Held For Ransom

Chapter 33

"Hannah, wait!" Cole yells, chasing me down the hallway.

"No, I honestly don't want to hear it, Cole. So shut up and leave me alone," I growl, stopping abruptly.

We've just gotten back from the pack-run, and I almost managed to escape back to our room without being caught.

Almost.

"Hannah, listen-" he starts, but I quickly cut him off.

"No. No, you listen. You've treated me like shit the past week up until this point, not one explanation, and now you want me to listen? I've needed you, and where were you? Yeah, gone. And, as I recall from your earlier words, I'm disrespectful and selfish! So why would you want to talk to me now? Does this hurt, me yelling at you like this? I sure hope so, because it hurt when you said those things earlier!" I scream at him, feeling the tears cascade down my cheeks. At this point though, I just can't give much of a darn.

He stands there and takes my wrath, looking ashamed and defeated. "I know, Hannah. I screwed up so bad, and I'm so, so immensely sorry for that. Words can't even describe how terrible I feel for putting you through that. But listen, none of it was because of you, alright? I was angry at myself and unstable, and I didn't want to hurt you even more by lashing out on you.. Which I did..earlier. I'm so sorry, Hannah. Please, I beg you, be angry with me. But please, just please, do not shut me out," he pleads, coming forward and grasping my hands in his own.

By this point I'm too tired to do anything, not even snap at him for touching me. Somehow, my arms make their way around his neck and he lifts me up, my legs wrapping around his torso. I'm crying silently, tears flowing out of my eyes but no sound coming from my lips. My breaths are short and shaky, on the verge of hiccuping.

Cole opens the door to our room, and carries me inside. He quietly shuts it, then carries me over to the bed and sits me down on the duvet. I nearly fall over, but he catches me and steadies me, before resuming taking my shoes off. He does it slowly and carefully, as if he's afraid I'm going to come to my senses and bolt from the room.

He removes my socks and tosses them on the floor somewhere. When he reaches for the band of my sweatpants, I block his hand and shake my head. "I'll do it on my own," I whisper.

He nods and moves away, then takes his shirt off, leaving his sculpted chest and abs on full display. After what we've done, you'd think I'd be used to the sight.

Nope. Not even close.

Stop staring, Hannah. I scold myself.

After sliding off my sweatpants, I take off my loose t-shirt and fold them both, before setting them on the floor next to my shoes. I find the socks Cole threw and fold them as well, then put them with the other garments.

"You're really beautiful, you know that?" Cole says, startling me slightly.

My face heats up and I'm sure my cheeks are a nice shade of tomato red. "Uh.. I guess not, but you've told me before. Thanks, though," I stammer awkwardly.

C'mon, Hannah, get a hold on yourself. This is your mate, not a stranger. My conscience chides.

Yeah, you're both acting immature and childish, my Wolf agrees.

Oh great, so now you're both up against me? Wait, I'm really confused. Why am I talking to myself? I must really be tired...

"You're spacing out again, Hannah. Jeez, I didn't know you still fantasized about me, especially since we've already completed that stage," Cole teases, his signature smirk gracing his lips once again.

I narrow my eyes at him as I fight down the smile that's threatening to appear. "Shut up. I'm just arguing with myself."

Oh goodness. Please don't tell me I just said that. ...I am so pathetic.

Yes, you are, my wolf says with an exasperated tone. If wolves could slap their foreheads, that's exactly what she'd be doing at this moment.

"You're arguing with yourself?" Cole asks, making sure he heard me right. I can tell by his facial expression that he's trying to conceal his laughter for my sake, but failing epically at it.

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight," I respond quickly, before hopping into bed and pulling the covers high above my head.

He chuckles and heads towards the bathroom. "You know I'm never going to let you live that down," he comments just as he shuts the door.

"I know you won't," I whisper with a smile.

~

"We need to decide what we're going to do with Lacey, Ryland, and Isaac," Jared states, matter-of-factly.

"Kill them all," Cole growls, his hold on my waist tightening slightly.

Hadley, Jared, Cole, and I are all in Cole's office discussing how we're going to deal with the traitors, and so far, we haven't gotten very far. Someone will suggest something, but it'll quickly be shot down by someone else.

"No," I argue once again, "kill Lacey and Isaac, but we made a deal with Ryland. If he helped us, we'd let him live. Don't tell me we're not going to keep our promise."

He sighs, "Fine. We'll keep our end, but if he even steps foot in our territory ever again, he'll die. Alright?"

"Okay, fine."

"Now that that's settled, we should consider moving back to our home-territory," Jared suggests, looking at Cole.

Hadlee's serious expression immediately turns into one of excitement. "Yes! Now that Robert's army is taken care of, we can go home!"

Cole smiles and nods. "I'll start on the arrangements for moving back as soon as the prisoners are gone."

My mind flashes back to when I was staying at Cole's mansion, when he first kidnapped me. I pictured the pack living there, with kids running through the halls all care-free, and smile at the image.

No matter how messed up things started, or how frustrating it had gotten at times, and the terrible tragedy that had taken place near the end, everything had turned out for the better. My pack is safe, and we're going home soon. Cole and I are together, with no more threats threatening to tear us apart.

Nothing at all could make this any more perfect.

Except...

THE END.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

It's the end! And yeah.. I know. It was a terrible and sucky ending, and I don't know how I could have made it any worse. But yeah, I'm so sorry for that.

There will be an epilogue though, so it's only a slight cliffhanger. Haha.

SOOO yup. Again, I'm terribly sorry for the sucky ending. :(

~Caiti xoxo