Bit of a filler chapter I guess... it's not that spectacular but the next chapter is planned to be big and eventful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thankyou to all the readers who have stuck around and voted, commented and even to the silent reaaders out there. The support in this book is crazy and I've reached over 11k votes! To some people its not that big but to me its huge!
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*****
DOES ANYONE WANT A PHOTO OF SOMEONE PUT UP ON THE NEXT CHAPTER?
I have a few photos of people but I'm not sure if you guys like the people I chose or the people you imagine, let me know if you want to see a photo of someone :)
***
‘Alana!’ Tanner whined like a two year old at me. ‘You’ve been moping around for days and you’re not telling me why!’ he complained. ‘Let’s go do something.’ He suggested.
‘I’m not in the mood,’ I grumbled at him, burring myself even further into the doona. I heard an exasperated sigh come from Tanner as he stood at my bedroom door, peering in on me.
‘You’ve been saying that all week.’ He groaned, sounding fed up. ‘What happened Alana?’ he asked softly, his voice full of concern.
I shook my head, not bothering that he more than likely couldn’t see me from hiding under my doona like a protection shell, blocking me from the outside world.
It was pretty obvious to myself that rejecting Michael had me so down, but it’s not like I can tell Tanner that. Yes I can say that I broke up with someone and I’m missing him like crazy but then he would pry into and try to get every bit of gossip about it. This was something that I didn’t want to talk about, best friend, non-related brother or not.
The pull was gone, I no longer felt as if I needed to be near Michael any more but it’s like I missed that feeling. I felt empty in a way. This sounds stupid but Michael was a part of me. Always invading my thoughts and feelings but now there was nothing but an empty space that he used to occupy. I know the bond is broken and I feel as if nobody will want me like he did previously.
It was selfish of me to reject him, but I felt obligated to protect myself. I wasn’t going to let myself die at the age of 23 by some crazy person who hunts werewolves. I wanted to die from natural causes or by doing something I love, even if it means giving up someone who I really, really enjoyed spending time with.
We hadn’t talked for the 6 days. They had come and gone like always but they days went by much slower than usual. I went home and cried after leaving Michael on the beach. The mark on my neck had disappeared. I inspected myself after my shower to find the mark gone. There was no sign of it ever being on my neck. It hadn’t been there for a very long time but I missed it like crazy. I now had nothing to do with him, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
All I knew was I just missed Michael.
I heard Tanner shuffling and dodging around everything on my floor as he made his way over to my bed. Still not moving from my current position, I just stared into the grey and white design on the doona cover.
I only blinked once when Tanner gently peeled my protection back. I was met with big worried eyes, and I felt bad for making him feel concerned for a matter he wouldn’t control or help in.
‘Alana,’ he gently cooed. ‘Blake’s home in two weeks and you haven’t even attempted cleaning this room. It’s a fucking obstacle course to get to this bed.’ A small smile appeared on my face and he seemed to have noticed because a knowing look appeared on his face. ‘Look, I’ve broken out into a sweat.’ He gasped, wiping away imaginary sweat from his forehead.
He fake panted and fanned his face dramatically which I couldn’t help but laugh to.
‘Or maybe you’re sweating because its 40 degrease today (Celsius to any non-Australian readers).’ I joked half-heartedly.
Tanner approved of this because a grin broke out on his face. ‘There’s the Alana I love. Now get up, get dressed. It’s fucking boiling and we are going to the beach. I’ll buy you an ice-cream on the way home if you behave.’
‘Thanks dad,’ I mocked him.
‘Just be a good girl and I’ll let you get some sprinkles as well,’ he played along, petting my head and kissing my cheek with a wet and sloppy kiss.’
‘That’s just gross,’ I muttered and shoved him arm. He had ended up half laying half sitting next to me and the action caught him by surprise. He went tumbling down to the ground and landed with a heavy thud.
‘My abs,’ he groaned. ‘My perfectly toned abs. I landed on,’ he paused and shuffled around slightly.
‘What the fuck is this?’ he questioned curiously holding up what he just fell on top of.
‘A laptop charger,’ I chuckled.
That must have been really painful, I thought to myself.
Muttering some not nice words, Tanner stood to his feet and told me to get ready.
***
I’m not sure how long we spent in the water, but by the time we got out, our fingers were pruned from the water and our skin was burning from the sun. I could feel the sunburn stinging my face, arms and legs from where my skin was exposed to the sun and not protected from my wetsuit.
