𝘐 𝘗𝘜𝘛 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘙𝘌𝘊𝘖𝘙𝘋 𝘖𝘕
𝘞𝘈𝘐𝘛 𝘛𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘐 𝘏𝘌𝘈𝘙 𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘚𝘖𝘕𝘎
𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠 𝘕𝘐𝘎𝘏𝘛 𝘐'𝘔 𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘊𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘎𝘏𝘖𝘚𝘛.
- 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐆𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐓, 𝐒𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐀𝐍
━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━
I'm eating dinner with Emily when she sighs and drops her face into her hands. I look up suddenly, surprised at how unhappy she seems. Nothing all that unusual had been happening lately around the reservation. Work seemed like it was going fine, her and Sam were still happy, and no one was dead or dying as far as I knew. Her sigh is a little scary if I'm being honest.
"Something wrong?" I ask around a forkful of food. She looks up at me and gives me a sad little smile.
"Seth can't come here at night, Willow."
My heart plummets all the way to my feet. I can feel all the warmth and color leave my face as my head spins and my throat burns. How did she know? Why wouldn't she just kick him out when he was here? How long has she known he'd been coming?
"Sam and I heard him leave this morning. He's breaking Jake and Sam's rules by being here to be with you. You need to strongly encourage him to stop coming to see you at night, Willow. It's not safe or fair to anyone else."
I can't even speak. There's nothing I can really say - I can't just apologize, because then I'll be admitting to sneaking him in. But I can't lie either, since Sam's superhuman hearing isn't lying to him. I'm stuck like a deer in headlights, and it doesn't help that Sam walks in just as I open my mouth to speak.
"You told her?" he asks without looking my way. As much as it feels like a blow, I'm still thankful for it. I don't know if I can handle his gaze when I'm already frozen.
"She knows."
"Willow, come with me."
Despite not being in the pack, there's a tone in his voice that encourages me not to disobey him. I stand quickly and follow him out the back door and into the grassy field behind their house. "Am I getting murdered or something now?"
He snorts and shakes his head, still without turning to face me. "Just follow me. You're small enough to fit."
"Where? The trunk of your car?"
He snorts again and starts to jog. If he had said that we would be running, maybe I would've put on better shoes. Instead I slid on the first sandals I could find. Not to mention my pyjamas that were sure to be ruined by brambles by the forest he was running into. I loved these pants, but I guess it's time to say goodbye.
My heart races a little the further we go into the forest. It might be from running, it might be from the mild asthma I only get when I exercise, or it might be from the fact that Sam is leading me deep into the forest where no one would hear me scream. Except maybe Seth, but I'm not sure how the imprint-being-in-danger thing works.
"This is the Cullen border," Sam says when he finally stops. I'm panting like a maniac behind him, but he doesn't comment on it. "This is the border that Seth crosses every night to come see you. This is the border you'll be at tonight to tell him that I will not allow him to visit anymore."
"Out here? In the middle of the night? By myself? I don't even remember how we got here!" I'm speaking frantically, like my voice had been trapped in me and was now bubbling over like boiled water.
"I'll come with and keep my distance. You won't be at risk of anything, especially not with Seth near."
There are tears pooling in my eyes when I think of how he won't be near after tonight. "Why are you doing this?"
"Seth needs to know that he can't have both sides. If he wants to see you, he can come back to the pack. Until then, you're staying here and he's staying there."
"How would you feel if this was you and Emily?"
He sucks in a little breath and closes his eyes for a few seconds, his hands momentarily scrunching into fists. It scares me a little. This is how Emily got her scars, and there's no one to stop him if I push him too far. I just want him to think about his decision - no, I want him to completely go back on his decision.
"This wouldn't be me and Emily, because I stand with the treaty and for the safety of the people around us. Seth, Jacob and Leah are standing behind people they love in spite of the risk to the general public. I don't know if this is supposed to be a guilt thing, or if you're trying to convince me that he should be allowed to visit, but it won't work."
I shake my head and kick at the ferns at my feet. It isn't fair that Sam gets to make decisions for Seth and I. He should understand the situation even if he's sure he would never be in it. It's not about who's right and wrong; it's about the fact that Seth is my soulmate and asking me not to see him goes against everything in my body.
"You don't have to think I'm being fair, Willow," he says, his voice a little less harsh. Maybe I'm wearing him down? "But I'm doing what's best for his pack on top of mine. It's not fair for him to be coming onto our territory every night just to see you. Not only is it selfish, it's dangerous. If one of the other guys hears him, it's their job to get him off. I don't want to hurt Seth. He needs to stay away until this situation sorts itself out, one way or the other."
