Chapter 12: Acceptance
1657 Words
Astria lifted her head and stared at his face. Under the hazy teary gaze, she somehow traveled back to the morning when she first saw Bryce. She was plagued with hangovers and residual sleepiness. Back then Bryce was a bit scary and hot.
For some reason, he always had a smile on his face now.
It was reassuring. It made him approachable and a hundred times more attractive.
Maybe it was the reason why, or maybe Astria was trying to find a reason to justify her actions. She touched his face and leaned down. Her trembling lips stained with tears fell on his hot lips.
Bryce closed his eyes. Her touch on him was electrifying. Burning her mark on him. At that moment, when he was sober and painfully aware of her touch, he had a clear explanation as to why mates were so highly regarded.
For a split second, he never thought Duncan's decision was fair. After all, who could ever resist the touch so satisfying?
He threw that thought out of his mind as soon as it came though. Duncan is trash. Can't be forgiven!
The kiss lasted a few seconds. A bit too short of what they both would have wanted. But that's how long Astria could hold onto her irrational mind before sense took over it.
Astria's tear stained face came into his view when he opened his eyes. Astria sniffed and licked her lips, greedily staring at him.
"So?" Bryce whispered, his voice unintentionally low and magnetic.
Astria removed her hand from his face, letting it trail down painfully slow. She nodded simply in response.
"Okay."
Bryce rubbed her waist in response. Although his expression didn't change, the clarity in his eyes was enough to tell how pleased he was. Astria was participating sensitive to his eyes. When she looked into it, a whirlpool seemed to such her into them and refuse to let go.
Bryce blinked, cutting off the connection she had made one sided.
As if a spell had been broken, Astria snapped out of the daze and stood up on stumbling legs. Once far apart, she lowered her eyes to see Bryce patting his thigh with a satisfied smirk playing on the corner of his lips.
"Ahem," Astria tried to lower her embarrassment by changing the topic, "Then -"
"Let's go to Lupine. We have some things to prepare before you embark on the journey to become an Alpha."
"Huh?"
Bryce leaned forward, elbows on the knees and eyes up at her. Astria had to admit that she quite liked the angle. She could see his eyelashes... They were thick and long. She subconsciously imagined them fluttering against her skin -
Astria closed her eyes and shivered as if she had the most embarrassing flashback. With tear stained face, she walked over to the nearest wall, ignoring whatever Bryce was saying, and banged her head on the solid surface.
Bryce's grey eyes went wide in shock. He walked up to her and pulled her head back from the wall. Astria still had her eyes closed so she couldn't see the astonishment in his eyes that slowly transformed into amusement.
All she could think of was the fact that she had mysteriously turned into a woman who lusted over a man's body all day. A man she didn't want to put her trust in.
How many times did she fantasize about his body? Too many times to keep a count. Astria was disappointed in herself, but at the same time, she couldn't put a finger on the feeling.
She was mourning and desperate, but as soon as Bryce came around, she was inexplicably seduced into forgetting all of that, and a comfortable warmth washed over her like a blanket.
It was wrong.
Astria needed to hold herself back.
When her eyes opened, she found Bryce leaning sideways on the wall she just banged her head on. A red spot bulged on her head which looked quite comical. Paired with her deadpanned face, Bryce wasn't able to hold back anymore and burst into a short laugh.
Astria smiled and rolled her eyes, "Did you see something funny, Alpha Bryce."
Bryce straightened up when she used his title, fixed his shirt, and nodded, "As a matter of fact, yes. However, it's not the time to laugh. You should be getting ready to leave tomorrow."
"Leave?" Astria raised an eyebrow.
The soreness on her forehead didn't let that domineering eyebrow stay upright. It was lowered in a pitiful way with a hiss.
"Yes, didn't you hear what I just said? We should leave this place as soon as possible in case they try to finish off what they started. We can't give them the opportunity. Come to Lupine. I'll take care of everything there..."
Bryce shamelessly swung his hand to tug at her fingers lying limp next to her. They were standing by the wall, engrossed in an unusual conversation about the future. It seemed odd but also satisfying to an extent that fulfilled the bleeding wound in Astria's heart.
"I agree. We can't stay here too long. The red moon pack is their territory now. Even if they don't see me as a threat now, it will be reassuring to get rid of me as they got rid of my father."
It was not her long term plan to stay in the pack. If Bryce had not suggested going to Lupine, she might have had to struggle to get out of there and find another place. Conveniently, he was here to guide her.
"Alright, rest up for the night. We'll leave in the morning." Bryce rubbed her cheek gently and comforted her with words and a small kiss on the forehead before leaving.
The door gently closed behind him, leaving a silence that made Astria's breath shallow with pain.
Astria actually couldn't tell if the thin skin on her forehead was tingling because of the short lived kiss or the stupid head banging performance earlier.
Either way, Astria didn't have enough time to think of it. They would be leaving tomorrow, and there were better things to do.
It had been a while since Astria got a good night's sleep. Ever since the day Duncan brought Lavender to the house, Astria had been experiencing a plaguing insomnia. The condition of her sleep only worsened with time and with the way her life was going downhill, Astria didn't think this night was going to get any different.
In fact, it was a restless night. Not only did Astria not sleep well, she also had a night full of hellish nightmares. The nightmares were nothing but the projection of her worst fears. The things that were happening in reality, which she had to confront whether she liked it or not. They haunted her even in the unconscious state of dreams.
Astria woke up in a cold sweat and a suffocating feeling took over her body in a tight grip.
The nightmares were forgotten as soon as she woke up, but the reality was waiting for her to face it. Astria stayed on the bed holding her knees and staring at the wall.
Her head was empty. She was just trying to get the courage to leave the bed and actually leave the room. Because as soon as she left the door, the world would come crumbling down.
The number of creases on the sheets told the story of how restless she had been the entire night. Astria took a shaky breath and entered the bathroom to face yet another day.
After facing a few days of the same trend of something bad happening as soon as dawn arrived, Astria should have expected the day to start off wrong again.
It was when Bryce entered her hotel room without knocking. She had just taken a shower and was wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe when she found him lying down on her messed up bed with his eyes closed.
"Aahhh!" Astria screamed at the top of her lungs at first. When she saw the man was actually Bryce, she quickly calmed down and huffed.
The scream caught his attention.
Bryce jumped up from the bed and gave her a once over. The smirk on his face showed that he wasn't disappointed with what he saw, "Why do you keep screaming? I haven't even done anything to make you scream yet."
The implication turned Astria into a ball of red and hot mess. She clutched the collar of her bathrobe and eyed him with a sneer.
"I pressed the bell and knocked, but you didn't answer. I got worried since you have more enemies in this place than you have friends. What if someone came to kill you at night?" Bryce walked over to her side and touched the spot under her right eye.
Astria froze under his touch and only let go of the breath when the touch was gone.
"You shed eyelashes like you have unlimited growth."
He showed the small eyelash at the tip of his finger. Astria rolled her eyes.
"Get out!" She snapped.
Her wet hair stuck to the sides of her face when she moved it angrily. Bryce chuckled, jiggled the keys in his hand, and left the bedroom. Where she couldn't see, he clenched the other hand, trapping the innocent eyelash inside.
When Astria came out fully dressed, Bryce frowned in confusion.
"Where is your luggage?" He asked. Then he remembered there was no luggage when he drove Astria to her house. It was still at her friend's place.
"It's still at your friend's house? We can pick it up on the way."
Astria nodded, "I spoke to her yesterday, and we'll pick it up. But before that, I need to go back to that house to pick up another important thing."
Bryce paused, "You mean that house where people want you dead?"
"I want to get my father's ashes."
- Writer