Strapping our bags to Tanner’s car roof and throwing our towels in the back, we slowly peeled off our wetsuits to inspect the burns.
On both of our bodies in the perfect shape of the wetsuit, were burn lines. Bright red and painful, I shuddered at the thought of sleeping tonight.
From just above my elbows to the tips of my fingers was a bright red. Same goes for my legs. A few inches above my knees to the tips of my toes was the bright red of sunburn. I hadn’t seen my face and almost felt scared to look in a reflective surface, so I just hoped for the best and pretended it was okay.
‘Woops,’ I muttered as I looked at myself. I glanced up at Tanner and he looked as if he was about to cry. ‘Suck it up princess, it’s just a sunburn,’ I teased him. I went to nudge him but thought better of it. It would hurt the both of is.
‘Look at my stomach!’ he exclaimed.
I looked down at his stomach and sat three tiny, small black marks.
‘Your fucking laptop charger cable bruised me. Look!’ he exclaimed outraged. I laughed loudly at this. He didn’t give a shit about the red covering his body, but instead all he cared about was the three minuscule bruises on his stomach. The smile was completely wiped off my face when he spoke next.
‘That’s it Alana, no sprinkles for you.’
***
Groggily I opened my eyes and lifted my head. I was lying in bed on my stomach and my arms were crossed under my pillow and my face muffled by the pillow. I looked around the dark room trying to figure out what the sound was until I realised it was my phone.
My hand fumbled on my bed side table as I tried to find the device. Successfully finding it, I looked at the screen.
It was an unknown number.
Sighing and seeing the time as 2:17 in the morning, I declined the call and placed the phone next to me on the mattress. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. Whoever tried to call me could wait until tomorrow, or realise they have the wrong number.
Not even 5 seconds later, my phone was ringing again. ‘Fuck off,’ I muttered sleepily and declined the call once again. Hopefully they should get the message.
The ring tone started once more and I felt pissed off. Why the hell would someone call so early in the morning? There is such thing called sleep.
I angrily accepted the call. ‘What do you want?’ I groaned, the words coming out slightly harsher than I intended them to
‘Alana, glad I have you on the line.’ My heart almost stopped beating and I felt my blood run cold.
‘R-Reece,’ I stuttered. ‘Alpha Reece, ahh.’ I didn’t know how to address him. We had been friends when I went to his place and I was asked to call him Reece, but now I had rejected someone he considered a brother I wasn’t sure he would be too pleased with the informalities.
‘You need to come to Apollo Bay right now.’ He stated getting to the point straight away. ‘Michael needs you.’
My heart beat increased at his name. Was he okay? Why did he need me? I thought that after the bond broke we wouldn’t want to see each other again.
‘In case you haven’t heard, I rejected him. We’re not mates anymore.’ I said to him. The words were supposed to be angry, but they came out sounding more upset than anything else.
‘I know that. Michael, he. He isn’t in the best state right now.’ He worded carefully.
‘Just get Jess to help him,’ I suggested childishly.
‘What?’ Michael obviously hadn’t told Reece about what he did, so I just excused the statement.
‘Alana, his asking for you. He needs your help.’ Reece said. I would have thought he pleaded but I couldn’t be sure. The alpha blood in him wouldn’t accept him stooping so low and pleading with anyone but his mate.
I knew from experience.
‘Were not mates.’ I snapped angrily. ‘I can’t fucking help him anymore so stop asking for my help. Don’t call me again.’ I ended the call in a huff and dropped the phone to the bed.
It bounced off the mattress and landed somewhere on the floor amongst the other crap that already made a home down there.
I sighed and made my head fall into my hands. This call was unexpected and a situation I couldn’t help with. We weren’t mates. I broke the bond, the pull. I broke whatever connection we had and there was no fixing it. And now he probably hated me.
I felt bad for snapping at Reece, but it was called for. There was still something in me that made me attracted to Michael but I couldn’t place what it is. The call made me feel as if the walls were coming in closer, boxing me in and eventually I’d agree. That was something I couldn’t do.
It’s best this way, I told myself. No one will die and we can move on. It was fun while it lasted.
Flopping back down on my bed, I closed my eyes and tried to fall into a sleep that didn’t happen. Instead, I lay awake with a million thoughts running through my mind
All of them, involved Michael.
***
Forgive me, I'm trying to find
My calling, I'm calling at night
I don't mean to be a bother, but have you seen this girl?
