Waindale

I sit against the front door, enveloped in my blanket, waiting without a drop of patience in my being. The tile floor is hard and cold, but I’ve adapted to the discomfort and stopped caring about my numb toes. My mind is conjuring all sorts of things I want to shout at him. There are so many things that I can’t seem to decide what to say first. Maybe how it’s our first night as people that live partially together, and he’s abandoned me on this special marker. Maybe how this is the second time he’s done this—left with little to no explanation—and all I can do is worry until he comes back, if he does. Maybe how I’m in this house all alone and something could happen to me; he must have left for a reason.

My fingernails dig unconsciously into my palms as my eyes stay fixated on the ground. Sounds come from outside then, and I perk up like a dog who’s been waiting for their owner all day. The pull rekindles in my core, so I clammer to my feet and peer out the window on the door. Two people are stammering up the driveway. I squint and realize it’s Adam and Ben. Confusion consumes me.

Like a volcano that’s ready to blow, I unlock the door and swing it open, letting the frigid air pour in. The two peer up and me and soon I notice their struggle, or rather his struggle. My hand drops from the door handle. I take a few steps onto the porch. Adam is leaning somewhat on Ben; I knew something caused that pain in my side. “W-What the hell?” I ask, more so concerning Adam’s state than my anger toward him. My urge to bubble over dies down.

Adam’s gaze leaves me. My beady eyes shift to Ben.

“There was a situation,” Ben says.

I step aside as he helps Adam through the door. My chest aches relentlessly, desperate to know why my mate is staggering; why he’s holding his side.

I follow and close the door. Ben brings him to the kitchen. Adam leans against the counter, still pressing on his side, but now in the light, I see the red on his shirt. “Why are you bleeding?” I ask, trying to remain calm even though the sight of his blood is making tears well in my eyes.

Adam winces when he lifts his hand a bit.

“Keep the pressure on it,” Ben orders and opens a cabinet stocked with bandages and gauze and other medical-emergency type things.

“I swear to god if someone doesn’t tell me what happened right now I’m going to freak.”

Ben looks to Adam. Adam sighs and says, “There was a situation. I got nipped. It’s not bad. I’ll be fine.”

“So you aren’t going to tell me why you left in the middle of the night without telling me? And you’re just going to prance around what actually happened to you? There’s blood all over your shirt, Adam. Are you serious?”

“It’s fine,” he says. “Go back to bed. I’ll be there in a bit.”

My chest rises and falls and rises and falls. Ben—who I know is well aware of how much of an ass Adam is being—motions for him to lift up his shirt. When I see the horrific bite mark buried in his flesh, I swiftly leave the kitchen. I hear Ben say something, but I can’t make it out as I hurry up the steps, fuming. This is not what I wanted when I nearly begged my mother to live here with him. I did not expect Adam to be disappearing as I sleep all to return with giant bite marks. How could he brush me off like that? How could he tell me to go back to bed like a pet in front of Ben?

I slap the light switches in the bedroom and throw my suitcase to the floor. Taking all of my clothes from the closet, I dump them into the bag. I then head to the bathroom and gather all of my belongings from there before tossing them in as well. It’s a fight to zip it up, but the adrenaline pumping through me helps.

Shakily, I tap at my phone then hold it to my ear. It rings then goes to voicemail. I try again.

“H-Hello?”

“Vivianne, it’s Wrenley,” I mutter while standing up my bag and throwing on my sweatshirt.

"Wrenley? What’s going on? It’s two in the morning,” she says groggily.

“I need you to come get me. Please. I-I can’t be here right now. I’m so mad at him you have no idea. I can’t call my mom because she’ll say that she told me so—just, please, Vivianne. I’ll owe you big time, just please come get me.”

There’s a moment of silence before she says, “I’ll be there in five.”

Relief overcomes me. I pick up my bag and heave it down the stairs. Their voices are in range again, but this time I don’t care to listen. I don’t care what they’re talking about—it’s not like he can tell me, anyway.

They must hear me coming back down, making noise with my suitcase. Ben calls for Adam to wait, but he doesn’t listen. Before I can make it out the door, Adam is in pursuit, fighting the pain that I know has engulfed his torso because I can feel bits of it too. Shirtless and covered in a large, white bandage, he grabs my arm and moves in front of the door.

“Y-You know how much that bothered me the last time! You didn’t even bother to tell me you were leaving. You couldn’t even tell me what the hell did that to you! There’s a giant bite in your side, and you have the nerve to tell me to go back to bed! What the hell!”

I try to push past him, but he’s like a brick wall. “Wrenley, don’t leave,” he says. “I don’t want you to worry about these things. You shouldn’t be worried about these things.”

I shake my head. “Get out of my way.”

“Look at me. Come on, Wrenley just look at me,” he asks and I do so even though the tears are threatening to fall. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to leave, okay? Let’s just go back to bed. Come on, let me hold you.”

“Get out of my way.”

Adam, growing more desperate, lowers down to look up at me. He winces. “Don’t leave. You have to trust me that I’m not telling you for your own well-being. You don’t want to know what happened, okay? I don’t want you living in fear.”

