Chapter 33 #2
I wait until the door is closed before I start rubbing my shoulder.
Why I thought it would be a good idea to shoulder check him is beyond me.
It just felt like the right thing to do at the time, and right now, the right thing feels like getting the hell out of here.
I hurry over to the closet and grab the jacket I had been wearing out in the woods.
It’s not nearly warm enough to be wearing up in these mountains, but it’s all I have.
Besides, I’ll be in my car, so it won’t really matter what I’m wearing.
I open my bedroom door, pleased to find Thane is no longer around. In fact, he’s probably already back in the dungeons, torturing his prisoners with a sadistic smile on his face.
Even though I’m not a prisoner anymore, it still feels like I have to sneak out of here, so I quickly scurry down the stairs and head for the front door.
My car is covered in snow, and since I don’t have a window scraper, I’m forced to use my arm.
Luckily, there’s no ice, so the windshield wipers do most of the work.
Snow is still coming down, but I don’t care.
I’ll drive slowly if I have to. I just want to get away.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Thane is standing in front of the SUV with his hands on the hood like he’ll physically stop it from moving if he has to.
“I’m going for a drive. Now move out of my way, or I’ll run you over!” I shift the gear into drive to make my point clear, but Thane bolts over to my door and yanks it open.
“You’re not going anywhere in this weather.” He reaches over me, putting the car in park, and turns it off.
“I’m not a prisoner anymore! You don’t get to control me!” I reach for the door to pull it shut, but he throws his arm out to stop me.
“You’re not, but you know I’m forced to protect you, which means you’re not driving in the snow.” His eyes narrow on me.
“It’s not like it’s a blizzard out! It’s just a little snow.
” I push down on the brake and hit the start button, deciding I’ll drive off with the door open if I have to.
“Besides, the only reason I’m doing this is to get away from you!
” I hit the gas, but in a matter of seconds, Thane has me standing in the driveway with the car off.
“Fine!” I whirl around and continue striding away from the house on foot. “I’ll walk!”
Thane appears in front of me, wearing a scowl that has the vein in the middle of his forehead protruding. “Get in the house, Grey.”
“No,” I say as dismissively as possible, before continuing around him.
He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and I start to think he might have actually accepted defeat.
“Please?”
I pause, wondering if I heard him right.
“Sorry!” I shout over my shoulder. “I can’t hear you with all this wind!”
Again, there’s silence, so I keep walking toward the road. I almost make it to the end of the long driveway before Thane appears in front of me.
“Please go back in the house.” His features have softened, and his eyes almost look pleading. “I don’t want a repeat of last night.”
“Right.” I shift my weight to one leg, preparing for another standoff. “Because then you’d have to feel obligated to stay with me again, and that would be the worst possible thing in the world.”
“Is that what you think?” He actually looks surprised. “You think I hated staying with you last night?”
I shrug, looking away. “You haven’t said anything about it, and you made sure to be gone by the time I woke up.”
He grabs my chin, turning my attention back to him. “I only left because I thought that’s what you would want.” His hand and gaze fall away like he’s been pulled into a memory. “You’ve made it clear that you have no desire to share a bed with me.”
“You’ve made it clear too, so what was I supposed to think?” The jacket I’m wearing suddenly feels too warm, and I want to rip it off, but I know it’ll only earn me a lecture.
“Well, maybe I didn’t hate it,” he practically growls. “Maybe I even liked it.”
“Well, maybe I liked it too!”
Even though we seem to be in agreeance, it still feels like we’re arguing.
“So stay with me tonight,” he says, closing the gap between us.
“Why would I do that after you just freaked out on me over a book?” I cross my arms, waiting for his answer and wondering how we even got to this point.
“I might have overreacted,” he admits, dragging his blood-stained hand through his sleek black hair that’s peppered with snow.
“You always overreact and then act like I’m just supposed to forget about it.”
“Because you drive me crazy!” he snaps, that temper of his flaring once more.
“And you drive me crazy with your mood swings and assholeiness!”
“Assholeiness?” he questions with a raised brow.
“Yes. Assholeiness.”
He scoffs. “Well, you’re no peach either, sweetheart. You’re stubborn and defiant. And just outright impossible!”
“I’m only like that because you try to pull your Alpha bullshit on me!”
“Because I am the Alpha!”
“Not mine!” I bite back.
He leans down so that we’re face to face, and his eyes seem to darken. “That’s where you’re wrong, Grey.”
A smirk begins to form on his lips right before he pushes past me, gently shoving my shoulder.
If he thinks I’m going to follow him like a good little Beta, then he’s got another thing coming.
My hands feel ice cold as they begin packing the fistful of snow into a ball.
Thane’s enormous stature may be a pain in my ass most of the time, but right now it’s making for a nice big target.
Once my snowball is compact enough, I let it fly.
It nails the back of his head so perfectly that I’m even amazed at my accuracy.
Thane whirls around as his hand caresses the back of his head. “Did you really just do that?”
I shrug innocently. “Do what?”
He stalks toward me while I chew on the inside of my cheek, trying to hold back the laughter.
“You think that’s funny, huh?” A mischievous look replaces his scowl right before a snowball explodes in my face. “You really shouldn’t pick a fight with a hybrid.”
I turn for the yard and take off in a sprint through the untouched snow.
My shins are immediately buried, and even though I have no chance of outrunning Thane, I still keep going.
I make it halfway before I’m suddenly yanked back by my waist, and a childlike squeal escapes me as Thane spins me around in his arms, eventually flinging me down into the snow.
The cold takes my breath away as he looms over me with a sinister grin.
“Fine. You win.” I roll my eyes and reach my hand out, motioning for him to help me up. Naturally, Thane takes the bait, and just as he’s pulling me up, I shove a handful of snow in his face. I take off toward the house, looking back over my shoulder as I yell, “Sucker!”
Before I turn back around, I slam into what feels like a concrete wall and stumble back to find Kole looking down at me.
“Help me,” I plead to him, as Thane advances with a look of vengeance.
“What do I get out of it?” Kole asks with a cocked brow.
“Whatever you want! Just help!” I run behind his back, using his body as a shield.
“Remember you said that,” he tells me in a low voice, before shooting off toward his brother.
Kole throws his shoulder into Thane’s stomach and tackles him into the snow, but Thane is only down for a second before he sweeps Kole’s feet out from underneath him and jumps back up.
I thought that would be the end of it, but the two of them begin to wrestle, taking turns pinning each other in the snow.
For a moment, I think about escaping inside while they’re both distracted, but I’m enjoying the view too much to walk away.
Suddenly, they both stop fighting and look over at me with wicked grins.
I turn on my heel and race for the front door, but it’s too late.
Kole cuts me off, and I spin around to find Thane behind me, the two of them closing in on me like the predators they are.
At the exact same time, they each sweep one foot out from beneath me, and I fall back into the bed of snow.
“Careful, Grey,” Kole says, leaning over me.
“It’s slick out here,” Thane finishes, as the two of them look down on me like gods.
They both exchange a quick glance and head inside, leaving me submerged in a foot of snow.
And to be honest, I don’t even mind. I came out here to get away, but that urge has long since passed.
Thane is hardheaded and arrogant and all-around thorn in my side, but part of me is learning to accept that.
Even though he may have the temper of a lion, he isn’t hurting me anymore.
And if I’m being really honest with myself, it’s nice to have someone actually care for my safety—even if it is only because of the bond.