The time passed by quickly between Ruby and I as we sat in the silence of the cafe. My good mood had been impacted by Shane's random call due to a part of me believing that he would not contact me again. The pain and sorrow that was laced with his words haunted my ears and I felt myself wanting to crawl into my bed and ignore the world around me.
"Let's go shopping," Ruby suggested with a small smile on her face. Nodding to her, I placed the money for our drinks on the table and got up from my seat. With my bag slung over my shoulder, I led the way out of the cafe with Ruby trailing behind me. The once sunny sky was now filled with dark grey clouds that threatened to begin raining at any second. Ruby's eyes followed mine to the sky, her eyebrows knit together in disappointment.
"Good thing the mall is only two blocks away and indoor." I grinned at her in response and looped my arm through hers as we began to walk down the sidewalk. Soon we stood in front of four large glass doors that led into the warm, indoor mall.
From outside where we stood I could see a large Christmas tree adorned with gold, white, and silver lights with complimenting ornaments surrounding them. The tree stretched to about the second story of the mall and stopped. People were shoving against one another to take a picture with the giant tree. Two sets of escalators leading both down and up rested near the entrance and people stood on them impatiently awaiting their destination.
Taking a deep breath, I pressed closer to Ruby and walked through one of the glass doors that opened automatically. The first thing to invade my senses was the overwhelming scent of gingerbread and Christmas music played throughout the large shopping center. Our feet brought us automatically to one of the escalators that led downstairs.
The story that rested underground had about three stores that sported Christmas items, two bakeries that were sending out delicious pastries left and right, and five clothing stores. I immediately began to head for one of the bakeries when Ruby tugged on my arm, bringing my attention to her.
"If you get something warm to eat for later on it'll be cold by the time we're done shopping."
"How long do you plan on shopping?" I asked confused.
Instead of a verbal response, an evil grin made its way onto her face. Before I could protest she began tugging me towards the nearest Christmas-themed shop.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~
If I ever see another fucking Christmas ornament, I'm going to murder the person that bought it. Ruby literally purchased one large bag full of Christmas ornaments after asking me for my opinion on each freaking ornament. While we were shopping I felt myself starting to grow concerned with her holiday obsession when she turned her attention to the Christmas themed perfumes and lotions. Needless to say, she bought like the entire freaking store once she was finally satisfied.
Clothes shopping went fairly quickly only because I was about ready to kill myself from the excessive shopping. We still had another freaking six days here.
Surprisingly I found quite a bit of things that I bought. My shopping bags consisted of some Christmas ornaments and perfumes, t-shirts, dresses, jeans, some shoes, make up, and random accessories that I had matched up with the clothes that I purchased. Currently we were both seated in one of the bakeries munching on warm, shortbread cookies that seemed to melt away our worries.
My eyes automatically fluttered to the people walking around the mall. Ruby was texting on her phone and we were just enjoying the cheesy holiday tunes. I had turned my phone on silent during shopping because Shane kept asking where I was so that we could talk properly. My heart tugged at the thought of how broken he probably was right now, but now he's going through what I went through for the past two weeks.
Karma's a mean bitch.
"Let's go," Ruby chimed, placing her phone into her back pocket. I shoved my cookies into the bag they came in and followed Ruby out of the bakery into the crowd of people. We ascended the escalators to the main floor, quietly humming to ourselves. Once we got there, we looped arms and made a beeline for the exit.
I hadn't realized how much time had passed since we had been in there. The once light surroundings were dark and lights illuminated almost every corner. The pavement was wet signaling that it had rained while we were shopping. Cars on the streets honked at each other due to others stalling at lights and stop signs.
My feet momentarily slid out from under me and I felt my arm slip out of Ruby's grasp. Two arms reached out in the group of people that we had been walking with and they steadied me. I smiled up in appreciation and I felt my breath catch in my throat as I stared into a pair familiar blue eyes. My head shot around to Ruby who was staring at the lights strung above the streets and I pounded on her shoulder.
