Chapter 4

“Ems?” My tormentor said gently. There was no way I was going to respond to the name he called me while we had been together. There was no point now. He hadn’t moved any closer as I ignored him, so he was probably asking for permission to get closer. “Emily?”

I huffed and tilted my head back. I wasn’t going to get up for him. “What do you want?”

He shrugged awkwardly. “I just thought I’d check on you.”

I rolled my eyes and looked back up at the stars. “You don’t have to check up on me, I’m a big girl,” I said irately. I heard him take a few steps closer. “You don’t want to come over here.” I warned. Everyone knew I got my temper from my father. I’d make a scene if he came any closer. I wouldn’t be able to control it.

“I just feel guilty that you’ve been so depressed because I left you.” I looked over just in time to see the shock in his face. He hadn’t meant to tell me that. He must think I’m pretty pathetic if that’s what he was thinking of me.

Then the anger switch flipped. “How dare you come over to me and act like I’m the one overreacting.” I hissed. “I’m under-reacting.” I picked up a stone and threw it at him, pegging him right in the chest. He could’ve easily dodged it, but then it would’ve hit one of his pack members behind him, thus gaining more of an audience than we already had. “I’m not ready to talk to you. Hell, I don’t even want to see you.” I had to be honest.

“You’d better get back to your pack before they’re missing a member.” I threatened. I watched his eyes flash from the challenge, but he reigned in his control.

I saw the anger in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. It really was just like I was some other person. I held no special place in his heart. Hell, I wasn’t even pack anymore. I’d disrespected him in front of his pack and he was just going to have to live with it. There was nothing he could do. He couldn’t put me in my place because I held no position in his pack. His hands were tied unless he wanted to threaten the human. That would just make him look like an asshole.

He turned and walked away, going back to his woman. She looked just as awkward as I suspected. I knew then that she wasn't a werewolf. If she were, she would have been angry, trying to hold her wolf back from attacking me. But she didn’t know what to do. She just kept her eyes on the fire as Eddy sat down next to her. She didn’t want to rock the boat since she was so new. I couldn’t blame her…but that didn’t mean I had to like her.

Mike decided that I’d embarrassed him enough for the evening. He was the one who brought me here, so he was technically responsible for my behavior. He escorted me to the car with Nikki following behind us.

It was awkward for a couple weeks after that, but it didn’t stop me from visiting Nikki wherever she went. I even went with my dad to a few pack barbeques without caring what they all thought of me. I was still going to be a part of this pack even if Eddy had made it a bit more complicated. I grew up here and I cared for these people…wolves. They were all my family. Could they all just reject me because I wasn't with Eddy anymore? Were the feelings I had for the members of this pack even reciprocated?

Besides the situation about how she came to be in this pack, I was starting to like Margaret. She was actually pretty funny. But my grudge with Eddy stayed firmly in place. I had a feeling I’d be angry with him for a while. Maybe it wasn’t fair that I could like Margaret but not him, but I didn’t care. This was easier for me to deal with. I didn’t have to worry about Eddy running me out of the territory because he couldn’t do that. I’d just come right back.

But there came a night where I decided that I needed a break away from it all. I didn’t want to have to worry about running into any members of the pack. I just wanted to be a normal human woman for the evening.