Resisting Power

Chapter 2

I felt my final days slip by. She hadn't given me much time to process this or to say goodbye.

Alex managed to drag me out of the house last night and take me drinking.

The night was a blur, but he did everything possible to make my last night in town a good one.

He tried convincing me to stay, but after a few shots, there were no more questions that could be asked.

I vaguely remember ending up in a packed nightclub and lots of close dancing.

I rubbed my eyes, the sleep was still heavy after a shower.

I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at my bags.

"Mind if I hang out with you while you wait?" Alex slid into my room and shut the door behind him without waiting for an answer.

He sat down softly, my bed creaking sharply. I smiled, thinking about how I'd miss that.

He absently placed his arm around my lower back and rested his head on my shoulder.

"You know I'm going to miss you the most, right?" His voice was low, almost a whisper.

"Scared she might hear us?" I smiled and nudged him.

"We actually uhm... Broke up last night..."

My eyebrows shot up, "What?" I whispered the question.

He chuckled, "It has been a long time coming, Mae." He slid his hand over my thigh and I raised a brow.

"You broke up with her because of me? Was it because we went out? Did you tell her nothing happened?" My mind jumped to different reasons frantically, hoping he didn't make this rash decision over someone he would never see again.

"She was convinced we did more than just hang out. I tried to explain but she didn't budge. She commented on a friend seeing us dancing, and she just wasn't willing to listen to anything I had to say. She's not even there."

"Then why am I whispering?" I blurted out without thinking and we laughed.

"Sorry, Alex. I bet you're going through a hard time. I should've asked you how you guys were doing instead of dwelling on myself all night. And I'm sorry about the dancing, I guess? I can't really remember but, yeah. Im sorry."

"Im not sad about it, Mae." He squeezed my thigh, his hand intensely warm. It triggered a memory of the night before.

Spanish reggaeton was playing and Alex was pressed against me from behind. Our bodies were connected almost everywhere. We moved to the music, and his hands would slide and squeeze up and down my skin with our movements. My heartbeat picked up, and I could feel my face flush at the thought of his ex's friend seeing us like that.

My phone vibrated on the bed, breaking whatever moment we were just suspended in.

"Hello?" I quickly slid my finger across the screen, picking up the phone. All too happy to be free from whatever was just happening.

"Yes, uh it's the one across from the leasing office. Uh- huh... Okay I'll be right there."

Alex was staring at my bags when I hung up the call.

"Im sorry, Alex. I wish..." I stood up, and he followed suit.

We hugged tightly, and I pulled away quickly before he could confess anything. I left the room and rushed to the front door.

I wanted to say more, to tell him more, but it was probably better if I cut everything off clean.

I opened the door and ran smack into two burly men dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts.

"Maeve Byrne?" The man on the left asked. He was totally cute. His face was clean-shaven, making him look like he was at most in his mid-twenties. He had short blonde hair and an obvious widow's peak that he seemed to shave.

I nodded with a smile.

"May we start collecting your items? The car is waiting for you." The second man spoke now, his voice raspy. I wondered if he was getting over a cold, or if he was a smoker. He looked like he could have been the other guy's dad. Same blonde hair, but with bits of gray, and a thick mustache. He was just as built.

I definitely shouldn't be checking these guys out right now.

"Of course. My mother mentioned someone would be by to pack the bigger items. My immediate personal items are in my room, the first door on the left. Thank you...?"

"That's right, we'll just be grabbing the essentials you packed. My name is Mickey, and my son here is Mickey Jr. You can call us Junior and Senior for convenience." He winked and walked past me. Junior motioned for me to head towards the car with a smile before following his dad.

The car was a huge black Suburban with blacked-out windows, making me question my mother's reasoning for this.

A young guy, probably in his mid-twenties too, stepped out and leaned against the car. He didn't seem to notice me walking up.

His body was lean and outlined nicely by the fitted black t-shirt he wore. His black hair was cropped short like Junior's, and black aviators covered his eyes. He had slight stubble that I wanted to run my fingers across.

Yeah, definitely shouldn't be checking anyone out.

"Hi..." I awkwardly waved. He jumped, "s**t, oh, I'm so sorry. Uhm..." He ran his hands through his hair with one hand and pulled the back door open for me.

"It's okay, I probably should've announced myself or something." I chuckled.

He smiled shyly and offered his hand. I took it and climbed into the car.

I opted for the last row of seats since Junior or Senior most likely had to take up one of the seats back here.

The young dude jumped back into the driver's seat and smiled at me through the rearview mirror.

"Excited to be going home?" I noticed what looked like violet eyes over his sunglasses.

"Uh, yeah I guess you could say that." I forced a smile back.

"Do you know how long the trip will take?"

The trunk opened and shut, startling me. Senior slipped into the front passenger seat, and Junior splayed out across the row in front of me.

"The trip to the forest takes about an hour, then it takes like 10 minutes to get into the realm. Lobos is then a 45-minute ride through the enchanted woodlands. We have some errands to finish on this side, so you're going to ride in another car once we get to the forest." Senior answered me roughly.

"You've never been back?" Juniors' voice drifted through the air.

"No... When I left, I didn't... Uhm, I haven't been gone long so... I guess there was never really... Well no, I just didn't have enough time." I didn't know how much they knew about me, and I didn't want to share.

It was rare to find a wolf in the human realm and one that hadn't gone back to the Lycan realm at that. I didn't want to tell them that I wasn't a wolf, but the family's black sheep and an outcast. The moment people find out, it'll make things even harder for me. One thing is being an outcast in another world, away from the people who look down on you, another is living among them.

"Wait... We're going straight to Lobos?"