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I scrambled back from the ledge, practically falling in the process of standing up, his voice ringing in my ears as he shouted my name in a furious rampage. His words merged into a sound edged with a growl, his persistence heightening the second I moved away from the ledge, and I heard him racing around the side of the house.
The tree.
There was no way for me to get down the tree and away from him in time, or away from him at all. The minute I would jump from the rooftop, I'd most certainly sustain a sprained ankle, and him? Not a scratch. My mind was running a million miles an hour, and the best I could manage at such a rate was rushing up to the chimney nearing the height of the rooftop.
He swung himself onto the deck.
He started climbing the tree, spitting curses all the way.
The front door slammed open, and I practically screamed when both Tyler and John came into view on two sides of me. One look at Tyler and I knew he was almost too gone for me to handle on my own, so I took off straight down the rooftop with him shouting after me words I couldn't process.
John instantly caught onto what I was planning, or lack thereof, and backed up far enough with his arms outstretched for me to leap into, Tyler's fingers just mere inches from grasping the back of my shirt.
I was flying, and the impact of John's arms was something I wouldn't ever take back. It hurt like a bitch, but I felt infinitely better the minute he put himself between Tyler and I. At that point, I saw Mary standing on the porch, looking mad out of her mind with her hands clasped over her mouth. I wondered what it must have looked like to suddenly see me plummeting from the sky with a half-human half-wolf right on my heels.
Tyler landed with a threatening thud! on the ground directly in front of John, and rose up to bare his sharpened teeth in our direction. John took a step back, bracing himself for whatever Tyler threw at him, but all the man could manage was an infuriated snarl.
"Tyler," John started, seemingly cautious as to not upset him any further, "you must calm down. Don't lose control in front of Lily."
I couldn't even look at Tyler when he heaved, but I imagined foam oozing from his mouth as his eyes flashed all different colors of the night. All the while my entire being was convulsing between shivers of utter terror and the beat of one's heart that was only constituted by crossing paths with a man like Tyler.
Devastatingly handsome when he wasn't like this.
He seethed between clenched teeth and hissed, "You have no right to say that. If you hurt her I swear-" He never even finished his threat before it already seemed to be in motion. I huddled myself against John's back and tried my best not to tear up. My whole entire body felt like it was vibrating endlessly, and in the middle of it all, I couldn't even manage to fight or flight.
I didn't know what was happening until I heard Mary scrambling down from the porch, like a mother coming to the aid of her child who fell and scraped his knee. I peered out from behind John, who took the brief initiative to pull me farther away from Tyler, but remained within range as Mary bundled her hands around Tyler's, making every attempt to calm him down.
At first he resisted, looking more panicked than anything by the fact that he actually had a mom. After a brief moment of holding her off at arm's length, she stepped her way cautiously towards him and all the fur that had risen on his arms, and the teeth that cut into his lips. He looked like he'd grown twice his size, and his shirt was hugging tighter than normal now.
"You're just like her father-quick tempered and stubborn," she told him eventually, her voice taking on a softer tone that would have many anyone laugh had they not been Tyler at this moment.
His frown creased his forehead evermore, but the hair on his arms had receded dramatically. He didn't say a word, but only glanced between Mary and over where John and I stood, me partially guarded by his burly arm. I half wondered if he was plotting a way to snag both Mary and I within the next minute, so I remained at close proximity with John until then.
"Son," Mary urged, and though I couldn't see her eyes, Tyler looked directly at them without betraying any sort of warmth that spurred whenever Mary was around. She grasped on tightly to his hands and said, "I'd like to speak with you, but I can't if you won't cooperate."
"I'm listening," he responded curtly, voice gruff. He glanced in my direction, but I couldn't hold his gaze, not even then.
"No, you must look at me. Lily has no part in this, it is only you, me, and John."
Tyler growled at the sound of his name, and ground out, "Anything you have to say is irrelevant if Lily is not apart of it."
While Mary nodded in agreement, I was panicking on the inside over it all. I felt like I was at an auction, and instead of holding up the numbers, I was the numbers, and between Mary and I, Tyler wanted us both. "Fair enough. You must know that Lily does not belong to you, and nor do I to your father. She can make her own decisions and opinions just as well as I can."
"It doesn't change the fact that you and father are married despite whatever relationship you have with him." I could practically feel his glare as if it was I he was furious with. John didn't budge an inch.
"I would have preferred a divorce, but I knew your father wouldn't agree with it. Tyler, dear, you must understand that-"
"There's nothing to understand except the fact that you abandoned him to have an affair with this man!" Tyler snarled at her, and had it not been for his threatening tone, John wouldn't have made a step towards them, but he did, and it nearly threw Tyler over the edge. "You betrayed your Alpha! What you've done is punishable by death!" he accused John, matching him with a powerful stride that Mary swiftly interrupted.
"It was just as much my fault as it was John's," she insisted. "It's just as well that I deserve the same punishment."
