Leticia's POV:
The grandfather clock is ticking in the restaurant. Not the usual tick tock of a normal clock but the tick tock sound of someone pounding on your head with a stainless spoon. The heavy one. This is what I'm currently going through, listening to Zephyr stumble with his words, giving reasons why he has to break up with me. I don't know the expression I have on my face—but I am trying hard to look bored. One thing I've learnt from some self-help books is to act like you don't care—men love it. Make them curious! Make them want more! I'm trying to look like I want Zephyr to want me again but he still wants to break up with me.
He says for the umpteenth time, "it's over between us, Leticia…" He eyes me like he is irritated, "are you even listening?"
I force a smile. I don't know how to reply to him. All I know is how to be a girlfriend. Not an ex. A thousand fuckyous replay and echo in my head yet my mouth is too nice to utter them straight to his face. I have suddenly become useless to him. I am no longer 'Leticia, my world, my bank, my emotional dumpster.' He has finally found someone better. He doesn't say that. He is trying to be a gentleman. I don't know why I'm still sitting there, listening to him. Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyou-
"There are better people out there, Leticia. We both need to stop lying to ourselves now and move on. I'm not trying to be the bad guy here. I'm doing something… better for us. For you, okay?"
I feel my canines protruding. My wolf is ready to tear this fool in pieces.
«So ordinary. So cheap. I don't know why you chose this hybrid as a boyfriend. He's not even good at intercourse. He sucks. Leticia, you've let me down.» My wolf—Ronnie berates me like I'm a little child. «Are you still here listening to this loser talk?» I stand up and cast one final look at Zephyr. He stops talking and grins like I understand half of what he just said. I spin and leave.
"Hey, Leticia! The bill!" I hear him yell and I scoff, adding my pace, determined to forget his face and his voice. What a man. He wants to break up and still can't settle his bills? Great.
I thought I was strong during the encounter with Zephyr but after I left what used to be our love restaurant, I wander the woods in my wolf form, bawling like an idiot. Ronnie ignores me and we roam the cemetery ground and I go to my father's and sister's burial site and lie, weeping. It has been ages since I visited them and I come over like this, a total wreck because of a bastard like Zephyr.
Something wakes me. I don't know, maybe a howl? Ronnie is vigilant and we begin to sniff around for threats, treading the forest floor carefully, despite the dried leaves crunching beneath my paws. I hear a bunch of snarls from a broken down, dilapidated block of house I see in the distance. I head over and carefully tread in. A bunch of rogue wolves; big, dark and ferocious outlanders, I know by the human scent emitting from most of them. These wolves have scars running from their ears to their eyes, a form of identification. They are ganging up on this grey wolf—a beta who's backed to the ground, helpless and wounded. From the open window, the crescent moon showers on him. That's something about him...
«You feel it too, right? Let's go save him.»
«Ready when you are, slowpoke.» I say to her, ready to charge.
«Let's go get those bastards.» I let out a howl and dash straight to them, knocking them away with my cranium. Maybe it's the adrenaline of being dumped and numb or maybe I'm just suicidal but I'm charging straight into these wolves that look like a pack of Alphas instead—their glowing red eyes. I'm fast enough to dodge their counterattacks and I bite one hard enough to leave a gash that might take time to heal. But there are too many of them and I realize I entered the wrong battle.
The outlanders take to their heels, scattering like helpless chicken. I hear a soft grunt behind me and a dull thud. I spin and take in this gorgeous man sprawled to the ground. He's naked and I'll be too when I turn to my human form. That will be embarrassing. I flee and go to my father's grave. There's a crevice under the fine block of plastered cement where I hide a bag of clothes for emergencies like these. I morph to myself and grab a simple singlet and a pair of knickers for myself. Another black singlet and knickers for the gorgeous stranger. I return back to him and throw the clothes at him. He looks at me with his striking green eyes. I look again. I squint. Green eyes. His leafy eyes trail me and I feel scorched like he's undressing me with those eyes. His pale body is wounded, his healing taking more time than normal. His thick brown hair cascades his chest, showing signs of pulling and grabbing, shimmering in the moonlight.
"Let me take you home. Where do you live?" I'm about to ask more questions when he manages to stand and starts to wear the clothes I brought. He's silent but he doesn't regard me with hostility and I wonder who I just saved. Is he a criminal? Is he a killer? Is he a psychopath? He raises his head when he is done and smiles broadly, throwing me off balance.
"Aaron Turner. Or you must know me as the Alpha's brother."
I shrug, trying to remember where I know him from. Nothing comes to mind. I shrug again, "never heard of you. Sorry."
He approaches me with a teasing smile. He is different from the dying wolf I was headbutting and biting a jerk for. I frown and brace myself. If he wants to end back to that dying wolf, I'd be willing to bite his flesh off. Now, he's standing a few inches taller before me, his breathing fanning my nose as he utters, "are you pretending not to know or do
you just want something from me?"