Moon Bound (Forgotten Series, #5)

Chapter Fifteen

I was nervous. I didn't know what to expect other than the fact it was cold. I wasn't partial to the cold but I knew I had to deal with it. There was a lot I had to deal with. I had three days in a car with my thoughts. There was quite a bit I had attempted to digest and not a lot of it had been. I was still ignoring quite a bit of shit that I had been told but I found it better to ignore it than to accept it as reality. It was also causing this strange emotional whiplash within me. I got angry quickly, as if my temper were on a hair trigger and I knew it would go away if I actually dealt with the problems but I really didn't want to.

I looked out to the evergreen forest that rested beside the slightly rutted out road. I wasn't quite ready for some of that stuff. I would compartmentalize and deal with it later because I was good at that. My papa would have given me supreme shit for it but he wasn't here and I could do as I wished. I would do what I wanted when it came to dealing with everything that had happened.

I shifted my hands in my lap, picking at my nails. I felt fidgety and unable to sit still. Three days of driving was slowly leading me close to insanity territory, and not the good insanity where I got all mushy for Bastian, the bad insanity that would turn my brain to soup and have me eating crayons. Bastian took one of my hands in his with a low murmur, he held it tightly before he brought it up and kissed the back of it, his eyes on the road.

My cheeks flushed a heavy red and as much as I wanted to yank my hand from his, I couldn't. I had spent two nights in his company, my hands learning his body as his learned mine. As much as I told myself it was just sex there was a part of me that softened for him after each time. He touched me like he reverently worshipped every aspect of my body and I had never had a guy look at me like that before. Like he cherished every inch of my skin, flaws and all.

"I know you are feeling antsy but I swear the trip will be over soon." He laced his fingers with mine, holding my hand tightly as if he could sense my want to pull away.

I swallowed hard and looked out the window, my cheeks were still heated. The blush didn't seem to want to leave me alone. "How does this even work? Do they know we are coming?" I hadn't paid attention to what Ambris had said, I had been still pissed off by what she had told me. I knew Alphas didn't like trespassers and if they hadn't been told we were coming, we weren't exactly going to be welcomed with open arms.

"I don't know but we will figure it out." All I had to be thankful for was the fact that Bastian knew about as much as I did. I wasn't being forced to step into his life like had been the plan. We both had to start again in a new place, away from our old lives.

"It's cold. I don't like it." It was, the air had a bite to it that I did not appreciate in the least. I was a warm weather person.

"I know." We hit a rut in the road and the bottom of the car slammed against the ground with a sound that had me wincing and Bastian cursing.

"Do you think they will accept..." I blinked rapidly, searching for words to express what I was feeling, before I turned my gaze to his face. "This? Us?" I gestured between us with my free hand and he shrugged slightly.

"Ambris said they wouldn't care, that they care only about strength so I don't know. I hope so." His eyes flicked to meet mine for a brief moment, the brown of them warm but had an edge of worry that sharpened the colour. "We will make this work. We have no choice." How I hated those words. We had no choice and resentment started to build in my stomach. There was little choice for anything now. We were stuck on this path and I didn't have to like it and parts of me refused to truly accept it either.

We sat in silence, his grip on my hand tightening and loosening as if he needed me for his comfort. The car bounced and jolted as the road got progressively worse the further we went up the mountain. I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh. That anger, that seemed to be on a hair trigger, was slowly growing in my stomach. I couldn't control it as it grew and seethed within me.