"No, it isn't! John-"
"Listen to me, Tyler," Mary urged, stern as ever. I would have been stiff as a board had she used that voice on me. "If anything, I'm the one to blame, and even if I were to patch things up with your father, it won't cover up all the mistakes even before I left with John. I'm sorry it had to be this way, but it's better for us both."
Tyler flinched as if trying to deflect her words. "No, it isn't-it isn't! Father needs you- I need you! You didn't just abandon him, you left me behind too."
Mary brought a hand to her face, and I swore I heard the tears in her voice when she spoke next. "I wish I would have taken you with us, but I knew how much your father wanted a son. It would have killed him had I brought you with us."
All Tyler could do was stare at her, his usually expressionless face betraying raw hurt through the creases of his forehead, and the down-turned shape of his mouth. "But Father loves you so much, I can't go back without you, it'll destroy him."
"Going back will destroy me as well. The risk is too great, my dear son," she told him, placing her hands delicately on the hollows of his cheeks, as if bringing him back down from the height at which his anger had pushed him to. Now all he was was a child who couldn't summon the tears to show how much it hurt to hear his mom's confession.
I knew for a fact Amaya and Bennet were watching the entire scene unfold from behind the glass of my living room window. I could see their stupid little heads poking out from the sill, but they weren't close enough to give me comfort when I knew whatever spell Mary put on Tyler would eventually wear off, and we'd be back on the discussion of me being up for auctioning.
"What could have caused you to hate Father so much?" Tyler inquired of Mary, and I knew the question was meant to be a trick, to somehow shed light on John and any impurities he possessed, but Tyler only knew half of the story.
"You must understand something about your father," Mary began cautiously, because we all knew how sensitive the topic was with Tyler now. "The way he dictates his men is much of the same way he shows affection to those he loves. He could never differentiate the two once he became the Alpha."
"How can you say that? He'd never-"
"Please, Tyler, I'm only telling you what I know from what I experienced," she insisted, pulling his hands down to keep them in place, as if he might go apeshit crazy and smack someone with one of his half-claws. "One thing you do know is that Alphas are threatened by their counterparts, no matter how much they love them."
"That's no reason to abandon him." Abandon was such a harsh word, and he kept using it over and over again, and I came to understand that perhaps this was what he feared alongside the concerns of his father: his lack of a mother figure, and the constant chase of a girl who refused to reciprocate his love.
"It is, and I'll tell you why," she told him strictly, drawing back his attention from what I had assumed had been me. I had hidden myself completely behind John now, and all I wanted to do was be inside with Amaya and Bennet again. "Love does not mean being chained, and your father feared that I would uproot his position, but all I ever wanted was to be free again, as do most female Alphas. Lily is no exception to this."
It felt like his eyes were blazing straight through John at me. Enough time passed for me to understand that perhaps Mary was no longer in discussion. I couldn't bring myself to step forward to the call.
"Lily," Tyler spoke up, sounding much closer than he was before. "Please, I'd like to speak with you face-to-face."
"Lily isn't here right now, leave a message," I blurted out, instantly clamping my mouth shut and wishing it would stay that way.
I heard Mary let out a giggle, but she quickly silenced herself as Tyler heaved a great sigh in response to my childish antics. "Step out of the way, John," he ordered, and when he didn't budge, Mary insisted.
In the next instant all my warmth and support vanished, and I was left quivering in my boots in front of Tyler, who stood in the moonlight that circled my front lawn. I could barely even summon enough breath to say a word, so I kept quiet and felt tinier than ever.
Thankfully, I didn't have to say anything right away, but unfortunately, I had to stand there and listen to him talk. "I haven't exactly given you any reason for you to forgive me for my actions, but I'd like to apologize anyway, and insist on a fresh start."
I felt like laughing and throwing up at the same time. I half expected him to get down on one knee-it would sure make looking up less difficult-but then I half expected him to switch like a light and go all beastie on me again. It reminded me of how he reacted to Brian and I, and I wondered if he was secretly hiding the fact that he wanted to skin his best friend.
I couldn't think of a decent answer, because all the easy ones were simple answers that could cause major repercussions. Instead, I stammered out, "I-I'm sorry, I need to think, I can't-"
And then I ran for it.
>AUTHOR'S NOTE<
... YO.
I haven't posted ANYTHING on Wattpad for at LEAST half a year, maybe even more, and for reason after reason after reason that ya'll probably don't want to hear. But I can say this: I was super stumped on the plot for the longest time, and when I get stumped on a book, I start writing a new one, which explains why I'm currently rewriting "Cross My Heart"-but that's for another time.
The point is! I know where I'm generally going, I can see the end, and we're almost there. Originally I stumped myself by having this entire chapter be a fight scene in which Tyler shifted-for the first time in the whole book-and I completely cornered myself with that idea because FIGHTING AN ALPHA MEANS DAMAGE. LOTS OF IT. Like, blood up the walls, PEOPLE ALMOST DYING. Now, while plotting character deaths is one of my fav things to do, now is not the time *wink wink*
I have another chapter almost done, so expect another update SOON.
Adieu, Sarah