"I swear I just saw-" Swiveling my head back around to where the guy had been, I furrowed my eyebrows together in confusion when I saw that he wasn't there anymore.
"You just saw who?"
Shane, my thoughts answered, but I just shook my head at her in reply. Ruby's eyes lingered on mine before she shrugged her shoulders at me and continued looking at the decorations.
That was weird. I thought briefly as we turned the corner to where our hotel lingered.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~
The time read 2 A.M. when Taffy's excited barks woke me up from a deep sleep. When my eyes opened up in protest, I could hear the people in the room next to us shouting complaints and threats to call the hotel security on us if we didn't do something about our 'mutt.' Ruby was sitting up on her bed, glaring daggers at me.
"Take Taffy out on a walk or something." She demanded.
"Rubes, it's two in the morning. I can get kidnapped!" I protested.
"Obviously something's exciting him! Take him out or else I set him loose tomorrow. Plus nobody will approach you with that beast next to you." Sighing loudly I clambered out of the warmth of my bed and walked into the bathroom. I pulled on a pair of black jeans, my slipper boots, a scarf on top of thick red sweater, and I left my hair down. When I exited the bathroom, I grimaced when I saw that Ruby was already back to sleep and Taffy was sitting at the door of his pen awaiting me.
Grabbing his red leash that I had brought with me, I opened up the gate of his pen and latched the leash on to him before he could run around the room. Taffy's soft, brown eyes turned to mine in disappoint and he even let out a whimper.
"You wanted a walk and you're going to get a walk, you ass." I stuffed my phone into my pocket along with a card key for the room. I exited the room quickly and as quietly as I could with a large, overly-excited dog with me. Taffy began tugging me towards the stairs, but I stood my ground.
"We are taking the elevator since you were so adamant on going out." The elevator doors clicked open once I pressed the button to go down. Sitting down at my feet as we descended, Taffy thumped his tail against my foot in anticipation.
The elevator finally clicked open and I wasn't surprised to see no one at the main desk. After all it was late at night and most people had lives contrary to popular belief. The doors slid open automatically allowing freezing air to push against my body. My hair whipped around my face from the sudden wind and I allowed Taffy to lead me to wherever he wanted to go. Of course I kept track of what turns we were making so that I could find my way back after.
Taffy led us to the Union Square that was deserted except for a few hobos that were huddled together for warmth. I took command, forcefully tugging Taffy until he followed me over to a bench that rested nearby the ice rink.
A large tree stood beside an ice rink that was closed and the lights from the trees glittered off of the wet pavement and the ice. My breath blew out in front of me in white clouds while my hands rubbed together to keep warm.
Taffy's head jerking to the left caused me to stiffen with alertness. Instead of looking aggressive, he looked as though he was about ready to lick whoever, or whatever, was approaching us to death. Honestly I was fucking scared. More scared than that time the wolf had come out of nowhere.
On a dark night.
Just like this.
Fucking shit.
Hesitantly, I slowly shifted my body to the left. Instead of a large, black wolf there was literally nothing. Absolutely nothing. My dog was officially going nuts.
A warm breath blew across the back of my neck and I let out of high pitched scream. Throwing my body forward off of the bench, I heard Taffy's nails scraped against the ground to escape my falling body.
Except my body never kissed the ground. A warmth began to spread through my torso until it became uncomfortable.
"Please don't rape me! I'm not even from here!" I cried out, struggling against my captor's hold. They set me upright and then released me. I took three big steps away from whoever it was before turning around with my fists poised in the arm, ready to punch them in the throat.
Instead of a creepy bald guy that I was expecting, I was not prepared for who stood there. Shane grinned sheepishly at me while Taffy sat at his feet, staring up at him practically begging him to pet him. Reaching down, Shane's hand ruffled Taffy's fur.
"What are you doing here?" I spat out icily. His eyebrows rose in surprise and he began to open his mouth to talk, but I cut him off. "I thought I told you that we're done. Shane you broke my fucking heart. You're a player and that's all you'll ever be."
