Twisted (Editing)

Chapter 21

His voice was chilling. "Are you nervous?"

"No, though you should be."

"Shoot me then Imani." His eyes were still a calm sea blue. This was all him. "Don't go back on your promise."

"Don't you dare follow me." The police officers groaned on the ground. Their wounds weren't life-threatening yet, but infection could set in soon. Wolves weren't the cleanest creatures.

"Did you think these flimsy humans were going to save you? I might have let them go if you had stayed where you were supposed to."

"I never chose this." The mark at my neck pulsed and secondary anger flooded me. White hot anger lied under that calm facade. "I don't want to be with you. I want to go home, I want a normal life."

"There will never be normal for you Imani. You will always be a werewolf, you will always be my mate."

"Not if I kill you."

He shrugged. "No, not if you kill me. If you're okay with having the blood on your hands."

My finger rested on the trigger. I could do it. I could do it, I could do it. He looked me in the eye. I couldn't bring myself to pull it. I had to, but I couldn't--I couldn't take his life.

He shifted in a blink of an eye. His wolf knocked me over, throwing the gun out of my hands. I scrambled for it as he shifted back. He threw it to the side and pinned my hands down.

"What the hell did you think you were doing!"

"I was going to kill you."

He barked a hard laugh. "Did you think you were going to be able to kill me? Did you think you, a wolf whose just got her first shift would be able to kill me, heir to the largest pack in the world?"

"I only want to be free."

"Did you think they were going to 'save' you? Did you think I was going to let them!"

"Get off me!"

"Don't try this again. No one is going to come to save you. You're making this harder than it has to be."

"This never could've been easy. I was kidnapped, coerced and made to come here to spare my parents. Never would I have chosen a future with you out of my own free will. Hell, I can barely stand to be with you for five minutes."

"Coerced, made to come here." He said, in a high pitched voice, mocking me. "Did you forget I asked you if you wanted my mark and you said yes? Did you forget that you marked me back?" He pointed at the mark at his neck. It was puffy and red, raised above the skin around. "You gave me this."

"I wouldn't have if I were in my right mind."

"Yeah because in your right mind you would've killed me. See how that worked out for you." My face burned hot. I had been too weak to pull the trigger. With his free hand, he pressed his thumb into the mark on my shoulder.

"I'm your mate. Can't avoid it, can't run from it. So stop doing stupid things that put you and the people around you in danger." I gritted my teeth together until he stopped.

He sat on the ground and looked at the now unconscious police officers. "Now I have to find a way to clean up this mess."

"Are you going to kill them?"

"Despite what you believe, I'm not a monster. I'm going to take them to the witch to have their memories wiped and have them wake up in a hospital miles from here." He pointed northeast. "Go back to the house. Don't think of running, because I will come after you and I'm done playing these games." Barefooted, I walked back to the house and rang the doorbell. Lara opened it and raised both her eyebrows.

"You're wearing his shirt?"

"There's no time for that. Jonah needs help....he bit two police officers in the woods."

Her face drained of its color. "I'll get help right away. But, what were you guys going away all night?" She had a mischievous smirk on her face that made her look more like her brother.

"Nothing that concerns you. Now go help him and bring the witch with you," I snapped. I headed up the stairs and went straight to my room. I ran a bath of hot water. I should've pulled the trigger, I should've pulled the trigger, I should of, I should- I didn't even know what I should and should not do anymore. Everything was confusing. I was drawn to him, against my better judgment and most of it was probably because he bit me. But how much of it? It made feel shameful and guilty. Like I was betraying my parents. I let the warm water envelop me, taking ease in the feeling.

Three people hurt because of me. No, it wasn't my fault. Or was it? Should I just stop fighting and pretend to enjoy any of this? How could I live with myself if I did?