Chapter 20
I’m not sure what it was, but there was something about Peyton that instantly rubbed me the wrong way. It might have been the pinched look on her face she was always sporting, like she’d just licked something sour. It could have been the fact that she poisoned my cat.
Or it could have been the way her grubby little hands were all over my man.
Without thinking, I stomped toward them, my eyes pinned to Peyton’s hand on Abraham’s bicep. He must have seen me coming because he quickly disentangled himself from her and took a step forward, blocking my view of her.
“El, remember where you are,” he warned.
“What is she doing here?”
He held up both hands in surrender. “She’s here to see Del perform. She goes to most of her shows.”
I breathed in through my mouth and out through my nose while I tried to get his words to make sense.
On the one hand, I was glad there was another person here for my friend. I’d never begrudge Del her supporters, even if it was a woman I couldn’t stand.
On the other hand, she sure as hell didn’t need to touch Abraham to listen to Del sing.
As I stood there trying to control the temper I could feel dangerously close to flaring up, Peyton had the nerve to take a step forward and wrap her arm around Abraham’s bicep. My eyes zeroed in on her pale fingers as my whole body started to shake.
I took a step closer until I was inches from her. “Get your hand off him,” I warned her, my voice low. If she hadn’t been a werewolf with super hearing, she wouldn’t have been able to make out my words.
But, judging by the even more pinched look on her face, she’d heard me loud and clear. “What’s your problem, Elizabeth?”
I took another step forward until my chest was grazing Abraham’s arm. “You are my problem. Get your hand off him before I do it for you.”
I’d never felt this possessive before.
She stood there, eyes locked with mine for a long moment before Abraham took a step to the side and her hand fell off him.
“El, you need to calm down,” he said.
I knew he was right.
I could feel my arms itching with the fur that wanted to sprout from my skin. Could feel the tremors wracking my body and for a split second, I had the ultra-clear vision of a werewolf and knew my eyes had betrayed my control.
“Yeah, Elizabeth. Take a pill,” Peyton chimed in.
I growled deep in the back of my throat and took a menacing step toward her.
“Peyton!” Abraham barked. “If you’re going to make the situation worse, you need to shut up and walk away.”
“Abey, it’s her that can’t control herself. Look at her! She’s about to shift in a room full of humans.”
He huffed out a sigh and turned toward her. “Go, Peyton.”
She rolled her eyes and blew out an exasperated breath but turned and disappeared into the crowd.
As soon as she was out of my line of sight, my body stopped shaking and my breathing slowed.
I hated how worked up she made me. How I let her get under my skin. How just the sight of her face made me want to shift.
I needed to work on my control. Needed to learn to tame this beast before it got the better of me again.
What if I’d lost it and shifted in here with all these humans around? If I was extremely lucky, no one would actually see the transformation. But, what then? There’d still be a giant wolf in the middle of a concert venue with no plausible explanation as to how to how it got there. It would be a nightmare. Not to mention the kind of stress it would put on Abraham and my friends.
“Are you okay now?” Abraham asked from beside me, his voice warm and comforting.
But I didn’t want to be comforted.
“What were you doing with her?” I asked, my voice sharp.
His brows creased with a frown. “She found me in the parking lot.”
“So? Why did you need to walk in with her? Why did you need to bring her over here? You know I don’t like her.”
I could hear myself saying the words, feel them spilling from my mouth, but I was powerless to stop them. I barely meant them, and still they fell from my lips unhindered.
Abraham sighed and ran a hand down his face. “I know you don’t like her, El, but she’s still pack and I’m still her alpha.”
Logically, I understood that. But I wasn’t feeling very logical at the moment.
“So, all your pack members hang all over you like her? They must all want to fuck you too then, right?”
I was barely making sense at this point. The words kept tumbling out of my mouth and I was just along for the ride.
His eyes widened in shock. “No, El, they don’t all want to fuck me. What’s wrong with you?”
I took a step closer until I could jab him in the chest with my pointer finger. “I’m sick of finding her all over you every time I turn around. I’m sick of seeing her smug face as she touches you, knowing it drives me crazy. And then you have the nerve to drag her over here? What’s wrong with you?”
He jerked back like I’d slapped him, and honestly, I couldn’t blame him. I’d never spoken to him like this before. Never raised my voice or dropped f-bombs in an argument in my life. And yet here I was, poking him in the chest and yelling at him, and acting like a maniac.
“El, there’s nothing between us, you know that.”
“Do I? She seems awful comfortable around you. And from what I hear, she’s been after you for years. You mean to tell me you never took her up on what I’m sure is a standing offer to her bed? Never once gave in and went home with her?”
What was I saying?
Abraham had never given me any reason to doubt him, and I was practically calling him a liar. I was acting crazy. Irrational. I barely recognized myself.
His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No. I haven’t. I’ve told you I’ve never been with her.”
I could feel the sincerity in his words, but the anger inside me was like a living, breathing thing and it was completely out of my control by this point.
Just then, the crowd surrounding us began yelling and clapping. I turned toward the front of the room to find Del walking to the microphone and stool in the center of the stage. She looked beautiful in a pair of cut-off denim shorts, a sparkly tank-top and her signature cowboy boots.
“How’re y’all doin’?” she yelled into the microphone, eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd.
I felt the heat of Abraham’s body before his hands grasped my hips and pulled me against his chest. “We’ll talk about this later. Let’s just enjoy her show,” he said in my ear.
I nodded stiffly and tried to ignore the way my body tingled where he touched me. It would be so much easier to be angry at him if he wasn’t so irresistible.