"And if it comes to a fight? Then what?" I ask, angry tears spilling down my cheeks. "Would you kill him?"
"If it means protecting the pack, yes."
I look up at him, my chin high in the air despite the warm tear tracks running down my cheeks. He doesn't flinch away like I expected. Instead, he keeps his gaze locked on mine as he slowly backs out of sight. Then there's another wolf coming toward me, a sandy-colored one with kind eyes like Seth's.
"Seth?" I whisper. I've yet to see him in wolf form, so if I'm just talking to a giant wolf like a psycho, I'm definitely dead. But when he leans his face into my outstretched hand, I know it's him. I scratch behind his ears and grin at how ridiculous I feel. I'm petting my boyfriend. And not even just a little pat or something, like full-on petting him. It's funny and cute and weird at the same time. "That's good. I'd look crazy if I was talking to Leah or something."
He lets out a bark that sounds suspiciously like a laugh before running behind a bush. I suddenly remember Emily explaining that they don't have clothes on when they first change. It makes me blush a little when the bushes rustle while he puts his clothes on. That blush turns even redder when he pops out from behind it without a shirt on.
"What are you doing out here?" he asks as he rushes over to me, pulling me to his chest. I relish in his warmth for a second, letting my pounding heart calm against his. "It's not safe for you to be alone in the woods at night, Will."
"I'm not alone. I have you." Sam is here, I mouth silently. If his wolf hearing picks up my mouth sounds, he doesn't do anything about it. Seth immediately tenses up and starts looking around. "We need to talk about something."
"What's wrong?" he whisper-demands. I don't know why he thinks that'll work, but he does. I press my hand over his heart and let myself just feel him for a moment. It might be the last moment for a little while that I'll get the chance to do this. He can sense my hesitance to talk, so he brushes my hair from my face with one hand while he holds me in place with the other. "Sam and Em know, don't they?"
"You can't keep coming to see me," I whisper, though not so Sam won't hear me. More so I feel a little less like I'm tearing my heart into pieces. His hand stills in my hair as his head comes to rest on top of mine. I'm worried he didn't hear me until I feel a teardrop on the top of my head. "I'm sorry, Seth."
"I know it isn't safe. I'm willing to risk it to see you," he whispers back, his voice thick. I can feel his heart beating faster under my hand. "Even if I'm going against Sam."
"I don't want you to risk it for me."
"That's not your decision to make."
I pull back to stare up at him. "How is it not my decision? I'm the one you're coming to see; one lock on the window and you can't anymore. I'm not willing to put your life on the line so we can see each other. This will all be over before we know it, and we can be back together in no time. But you can't keep seeing me like this right now."
"Sam is putting you up to this, isn't he?"
"Yes, Seth. Do you think I want to hurt you? All I want is for you to be safe, even if that means I don't get to see you for a little while."
He clutches at the shirt I'm wearing - it's one of his old ones. I'm hit with a sadness that I've worn his scent out of it. I'll have to get Emily to let me in his house and take more, since I won't get the real him for a while. His desperate grasp almost makes me tear up. "I don't know how much longer this all will happen for. And even then, I don't know if it's going to come to a fight. I know almost nothing right now, except that I have you and I need you."
"You'll have me even if I'm not there with you," I whisper again, my voice going thick like his. I don't think I'm strong enough to do this anymore. "I just...I can't have you risking everything you're fighting for to see me every night. I'll see you when the fighting's done, and we can spend every waking second together then if that's what you want."
"I want that now."
"We can't have that now."
He shakes his head and pulls me in as tight as he can without suffocating me. I let myself sink into his soft skin and hold him back tightly, my face smushed against his chest. There's nothing I wouldn't do to keep him with me like this forever.
"I love you," I whisper. He starts shaking and rubbing my back as we sway from side to side. I gently scratch my nails across his skin until his shaking is over and he pulls back just enough to look at me. His eyes are sad and starry, but I don't think anything I say can help anymore. I just rub my thumb across his cheek and give him a small smile.
"I-" he chokes a little on his words, but I don't say anything. I just hold his face in my hand as he closes his eyes and composes himself. "I love you too, Will."
"You should go. You need to sleep."
"I don't want to leave you," he whispers. I shake my head.
"It's not forever, angel. Just a little while. You'll see me soon enough, and we can do anything we want, anytime we want."
He presses a lingering kiss to my lips and pulls me in tight again. I cling to his arms like he's a life raft in a storm I can't escape. I don't think I'll be okay without him, but I have to do my best to try. For his sake.