"Sasha pissed me off that night that you found us together." He blurted out. I raised my eyebrow for him to continue which he did, "she kept belittling you and it straight up ticked me off. She had begun to undress and insult you while she did so. I'm not lying to you. I had pushed her down because that was the only way to stop her. I was literally about to kick her out of my house when you walked in. Please believe me." His eyes pleaded to mine and I felt my heart breaking.
"We are two different people. I can understand why you would want to be with her. She's gorgeous while I'm not. Plus she can handle you being a werewolf while I can't. Don't try to make this work, Shane. Don't try to fix something that never existed." My voice trembled with pain and I bit my lip to keep from crying. Taffy had left Shane's side to settle by mine and his head pressed against my thigh as a gesture of comfort.
"I don't want her!" He shouted into the silence of the night. His hands flew into his hair and he ran them through it in frustration. "Terra, I-I love you. I don't care if we're meant to be soul mates or what ever. I know for a fact that even if I wasn't a werewolf and these feelings weren't enhanced, I would still be in love with you. You're perfect in all the most imperfect ways and to me you're beautiful. If we had never ran into each other that day I would have ran into you eventually because what we have is explainable. You make me frustrated, confused, joyous, and grief-stricken all at the same time. I fucking love you Terra and nothing's going to change that. You're the only person that has my heart."
The tears flowed freely now and I rubbed a hand against my moist cheek, letting out a sniff, "how do I know you won't cheat on me, Shane? You cheated on Sasha with me! You know how that makes a girl feel?" My voice began to raise in volume. I felt a few raindrops land on my cheek and soon they fell heavily on Shane and I. Taffy laid under the bench out of the rain.
"It makes her feel like complete and utter shit. Worthless. Insignificant. Just another pawn in a game. I don't give a flying fuck that you're a werewolf or an Alpha. I can't deny these feelings for you, but I also can't allow my heart to get anymore damaged than what it already is." Shane's eyes were red from holding back tears. His hair was matted against his head and dripping from the rain. He never looked so lost.
Looking up into his eyes, I stated rather calmly, "I may love you, but I can't risk this love being another lie."
Time seemed to freeze as various emotions flickered behind his eyes. The one emotion that lingered afterward was one that tore my heart in half.
Resignation.
No matter how much heart ache I've been put through because of him there was no doubt that my enter being still loved him. It wasn't the kind of love that would end after a few months; no. It was an endless love like Romeo and Juliet. The truth had been clearly sprawled out in front of me but I was so hard-headed that I refused to accept the fact that people make mistakes. When it comes to this kind of love, so unreal and unsuspecting, people tend to do crazy things for the people they love.
As I was lost in thought, Shane sent one last look at me before turning on his heel and began to walk through the downpour to the street where his truck, that I just barely noticed, was parked.
Millions of possibilities of how the future could be fluttered throughout my mind, but I knew one thing and I was certain of it.
I wanted my future to be with Shane. No matter how many obstacles I was going to face or how many more mistakes we both were going to make, I was more than willing to take them head-on.
Shane's figure was barely visible, but I threw my worries and regrets behind me as I sprinted through the rain towards him. When I was within a few feet of him, I threw my body at his and hearing me thanks to his werewolf senses, his body spun around, arms encircling around my body protectively.
"Fuck you, Shane. Fuck you and your fucking issues. I fucking love you and dammit, I'm willing to risk everything for you even if means that I'll get hurt. I don't fucking care anymore," his eyebrows rose in surprise, but just like early I cut him off just as he was opening his mouth by pressing my lips to his.
Shane broke the kiss first and rested his forehead against mine, while we both panted out of breath. It seemed like we were both at a loss for words so I chose to say the first thing that came to my mind.
"How'd you know I was in San Francisco?" I asked befuddled.
"Ruby told me." His smile reflected the butterflies that had en-captured my stomach and I felt myself returning it.
A/N: If you guys want an epilogue say so in the comments! I don't mind writing one, but please let me know! For now the story is going to be marked as completed!
Thankyou for such an enjoyable journey and I freaking loved writing this story.
Love you all!(: