‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 𝓐 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
I ran through the trees and looked back over my shoulder at the 4 hunters chasing me and grinned.
"Steele has not been feeding you boys your Wheaties." I laughed. "Come on you bunch of slow pokes at least give me a reason to run."
One of them fired their gun and I ducked out of the way scraping my arm against a tree as I went.
"Well that's more like it." I mumbled and shifted.
I dodged crossbow bolts, and bullets as I darted between the trees. I came to a spot that I had marked with rocks in the ground and jumped over it. Before I landed back on my feet I heard the hunters behind me yell as they fell into the sinkhole trap I had set up with Marcus earlier. I padded over to a tree that had a backpack with my clothes in it hanging off a low hanging branch. I shifted again and opened the backpack to get dressed.
Once I was dressed I walked over to the hole in the ground and smiled down at the four hunters.
"Hello boys."
"You bitch!" One of them yelled at me.
"Well that was rude." I frowned and then shrugged.
"Oh well, can't expect much from hunters. Have a good night guys. We'll catch up tomorrow. Providing you get out of there." I smirked and walked away from them making my way back home.
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I stood on the porch watching the sun coming up between the trees for just a few minutes before I opened the front door and closed it quietly trying not to make any noise. I tiptoed through the den and made it just to the stairs before the lights flipped on.
I cringed and sighed before I turned around and looked at Connor who stood there with his arms crossed and that explain yourself look on his damn face.
"I'm not a child Con." I groaned and rolled my eyes.
"No, you aren't, but you can't keep staying out until the sun comes up Mar." He sighed. Michael was almost killed last night by a hunter. Do you have any idea how worried I was when you left and never came back??"
"But I did come back." I shrugged.
Connor walked closer to me and took my arm in his hand looking at the scrapes and bruises.
"Where were you?" He asked.
"I was just in the woods Connor ." I scoffed, "I tripped over a fallen branch."
"Don't lie to me. How many hunters?"
"Connor, I just want to go to bed." I sighed.
"How many hunters Mar?" He asked again.
"Four." I answered. "Marcus helped me set a trap last night."
"I'm going to kill him." Connor sighed.
"Connor what is the problem? They are killing us. All I did was have a little fun!"
"You know that's not what you are doing! This has to stop Amara before you get yourself killed."
"I have no idea what you are talking about Connor." I said and crossed my arms.
"You know damn well you do. He's not coming back, Mara putting yourself in danger to try and lure him out is not going to work."
"Something has to work Connor!" I snapped. "Everyone else has just given up and accepted it. I refuse to accept that he's not coming home and he's not giving me much of a choice."
"Mar…it's been months."
"What would you do if it was Mary? because if you tell me that you would just sit here while your wife, your MATE, was out there somewhere then you are a bloody liar!" I spat and stormed up the stairs.
---------------------------------------------------
I sat up and stretched and looked at my shoulder, the black veins coming from the wound were almost completely gone and I felt much better. I got out of bed and walked out of the room and hurried down stairs to see Kieran. After last night, I just wanted to be near him.
I looked around the house but it was empty. The pack must have been outside. I went through the den and out to the front porch and suddenly there was a lot of yelling.
The pack was in a circle, with Connor in the middle trying to calm the chaos. Where was Kieran?
"He abandoned us!" Kenneth shouted.
"No, No he didn't. It's very complicated-" Connor tried to say but was cut off
"Everything was fine until Alexander's runt showed up!" Another shouted.
I frowned and walked over to the circle and pushed my way through to Connor .
"She's the one who should have left!" A she-wolf spat.
"Enough!" Connor shouted. "Mara..you should go back inside." He said.
"No… what is going on, where is Kieran?" I asked.
"I will talk to you in a minute, just go back inside." He sighed.
"No, I'm part of this pack too!" I argued.
"Not for long, runt." the same she-wolf who said I should have left muttered.
"Mar.. come on." Roxy said and took my arm.
"Where is Kieran?!" I demanded.
"Go on, Con. tell her, if you don't I will." Kenneth said. Connor growled at him and he backed up a little. He looked back at me and sighed heavily.
"Kieran's gone, Mara. He left this morning."
"No… He'll be back, he probably just went to town for something." I said and shook my head. Kieran wouldn't leave his pack... He wouldn't leave me.
"He packed Mara. He told me he wasn't coming back and he left me in charge."
I scoffed and shook my head.
"This isn't funny."
"Do you see ANYONE laughing, Amara??" Connor snapped. "He's Gone!"
I backed out of the circle.
"Roxy, take her inside. Please." Connor said.
"Come on Mar, we'll go watch something, and make some tea." Roxy said and reached for me but I slapped her hand away.
"He's coming back, I'll go get him."
"How about you get lost too." One of the wolves spat and a few of them shouted in agreement.
I turned away from them.
"Mara, he doesn't want to be found." Connor said "Just go inside."
I shifted, and ran off into the woods. I could hear some of the pack yelling for me to come back.. And then some of them yelled for me to stay gone.
Kieran was coming home, and I was going to make sure of it.
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That afternoon, I crept out of the house and into the backyard where Marcus was waiting for me by Kieran's shed.
"You realize that Connor is going to kill the both of us right?"
"What Connor doesn't know, won't hurt him." I shrugged. "You bring my present?"
"I did. Couldn't find a bow though. You'll have to do without."
"I'll live." I said and unlocked the shed and opened the door looking at the man that Marcushad tied to a chair. Marcusstepped into the shed with me and locked the door.
"This is the one who tried to kill Michael?" I asked.
"Yep. Heard him bragging about it. He mentioned it would give him points with Steele."
I narrowed my eyes and picked up a rake and jabbed the hunter in the gut with the handle of it. He groaned and opened his eyes and looked back and forth between Marcus and I and went to yell but Marcus put his hand over the hunters mouth.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you mate." Marcus said. "One,that lady right there is not one you want to piss off, she looks like a sweetheart but she'll tear your throat out and not think twice."
I wasn't that bad. The hunter didn't need to know that though.
"And two, all that talk about almost killing one of us, and coming off as a bad-ass will all go to waste if you start screaming like a girl. We just have a couple questions to ask and you will be free to go. Got it?" Marcus asked. The hunter nodded and Marcus let go of his mouth.
"Ask away love." Marcus said and returned to my side.
"You report directly to Steele?" I asked.
"Yes, when I can." The hunter answered.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"I don't know." The hunter sighed and I struck him in the face with the handle of the rake.
"Ow! I answered your question you bitch-"
Marcus Flipped his knife out and the hunter stopped speaking.
"We'll refrain from calling the lady anything uncalled for." Marcus warned.
"Uncalled for? I answered her question and she hit me with the fucking stick!" he spat and pulled at the ropes binding him to the chair.
"I said she was going to ask you questions, I never said she wasn't going to hit you." Marcus shrugged.
"Where. Is. Steele?" I asked again.
"I Don't know! He comes and goes, he has no set location, he just shows up whenever he wants. None of us know where he is when he's not with us."
"Fine. Kieran Quinn. Have you seen him?" I asked.
The hunter smirked and cocked his head.
"Ah, so you're the one. You're Kieran's bitch."
I growled and struck him in the face again and then just started hitting him wherever I could until Marcus pulled me back.
"If you break his jaw he can't talk Mara. He's trying to get under your skin."
I pulled away from Marcus and turned back to the hunter.
"What's wrong, she-wolf? You miss your mate?" The hunter pouted.
I could feel the rake handle about to snap in my hand as my knuckles turned white around it.
"Where is Kieran?" I asked.
"Haven't seen him. He's done good, keeping up his end of his deal with Steele. Steele lets you live, He disappears."
I couldn't explain what happened next, but something consumed me. A darkness, I hadn't felt in a long time. I tossed the rake aside and opened my satchel pulling out a vial of black liquid.
"Do you know what this is?"
"Haven't a clue." The hunter smirked.
"This is Obsidian's Acid. I'm told It leads to a very slow and excruciating death."
"Mara..." Marcus said.
I stepped forward pulling the cork out of the vial.
"You've proven yourself useless to me." I said
"You said I would be free to go!" The hunter spat, looking at Will.
"Mara, we didn't talk about this!" Marcus said.
I ignored him and held the vial towards the hunters lips. I looked in his panic stricken eyes and felt nothing.
Marcus grabbed my hand, yanking the vial out of it and smashing it against the wall.
"We let him go!" He snapped.
"Why?! They kill us! Kieran's killed multiple of them."
"Kieran's been down that road but I know for a fact it eats him alive every day so there is no way in hell you are walking that path on my watch!" Marcus said. "This is what separates us from them. They're the bad guys. We're the good guys, you cross that line, you don't come back from it."
I glared at him, still seeing red.
"Go back to the house, I'll clean up the mess and let him go."
I turned around to leave.
"See you out there, she-wolf." The hunter said. I reached into my satchel for my knife, and spun around and threw it. It sliced his cheek and stuck in the wall inches from his head. I walked from the shed listening to him cry in pain.
"What the hell is going on in there?" Connor asked as he came outside, hearing the cries.
"Nothing you need to bother yourself with Con." I muttered and walked inside and towards the stairs.
"Miss Amara?"
I turned and looked at Josephine
"Yes?"
Josephine wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me tightly and whatever darkness that had a strong hold on my heart released. I blinked and looked down at Josephine.
"Thank you…" I said, feeling a lump rising in my throat. "Go on, go play." I said and smiled down at her. She smiled back at me and ran off and I tried to get up the stairs thinking of what I almost did to that hunter. Thinking of how something inside of me just took over completely and I'd be lying if I said it was the first time that had happened in the last few months. I didn't even know who I was anymore and even if Kieran came back, would he ever love me the same knowing what I'd become without him?
My heart pounded in my chest and I felt like every last breath I had was being taken from me. This was something I hadn't felt since the first few days after Kieran left.
I sat down halfway up the stairs and the tears started falling out of my eyes like a waterfall.
My hands and legs shook, and my chest tightened with every breath I tried to take.
The front door swung open, and Connor came in.
"Amara!" He shouted, his voice was angry but the second he made it to the stairs, and saw me, his whole demeanor changed. He hurried up the steps and sat next to me pulling me close and I let out a strangled sob as he ran his hands through my hair.
"Shh..It's okay." He said softly.
But it wasn't, and it hadn't been for a long time.
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I had run as much as I could run, and howled for as long as I could howl, and there was absolutely no sign or trace of Kieran, anywhere.
It had been three days since I left home, and this was the longest I had ever stayed a wolf.
I was exhausted as I made my way back home, although I was unsure I'd be welcome back I didn't know where else I could go. My vision blurred as I entered the front yard. I hadn't eaten since I left, and I had barely slept. I heard the front door creak open as I collapsed on my side. I shifted back into my human form and just laid there shaking.
"Connor!" Roxy yelled. "She's home!"
Roxy crouched down beside me.
"Jesus Mar we couldn't find you anywhere!" She said with her voice breaking.
"Is she hurt?" Connor asked and I felt a blanket being tossed over me and I was lifted from the ground.
"No, I don't think so." Roxy answered
After bathing, and being looked over by Jake I sat in the kitchen looking down at the plate of food in front of me. Usually anything Sable put in front of me was gone in minutes but even though I hadn't eaten in three days I could barely even look at the food without feeling sick.
"You have to eat something, honey." Sable said and frowned, leaning against the counter.
"I'm not hungry." I said.
"That can't be true, you look like you're starving."
"If…it's okay. I'd like to just go to bed."
"Alright, we'll try the eating thing again at breakfast." Sable sighed.
"Sure." I mumbled and stood up and dragged myself up the stairs.
As soon as I stepped in mine, and Kieran's room my senses were overwhelmed with his scent. The scent I had spent the last three days trying to find.
I collapsed on the bed hugging his pillow to my chest trying to sob silently so I wouldn't be bothered.
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I stood at the vanity in the room looking at myself in the mirror for the first time realizing I barely recognized myself. My naturally tan skin was pale, I was getting thinner, and because I was already tiny, I looked sickly.
I looked broken and I had no idea how to fix myself. I'd dug myself deep into a pit of anger, and sadness and no matter how hard I tried to climb out of it, I felt myself being pulled back in by the end of every day because at the end of the day, when it was just me in this room I was reminded of how much I missed him. How much I loved him and how much I hated him at the same time for leaving me the way he did. I felt like I was drowning and I could see that everyone else around me was breathing. Kieran was gone, He clearly had no intentions on coming back, everyone else had moved on. So why couldn't I?
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Days later
"No." I said and shook my head and crossed my arms glaring at Connor .
"Oh come on, it would be good for you." Connor sighed.
"I'm fine here. I don't need to go out.. Besides, Emma is sick so I'm helping Mary with her."
"Which is something I can do. Given..she is my child and all." Connor said.
"You're busy trying to run this broken as hell pack." I mumbled.
"We aren't broken Amara. We're still together.."
"Barely." I said. "Either way there is plenty to do here. If the girls want to go, they can go without me."
"By plenty to do, do you mean sit up here and sulk all day because that's about all I've seen you do. You aren't eating right, you're barely sleeping. You just sit up here and look out that damn window."
"Why is it so wrong to miss him, Connor? I love him. He's my mate. I get it, everyone has moved on but I can't." I said.
"It's okay to miss him Amara, we all do but you have to live your life too or moments like you had with that hunter in the shed are going to keep happening. I lost my best friend. I refuse to lose you too."
"I'm right here Connor."
"But you aren't here. Physically you are here but mentally, the Amara we all know is on vacation. And I miss her. I miss seeing you smile. The pups miss you playing with them. Roxy says you haven't even spoken to her in weeks. You don't eat with the pack anymore so it's like you aren't even here."
Truthfully I didn't even realize it had been weeks since I spoke to Roxy, I'd been so busy setting up hunter traps with Marcus and trying to find anyone who might have seen Kieran and I knew the pups missed me playing outside with them but I felt like without Kieran here, there was a light inside of me that was being snuffed out. Life just had a big storm cloud over it and I didn't find joy in much. It was so hard to pull myself out of bed some days because I knew in the end, he was still not here and I would wake up miserable again the next day.
"Just one night Mara, go with Roxy, Sable and Lacey. Have fun, but don't sit up here and hide away from everyone anymore. You're right, this pack is falling apart and before Kieran left, you helped him strengthen it. You were our light and we need you now more than ever. I know you want to give up but I refuse to let you do that."
"Where am I going on this misadventure?" I sighed.
"I don't know, the girls just asked me to get you to agree to go. Does that mean you are going?"
"I don't really know how to do a girls night?" I said. "What do I wear?"
"We can help!" Roxy beamed. I turned around and saw Roxy, Sable and Lacey all standing in the doorway clearly listening in.
I cracked a smile.
"See! It's already working. I'll leave you girls to do it." Connor said and left the room
Roxy headed straight to my closet and started rummaging through it, meanwhile Sable and Lacey tugged me over to the vanity and pushed me in the chair.
"Why do I feel as if I'm about to be tortured?" I asked. "We are friends now right?" I asked Lacey.
"Of course." She nodded. "Which is why I am going to tame this wild hair of yours." She grinned.
"What do you mean by tame?" I asked skeptically.
"Trust me?" Lacey asked.
"I have rules, No heat, no scissors, and absolutely no hairspray." I said.
"Fine, fine. Just let me play with it, it's so long." Lacey said and started braiding some of my hair.
"It's never been cut.." I said.
"I can tell." Lacey smirked. "It's not a bad thing, it's really beautiful. I really want to see what it looks like straight."
"Nope." I said.
"Well, you're no fun." She frowned. "What about makeup?"
"I don't wear makeup." I shrugged.
Sable put her hands on her hips.
"There is no way that those lashes are natural. What kind of witchcraft do you do up here?"
"I'll never tell." I smirked.
"Ah! Found it." Roxy said and held up a spaghetti strap Navy blue dress with sunflowers printed all over it. I had forgotten all about that dress.
After about an hour, a thousand bobby pins, and a nail polish fume high we were about ready to head out. I looked at myself in the mirror, Lacey, with Sables help put my hair in a cute little updo, with pretty braids and some of my curls hanging down. It actually looked decent. Roxy painted my fingernails a shimmery navy blue color to match the dress.
"Well, look at you." Marcus smiled at me.
"Look at me…" I chuckled.
"I may have to go with you lot, to make sure people keep their hands off my girls."
"Your girls?" Roxy scoffed. "Please."
"Relax Roxy..I'm sure he didn't mean it that way." I laughed. "He's like a brother to me."
Kenneth sauntered over to us and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Ever since Kieran left, Kenneth had been trying to worm his way into my business.
"Where are you lovely little she-wolves off to?" He asked.
Roxy went to speak but I cut her off.
"The movies." I said. For some reason I just didn't want him following us anywhere. I didn't trust him one bit.
"Going to see something scary?" He asked, "Might need someone's hand to hold." He winked at me, and I felt my skin crawl.
Lacey grabbed my hand.
"That's what I am here for." She said challengingly, catching on that I wanted no part of Kenneth .
Kenneth narrowed his eyes at her.
"So Kieran leaves and you just go and switch sides on the guy?" Kenneth sneered. I felt my heart drop into my stomach. I felt panic bubbling in my chest.
"Come on Kenneth even for a creep like you that was low." Lacey said. Marcus looked like he wanted to tear Kenneth in half, and I was silently hoping he would. Kenneth went to say something else but Connor walked in the room, and Kenneth backed off immediately.
"Please be careful with whatever it is you are doing. Watch for hunters and do not provoke them." he said looking at me.
"You rough up a few hunters and suddenly that's a crime." I sighed.
"Don't worry Connor , we are just going out to have fun. No hunting hunters. Just good ol' girl fun." Lacey said.
"Text me when you are on the way home." He reminded us as we were leaving the house.
"Got it Con." Roxy said as she closed the door. I looked back at the house, after Kenneth 's comment about Kieran I wanted nothing more than to get back into bed and stay for the next year.
"Hey, don't let what Kenneth said bother you, he's just jealous of Kieran. He always has been." Roxy said
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"When you were first brought here, Kenneth was infatuated with you. He'd always talk about you with Marcus and Michael and when you and Kieran ended up being mates the conversations just got weirder and weirder. He started talking about what he would do if Kieran wasn't around." Lacey said. "He's a creep. I don't know why Kieran kept him around."
"Because he feels sorry for him." Sable shrugged.
I don't know why but this news made me feel sick and the cogs in my brain started spinning. What if Kenneth had something to do with all of this?
-------------------------------------------------------
When we got to the city Roxy parked at a place called the Rabbit Hole.
"What is this?" I asked
"It's a bar." Lacey grinned.
"The bar that you and Lacey got into a chase with hunters at?" I asked Roxy.
"Yep. We haven't been here since, but there's four of us. We will be fine." Roxy said. "We can go somewhere else If you want."
"No, I'm not afraid of hunters." I smiled and got out of the car.
We walked into the bar together. It was loud, and smokey and the lights were dim and there were neon signs all over the walls that were kind of alluring.
"What's everyone drinking?" Roxy asked.
"Is water an option?" I asked.
"Oh at least have one drink." Roxy laughed. "What do you like?"
"I've only had rum." I said and felt a pang in my heart at the memory of Kieran and I sitting at the fireplace with mugs of hot chocolate with a splash of rum poured in them. That was the first time he kissed me.
"But… I don't want that. I don't know.. You know what I like, pick something you think I like." I said. She smiled and nodded and walked over to the bar, while Lacey Sable and I found a table to sit at.
My eyes scanned the bar, trying to pick out any hunters but so far, I didn't see any. We could usually tell them apart from the rest of the humans but lately they were getting better at blending in.
"So what do we do? Just sit here and drink?" I asked.
Lacey laughed.
"I usually like to play pool. Roxy dances, If it's a good song I will too."
"I supervise." Sable smirked. Roxy came back to the table, with a small drink and a water for Sable, and two big fruity looking drinks for her and Lacey and she set a couple of really small glasses in front of me. I eyed them curiously.
"You always put extra cinnamon on your french toast so I think you will like this. If you don't, I know Lacey does." She smiled.
"Why are they so small?" I asked.
"Because they're straight shots, they aren't mixed with anything." Roxy smirked. "Trust me, you don't want a big glass of that. Go on, try it."
I raised the glass to my nose and it smelled like cinnamon candies that Connor used to bring to me when I was a kid when he'd make trips to the city.
"Just throw it back. The whole thing." Lacey said.
I opened my mouth and tipped the shot back. The taste was pleasing. But as it went down my throat, I thought I was about to breathe fire. I gasped and held my chest for a second until the burning stopped and I set the shot down. The aftertaste was just as good as when it first hit my tongue.
"I quite like this. It tastes like candy." I said and picked up the second shot and tipped it back too.
"It's going to be a good night for you." Lacey winked.
"And a bad morning. Good thing I've already made some of my hangover remedy and put it in the fridge" Sable said.
"If you want anything else. Jake has a tab here just say you're putting it on the Doctor's tab and they'll know." Roxy said
"Jake won't care?" I asked.
"Nah. We rarely come to town." Roxy shrugged. "He told me before we left to do it." She smiled. "Go crazy."
"I'll be right back." I smiled and hopped off the bar stool and stood for a second because when my feet hit the floor the room went sideways before returning to normal. I walked over to the bar and a man that I swore I recognized from somewhere greeted me.
"What are you drinking?" He asked with a smile as he leaned on the bar. I pointed to Roxy
"The cinnamon stuff she just brought me. Three of them."
He chuckled.
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes. I like it."
"You may not tomorrow." He smirked and set up three shot glasses and poured the alcohol in them."
"Oh and put it-"
"On the doctors tab. Gotcha already." he winked. I smiled and sat down in front of the bar as he slid the glasses to me.
"You like the fireball huh?" he asked.
"It tastes like candy." I nodded and tipped the first shot and shook my head trying to shake off the burn in my chest. "Burning candy. But candy." I smiled.
"It doesn't taste like candy when it comes back up. So,do what you will with that." He smirked.
I smiled and took the second shot.
"I don't suppose I can get your name?" he asked.
"Only if I get yours too." I said.
"I suppose I could agree to those terms." he shrugged.
"Amara Aldrich." I smiled and tipped back the last shot.
"Nick Cassidy." He replied.
"You look familiar, Nick Cassidy." I said.
"So do you, Amara Aldrich." He chuckled.
The music in the bar suddenly got louder and Roxy and Lacey came running over to me.
"Come on Mar, we have to dance!" Roxy said and pulled me from the stool.
"Dance? I can't bloody dance!" I slurred as she dragged me away.
"Just listen to what the song says and follow everyone else." Lacey smirked and suddenly I was on a crowded dance floor, being pushed, and pulled by strangers. The shots I had taken were going straight to my head, and the loud thumping music only made it worse. I looked up trying to find Roxy and Lacey but my vision blurred. I found myself being thrown back and forth between people and I couldn't see. My senses were shot and my head was spinning.
I felt a hand on the back of my dress, and I was yanked out of the crowd of people. My vision cleared up and I felt like I could breathe again. I turned around to tell whoever pulled me out of that disaster thank you, but there was no one there.
Suddenly I was hit with a scent that could have made my heart stop. It smelled of mint, and spiced rum with leather.
Kieran
My eyes scanned the bar and I followed the scent pushing my way through people. I saw a flash of dark hair sneaking out the back door and I ran, as fast as my jello legs could move towards the door. I threw the door open and stepped outside the cool August night air hit me in the face and the fog in my head was clearing slowly.
"Kieran?" I called and looked around outside but there was no one to be found. My eyes welled over.
"Kieran I know that was you!" I shouted. Probably looking like a crazy person standing behind a bar and shouting to no one. The tears started pouring out of my eyes and I dropped to my knees on the gravel, feeling worse than I had on the day I found out he had left in the first place.
"Kieran please..." I sobbed.
And then suddenly, the overwhelming sadness I felt turned to something else entirely. I balled my fists and screamed before punching the rocky ground. I heard the back door open.
"Mara there you are!" Roxy sighed in relief "I found her!" She shouted. The three of them hurried over to me.
"Mar what happened?" Roxy asked.
"I…saw him...he was here." I said
"Who?" Lacey asked.
"Kieran. He was here." I mumbled
"Oh Mar.." Roxy sighed and crouched down to me and held my left hand that was bleeding slightly from punching the gravel. "You've had a bit to drink maybe you-"
"It was him!" I shouted and pulled my hand back.
"Okay. Okay. Look why don't we go back inside and ask Neal for some napkins for your hand and then we can go home?"
