Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
A s we walked home, Nathan kept talking about how we would get married.
My next hope was that my mother wouldn't agree to me marrying Nathan. Although I didn't need her permission, it would be a reason to stall while Brennan and I prepared our escape.
But when my mother walked into the house and saw Nathan in our kitchen—he seemed to take up all the space in the room—a nasty gleam came into her eye.
She knew I wasn't happy, but she seemed pleased for me to marry Nathan. Something hard crystallized in my chest.
"We can get married at the next full moon," Nathan said. "There's no reason not to just get it done. I've waited so long."
He slung his arm around my shoulders and beamed down at me.
"Let's get married on the blood moon instead," I said. "It's good luck."
"I'll make our luck," Nathan promised me.
"Nathan," I said softly, keenly aware of my mother watching me. "Please. It's just... a lot for me. I'm a..." I trailed off, biting my lower lip. "I'm scared."
Nathan's gaze softened. "Of course. I forget sometimes how innocent and na?ve you are. But you'll grow into being an alpha's wife."
When he'd left, my mother said, "That's some bullshit you sold him right there. Curtis told me you were sneaking around."
"Mom..."
"I won't have you betraying our pack. You're going to marry Nathan. He's a powerful alpha, and he'll be a good husband to you."
"He doesn't love me."
"Love isn't everything. He's taking care of you, and someday soon you'll take care of him. You're lucky you were picked. Some girls would kill for a man like Nathan."
"I'm not interested in marrying Nathan or anyone else. I'm eighteen! What's the rush?"
That was a lie, but I was pretty sure my mother didn't know the truth.
She sneered. “You're young. You don't know what's good for you.”
I felt sick inside, but I just walked away. I’d never been able to bridge the gap between my mother and myself. When I was little, I’d tried desperately the way Rose did now, always trying to please her. But I was done.
Over the next few days, I was desperate to escape to see Brennan, but I no longer had a job or any other excuse to leave the pack, and I was never alone. My mother took me shopping for a wedding dress in the city. Rose prattled along in excitement. I craned my head around hoping Brennan didn't think I was abandoning him. I’d texted him, and he’d told me everything was going to be all right. But I still worried.
I tried to leave to see Brennan the next night, but when I shifted into my wolf form, I found myself running with the pack. Every time I got near the perimeter, I found other wolves there who joined me on my run.
Nathan was making sure I stayed on pack lands.
I went back to my room and cried that night, but in the morning, I was ready to fight.
"Aiden." I said to him the next morning over breakfast. Our house was peaceful now, without Curtis's intimidating presence. "Are there men watching our house all the time?"
He froze, his coffee cup halfway to his lips, then nodded. "There's a rumor going around the pack you're seeing a human."
That was bad, but it would be far worse if they knew I was with Brennan Steele.
"And so... they're watching me?"
"I didn't want to scare you, but yeah," he said. "There are always wolves in the woods and a car parked on the road. Nathan says it's to protect you, but..."
He chewed his lower lip.
"It'll be all right," I assured him.
Even if I didn’t really know that was true.