She's been running through my dreams
And it's driving me crazy, it seems
I'm gonna ask her to marry me
The neighbour said, she moved away
Funny how it rained all day
I didn't think much of it then
But it's starting to all make sense
Oh, I can see now
That all of these clouds are following me
In my desperate endeavour
To find my whoever, wherever she may be
I'm not coming back, I've done something so terrible
I'm terrified to speak but you'd expect that from me
I'm mixed up, I'll be blunt
Now the rain is just washing you out of my hair.
And out of my mind
(All Time Low, Remembering Sunday)
I sang at the top of my lungs letting the last of my pent up frustrations out with the loud and shouting voice I was using. I was on my way to work and was starting a brand new week. It was only three days ago that Tanner dragged me out of bed and I felt determined to stay out of it (unless I was sleeping of course). Moping around and feeling angry and empty wouldn’t do anything for me so I promised to go back to the ways things were before I kept Michael. A happy and carefree life.
Blake is due home in nine days and I made myself a promise that I would be the usual happy and spastic little sister I always have been.
After a few more minutes of driving, I walked thought the doors that led into the shop. As soon as I was inside, I let out a sigh of relief as the cold air conditioning cooled me down from the boiling hot weather outside. Once again, the summer weather rocketed to about 37 degrease today and it is only 11:30 in the morning.
Walking to the door that led me to the staff room, I passed by Jacob and gave him a small wave which he happily returned. Dumping my bag in the corner that I shot gunned from day one, I got a quick drink from the tap and went to the roster tapped onto the fridge.
Alana Smith. 11:30am-3:30pm. Floor, men’s wear.
Smiling inwardly I made my way out the men’s section to start my shift. I loved working in the men’s section. The cool shirts that were there let me browse for myself and the guys weren’t as busy or messy as the girls. Guys tended to know what they wanted and what their size was so they just walked in grabbed their size and left. None of the trying every size and then deciding the clothing isn’t the right shade to go with their skin tone like the girls do.
There were the odd shirts and pants that needed folding and a tee shirt that wasn’t sitting on the hanger right so I fixed that. Once it was tidy, I wandered over to the table filled with clothing for $10 and under. Folding most of the stuff there kept me busy for 10 minutes, then I helped an older man pick out a tee shirt for his nephews birthday. Helping was great fun. I find old people adorable and this one wasn’t an acceptation. He had a grey balding head, with a pair of little glasses that were half falling off his nose. Even in this heat he managed to wear some shorts that showed of his knobby knees and a short sleeved button up shirt with a green bow tie.
Once I sent the man on his way to the front counter where Brooke would scan the items for him, I sighed happily and turned to put away some shirts the man had gone through. I spun on my heel, only to stifle a gasp when I came face a broad chest. The muscles were clear and well defined on the body and with a thumping heart from the shock of being so close to someone unexpectedly I looked upwards to become face to face with Alpha Reece.
‘What, what are you doing here?’ I questioned very confused. I was genuinely confused at why he would come. I thought that my message on the phone would be enough of a message to stay away from me, but I guess I was wrong.
‘I know you told me on the phone to leave you alone,’ he said seriously. His arms were crossed over his muscular chest and his face was set hard in a commanding way. ‘But you need to come to Apollo Bay. It’s urgent, or else I wouldn’t have drove all the way down here and left Maddie while she’s in her state in charge of the pack to drag you stubborn ass to help Michael.’
It was pretty much a command that had been snuck into an explanation. I raised my eyebrows at him. ‘And why’s that?’ I questioned in a sarcastic voice. ‘Michael needs me, huh?’ I almost laughed at the end of that.’
‘He does.’ Reece stated simply.
‘We aren’t mates. I rejected him.’ I reminded him bossily. ‘I can’t help you, sorry. So unless you want to buy something, I suggest you leave now. I have a job to do.’ I turned my back to him and tried to ignore the slight rumble in his throat as a warning. Being an alpha, he wasn’t used to being talked to and it seemed like he wasn’t going to start taking orders today.
When I heard his next words, I froze mid stride. The words replayed though my mind, trying to see if I heard them correctly. My thought was confirmed when I finally spun to meet Reece. The look of pure anger and fury was on his face as well as worry and concern. He looked torn.
I felt my heart skip a beat and my blood run cold. Looking at Reece, looking so powerful and so angry was something else compares to seeing Michael angry. I had the feeling of safety near Michael and knew he would cause me any harm, but with Reece it was different.
His voice was angry and every word was laced with venom.
‘Michael has attacked my mate, and his wolf is starting to go out of control.’
***
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