Chapter 2 - Emily #2
“You heard me.” Sean’s lips take on a sinister smirk that has my nape pebbling with goosebumps. “You can quit the act, Emily. My family doesn’t need you anymore.” He takes a final pull of his cigarette before tossing the butt into the forest.
It takes me a moment to gather myself, and I take a deep breath to regain my composure. I can hardly believe that those words came out of Sean’s mouth, or that the dead look in his eyes exists at all.
A week ago, those eyes had been full of adoration for me, those lips full of praise as he worshipped between my thighs. The man sitting in front of me now is nothing more than a shell of his former self, and I have to be mindful of the fact that he just lost his mother two nights ago.
He’s still grieving. He’s still going through it. I need to detach emotionally and give him the space he needs to process his grief.
“You might not need me now, and I understand that, Sean. Your father does, so I’m gonna go back inside. I’ll be here for you when you need me.”
I turn to leave, but pause when I hear shuffling behind me, like Sean just stood up. I glance over my shoulder and find him standing behind me, but the wave of relief burns away when he takes a step forward, eyes narrowed like a predator closing in on its prey.
My heart stops as he moves in, and I’m not sure what to expect. But I never expected the finger of warning pointed between my brows.
“I don’t think you understood me, Emily,” he begins, lowering his finger only to reveal his face, eyes dark with animosity as he towers above me. “I don’t ever need you. Ever. Do you understand that?”
I keep myself calm because it’s the night of his mother’s funeral and I won’t be selfish. This isn’t about me, but his grief. Lifting my hands in surrender, I shake my head slowly. “I know you don’t mean that—”
“Like hell I don’t!” Sean roars, grabbing my wrist and betraying his words when all I can feel is the mate bond pulsing through my veins and circling my wrist with unexplainable force.
“Sean…?” I squeak timidly, but he throws my wrist from his hand, fingers twitching as if he’s disgusted by the sensation.
“Just leave me alone,” he growls, and my heart stops, threatening to crack from the pressure.
My eyes fill with tears as I search his face for any indication that he doesn’t mean this, but I find nothing but his menacing glare. My throat constricts around a sob, and the words that come out next are of their own accord, and I can’t control them as if my inner wolf herself speaks.
“You don’t mean that, Sean; we’re mates,” I mumble quickly, before he can stop me, before he can cut me off.
That’s when his glare turns ferocious, eyes narrowing to deadly traps as his sharp brows furrow.
“Mates?!” he scoffs at the word as if it’s filled with poison. “We’re not mates, Emily. We’ll never be.”
I open my mouth to protest, to tell him there’s no other way to explain what I feel. I know what I felt the other night when our bare bodies were tangled in his sheets. I know what I feel every time he touches me, every time he looks at me.
But he doesn’t let me speak when he moves in closer, breath filled with burning liquor and burnt plants. “You are mistaken. And since you can’t leave me alone, I’m leaving Stowe.”
Sean straightens up and turns toward the forest, and with a wild, disbelieving frown, I don’t move away.
“You—you’re leaving…?” I ask in a trembling murmur, and Sean doesn’t turn back.
“I’m joining black ops training in two days,” he informs me with a casual shrug, without turning to look at me. “I don’t wanna see you until then. You’re nothing to me, Emily Hudson. We were nothing.”
As he disappears between the trees, I fall to my knees in a pathetic pile of numb limbs and choking sobs.
The man I love, the man I’d lost my virginity to a week ago, and the man who undoubtedly is my fated mate, just ripped my heart out of my chest and squashed it under his boot before walking away.
***
A stray tear rolls down and hits my pillow, and that’s when I decide to stop moping around like this.
It’ll do me no good.
So what if I’m still affected by his touch? I’ll just make sure that I wear stronger armor and keep my distance so that tonight never happens again.
I sit upright in bed, feeling my palms and fingers tingling again as if magic is stirring.
Maybe if I told the others and sought their help, I wouldn’t feel so uncertain about my gifts.
Perhaps it’s because I know how much is riding on finding the fifth witch, and that’s a pressure I’ll have to carry if the ritual actually works.
It might be working now, and that’s why the tingles are getting stronger—strong enough to lead me out of bed and padding toward my bedroom window, in need of some fresh air.
An overwhelming stir erupts in my chest, as if clutching my heart, but not in a frightening way. It feels like a warm embrace, a subtle caress, and the tingling in my palms becomes stronger until I can almost make out a golden mist covering them.
My breath hitches in my throat, and I look up at the lace curtains covering the window just in time to see a shadowy figure lingering by the trees. Frowning, I take a step forward to get a closer look at the figure, only to make out the broad shoulders and distinctive mop of curls on his head.
“Sean…?”
As soon as I whisper his name, the figure disappears, prompting me to pull back the curtain to get a closer look. But there’s nothing out there except for the branches swaying in the wind.
Perhaps I’m just too skittish and exhausted from today. Why would Sean be outside, anyway, spying on me like some stalker?
I need sleep, and I need to forget about Sean’s existence altogether. It’s better that way for the sake of my sanity.