There are moments in life when you seriously start to doubt yourself, maybe in this mist of it all, in the center of complete chaos and once you were face to face with actual danger you were bound to double think every single mistake you have ever done, every single action that had lead you to this specific situation; like for this instant I wish I could go back in time for a couple of seconds and to make myself hold my tongue, just do anything to avoid Braden from having that murderous look, that same look he was currently directing at me.
"What did you just say?" Braden asked, venom nearly dripping off his voice.
I took a deep breath, my body was shaking due to the cold, or at least that was what I'd like to believe, my clothes currently clung to my body due to the rain, I'm sure that I resemble a wrench cat while Braden here was carelessly being his hot usual self.
I don't know how or where I manage to build up the courage, but I knew for sure that I wasn't ready for my sudden outburst.
"You heard me right." I said between my teeth as I swiftly managed to free myself and snuck by him, I started to walk away trying to calm my frenetic heartbeat; I was stopped short when Braden gripped my arm stopping me before he forced me to turn around.
"So that's it?" Braden said as he stared at me in complete disbelief.
I shrugged, that answer was simple enough to enrage him more.
"What else do you want me to do, do you want me to get on my knees and beg Braden? Is that what you want? For the past days, you have treated me like complete shit and I'm fed up with it, I'm done so if you want to act like you don't want me around then so be it, I might as well grant you your wish and leave. Maybe that way you'll be happier and will be able to please Mia, maybe she'll stop messing with your head once and for all after she gets what she wants." I screamed at him in rage.
"Is this what it is? Are you jealous Harmony?" Braden asked incredulously and I snapped.
"So, what if I am? You're far too busy to notice or to even care, if you think I'm going to stand there by the sideline watching you waste your life, lose your pack and family, you're wrong, you're wrong because you're losing me as well. You're an Alpha Braden, you might as well goddam act like one, you're an adult so be responsible for your actions once and for all. Own up to your mistakes and stop blaming other people for them." I said as I glared at him.
Braden narrowed his gaze at me.
"You wouldn't understand Harmony you're not a werewolf." Braden said and I scoffed before I started to walk away.
"Might as well get that off with and rub it in my face, right? As if I didn't already feel like a freaking outcast, do you think I like this? Here's the thing that you clearly don't understand Braden, I didn't sign up for this, I never wanted a mate, to be part of a pack or to know about the werewolf world; all I wanted was to go to school, graduate, get a decent job, and maybe down the lone meet someone, get married and start my own family. But I never had any of this in mind, not even on my wildest dreams!" I said as I turned around to face him.
"If this isn't what you want then, leave; what is holding you back? Leave like everyone in my life has done already!" Braden screamed in frustration and I giggled.
I laughed at this stupid man that now stood in front of me under the pouring rain.
"You still don't get it, do you?" I said as I laughed shaking my head in amusement at his confused look.
"You have lost it, haven't you?" Braden said in a wary tone.
"Haven't you figured it out yet that there is one solid reason why I haven't left? I had a somewhat decent and normal life, sure my life wasn't thrilling but I was content, in the exact moment I knew about you and werewolves I could have rejected you, yet I didn't; I have stayed despite you ignoring me, getting stupidly drunk and all those dipshit actions of yours, the only reason why I have put up with all of his and the reason alone if because I love you; I'm in love with you Braden James Coltrane, sure you might be a jerk sometimes and I'm more than sure you got your own demons but that doesn't make me love you any less, on the contrary it makes me love you even more, although I sometimes find that quite impossible for I love you more than I should, too much for my own good that you overcloud my senses." I said as I got close to him.
Braden met my gaze before he fell on his knees.
"You should leave Harmony." Braden said in a dry tone and I frowned at him.
"Didn't you hear me confess my undying love for you? I'm pretty sure I screamed the entire fucking speech." I said as I looked at him, slightly in disbelief but mostly annoyed.
"You would do the correct thing by leaving, you shouldn't love a beast like me, I'm a monster Red." Braden said defeated; but I ignored it, instead I grabbed his hand making Braden stand up.
"Braden, you are your own worst enemy, you judge and criticize yourself too harshly, you focus too much on your flaws that you don't see everything else, I'm here to remind you every single good bit about you." I said in a soft voice as I made him meet my gaze.
"I have done nothing but ruined your life." Braden said creating distance between us.
Couldn't he see how much it pained me when he did that?
"Is that so, is that the way you see it? Because how I see it Braden, you have saved me." I said as I looked at him with a smile.
