My life isn’t something my father can buy and sell, not something he can give away. It is my choice, my decision who I marry, who I love. When I fled, I knew the repercussions, I knew that what I was doing was a betrayal to my pack ... to my family.
My father, the other wolves, they would have never understood how I felt, where I was coming from. All they’ve ever seen is obligation, duty.
And maybe that’s why I feel like I just don’t belong there.
I close the motel door, lock it, and toss my bag onto the bed. I immediately go to the window and pull down the blinds, looking outside. I can put this off to my nerves being shot, my paranoia taking root. But my wolf has risen up, and when she does that, I know this isn’t just me being worried.
I can’t stay here. I have to keep moving.
I hate this, having to leave my family, having to start over because they just don’t understand, don’t realize that I’m not a pawn.
And then there is Stark, the strongest wolf in our pack aside from my father, the Alpha. He is a good male, just not for me. My life would have been his, in every sense of the word. Being betrothed to a wolf means he calls the shots.
We wouldn’t have been truly mated. We wouldn’t have that fated tether that would keep us together.
And that what I want.
I won’t be a vessel, a female to produce his heirs. No, that’s not me, that’s not my life.
I should’ve just kept going, driving to the next town because I felt a presence here, following me, but I am tired, so damn tired that I don’t think I could’ve driven further anyway.
Not to mention my car overheated and I had to drop it off at a garage, the estimated fixed date tomorrow afternoon.
Even if I want to leave, I’m stuck, hiding in this motel because I have no other means of transportation.
I move away from the window and sit on the edge of the bed, my body aching. I want to run free, to shift, to get some of this nervous energy out, but it’s not safe for me out there. So, I’ll hole up here, rest and try to relax.
Easier said than done.
I let myself fall back on the mattress, my arms spread out, my body sinking into the bed. I stare at the popcorn-style ceiling, a few water stains in the corner. Light from the setting sun washes the room in different shades of color, and I find myself closing my eyes.
I’ll just rest for a little bit, just close my eyes for a moment. And I do that, feeling myself drift off.
The sound of someone banging on the door wakes me with a start. The room is dark, pitch black. How long have I been sleeping for?
My vision adjusts instantly, my shifter senses acute and clear. I sit up quickly, my wolf right at the surface now, pacing, ready to shift and protect if need be. The hairs on my arms stand on end, my heart racing, my hands starting to shake.
I push myself off the bed and walk toward the door, the small peephole allowing me to look through. There’s a man standing on the other side, his back to me, his short, dark hair a haphazard mess on his head.
If he thinks I’m going to open the door, he is fucking insane. Most likely he has been sent by my father. But then again, my father is the type of male that would come and bust the door down himself, not have his henchman knock on it like he is housekeeping.
And then the man turns around and everything in my body tightens, grows alert and alive. He can’t see me, I know that, but he stares right at me through the door, the sound of him growling low piercing every single cell in my body, seeping right down into my very marrow.
I take a step back, but not before I reach out and unlock the door. I didn’t plan to do it. It happens subconsciously, as if my wolf knows, is taking over. But before I can lock it again, knowing that opening this part of my life will only cost me more trouble, I find myself moving backward.
My mate.
He’s right outside the door.
He’s here.
Those words play over in my head, like a broken record, repeating until I’m drowning in them. As everything happens in slow motion, I watch the handle to the motel room turn, the door push open. And then he’s standing on the other side, this big, muscular wolf shifter staring right at me with half-lidded eyes, the growl coming from him one of possession.
I’m shaking my head as I take a step back, but the bed stops my retreat, has me sitting down abruptly.