"What are you doing Nick?" I glare at him.
What is this whole display? Huh? This is a huge red flag.
Abusive people do this all the time, they do something bad and then they act tender and nice, regretful, and give empty promises of being better.
I've seen it and I refuse to live it.
"I-I.... I'm so sorry Alice. I really am... I knew you were not ready, but I swear I had our best interest in mind! See what happened! A mark is the best way to keep you safe!" he says with teary eyes, and I feel anger boiling in my stomach.
"Apologies mean shit" I reply calmly keeping eye contact.
"Alice" he says with gritted teeth, there it is, the Nick I know, the idiot that doesn't like to be rejected.
See? People like him don't change this fast and not this easy.
"Can't you see I'm trying?" he says desperate "Can't you see I'm trying to be better for you? I'm trying to make this work! This is the exact reason I wanted to mark you in the first place! To know where you are! To be able to keep you safe!"
He keeps trying to justify his actions.
Should I reply? I don't really have to, but it wouldn't hurt to fuel the flames a little.
"I was ready to die" I say with my monotone voice, and he freezes "I was ready to die if that meant escaping you".
"Why should I care you're sorry, Nick? I don't care about you, I saved you and you repaid me with nothing but horrible experiences, over and over again. I gave you several chances, but you abused my goodwill, now... you can go fuck yourself" My voice is calm, I don't raise it, but I can feel the poison in my words.
I grab him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him towards me, his nose a few inches away from my face, my eyes fixated on his eyes.
"I was full of injuries when I left, why didn't you check those first instead of apologizing? Huh? Why did you first justify trying to mark me against my will first?" I say sweetly this time, a sweet, sweet venom, only for him.
"Because you didn't care if I was safe or not, you just couldn't bare the idea of me dying because of you".
I feel him flinching, I knew I was right, but he should try to hide his feelings better than this, he's supposed to be a leader.
"Y-you're w-wrong..." he stutters and then gulps nervously.
"Am I? really?" I say. He doesn't answer so I add "You should practice your lying" I push him away from me and close the passenger seat door.
Nick looks pale and says nothing more, I must say, I feel refreshed after saying everything I wanted to say.
I'm determined to remember that pale face for the rest of my life, I will remember it when I'm having a bad day, it will make me laugh. I look away from him, not wanting to see him anymore.
The drive is painfully slow, I want to get to a warm fluffy bed. This has been one hell of a long day; I just want to sleep.
We finally arrive at the pack house, and I just can't bring myself to take a step out of the car. I'm far too tired to move but at the same time, I don't want to be carried by Nick.
Should I sleep in the car? It's not necessarily the most comfortable thing but that way I don't have to move.
"Alice" Nick's voice interrupts my thoughts.
"Mmmh?" I don't even bother answering him. Even if he's an idiot, he should know I don't want to be around him.
"Let me carry you to our room, let's go to sleep" Nick says tenderly, and I almost choke in my own spit.
Is this guy serious? I didn't even want to be touched by him, why does he think I'll be ok sleeping in the same bed?
"No."
"Alice, you can't walk on your own" he scoffs.
"ALLIE!!" I hear a woman's voice shout from the entrance of the pack house.
I turn my head. "ALLIE!!" Jos keeps shouting while she runs towards me, Lucas running behind her.
Once she reaches us, she immediately places herself in between Nick and me, as if to protect me, to keep him away from me.
"Don't you dare take another step, alpha" she tells Nick, is it just me, or did the way she said Alpha sounded like a mockery?
"JOS!" Lucas shouts once he reaches us.
He's breathing heavily as if he had to force himself to reach us... is Jos that fast? Fast enough to make the second in line of this pack get tired?
"Calm down for a moment, she's here and safe. We can talk about it tomorrow once everyone relaxes".
"NO! I already decided! You can either support me or get out of the way!" Jos shouts while glaring at Nick.
"Look, I'm not in the mood, get the fuck out of my way" Nick says annoyed "and just tell me what you want".
Jos takes a deep breath and says in the most serious voice I've ever heard from her "I want to leave the pack".
"JOS!" Lucas shouts.
"We will never let you hurt her again" I hear a second voice I've never heard before, coming from Jos' location but it was not her voice.
I look down, just slightly and I see her, a semi-transparent midnight black wolf, way smaller than other werewolves I've seen but still bigger than a normal wolf. That's Jos' wolf... the wolf is also protecting me... why can I see her wolf? Until now I could only see Nick's.
Jos keeps eye contact with Nick but now talks to me "Let's run away Allie, run with me, let's leave this rotten place" she says with glossy but determined eyes.
She's willing to leave her home, her family, and her other half for me...
"NO! Jos, let's all calm down" I hear Lucas trying to be the voice of reason. All this shouting is starting to hurt my head.
I tap Jos' shoulder and she turns her head "Jos, can you carry me to your room? I don't want to be near Nick and I need a hot shower, also sleeping" she flinches when she hears me talking as nonchalantly as always.
She hangs her head in defeat.
"You do realize I was saying something super cool, right? Like something out of a freaking novel! It could've been our backstory for the future! You and me running from the world!" she says while pouting.
"The hot shower sounds a lot more appealing than running for our lives" I reply in my monotone voice, and she giggles.
"How do you manage to just ruin the mood in the best way possible?" she asks, and I tilt my head confuse.
Did I interrupt something?
Lucas sighs in relief and Nick keeps glaring at Jos.
"We'll talk about this in the morning, go rest" Nick adds.
He tries to take another step towards me, but Jos doesn't move and instead she growls at him, her eyes glowing red.
Nick starts growling at her as well and that's when I decide to step in. "Nick" I say calmly, he flinches and turns away.
"Do what you want" he says while walking away. Mmmmh? Is that it? it seems he's still recovering from what I told him earlier if he's not pursuing the issue.
Once Nick is far enough Jos turns to look at me, regret and guilt written all over her face.
She grabs my hands in hers "I'm so, so, so sorry" she starts crying silently.
"I'm sorry I didn't protect you... I should've... I should've cried, shout, fight... but I didn't... you stood up for me when Rose told you I was a slut... you remained my friend even after Nick kidnapped you... you helped me realize I'm more than what people say about me and how the fuck did I repay you? I left you alone... I failed you" she covers her mouth with one hand while the other is still holding my hands. She's sobbing but tries to suppress the sound with her hand.
"No more" she says... she looks ugly, buggers running down her nose, her eyes bloodshot, her lips dry and her cheeks red, not the cute blush red but more like a fucked-up sunburn red and still, she looks like the coolest person in the planet.
"We're not going to allow that anymore" the wolf repeats after her. Jos picks me up bridal style and starts walking towards the pack house.
I look at Jos surprised, she's taller than me but not necessarily muscular, I'm surprised she can carry me this easily.
"Am I not heavy?" I ask curiously and she giggles.
"Is that the first thing you decide to ask?" Jos says happily and I tilt my head confuse.
I don't get it. Should I have asked something else first?