We leave the next morning.
In all honesty, I can't believe I like this better than the break. I like the forestry all around, the constantly changing scenery. And the lack of hormonal males.
Days jump by and as time passes, Luke gets more and more snappy.
“Stop wasting time, Hazel, get up!” I hear a hard voice
“Shut up,” I mumble as I push myself up from my sleeping bag
Grumbling, he all but yanks up his stuff and gives me a low-key glare. Ignoring him, I pack my stuff and we start walking again. Luke silently and with the speed of a cheetah, me munching on biscuits and following as fast as
possible.
“Slow down, will you?” I finally say, my breakfast long finished
“Keep up, will you?”
I put up with him for another hour before my patience reaches its limit.
“You’re being lazy.” Luke snaps at me
“No,” I cross my arms “You’re being irrational. We cant run our way towards the finish line.”
“Hazel,” he grits out “stop arguing. We’re going on. Now.”
Okay, Elise, you know what happens when both people start acting like idiots. You have to be the mature one right now.
“Luke,” I say calmly “We need a little break, just a breather. Then we’ll go on, yeah?”
“I don’t want a break,”
“What we want isn’t always what we need.” I give him a look
I hold his stormy gaze with my steady one. Luke works his jaw, his eyes narrowed a millimeter as he stares at me. I don’t back down.
“Fine.” He finally grits out
With a sigh of relief, I lean against a tree. Maturity; one thousand, Luke; nine hundred ninety-nine.
“I’m going to go make sure the perimeter is clear,” Luke says before disappearing behind the trees
Goddess, can't he sit still? Rolling my eyes, I sit down and take a deep breath of the fresh air. A few moments later, I pull my gun from the waistband of my jeans and check the ammunition. How did I forget to reload this?
I make my way towards the weapon bag and shuffle through it, looking for one of the ammunition boxes. I
stumble upon a small plastic bag, curiously, I pick it up and see what’s inside.
“Huh,” I take out one of the glass bottles inside and observe the fluid inside. I pull the cork out and take a sniff.
Horrified, I pull away from the contents of the bottle. Wolfsbane.
“What are you doing?” I whirl around, Luke is standing a foot away from me
His eyes flicker to the bottle in my hands, when he looks at me again, his face is set in a hard glare.
“Didn’t I tell you not to go through my things?” he snaps, snatching the bottle and bag from my hands
“Is that…” I hesitate “Is that wolfsbane?”
Luke’s shoulders stiffen as I say that, he doesn’t answer me, simply puts back his things and zips up the bag.
“The coast is clear, we’re moving on.” He says
Luke starts walking, I stare at his back in sheer disbelief before I jog up to him.
“You didn’t answer me,” I say “What’s in those bottles?”
“You seem to have figured that out on your own,”
“Why do have wolfsbane?”
“I have my reasons,”
I jog a little faster and come up in front of him, causing him to stop. Luke gives me an irritated look, I offer him my steeliest glance.
“All the participants have their wolves locked up,” I say “I don’t think we have any chance of using that on rouges.
What are your reasons then?”
“Drop it, Hazel.” He walks past me
I spin around swiftly grab his arm. Luke’s eyes snap towards me, darker than usual, the storm more intense.
“Tell me, Luke.”
“Hazel,” a low growl of warning leaves his throat
I narrow my eyes at him “Why won't you just tell me? What’s so secretive about—
“Will you just mind your own damn business for once?” Luke rips his arm away from me, I flinch at his harsh tone “I have been tolerating you and your childish behavior for longer than any sane being should be forced to. You keep complaining, you don’t listen to me and you have no sense of privacy. On top of all that, you dare to demand answers from me?”
I almost feel myself shrinking back. I feel my throat getting dry, a lump already forming in it. I open my mouth, to apologize? To tell him he’s not an awesome partner either and keeps triggering me on being an omega? I would never figure that out since Luke beats me to it.
“I pity the man who would have to spend the rest of his days with you,” he looks at me like I’m a bug under his shoe
“he’s lucky to have escaped you for this long.”
My thoughts vanish in a puff of smoke. People say we are honest about our feelings when we’re angry. So that’s what
Luke Winters thinks about me.
In my head, I find a whole speech that could make him regret saying those words, make him guilty. But when I open my mouth, only a few words tumble out.
“We should get going.”
Almost taken aback, Luke stares at me for a moment, cold silence wraps around us. Then he turns around and starts walking. I follow behind him, keeping my eyes on the ground. I don’t want to trip now.
You’re not worth my words, Winters. I ignore the dull burn behind my eyes. And I’m not in a habit to waste myself on the unworthy.
…
Two days.
It has been two days since I last spoke to Luke other than ‘Yes.’ ‘No.’ ‘You decide.’ I’ve spent the majority of my time thinking about mom, Carlos, and the jobs I can get after leaving the pack. Mom was saving up some money for my ‘wedding’ when I meet my mate. Now that that’s out of the picture, we can use it to rent a room or maybe an apartment after we leave.
Luke has been more antsy than usual. Many times, I notice him glance at me, almost as if he wants to say something, but he never does. Not that it will make a difference anyway.
“It’s your turn to keep watch,” Luke says while we eat salted cord for dinner
I nod, counting in my mind the money I can save up if I take two jobs. I don’t go to any institute and with my werewolf stamina, I can easily manage.
“Hazel,” Luke says, stressing the nickname, I don’t look at him “Did you hear me?”
“Yes,” I say calmly
Finishing my food, I stand up and lean against a tree, arms crossed across my chest. I can almost feel Luke’s gaze on my back before he opens his sleeping bag and shuffles inside.
I don’t say goodnight.
I look up at the starry sky, the almost full moon. My mind wanders to everything, nothing.
He’s lucky to have escaped you for this long.
My mate won’t think that…. Would he?
I shake my head. Seriously, Elise? After years of taking taunts from your pack, you’ll let this snob’s comments rattle you?
But somehow, his words make me feel a twist in my chest, a bitter taste in my mouth. After so long, I thought… he would not think of me as so little anymore.
Stop it, I tell myself fiercely, Luke is an asshole. You know you’re beautiful, smart, kind and maybe you’re a bit of a lunatic sometimes, you’re still amazing. Don’t let him get to your head.
I wonder a little away from our campsite. Maybe it was for the best that I heard Luke say all that. Maybe I was getting a bit carried away, thinking an Alpha could ever respect an Omega.
Pain finds beauty a reliable disguise.
Well, at least he was right about something.
A hand closes around my mouth, an arm wraps around me, holding me prisoner.
I trash around wildly, wriggling my fingers to reach my gun but the lack of breath makes my chest cave in, black spots appear in front of my eyes.
“Sorry, love,” a voice reaches me from far away “But as you said, we are opponents.”
And everything fades away.