Page 3 of Banished Mates
She glared at me before looking over my head to meet Camden’s eyes.
My teeth clicked together and I fisted my hand. There were few things that wrought aggression from me, but messing with Camden was one of them.
“Don’t,” Camden snapped, dragging me behind him with ease. “You can’t win against someone that can shift.”
I deflated at his lack of belief in me. He had a point, but I refused to admit it. It was no secret that I was a werewolf without the ability to shift, but it wasn’t something I liked to randomly throw out when I was in the middle of a stare down with someone. I glared up at his wide muscled back as he stepped in front of me, blocking me from Meridith’s view.
“I think it’s best we reschedule,” she said strained.
I huffed.No shit.Camden’s shoulders twitched at my noisy exhale. It wasbestif they never saw each other again.
Meridith wasn’t necessarily a bad person, but she had eyes on my best friend, and I wasn’t having it.
We’d made a pact to always have each other’s back.
Yes, we were eleven and I was only a month younger than him, but I’d stuck to it, so I expected the same.
I poked my head out from around Camden and sneered at her. Immature, yes, but without much of a way to communicate with her, I had to be dramatic about the way I expressed my emotions.
Her attention dropped to me and the severe line of her lips tightened.
“He can’t always tailor to you, Willow,” Meridith said, her voice curt. “You’re holding on to someone that can’t belong to you. You know this. Otherwise, you would already be together.” Her words hit me like a sledgehammer. I sucked in a pained breath as a rush filled my ears. I was trying my best to show that her words didn’t affect me, but they hurt.
“Meridith. Go.”
Her eyes dropped at Camden’s sharp words and her shoulders jerked. She bowed her head low, not meeting his eyes as she strode away. I didn’t take my eyes off her until she disappeared around the tree.
With her gone, my shoulders relaxed, my fingers flexed, and it wasn’t until then that I realized I’d grabbed onto Camden’s arm when she’d said that. Her words rang true. Why did she have to throw that in my face?
I loosened my grip and let my arms drop to my sides. After a beat of staring at each other, I lifted my hands to sign.
“I thought I was helping you.”
“You’re not making it any easier on me, Willow,” Camden shouted. Each syllable struck me as if they were physical blows.Iwas making it difficult forhim...
Hearing this from him burned my chest and I felt at a loss. The ache in his voice made my body throb. I couldn’t have him, and he couldn’t have me.
Soon after he turned eighteen and shifted, he’d ended up at my doorstep, smelling of tequila. That night he’d been my first and last lover. An unforgettable night.
His gentle touches, moans, and gasps all replayed in my memory when I needed relief. It was what I lived off of. Those memories and his constant presence in my life. I’d ran out of my house while he was still sleeping and avoided him for a month. It worked in my favor he had left to go on some training with a different pack. It gave me the time to muster the courage to distance myself. I’d ignored his texts until the day before he returned because it hurt too much.
The message I’d sent still burned my heart. I told him it was a mistake, and I didn’t want to ruin our relationship—and he’d easily acquiesced. Did some small part of me want him to fight me on it? Of course, but nothing came of fruitless hopes, so I did what I knew he would have eventually had to—break it off.
My hand trembled and I clenched it into a fist.
It was years later, and I was still haunted. Not even having him by my side abated my hunger for him, but it was pointless. I couldn’t shift because it would mean his death and he couldn’t mate me as a shiftless werewolf. We couldn’t be together.
My heart ached at the thought.
I couldn’t put his life in danger. Not him. Never. I needed to protect him and for him to be safe and live an uneventful life. For that, I had to be out of the picture.
“Fine. I’ll give you your space to find yourself a mate. Sorry I’ve been a bother.”I turned on my heel to walk away. I’d been selfish and let my rashness and possessiveness get in the way.
“Dammit, Willow!”
My shoulders hiked to my ears. He could have easily stopped me. He was much stronger than me... but he didn’t.
The farther I got from him, the more energy left my body, until I was dragging my feet.