I take in an unsteady breath. “I know, you don’t think I can handle it. That’s why you won’t bring up the whole Luna thing. I’m just a scared, weak little human girl, right? Just—just let me go. Someone is coming to get me.”

“Wrenley—”

“Let me go now before I leave for good,” I blurt.

Defeated, Adam watches as I move past him and open the door. He watches as I make my way down the porch steps and the driveway to Vivianne’s mother’s car. His gaze feels like a thousand pounds weighing on me. I fight to not look back at him when I get in the car because I know I may run to him if I do. I shut the door and bury my head in my hands.

Vivianne says nothing.

I wake up in her bed the next morning, alone. The shutters block out all sunlight. Oddly enough, the absence in my gut isn’t there. I lay in bed for a while and think back to all that happened last night and all that I said to Adam. I should feel horrible, and I do, but not in the sense that I presumed I would. Physically, I feel okay—not great—but okay. My stomach grumbles a little and I think about breakfast. It is going to be horrible to go home today and face my mom, but I’m going to have to agree with her. Moving in with someone—even part of the time—is not a walk in the park. Adam and I couldn’t even last one—

A knock at the door steals my attention.

The handle turns and Vivianne pokes her head through. “Hey,” she starts, “I thought I heard you moving around.”

“Um, Vivianne, I don’t even know how to thank you. Picking me up was more than enough, but letting me stay here; giving me your bed—it means a lot to me. Last night was just terrible. You really saved me there.”

She eases in and sits on the edge of her bed. “Yeah, it looked pretty bad from where I was sitting. I’ve never seen Adam look so solemn.”

“Oh god,” I murmur and run my hands down my face. “I don’t even know what I’m going to do about him. You won’t believe what he did—what he said.”

She bobs her head side to side while saying, “Well, actually, I do.”

“What?”

“He told me.”

I rub my eyes, believing that I still may be asleep. “Sorry, he told you? When?”

“Like two hours ago. He’s been waiting for you downstairs all morning.”

My stomach lurches forward. I stare at her. “H-He’s downstairs? Right now?”

“He came by this morning and asked to see you. I told him you were still sleeping. He asked to wait. He’s my Alpha, I said yes. My parents were a little nervous at first, you know, having the Alpha waiting in their living room, but they’ve settled down now. I got him to talk and he explained what happened to me. Maybe he wanted a second opinion.”

I fall back against her pillows and bring my hands up to my hairline. “Adam is downstairs?”

“Yes,” Vivianne clarifies.

“Well, what do you think about it then? Who’s side are you on?”

She stands up from the bed. “Look, both of you have your reasons. I can understand both sides. I think you should just talk it through like you have before when stuff gets all jumbled up.”

I bite my cheek while thinking briefly. “I-I don’t know if I want to see him right now. He really got to me. He doesn’t think I can do it, Vivianne.”

“Do what?”

“Be the Luna. Be a part of your world—not fully, anyway. He doesn’t think I can handle the truth and how scary it can be. He sees me as a human, and he knows there’s weakness in that.”

“It was just one night. Can’t you give it another shot?”

Sitting up, I ask, “What about what I just said has anything to do with one single night. It isn’t just because of last night; that’s just the way things are. He wants me to be his mate but not a Luna.”

Vivianne’s mouth opens then closes. She looks to the floor then at me. “I don’t—I don’t know what to say.”

“I don’t want to see him,” I mumble.

“Wrenley, is it really about doing all the things a Luna does?”

I shake my head. “It’s about everyone looking down on me. Everyone thinks I’m too weak. Students at school gossip about it. His mother couldn’t even give me more than a few minutes. And now him. I mean, for the first few weeks he wouldn’t even speak to me face to face. I had to hunt him down. I-I just—tell him that I want him to go, and then I’m going to go as well.”

She waits for a few seconds, maybe to see if I’ll change my mind. Eventually she leaves the room and heads back downstairs. I don’t leave the bed until I hear the front door open and close. Getting up, I head to the window and open the shutters just a bit so I can watch him walk out and get in his truck.

The absence in my gut returns.

Despite her offering to drive me home, I take my suitcase and walk the few minutes to grandma’s house. The trees offer me an escape that I consider many times on the way. I have enough to last me a couple of days; what if I just left this town? Can’t I just live with all of this back-and-forth pleasure and pain? I bet that would prove to everyone how strong I am. The human girl that had the strength to leave her mate.

I roll my suitcase up to Grandma’s front door and I ring the bell. It feels like I’ve just arrived in Waindale again and I’m ready to move in and start my new life... funny. Grandma answers the door slowly, looks me up and down, and asks, “Wrenley? What happened? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with Adam?”

She hurries me in after noticing my goosebump-covered legs that have been roughed up by the winter wind.

“It didn’t go well,” I say, standing with my icy hands burrowed up in my sleeves. “I don’t think we’re ready to take that step.”

“Oh, well, Dear, that’s okay. Come on, why don’t you go shower and warm up? Your mother is at her yoga class, but she’ll be home soon.”

I swallow and take my suitcase to my room.