Del started off her show with a cover of Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby”. I’d never heard it sung acoustically and was amazed at how Del performed it. After that, she transitioned into one of her original songs and before long I was swaying to the beat and singing along to any lyrics I knew.
Soon, the altercation with Peyton was forgotten, and I was simply enjoying my friend’s performance. Every time I saw her on stage, it was clearer to me that this was where she belonged. She shone so bright up there as she captivated the room with her sultry voice.
When she’d finished her last song, she thanked the crowd to thunderous applause. Even though I’d gotten more used to the enhanced werewolf hearing, my ears were still ringing by the time the room quieted down again.
“I’m gonna head to the bar. What can I get you?” Abraham asked in my ear.
I was still upset at him but trying to reign in my temper. He hadn’t really done anything wrong after all. He’d just walked her inside. Should he have brought her over to me? Probably not. But I needed to remember that it was his job to take care of all the members of his pack, even the ones I don’t like.
I turned to look at him over my shoulder. “I’ll have what you’re having.”
He nodded, placed a kiss on my temple, and walked away, the crowd easily parting for his massive frame. When he was out of sight, Evey and Callie walked over, both with wary eyes.
“You okay?” Evey asked when she was close enough that she didn’t have to yell over the excited crowd.
I shrugged and shook my head. “There’s just something about her that gets under my skin.”
Evey slung a thin arm around my neck and leaned up to speak in my ear. “There’s nothing for you to worry about, Ellie. I told you, Peyton’s been barkin’ up that tree for years. Nothin’s happened and nothin’ will happen. Don’t let her get to you ‘cause it’s exactly what she wants.”
She was right.
They were all right.
So, why was it that my blood was still set to simmer in my veins? Why was it that I was searching the crowd for any sign of her or Abraham, or worse, her and Abraham?
I craned my neck to see over the crowd to the bar, hoping I’d find Abraham headed back this way.
Instead, I found him with her.
Again.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I whispered under my breath.
A hand on my arm stopped me in my tracks and it was only then that I realized I’d begun marching in their direction.
“Ellie don’t do it. Don’t go over there,” Callie whispered in my ear.
I shook my head and tried to dislodge my arm from her grasp, but she was stronger than she looked. I needed to go to them. Needed to get a better look at what I couldn’t believe I was seeing.
Peyton had both hands on Abraham’s shoulders, reaching up to speak in his ear while his hand was wrapped around her arm.
They were practically embracing.
“Ellie, I’m sure it’s not what it looks like. Give him a chance to explain,” Evey spoke up.
I shook my head. He’d already tried explaining to me. We’d just talked about how I don’t like her all over him and the second he leaves my side, he’s with her? He’s touching her?
My body was quaking like there was a disrupted fault line right down my center. I squeezed my hands into fists and felt the sharp sting of my claws against my palm.
I needed to go.
Needed to walk away before I lost it completely and shifted.
Even breathing exercises couldn’t help in this situation.
I turned around and started pushing my way through the crowd toward the door. Evey and Callie were yelling after me, but I couldn’t answer them. I couldn’t stop my forward progression, or I might just make a sharp right turn and confront Peyton instead of leaving. Which wouldn’t do anyone any good.
I was within feet of the door when a large hand wrapped around my arm and tugged me to a stop. Looking up, I found Calvin’s curious hazel gaze fastened on me.
“Where do you think you’re goin’?” he asked.
I shook my head, my body still trembling. “I need to go.” It was all I could force past my pursed lips. I tried to pull my arm free, but he held on effortlessly.
“What’s going on?” Clyde asked as he stepped up next to his brother.
I huffed out an angry breath.
I didn’t have time for this. I needed to go. To get some air. To get some distance before I did something that would put all of our safety in jeopardy.
Calvin must have seen the fear in my eyes because his grip loosened from around my arm. “I just want to make sure you’re okay,” he said.
I appreciated his kindness. I really did. I just wasn’t in the headspace to vocalize that. Instead, I pulled my arm free and moved to push past the both of them.
“Running again?”
I spun around to face them, wondering which brother had said that. Judging by the sneer on Clyde’s face, he was the culprit.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“You just seem to do a lot of running away.”
His words hit a sore spot which only served to enrage me further. “Mind your business, Clyde. This has nothing to do with you.”
He shrugged a single shoulder. “Maybe not. I’ve just never seen a wolf run away from their pack so often. It’s almost like you don’t want to be a part of us. If that’s the case, why don’t you put everyone out of their misery and just stay gone?”
Each syllable was like a tiny knife to my insides.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
I just couldn’t deal with any more of his truths right now.
I spun back around and pushed my way through the crowd until I was out in the lobby of the venue. Not satisfied with the distance I’d gained, I kept on walking until I was outside taking deep breaths of the nighttime spring air.
My body was still shaking, but it had slowed down considerably. The anger was fading from my system, and in its place was a deep discomfort at Clyde’s words.
Was he right?
Was I constantly running?
Was I making a huge mistake trying to keep my old life in Raleigh when so much had changed. When I’d changed so drastically.
I didn’t know.
And worst of all, there was no one I could ask. No one could make this decision for me. Hell, knowing me, if someone tried to give me advice I’d do the opposite out of spite.
But, I was tired.
Tired of the back and forth.
Tired of trying to keep up with both halves of my life.
Tired of always feeling like I’m on the outside looking in.
It felt like there was only so much more of this that I could take. Like sooner or later, I’d have to choose a side because living these two different lives was tearing me apart.