"Okay.." I said and she and Sable helped me to my feet and we made our way back into the bar.
"What the hell happened to you?" Nick asked as I sat down at the bar.
"Less questions.. More napkins?" Roxy asked.
"Sure." He nodded and reached down, grabbed a few napkins and set out a glass and poured something in it and slid it to me.
"You look like you could use one more." He said
I picked up the glass and sipped at it. It didn't taste as good as the fireball, but if it numbed my mind the same I didn't care.
"We're going to the car." Sable said.
"We'll be out in a minute." Roxy nodded.
I felt someone sit down next to me and looked over at a man who clearly by the smell of him had way more than I had to drink tonight.
"I told you, you're cut off." Nick sighed.
"Not interested in a drink." he smirked at me. "Just this pretty little thing right here. You got a name?"
"That's absurd.. Everyone has a name." I scoffed and finished the drink that Nick gave me and stood up.
"Well what's yours sweetheart?" The man asked and put his hand on my ass. I whipped around and grabbed his hand, twisting it behind his back and grabbed the back of his head shoving his face into the bar.
"Holy shit." Nick said, standing back a bit.
"My name is Not Interested. What's yours?" I asked and raised the man's head but didn't give him time to answer before I slammed his face back down on the bar.
"Sorry, didn't hear you." I sneered.
"Mar, come on that's enough.." Roxy said and pulled me away from the man. "Sorry Nick." She sighed "She's going through some shit."
"It's no problem. If she needs a job, hit me up, She'd do better than the current bouncer Eddie." He chuckled.
"We'll keep it in mind." Roxy laughed and led me out of the bar.
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Roxy held my hair back as I held onto the toilet in the bathroom at home and retched into it for what seemed like the hundredth time since we got home.
"Bar man was right. It doesn't taste as good when it comes back up." I groaned as I wiped my lip and sat back against the bathtub.
Connor leaned against the door frame.
"Is she okay?" He asked Roxy.
"She is in the room and can answer for herself." I snapped and stood up. "And she's just fine."
"Alright then. Sable is in the kitchen making some pancakes. You should probably get something in your stomach."
"I'll pass, I just want to go to bed." I mumbled and walked past him. He and Roxy followed me down the hall to my room insisting I eat. I got to my door and turned around to face them.
"Thank you, for taking me out tonight Roxy, and Thank you for talking me into going Con, I had fun, for the most part but I am really tired. I don't want pancakes, I want to sleep. I'll see you guys in the morning." I said and closed the door.
I kicked off my sandals and peeled off the dress and sat down on the bed taking the thousand bobby pins out of my hair. I could hear Roxy talking to Connor on the other side of the door.
"What the hell happened out there?" Connor asked.
"She thinks she saw Kieran.." Roxy sighed. "Then she fucked up some creeps face on the bar before we left. He deserved it for not keeping his hands to himself."
"How much did you guys have to drink?" Connor asked.
"She had a lot more than us. There's no telling who or what she actually saw...Do you think it could have been? You know, Kieran?" Roxy asked.
"I doubt it. Let's not get her hopes up." Connor sighed.
I laid back on the bed and grabbed Kieran's pillow and hugged it to my chest. It still faintly smelled like him and there was no mistaking that he was there in that bar tonight but why didn't he stay? Why was he doing this to me? Couldn't he see how badly he hurt me? I shut my eyes tightly trying to will myself to not cry myself to sleep for the first time in the months since he left.
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‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 𝒦 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
I stood outside on the porch to my cabin looking out at the stars and feeling miserable. I had been watching Amara when I could, from a distance for the last few months and tonight.. In the bar was just way too close of a call but I couldn't let those people trample her on the dance floor. Her cries, as she called out for me outside of the bar, still echoed in my head and it was heart wrenching.
I missed my wildflower but I couldn't let Steele kill her. I sighed heavily and slammed the side of my fist on the beam I was holding onto. Gods damn that man for taking her from me and Gods damn me for making her so bloody miserable. It just wasn't fair.
My front door creaked open.
"Are you just going to stand out here and sulk all night?"
I sighed and turned to face the girl behind me. Her brown eyes were playful and she smirked before tucking her dark hair behind her ears.
"Just go back inside Mica I'm not in the mood tonight.." I mumbled.