The Lycan Claimed Her Fate

6

"Why are you apologizing, Kane?" I asked quietly, because I didn't really understand. It wasn't his fault. I had decided to do it. Consciously. I had taken off my shoes. He hadn't taken them off me. A muscle in his jaw twitched again.

And I thought a little growl escaped from his throat. "I like it when you say my name." My eyes widened when I noticed how rough his voice suddenly was. Almost as rough as Josh's when he was aroused. A blush rose to my cheeks and I looked away.

"Now tell me. Why are you apologizing? You didn't take my shoes off. That was my decision," I said, making sure to only look out the windshield. And without having to look, I felt his gaze burning on me. It danced over my skin like fire and finally burned into one spot. A lump formed in my throat. Especially when I realized that my feet were still in his lap.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have had to make that decision if I hadn't made you flee your wedding. I didn't think you'd have to run away or anything," he said, sounding like he really meant his apology. But I thought his reasoning was stupid.

I just couldn't believe that he really blamed himself. I turned my face towards him, which turned out to be a mistake, because now his eyes were glowing again and taking my breath away. The words got stuck in my throat and I could only stare into his eyes.

I felt hot. We just stared at each other for a while. The look in his eyes made my body burn, while a tingling sensation started in my stomach that kept moving downwards. And as much as I wanted to look away, I couldn't.

When he finally looked away first and looked back at the road, I felt myself relax a little. It was only now that I realized that I had been tense the whole time.

"You know. I make conscious decisions. It wasn't your fault that I took my shoes off, it was my decision. I could have left them on, but then I would have blisters now. So neither is very good," I finally managed to say. His gaze turned to my feet and I suddenly regretted not having cut them more neatly. Then he looked up again and looked at me.

"Why did you run, July?"

His question took me by surprise. He was right. I didn't have to run away. I could have just walked to my aunt's car and driven home with her. But there was just this thing. The emotion I had seen on the others' faces.

And I hadn't wanted to see that emotion. And probably something inside me knew that Josh wouldn't let me go. And maybe a part of me had always known what Josh was like, only that I had always held him back.

I took a deep breath before looking back at Kane and starting to speak: "Maybe because a part of me knew that if I didn't run now, I would never have the chance to do so again. And I wanted to get away from the disappointed faces. His friends never really liked me anyway and I didn't like them.

Maybe a part of me also knew that Josh wasn't the right one for me. Who knows? It was an impulse that I followed." In response, he just nodded and then looked back at the road. He suddenly seemed very thoughtful.

We were silent for the rest of the ride. I listened to the song that was playing on the radio and grinned when I saw Kane bobbing his head to the beat. I loved that song.

It wasn't exactly what you'd call brand new, but I liked "Your Man" by Down With Webster. I sang along quietly and completely forgot that Kane was in the car.

Well, I didn't really forget, but something inside me told me that I couldn't make a fool of myself in front of him, which I didn't really like because I didn't understand how you could trust someone you hadn't even known for a day. Kane gave me a crooked grin, which made my cheeks flush.

"I love that song too. I thought I was the only one. No one I know hears it," he said and looked at me. I nodded.

"Me too. When I sing to that song, everyone always asks me who it is by and how long it's been around." Kane nodded and smiled at me again before looking back at the road and turning the song up.

Smiling, I leaned my shoulder against the back of the seat and I watched him bobbing his head and looking somehow happy and content. I couldn't really judge it because I hadn't known him for very long. But there was this twinkle in his eyes.

When we reached Portland, Kane turned off the road and drove through town. My eyes flew over the houses and when I saw a girl coming out of a clothing store with a bag, it dawned on me. My clothes! My things!

"We have to turn around! My things are-" I started, but Kane interrupted me. "Are with me." My mouth fell open in astonishment. Now I actually felt a bit strange. All my things were with him? How could that be?

"What? You didn't even know if I would come with you! You can't just walk into my house!" I hissed and tensed up. Knowing that Kane had been in my house, or rather Aunt May's house, was killing me. He had come into my room!

Probably had my underwear in his hand too! Kane just grinned. "Let's put it this way. I was 90% sure you would come with me." I narrowed my eyes.

"You're crazy." He looked at me.

"I'm crazy? Who would want to marry a drug addict here?" He sounded irritated. His words hit me and made me flinch. He immediately seemed to regret his words.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean it like that. I'm not used to having women around me. This is unusual. You think completely differently. Especially you. You're even worse than my mother. Honestly. Can't you just say thank you for getting your things and having them in the house already? Even all your movies and books," he said and looked at me.

I just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What would you have done if I hadn't come with you?" He just grinned. "You would have come with me, July. Secretly you know that better than anyone else. So. Let's just forget the 'what if...' That's totally stupid."

I snorted angrily and folded my arms in front of my chest.

"You really think highly of yourself, Kane Bennett. Honestly. Way too much. Such a big ego. Be careful that your ego doesn't get out of hand at some point."

Kane just continued to grin crookedly and turned his face back to the road, only to turn onto a forest path shortly afterwards. I gasped as he thundered along the bumpy path at 80 km/h.

"You know that's not my ego, July. Because I know that you sense that there's something between us. You're just scared. That's okay. Everyone is scared sometimes. But no matter how hard you fight, you won't escape fate. Never."