making fun of me the entirety I was awake. Jabbing that I wasn’t in tune with my feelings and that I just let her take over. That I was Alpha but she woul
None of us said anything. Sky was too shaken up. Her eyes flickered back to their normal color as she lost concentration. Taking her hands out from mine, she got up and started to pace the living room. I watched her as Raine and her had a conversation. Eventually, she put both hands on her head, trying to somehow make sense of what she was feeling.“Sky.” I called to her.She didn’t acknowledge that she heard me. Her heel turned as she paced back the way she walked.“Sky!” I called to her a little louder this time.Still nothing from her.“Skylar Cross!” I let my Alpha slip out slightly and she finally turned to me.What I wasn’t expecting was tears. They flowed down her cheeks as soon as she stopped pacing and I got up quickly. Pulling her to me, I wrapped my arms around her. She sobbed into my chest.“I’m holding him hostage. It’s my power that’s destroying him. Ethan, it’s my fault.”I shook my head and pressed my lips to the top of her head. “It’s not. You didn’t do this, did you?
The next few days were exhausting but I felt like I wasn’t doing anything. Really, all three of us sat on the rug in the living with all the furniture pulled to the walls, and meditated. We were doing a lot more than that but it’s really what it looked like from the outside. Every day though, we went until I almost collapsed. Today I’d pushed myself further than I had and ended up being told to go to bed at six in the evening.Covering my eyes with my arm, I sighed. ‘I wish I was able to help more.’Niru hummed. ‘There is a reason why Justin is also our mate. You were never supposed to take on this burden alone, Ethan. You can’t discount all that you have done. Sky would have never been able to get this far and help him without you.’‘You’re surprisingly supportive today?’He flicked his tail. ‘Would you rather I make fun of you?’‘No.’‘Then take it and don’t question it.’I would have chuckled but honestly I felt too tired. At one point, I fell asleep but I woke up when the room was
The air was sucked out of the room. Justin was completely focused on Sky and I didn’t want to interrupt. However, if I thought maybe something would mend the relationship between Justin and Sky, this was not it. This would fracture them further, depending on how she reacted. Looking at her face, it was completely blank. Her eyes were the only thing that shifted and it was like she was trying to search for the truth. My eyes met Kev who gave me a nod.“W-what…what are y-you talking about?” Sky finally spoke, her eyebrows knit together.“Sky, I know…I know you love him. I know he’s your brother. Trust me. I wouldn’t…this is the last thing I would ever want to tell you. But Sky…he’s not…he’s not your Em anymore. He’s gone. He has been for a long time. We just never realized.” Justin searched her face but outside of the knit eyebrows, there was nothing to give away her f
*** Skylar’s POV *** ‘Sky…’I ignored Raine as I drove. All the windows in Thing were down and my face already felt numb as the cool air whipped around me. Blasting my playlist, I didn’t want to hear anything but the screaming and the wind. My own thoughts were my enemy right now. Even though it felt right now like Justin was my own enemy.Ethan made me believe that maybe there was something that motivated him outside of him just attacking Emmett. I believed Ethan, thought that maybe, Justin would have something that made sense. Something that I could have forgiven him for. Slamming my palm into the steering wheel, I felt the vibration in my other hand.I was so stupid. Seeing Justin in front of me, his eyes meeting mine, and I could feel my heart beat. It was like every feeling that I had for him roared back to life. The small moments we shared, the kisses, the touches, and just simple words of affection. His friendship meant so much to me. I’d done nothing but shove all those feelin
I hooked my keys on the little hanger right next to the stairs. I’d stuck around the mall until the shops started to close. I watched as employees pulled down their gates and said goodbye for the night. I stayed until the last showing of the movie theater let out a stream of people. The once packed garage of cars now was completely empty save for a group of cars that were most likely employees near the north end.Even then, I didn’t go back to Thing right away. I walked around the streets. The still open shops and restaurants that worked past the nine o’clock were lighting up the roads that now had a light dusting of snow on them. I walked until my cheeks stung and my hands were cold in the pocket of my sweatshirt. There weren’t answers in walking though. Not that I was looking for them.Raine and I got stuck in a loop of ‘what ifs’ without any proof and it seemed moot to continue going back and forth. I just didn’t feel like h