The run back home was tense. Although Ace was happy to be running alongside Rura's wolf, she didn't pay him any attention. She gave him the cold shoulder and ignored all of his advances. She wouldn't speak to him or introduce herself. Ace can feel that she knows he's her mate and yet she won't acknowledge him, not even to snap at him. So Ace decided to fall back and watch her run, her sleek and powerful body with the darkest midnight black fur and silver tipped tail and paws. We've never seen such a magnificent wolf. She's almost as big, if not a little bigger than Ace. There's no other wolf out there that can rival her size.
All too soon, in Ace's opinion, we reach the packhouse. Rura's wolf runs straight in, since the doors still need to be replaced from when she barreled through them. She doesn't stop to shift or speak to anybody. She refuses to acknowledge that I'm the one in charge here. She doesn't show me the respect that's given to an Alpha King, her mate and soon to be husband no less. We can't have that.
But as I stalk forward to show her just who the Alpha is, Ace growls at me so loudly he rattles my skull. Leave her alone! He roars at me. His anger is palpable and affects me as well. But I listen, I know she needs some time to herself. I look around to see if I can send anyone to Rura to show her to her room but deduced that she probably sniffed it out on her own.
I go to my office and grab a bottle of whiskey and take a nice, long pull. I won't get drunk but I need to feel the burn as the drink goes down. I need it to warm me up from the inside. I need it to make me feel like less of an ass for making Rura leave her family.
As I sit down behind my desk I try to forget. I try to focus on anything else but my mind won't have it. I keep seeing Rura's sibling's tears. I keep hearing how Rura's little sister compared her to their Mother. I keep hearing and seeing Rura sobbing, holding her family in her arms. I see the pain in her eyes when she looks at them and the pain and betrayal in her eyes when she looks at her Dad.
Ace feels Rura's pain. He feels guilty and he wants to make everything up to her. I don't know how I feel. I'm not sorry I took her, I'm determined to make her see that she's mine. But at the cost of what? I just broke up a happy family suddenly and without warning. Rura has every right to hate me but I'd never admit that to her, my pride just won't have it.
I lean back, trying my damndest to forget, knowing that it'll never happen. I put up this asshole exterior for so long, but I know deep down I'm still that gentle hearted boy from before my father died. I just don't know how to be him anymore. I'm an Alpha King now, I have so many lives on my shoulders. And now I've added one more, and yet she wants absolutely nothing to do with me even though she's my mate.
A knock on my door announces Ty's presence, just before he opens the door and comes to take a seat in front of me. "So, how'd it go?" He asks tentatively.
"It didn't. She didn't speak to me not once. Her wolf refuses to acknowledge my or Ace's presence. Her wolf didn't even give Ace a glance, and he knows that she's aware she's our mate." I scrub my hands down my face and run a hand through my inky black hair. Even my hair reminds me of Rura in some way. It's the same inky black as her wolf's fur.
Ty sits back in his seat and sighs. "That bad huh." It's not a question, he was there earlier, he knows how bad it is. Ty's gaze narrows on my face, on the side where Rura scratched me. "You're not healing as fast as usual. Her scratches are still scars on your face." He tells me, but I already know.
"They'll never heal properly." I tell him, much to his confusion.
"What? Why?"
"Because they're intentional scars from my mate. I hurt her enough to bring her wolf to the forefront earlier than she was supposed to appear and now I'll bear the mark of her agony on my skin." I tell him. It's extremely difficult to scar a werewolf, but not impossible under extreme circumstances. The pain I dealt my mate was too much, I didn't think this through.
I hit the back of my head on the chair and sigh.
"Well shit." Ty breathes. He must be putting the pieces together. I hurt her so bad and I have no idea how to fix it. I also don't really have an urge to fix it. At least not on my own. She's just upset that she's no longer with her family, but she'll see that I didn't just take her. Her family is well taken care of and will remain taken care of. Her mother is getting help. Her family will never have to worry about anything ever again. She'll see.
"Whatever you're thinking of, Alpha, I suggest you stop."
I open my eyes and glare at him. "What?"
Ty sits up and looks me in my eyes, "Whatever line of thinking you're taking. Stop. You need to look past your wants and comforts and see what's going on."
But of course I'm stubborn. I think I know it all. So do I take my best friend's advice in stride and take a deeper look at things? Hell no. I wave him off and tell him to get the hell out and give me some space. I ignore the knowing look he throws my way and try to drink away the memories of my mates sorrow.
Remember earlier when I said I wouldn't get drunk? I fucking lied. I plan to get shit faced if it means I won't see that haunted look on Rura's face again.