Chapter 2 2

2

~ISABELLA'S POV~

"Isabella! Isabella, where are you going?"

I ignored Jack's voice and ran down the aisle of the church and pushed the double doors open. The cool air of spring crashed against my face as I made my descent down the flight of stairs, faster than I ever thought I could go on heels.

I looked over my shoulder trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of the man who would be my downfall when I crashed into a brick wall.

Since when was there a brick wall in the middle of the stairway?

And that's when I smelt it. The scent of sunflowers and ash filled my nostrils and my heart began to pound in my chest as I recognised the scent I knew all too well. A scent which only belonged to one person.

"Isabella?"

His voice sounded like a forbidden melody in my ears and I lifted my head till my greens eyes crashed into the blood red eyes of the man before me.

Adrian.

"Isabella, what are you doing outside the church? Is something going on inside?"

Images of his broken body flashed before my eyes. The disheartened expression on his face. The blood that oozed from his injuries. The way he tried to hold me close to his chest after I've pushed him away a million times. The frozen look of pain in his eyes. The horrific sound his head made when it crashed against the floor.

"Isabella? Isabella, talk to me. What are you..."

I don't know if I was driven by the thought that I almost lost him or the realization that I have been foolish for a long time but I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards me till his lips crashed against mine.

Adrian froze against me as bewilderment washed over him like a bucket of cold water. I moved my hand from the collar of his shirt to his neck and stuck my tongue into his mouth while silently praying to the moon goddess that he would reciprocate the kiss.

And he did.

Once that feeling of shock faded, Adrian wrapped his arms around my waist and his tongue met mine in his mouth. Our tongues got tangled in a slippery dance and balls of desire burst within me.

I'm kissing Adrian. I'm kissing the man I rejected. I'm kissing the God of war.

And I'm loving every second of it.

But sadly, all good things must come to an end and the end of this intense make out session came in the form of the booming voice of my ex fiance.

"ISABELLA!!"

Adrian pulled away from me and cast his gaze at the entrance to the church with a confused look on his face.

"Isabella, what is..."

"I don't have time to explain. I just need you to help me get out of here."

Adrian hesitated before nodding his head and flung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. A shriek fell from my lips and Adrian ran down the rest of the stairs with me on his shoulder.

He walked to where the carriages were packed and opened the door of a carriage I don't recognise and threw me onto the passenger's seat before running to the driver's seat after shutting my door. Adrian struck the reins against the horse and the animal took off just as Jack's fingers grazed the handle of the door.

Relief washed over me as we moved away from the cluster of people behind us but that relief was short lived because the moment we let our guard down, something ran into the left side of my carriage before another object ran into the right side of the carriage and a string of howls reached my ears.

I watched through the window screen in front of me as Adrian tried fighting one of the wolves that cling to his right side but he was so focused on the wolf he was fighting that he didn't notice the bolt of lightning that came from behind us, aiming directly at the driver's part of the carriage.

If anything happens to Adrian, I'm going to kill you father!

Except, it never hit Adrian. Instead it hit the belts that connected the horse to the carriage. Adrian had already taken care of the other wolf but before we could both realize what was going on, the reins on the horse snapped and the creature ran for its life while we crashed into a tree.

A groan fell from my lips and I crawled out of the carriage. I fell to the floor with a thud and looked around frantically for Adrian, only to find him a couple of feet away from me with his back turned and a hand on his temple.

Another bucket of relief washed over me and I picked up the hems of my extravagant wedding dress and walked towards him.

I stood beside him and placed my head on his shoulder as the sound of his breathing calmed the bundle of nerves within me.

"Are you okay, Adrian?"

"Well except for the part where your father almost hit me with a bolt of lightning then I'm fine."

I nodded my head and ran my hands over his shoulder, trying to calm the wolf that paced within me

"Did you see anyone else?" he asked in a calm voice and I turned my head in search of more wolves but there were none.

"No. No, there's no one."

"Good."

He nodded his head in acknowledgement. A faraway look sat in his red eyes and just when I thought he was lost in the city of his thoughts, a look of anger chased away all other emotions and he pulled himself away from me.

A pang of hurt nipped at my fragile heart and I tried to reach for him once more, hoping he would let me touch his skin. But instead he pushed me away and spoke in a cold voice.

"Now you're going to tell me what the hell is going on? Why did you run out of the church?"

A pregnant pause moved past us and a sheer layer of perspiration covered my skin.

"I ran away because I didn't want to marry Jack," I whispered into the wind, and Adrian turned to me with a cocked eyebrow and unamused smile on his face.

"This is strange. Just yesterday all you wanted to do was to marry the man of your dreams. What happened today?"

"I changed my mind."

He nodded his head like that was the most logical explanation he had ever heard and just when I thought he was done asking questions. He spoke again.

"Why did you kiss me, Isabella?"

I want to tell him that I kissed him because he was the kindest soul that I could encounter. I want to tell him that it took me watching him die to realize that I don't want to spend the rest of my days without him now that I have been given a second chance at life.

But instead all I could say were three feeble words that didn't even scratch the surface of what I feel.

"I don't know."

Silence washed over us and my heart pounded against my ribcage.

"You don't know," he repeated my words with a tone so bitter that I flicked away from him at the sound of it.

"You reject me in front of the entire pack, chose my brother over me, ignored my warnings about him, push me away, then you run out of the church saying you don't want to marry Jack, then you kiss me and all you have to say is 'I don't know'"

I nodded my head and he threw his hands in the air then pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sorry, Adrian."

He froze at my words and another wave of silence washed over us and it was then that the dam holding his emotions at bay broke before my eyes.