Chapter 5 Slumber

"P-packing?" I questioned the implications of that, my eyes going wide.

"Love, you're going to come live with me." Gently, as though that were a given, he said. When he saw me transfixed, searching for words, he proceeded.

"In a week, I will come to get you."

"I don't want to live with you." I stammered away. He scowled.

"And why is that?" He said it emphatically.

"I can't live with you; you're you, and I'm a human, and this is just." I stopped talking, unable to express what was on my mind without making him want to rip my throat out.

"Mates live together; that is the rule, and you are my mate. And to put it plainly, I don't want to or am able to live without you." He said, softening his gaze as he said. I understood the subliminal meaning underlying his statements: I was his, and he could force me to do whatever. There was nothing I could do about it. That was the rule: wolves would go to tremendous lengths to prevent a human partner from trying to deny them. This man, the unexpected king, could have everyone I love slaughtered before I could even say I'm sorry. I think he was alluding to it when he brought up the regulation. My heart grew heavy when I realized there was just one option available to me.

I answered, looking down and unable to meet his eyes, "I understand."

He lifted my chin with a gentle fingertip reach so I could look up at him.

"Goodbye for now, my love." He buried his face in my hair and started putting his arms around my waist to draw me close to him.

"Meum miraculum." He muttered something into my hair. I tried to break away, and he let me, relaxing his grip a moment later. I turned and started to walk away from him because I didn't want to look up at him again or show him how much my eyes were watering.

After walking up to the car and glancing down at my mother's queries, my father shushed her by placing his hand on her arms and gently yanking her away from me. I felt like screaming and letting out all of my inner anguish, but instead I sat quietly and fought back the tears on the way home.

I hopped out of the car as soon as it stopped and hurried to my room while waiting for my mother to unlock the door.

I wept softly that night for everything I had lost in one terrible day. I used the pillow to muffle my tears as I sobbed for hours. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning till I had exhausted myself, despite hearing my parents chat about the previous night, when they too went to sleep. They were distraught because their only child was being taken away from them. My chest hurt, and I bit my lip firmly to keep from crying in front of them since I didn't think they should know how much this was hurting me. They could have taken everything away from you in an instant, and I would never have told them how much it hurt to have everything you've ever had. My eyes swelled, my throat dry, and my chest ached with a hollow feeling. I was physically unable to cry any more, and I slipped into a restless slumber.