My Alpha, My Home

The Runaway

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Stacy asked quietly as she got in and closed her door.

               Their things were stuffed in the back of Stacy’s Ford Focus; pillows and duffle bags with as many clothes and memories as they could fit.  Cramming everything into the little car hadn’t been easy but they were leaving tonight and that was it.  Amber did not want to wait a few more weeks to leave for college.  She wanted to get away from this hell hole as soon as she possibly could. 

               “Yes, Stacy, it’s fine.  You told your parents you were leaving and I left my dad a note,” Amber said exasperated.  She had gone over this what felt like a million times while Stacy was helping her pack.  It was remarkably easy getting her things out of the house.  Briana still hadn’t come home and the twins were nowhere to be seen.  Tyler was out, probably with Kade.  And, her dad was at work.  No one had been home to stop or slow her down.

               “But Kade –” Stacy started.

               “Doesn’t give a s**t about me so why would he care if I left?”  Amber shouted. 

               “I’m sorry Stacy, I didn’t mean to yell at you.  But, honestly, he’ll probably be happy that I’m leaving town.  Now he’ll be rid of me and won’t have to worry about anyone finding out that I’m his fated mate.”

               Amber looked down at her hands.  She saw her hands fumbling, unconsciously picking at her nails; her nervous tell. 

               “Let’s go.  We can get there by 1am if we leave now, it’s only a three hour drive and I already spoke to the landlord.  She’s leaving our keys on the kitchen counter and gave me the code for the deadbolt  to get into the house.  I told her I’ll write her a check tomorrow for the few extra weeks we’ll be moving in early,” Amber explained.

               Stacy nodded her head gently looking lost in thought.  After a moment, she nodded her head once more then started the car.  She turned on her road-trip Pandora station and cranked up the A/C.

               “Let’s do this thing then!”  She turned to Amber with a smile reaching ear to ear.  “This is going to be our time.  We’re going to be in a new place and we can be whoever the hell we want to be.  No more pack to hold us by our tails and submit to their rules.  I’m making a gas station pit stop first though for gas and snacks.” 

Stacy finally seemed to be getting in the groove and Amber could not wait for their new chapter to begin.

--

               “Wait, what did you say?  Did she say where they were going?”

               Kade overheard Tyler talking on the phone next to him but he couldn’t bother to pay attention.  He was focused on the condensation slowly running its way down his sixth ice cold glass of beer.  He shifted slightly on his barstool trying to regain his balance.  He was starting to get uncomfortable but he needed to get drunk if he was going to drown out the look of Amber’s disappointment from tonight’s memory.  When she gave him a piece of her mind at her graduation, her eyes were so fierce and challenging that it made him excited just thinking about her fire.  It made him wonder how sassy she could really be and how he would work to tame that sass.  He should his head hard at the thought disgusted with himself thinking about a child like that.  She was his mate, yes; but she was also underage, even though she was technically an adult by pack standards.  Kade rested his head in the palm of his hand, his elbow propped up on the bar to support himself.  His head was spinning from trying to shake his thoughts away.  His mind settled back to his memory of earlier that night.  Amber had fire in her eyes, yes.  But, at the end of her speech, she looked so defeated.  Her eyes turned stark and her fire extinguished. 

               He did that to her, Kade thought to himself.  It was he who extinguished her light and made her look hopeless.  Her own mate hurt her.  Kade wanted to punch himself at the thought.  How could he have done that to his innocent little mate?  And, innocent he knew she was.  Kade had done his research, albeit quietly, on Amber.  She only had a single friend and had never even been on a date.  She apparently didn’t think much of herself thanks to her horrible step-mother and her slutty twin daughters who got nearly her whole school to pretend she didn’t exist.  Her self-worth was non-existent and still he made her feel even lower than she already had.  Someone should shoot him where he sat for how he made her feel.  He thought back to the restaurant before the graduation.  Kade had been in line ordering lunch when he had seen Amber and her friend pull up.  He had given that cashier extra cash so he could pay for whatever Amber had wanted.  He felt compelled by his wolf to do something nice for her.  He had never told that cashier Tiffany that Amber was his sister; he only said to use the money for whatever the girl that was coming into the restaurant wanted.  Tiffany was the one who called Amber his little sister, which she knew was not true.  Everyone in the pack knew the alpha family so everyone therefore knew that Amber was not a part of it.  It didn’t matter what Tiffany’s game was, she was as insignificant to him as the condensation rolling down his glass of beer.

               Pulling Kade from his thoughts, Tyler got off the phone and sighed loudly.  His entire body shrank down as he sighed as if his body were deflating.

               “She left,” Tyler said on another sigh.  “I knew she was leaving for college in a few weeks but I never thought she would just up and leave without saying anything to anyone.”

               Kade’s shoulders stiffened and he felt a small rumble in his chest.  He had a bad feeling that Tyler was talking about the mate he had just so badly f****d things up with.

        “What the f**k are you talking about man?”

        Tyler stiffened slightly.  He was hoping Kade wouldn’t shoot the messenger, metaphorically speaking.

        “That was Alain Martin, one of my gym buddies,” Tyler explained.  “He wanted to let me know that he was at Texaco off of 183 and saw Amber and her friend loading up on snacks.  He thought they were getting junk food to celebrate their graduation until he walked outside and saw their car loaded up with their things.  They didn’t say where they were going and he called to ask if they were leaving for a trip because Amber looked more excited than he had ever seen her before.”

        The bar was all of a sudden filled with a heartbreaking howl.  The sound of an alpha losing his mate.

        Tyler put his hand on his friend’s shoulder gently, as if he were a stray dog that might lash out and bite.

        “It’ll be ok.  I know Amber; she would never do anything stupid and jeopardize her life or future.  All she has ever talked about was going to college for her finance degree and getting her CPA for the side.  I’m sure you have heard how nerdy she is.  I mean, who would actually dream of working with numbers?” Tyler added jokingly, trying to lighten his best friend’s mood.

        Tyler paused, wondering if his nose was trying to trick him, but there was no way to hide the salty scent of hopeless tears coming from the man sitting next to him.  Kade had finally broken.