Page 28 of Meant for Them
“Morgan? What the fuck are you doing over there? Do you have any idea how terrified I've been? I've been looking for you everywhere. Why the hell did you run off like that? You could have gotten seriously hurt!”
Jake grabs the phone from me. Clearly his wolf hearing is set to on because he immediately starts answering questions. “Hey big bro. Funny story. This gorgeous wolf wandered onto our property a few days ago. Like seriously, pretty as can be. Sweet as hell, too. Well, when she was comfortable enough to shift anyway. I mean, she's a little sassy, but I think we'll keep her. Oh, and she did get seriously hurt. But no worries, we cleaned up your mess for you.”
Jake puts the call on speaker, and I am so curious about what's going to happen here. I lean on the counter, propping my chin on my hand, completely dialed in.
“Give the phone back to her. I need to make sure she's okay.”
Wiley smirks at me, rubbing his thumb along his new bite mark on my wrist. He speaks loud enough for his brother to hear on the phone. “Well, Morgan? Are youokay?”
The attention on the mark is making it hard to focus, the bond clouding my head and making me want things with them that I very rarely want. “I'm great. So good, yeah. No worries here. No complaints.”
“I'm coming to get you. You guys better not do anything stupid before I get there.”
“I'm sorry, we didn't invite you. We don't need your assistance, bro,” Troy snarks. As the youngest, he tends to be the most playful and seems like he takes things just a little bit less seriously than the others, lives a bit freer. I can tell from the tone he's using on Alex though how much resentment he holds against his estranged brother. “We don't need you anywherenear our mate. And if you come anyway, it's not going to go the way you think it will. So do us all a favor and just stay where you are and leave us out of it.”
“How did this even happen? Was she working with you guys this whole time or something? How the hell did she find you guys?”
“Alex, not everybody's out to get you.” I sincerely hope he can hear how exhausted I already am by this conversation with him.
“I don't even know why you left! I had you set up so nice here. Why the hell would you throw that away to go live in the middle of nowhere withthem?”Oh fuck, he’s panicking. Nice.
I do appreciate that he's talking to me and not around me this time. “Set up nicely? You mean in the place you got for me before I even really moved in with you? The one you were planning on banishing me to the entire time? You didn't mark me, I know you don’t want me. You basically told me being a half-breed was a deal breaker. I don't know what you're upset about. You don't get to be upset that somebody wants what you threw away.”
“I didn't even know that paperwork was in there. You weren’t supposed to see it, I certainly didn't put that paperwork in there. You have to believe me, Morgan, please. I would never...”
The eye roll comes naturally when I’m talking to Alex. “It seems like there're lots of things you would never do, and committing to me is one of them. I'm not about to hang around and beg for scraps from you, Alex. You promised me things you didn't really mean; you failed to mark me when I gave you everything, and you barely even chased after me when I left. And this is on top of you telling me you were about to leave town anyway. You couldn't get away from me fast enough. I'm going to hang up so you can go have your little pity party in peace.”
“No wait, Morgan please. Don't. Can I come visit? We need to talk.”
The guys are all giving me the floor to say what I want to, not trying to manage me or talk over me, which gives me the confidence to handle this. But honestly, I'm just over this waste of life. We didn't have some big, sweeping romance, Alex didn't even really break my heart. He just showed me exactly who he was, and I believed him.
“Visit? I don't know why you’d bother with that. You're the one that wanted out. And I gave it to you. So go enjoy your freedom, don't even worry about me. Hell, don’t eventhinkabout me. I've got three mates here, and they're already doing a better job of taking care of me than you did, and they literallyjustmarked me.
“Ooh! You know what else? No skeezy job offer or manipulations to get in my pants were required. I don't want to make this a
competition or anything, but I'm trying to be happy here. Trying to start over. You calling now like a little bitch is not helping.”
With that, I step outside, craving some fresh air. I leave the guys to deal with Alex how they see fit to, because he's not my problem anymore.
“Feel like a company, or do you need some time on your own?” This is how you go after a woman, folks. I don't think I even made it 15 steps out the door.
I hold my hand out for Wiley to take, and I start wandering down one of the dirt paths that run through their property.
“Do you want to talk about him?”
I shrug. “I don't really know that I have much to say about him. He promised me he wanted me; I slept with him one time, and then he made it clear that's all he wanted from me. It sucks, butit's a loss I was always expecting. It’s also difficult to feel upset when I’ve already replaced him with a mega-upgrade.”
Wiley stops me with a tug on my hand, spinning me around to face him. His hands goes up to frame my face, tilting it to look at him. “You don't normally trust easily, do you?”
“Kind of hard to when your whole life has been one long lesson in why you shouldn't. I'm not trying to be a downer or anything, just practical. If I had... let myself hope I had a future with Alex, if I had planned for anything real, if I had bought into the fairy tale he was trying to sell me, I'd be a lot more torn up right now.
“Instead, I guess I'm more disappointed that I let my guard down around him the little bit that I did. I don't think my virginity is sacred or anything like that, but I kind of wish the person I gave my body to would at least appreciate the gesture. Not try and run as soon as they could.”
“What about us? Do you see yourself with a future here? Because I've got to tell you, those marks aren't temporary tattoos that will come off with a bit of rubbing alcohol. You know this is permanent, right? That even if you leave, you're going to be craving us until your wolf gets away and comes right back?”
I press a kiss to his palm, and I feel a smile take over my features. “I'm counting on it. Because I know that goes both ways. You marked me. You can't go and try and pick up somebody else, you can't ditch out on me without some serious repercussions. I’d say you're about as stuck as I am. Mutually assured destruction. Exactly the way I like it.”
He takes a step closer and laughs, sound rumbling through his chest. “You're something else; you know that? In case you were wondering, I am pinning all my hopes on a future with you. I've got color schemes picked out, china patterns, the whole nine yards.”
