Stone picked up on some commotion inside Aubree's apartment. Although he tried to not listen in too closely, he picked up on a sense of panic and worry.
Focusing his senses on her unit, he strained his ears to hear Aubree tell her boyfriend that she'd be back as soon as she could before the door shut.
Sucking in a lungful of air, he looked up at the darkening sky above.
He told her not to leave her apartment after dark. Why did she refuse to listen?
The air rushed out of his lungs as he exhaled and pulled himself up from a sitting position under the trees.
He had circled the block three times since her boyfriend came home. He couldn't sit around and listen in on them together, even if the walls of the apartment building did block out most of the noises inside. He tried not to think about what they were doing in there and gave them privacy as he focused his attention on the neighborhood.
Quite frankly, he didn't want to think about what they were doing. The thought of that male even touching Aubree erupted a long, low growl from within him as he clenched his hands tightly into fists.
With night setting in, his skin started to crawl with anxiety. It wasn't a full moon tonight, but he had a feeling that the bloodsuckers would be out and about. They had killed a few last night, but they still hadn't found Carina yet.
Gunner relieved Gwen on border patrol and Gavin would be coming shortly for the night watch. As he tromped to the front door of the building, his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket, Stone mentally told his son to remain hidden in the vicinity of Aubree's apartment complex when he got there.
He would make sure she got to her destination and back safely.
As she stepped out the front door, staring at her phone in hand, he was already about a dozen yards away. Wearing a light clay-gray fake leather jacket and faded blue jeans, she paused in her tracks almost immediately and looked around to see him approaching. She appeared startled as his long strides closed the distance between them before she could wrap her head around his presence.
Gaping, she managed to spit out, "Wha-What are you doing here?"
Her boyfriend's peppery scent hit him full-force and he strained to maintain a neutral expression instead of grimacing from the stink. That little bastard put his hands all over her and—
She didn't give him a chance to even respond and continued talking, her voice rising in intonation. "Have you been standing out here all day?" she demanded, her eyes growing large with surprise and disgust. "What the hell? That's really creepy and disturbing. Does Gwen know you're doing this?"
Ignoring her demands, he withdrew his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest. "I told you not to leave your apartment after dark. What are you doing out here?"
With a scowl, she shook her head and stepped around him when he stopped a few feet away. "Nothing that concerns you. Go away before I call the cops. I'm getting sick of you turning up everywhere I go and stalking me."
Shrugging, he ignored her hostility and followed a few paces behind her. "I wouldn't have to be here if you went back home."
She turned on her heels and glared at him. Huffing and putting her hands on her hips, she said, "Well, if that's all that you care about, then you'll be happy to know that I'm going back to Chicago this weekend."
Despite the sudden drop of his heart into the pit of his gut, he maintained a nonchalant composure.
That was what he wanted all along; for her to leave and never come back. It shouldn't bother him, but it did, and he inwardly cursed the pull of the matebond for it.
YOU ARE READING
Heart of Stone (Parts I & II)
Werewolf[COMPLETE] Some bonds can't be broken, even in death. -- He couldn't endure another heartbreak. "Accepting her would be a mistake," he said. "She's a human. I can't afford to have her blood on my hands." Gwen looked away, and he knew she saw the ima...
