Ivory

TWENTY-ONE*

Twenty-One

Zander stalked towards me, his determined expression shifting to confusion and then concern.

I met him halfway, shutting the door to the room behind me. I didn't want him to see it, he couldn't. At least he couldn't actually see her, but still, as soon as he saw it he would start asking for an explanation that I didn't have.

I placed a hand in his chest, trying to stop him from going further. It worked, but he looked down at me with frustration.

"Let me past," he said, using his Alpha voice. Ha! Fat chance that would work on me.

"You can't," I pleaded. I seriously could not let him go past me, no way no how. He already lost his mum, I don't want him to think that he's almost lost his mate before even meeting her.

He tried to skirt around me, but I blocked his path. "Let me go, Brooke," he growled, his blue eyes shifting to black which signified his wolf taking over.

Now, I know when to give up and that was when an Alpha wolf was on the brink of taking control of a situation, which wasn't good however you looked at it.

With a sigh I stepped back and walked back to the door. As my hands reached for the knob I looked back at him with a sad smile in my face. "You asked for it, remember," I whispered as I turned the piece of metal under my hand.

I let him go in first and watched as his face went pale and took a sharp intake of breath. In a flash he was next to her, occupying the chair I just left.

"What happened?" he asked, hardly louder than a whisper. His eyes were trained in the bud, unwavering and pleading.

I followed behind him and stood there with my arms dangling loosely at my side. "I wish I knew," I answered, not much louder than him. "I came back after find Natalia and I found her in the dungeon." I hadn't wanted to say it, I wished that I didn't have to, but I had never felt like I needed to lie to him.

He didn't say anything, but a spark of anger shot through his eyes. I knew that at that point it was my time to leave him alone.

Fate was a bitch. There was no way else to say it.

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I sat down by one of the trees surrounding the back yard, absorbing the energy that nature was giving off. I used way too much power today, well actually I used way too much power on this entire trip and it was finally catching up with my body. My limbs refused to move and I swear gravity was pushing down on me further than it had been a few minutes ago.

I watched as the sun began to sink below the tree lines and the world began to settle down for the night. Since Austin was with Natalia there was no reason for me to go to the stream, and my small room under the cave was gone and I didn't the energy to put it back

My body was begging me to go to sleep but I couldn't make it back to my room and I didn't want to fall asleep next to a tree. I've done it before and let me tell you that it hurt like a mother in the morning.

'What're you doing?" someone asked beside me just as my eyes had begun to drift closed.

I jerked my head up to see Kieran standing over me with his broad shoulders hunched low. His green eyes were tormented and I hated that it was my fault and he had been going through four years of that.

"I haven't been sleeping inside," I answered honestly. I didn't feel like lying to him anymore, I couldn't. Not today. I didn't have the energy to come up with any more lies. I wanted to tell him everything, how I had forgiven him, that I was sorry for everything that I had put him through and that I regret not giving him an explanation as to why I left.