"As an alpha I have enemies, enemies that will go after you, Red, you are my biggest weakness ow, if something were to ever happen to you I would die, anyone who will every want to harm me will go after you first. They will get to you to get to me." Braden said, I guess that in his own strange way Braden was trying to protect me, if I was out of his life that would mean I would stop being in constant danger.
"In that case, I got a pack and you to protect me, that of course will be once you get your shit together." I said calmly as I looked at him.
"But you're right, you didn't want any of this. I practically shoved this all into your life." Braden argued, I could tell that he was troubled, it seemed like he was staying firm on his decision.
"I suppose you believe that my other life was better when in reality it wasn't, I had no voice, for myself, no friends, no confidence, no love and a father who would beat me up whenever his drunk ass pleased, you saved me that night Braden. If it weren't for you that night I would've died, without you in my life my father would have beat me up to death eventually, that or I would have lost all hope and killed myself. Believe it or not you have been my salvation all along." I said as he frowned confused.
"I have doomed you, any chances of you having a normal life have disappeared." Braden said in a serious tone and I chuckled.
"Screw a normal life, who wants that when I can have you? You know sometimes I think that all of this is surreal, I don't know what I did in my life to deserve someone like you, you have given me a real family that loves me, you have given me a reason to live. Sure, you got your flaws and all but I love them, I embrace them and I know it's part of who you are yet I know deep down that you're too good for me, I fear that one day you'll get tired of me and reject me." I confessed and for once I finally saw Braden smile.
"I'll be insane to even think about rejecting you." Braden said and I closed the distance between us.
"Then convince me, show me that you really want me to stay, that you really want me." I said, his lips inches away from mine.
Braden placed his hands on my waist and rested his forehead against mine.
"I, Braden James Coltrane, accept you Harmony Rose Monroe as my soul mate, from now on I belong to you, I bestow you the title as my Luna, my equal, my partner and my world. This heart from now on you own and will beat solely for you only. I will protect, care and love you as long as I shall love, as the moon goddess as my witness I fully accept hers and your gift of love, companionship and trust." Braden said before he pulled me in for a kiss.
And boy was it a kiss, for with this Braden shared his soul, I felt every fear and dream of his and my love for him was reinforced, despite the cold rain I felt how my body gradually started to heat up, my toes curled up in pleasure and soon the clothes were bothering us, constantly getting in our way feeling too heavy on our wet skin.
"Come on." Braden said as he pulled away making me frown.
"What, why? Where are we going?" I asked still in a haze, I sure didn't mind a couple more kisses under the rain.
"We need to leave, I've made some serious enemies here and they would love to go for you, some of them already saw you, do you even know how gorgeous you look in that; they won't hesitate on going for a pretty girl like you especially after they find out that you're my girlfriend." Braden said as he grabbed my hand keeping me close to him.
"Braden, we're going the wrong way." I pointed out once I noticed that instead of leaving the city we were going more in,
"We're not going home tonight, that of course if it's okay with you; if we go home with both if us in this state we'll cause a scene and we won't hear the end of it from my dad, so why not enjoy some time for ourselves before we head back to all the madness that is going on in the pack?" Braden suggested and I smiled.
"I like the way you think Alpha, so what do you have in mind?" I asked, leaning against his body seeking warmth.
"You'll see soon, it's a surprise." Braden said and I did notice how his body suddenly tensed when I called him Alpha.
"Is this the part where you take me to the forest and kill me?" I asked, and all Braden did to respond me was laugh.
A couple of minutes later I wasn't in the forest as I imagined but rather in a cozy studio apartment, so this was the place where Braden usually crashed in whenever he didn't come home at night. Although there was not much furniture the place was quite nice, I walked around slowly taking every single detail in, I noticed a record player and some vinyl's, smiling to myself I browsed through Braden's collection before I found a nice old record and put it on. I closed my eyes, swaying softly as I heard 'Still Loving You' in the background.
"You should really cut that off." Braden said in a husky voice as he exited the bathroom.
I turned around confused and found Braden standing there shirtless, I noticed that his eyes were pitch black.
"What are you talking about?" I asked lost.
"Do you even have an idea of how fucking irresistible you look right now?" Braden asked as his eyes trailed down my body and back to my face making me chuckle.
"Well if it bothers you so much then why don't you do something about it Alpha?" I asked him with a smirk.
Within the blink of an eye Braden had me against the wall as he kissed my neck, I placed my arms around his neck as I wrapped my legs around his torso, as small noise escaped the back of his throat as Braden pressed his body harder against mine, I bit my lip looking at Braden under my lashes before he ripped my shirt open, buttons flew everywhere, one of them hitting his eye, I giggled nearly amused by his animalistic reaction and also mine before Braden hushed me with a kiss and started to lead us to his bed.