Torn Between the Two
825 Words
Chapter 10: Torn Between Two
Misty wasn’t sure when Phillip’s arm had slipped around her shoulders. She only knew that for the first time that night, she felt warm. Safe.
They didn’t speak much. He didn’t ask what had happened. He didn’t ask why her eyes were still red from unshed tears. He just stayed, fingers lightly brushing the curve of her arm, his presence grounding her like roots pulling her out of a storm.
At some point, she leaned against him. He smelled like pine and rain and something else. Strength. Calm.
She drifted to sleep on his shoulder, his heartbeat steady against her cheek.
Phillip sat still for a long time, memorizing the feel of her. Her breathing. The curve of her lips, finally relaxed in sleep. He didn’t move until her phone buzzed on the table.
The name on the screen made his jaw tighten.
Sutton.
She stirred as the buzz came again, blinking sleepily. “Sorry,” she murmured, reaching for it. She read the message, then turned her eyes to Phillip. “I should go talk to him.”
His gut twisted. “You don’t have to.”
She smiled softly, a little broken. “I know.”
But she stood anyway.
He watched her grab her coat, watched her hesitate by the door. “Thank you,” she said. “For being here.”
He nodded, forcing his face to remain neutral. “Always.”
The moment the door closed behind her, Phillip’s wolf growled within him.
Aidan.
The wolf had been patient long enough.
Let me out, Aidan snarled. I need to run.
Phillip didn’t argue. He left the dorm, heart hollow, footsteps quick. He needed air. Space. Movement.
The walk to the edge of the forest felt longer than usual. The night was cold, clouds scattered across the sky, the moon a ghostly white disc peeking between them. Phillip’s thoughts tangled like vines, looping back to the moment Misty left. Not because she wanted to. But because Sutton asked.
Victor was already waiting by the trees, crouched on a fallen log, chewing a protein bar. “You look worse than you did an hour ago.”
Phillip just looked at him.
Victor raised a brow. “She left?”
“Yes.”
“For him?”
Phillip nodded once.
“Damn,” Victor muttered. “You’re still going to run?”
“I have to.”
Without another word, Phillip pulled off his shirt, kicking off his shoes. He shifted smoothly, his body stretching and cracking into form, fur bursting out as bones reshaped into his massive gray wolf. Victor followed a moment later, his sleek black wolf form smaller but fast.
They didn’t wait. They ran.
Through the trees, over mossy hills and under tangled canopies, the two wolves raced side by side. Aidan surged forward, his mind a storm of pain and frustration.
She had chosen him. Again.
Even after everything Sutton had done, after the humiliation, the lies, the games, Misty still went to him. And Aidan couldn’t understand it.
She’s not your mate, Victor’s thoughts whispered across the mind link.
I know that. Doesn’t mean I don’t care.
Victor’s wolf let out a low snort. You care too much.
They slowed at a clearing, breath steaming from their nostrils. Aidan prowled the edge, ears twitching, tail slashing through the air.
“She’s better than him,” Phillip finally said aloud, shifting back to human form. His voice was raw, thick with emotion. “Stronger. Smarter. Kinder. She’s everything he isn’t. And yet she keeps going back.”
Victor remained in wolf form, ears perked, watching.
“She doesn’t know what she’s worth,” Phillip muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Or maybe she does. Maybe I’m the fool for thinking I had a chance.”
Victor shifted too, brushing leaves from his chest. “You’re not a fool. You’re just in love.”
Phillip scoffed. “I barely know her.”
Victor chuckled. “Tell that to your wolf.”
Phillip went silent.
He didn’t need to tell Aidan anything. His wolf had made it perfectly clear.
They stood under the stars for a while, letting the silence speak where words failed. Eventually, they made their way back through the woods, slower this time. Not because their energy had faded. But because the ache in Phillip’s chest had settled deeper.
When he returned to campus, Misty’s window light was off.
She was still with Sutton.
And for the first time, Phillip felt a bitterness curl in his chest.
He would wait. He always had. But something told him that waiting would come at a cost.
Because every moment she spent with Sutton… was a moment further from him.
And closer to heartbreak.
Phillip lay awake that night, staring at the ceiling, his wolf pacing just beneath the surface.
They were both restless.
And more in love than they wanted to admit.
- Writer
