Dark Times

Chapter Forty-Two

It was raining.

I felt his rage hours ago. Around an hour before the sun began to set. Now that it was dark, I knew better than to stop and settle down for the night. I didn't have time for that.

I'd spent nearly an hour and a half in the care of a man I'd once known but couldn't remember. I'd eaten, drank and armed myself. Then I was gone again. It didn't help much. The sword weighed me down more than my heat did, but I kept it with me anyway.

I was walking at this point. My legs couldn't carry me much further. I stuck to the river, hoping it'd at least help with covering my tracks. He would've caught onto this, of course. He'd be following the river too.

I knew by now he would've halved the distance I'd put between us. He might not have even made it to the six hour wait. If he'd decided he wanted to see me between his work and couldn't find me anywhere, the alarm bells would've started to ring. He could've demanded the answers from Trish. Under the influence of his Alpha tone, she wouldn't have been able to lie.

My skin prickled with an awareness that told me he was closer than I originally thought. I'd wasted time in a pack, after all. I'd been running in my human form for most of the day. Now I was just tiredly walking, waiting to see what fate had in store for me.

Hopefully, it was a nice, long nap and something to relieve the pain.

But I could feel him. He was near. A howl sounded not so far away. A howl that I didn't have to have heard before to recognise.

The howl was calling for me.

I turned slowly, that sword held out in front of me as if it could protect me from the darkness of the night. It wasn't the darkness I'd need protection against. It was him.

He stood across from me with around fifteen metres between us. The rain had his hair sticking to his forehead, but I could see the red of his eyes beneath them. Someone must've tipped him off. He had a sword too.

He paced closer like a dark warrior, ready to drag his battle prize home to his bed.

"You ran," He called, his voice just as dark as the rest of him. I sensed he wasn't happy. How could he be? I'd ran away, and he needed me.

And I needed him.

"What did you expect me to do?" I called back. "That's not my life. I can't live it."

He was surprisingly sane as he paced closer. His head was still screwed on, though his eyes were without mercy.

"I thought we'd come to an understanding, Lorelei." The tiniest trace of hurt flashed through his eyes, but it was gone before I could get carried away. In them, all I saw now was anger and sheer possessiveness. "You're mine."

"I can't live your life."

He came closer. "I know you love me. I could hear your heart. Why would you run when you love me?"

I didn't think I'd ever come so close to tears before as I was now. Talk about a day for new experiences.

"You're right," I said. "I do love you. That's why I ran." I wanted to throw this all aside and step closer. To cradle his face with my hands and kiss him. But I wouldn't. People that kiss each other never let each other go. "You deserve so much better than me. I can't give you what you want. I'm not a pack wolf, Aidan. My brain isn't wired the way you need it to be."

He growled at me, apparently done with it all. I exhausted him in ways no one else could. "I don't care that you're a rogue, Lorelei. I don't care that you're not a pack wolf. I care about you. I don't care if you think I deserve better. I don't. For me, there's no one better than you."