07 | quell

189K 10.2K 2.3K
                                    


0 7

q u e l l


MAYBE ALICE HAD her off-days too.

Days where she couldn't believe what she saw, days where she doubted that Wonderland was real, days where she wondered if it was all just a figment of imagination. Maybe it was. But then there were many different ways to interpret Alice's story.

And, maybe, it was the same for mine too.

Just because I'd seen one side of the situation didn't mean that I had seen the bigger picture. I didn't know what to think. Maybe Jed was innocent. Maybe he wasn't. And I needed space to breathe, think and analyse – until I could figure out whether he was or wasn't.

I made my way to the kitchen and poured a glass of water for myself, leaning against the sink and watching the moonlight stream in through the windows. Did I belong here? Or was I succumbing too easily because fate had thrown me into this place? The pull I felt towards Jed was strong, admittedly, and the chemistry between us undeniable but did that mean I had to stay with him just because we were written in the stars?

I took a deep breath.

No. As much as I believed in fate, I also believed that we made our own choices and picked our own paths in life. Even if Jed was the right person for me, I had a choice. It was difficult to reconcile the person I thought he was from the person people said he was – but that didn't mean I wasn't going to try. And if I couldn't, then I could leave because I'd already tried my best.

Whatever werewolf cosmic entity there was out there in the universe was just going to have to deal with that.

A sudden sound made me turn. Jed was heading down the stairs, but stopped the moment he saw me.

I cleared my throat and gripped the cup tightly between my hands. "I saved you some dinner," I said quietly, jerking my head in the direction of the fridge. "Left it in there earlier."

His gaze didn't waver from me.

I sighed and set my cup down. "Look, you don't have to speak. But now would be a really good time to explain things to me. Or show me. What is it that I have to understand?" I took a deep breath. "Did you kill?"

After what seemed like forever, he nodded.

"Did you regret it?"

He shook his head slowly.

I dragged an unsteady hand through my hair. "Okay," I murmured. "I'm grateful for what you did for me. But being a good person to me doesn't mean that you're not a bad person if all the things they say are true. Which one are you? If you're stuck in the middle, that's fine too. Just explain to me why."

He ignored me, going around the counter and stepping into the kitchen. Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he drew out a crumpled piece of paper and set it on the dining table. But before I could pick it up, he was already heading out of the kitchen, yanking his jacket off as he went. In the distance, I heard the back door click and I knew that he'd already shifted.

I reached for the paper. It was the napkin that he'd been writing on earlier, when I told him how I felt about the notion of mates for life.

What about you, I'd asked. What do you want?

I unfolded the paper, only to find a single word written on it:


You.

3.1 | Animal Instinct ✓Where stories live. Discover now