We’d been together for five years since I was 21. When I first laid eyes on Alonzo, I didn’t like him. He was an annoying little pest who wouldn’t leave me alone. He was one of my mom’s friends' sons. Whenever he came around—which was a lot, and very random at times—he would want to follow me wherever I went. I thought he was the weirdest man on this planet. What grown man wanted to be under a female he didn’t know? My mom brushed it off as him just having a crush and being too shy to tell me. I thought he was a weirdo. One of those men who sat outside your windows to watch you sleep at night. I would be so mean to Alonzo, but he would never let that deter him. I got to the point where I just ignored him, hoping he’d leave, but he didn’t. It was like he was my own personal protector. Slowly, I found comfort in him always being around. Then I started asking him questions here and there, trying to pick his brain until we formed a friendship, and I truly started to see him for the amazing person he was. I learned to love everything—well, almost everything—about him.
His smell never settled right with me. Like, he didn’t stink, but he just didn’t smell right to me, and I really couldn’t stand his obsession with the shifter world. I wasn’t anti-shifter like some humans; however, I did prefer to keep my distance from them. But Alonzo always wanted to go to Hollow Valley to be close to them. That was the only time he would leave my side because I wasn’t going with him.
Alonzo became my rock. He’d been there for me through the toughest time in my life. Losing my mom in a house fire nearly broke my heart. She was all I had, and I was sure without my mom, I would crumble, but Alonzo became my safe haven. After my mom’s passing, I moved in with Alonzo, and I’d never left his side since.
We had been together ever since with minimum issues. My only problem was that in the five years of us being together, we never had sex. At my big, grown age of 26, I was still a virgin. There was no foreplay, oral or anything in between. Whenever I tried to bring up the topic of sex, Alonzo would freeze up, and when I tried to initiate it, he would shut down completely. I even asked if he was gay and trying to use me as a cover up. Alonzo assured me that wasn’t the case. He claimed he wanted to wait until we were married. That held me off for a little while, especially since Alonzo proposed shortly after. However, the lack of affection was driving me insane. I needed to feel more from him. When I brought that to his attention, Alonzo claimed I wasn’t ready, but that was bullshit. I knew I wanted to feel wanted by the man I was destined to spend my life with. Here I was, dressed in lingerie, candles lit, music playing in the background, and my fiancé was looking at me like I was disgusting him.
Alonzo let out a deep breath in an annoyed manner. “Bellamy, it’s not just that. There's a lot going on. More than Ican explain to you at the moment. When the time is right, we can talk.”
Rejection from Alonzo again burned at my pride as anger filled my body. Here he was, once again making up bullshit excuses. If Alonzo was half the man he claimed he was, he would have had no problem being real with me. I wasn’t going to keep lying to myself; it was clear Alonzo really didn’t want me. I wasn’t one to doubt myself. I always knew I was beautiful. I had chestnut brown skin that was smooth and blemish free, slanted hazel-green eyes, full, plump lips, a dainty, full nose, and an oval-shaped head with round but square cheek bones. My natural hair hung well past my shoulders. My mom made sure she took care of my hair. Many people complimented my beauty. Not to mention that I was naturally thick with full, D-cup breasts, sharp curves in my hips, and my booty was a perfect peach.
While other men fell to my feet, my own fiancé looked at me like I was nothing. Maybe it was because I wasn’t what Alonzo was used to. Alonzo was Hispanic, and he was as handsome as ever, though. Before him, I’d never found myself attracted to any man outside of my own skin color, but he found his way into my heart with his striking blue eyes that didn’t look natural, curly black hair that cascaded down the middle of his back, alluring smile with semi thin lips, strong, square jaws, and clean shaven face with a tall, slender build. He normally dated skinny girls with lighter skin complexions. Early on, seeing that I was the total opposite of all his exes did make me nervous, but he assured me that didn’t mean anything. I believed him at the time, but now, I didn’t.
“You’re a fucking liar. I’m sick of this bullshit. If you don’t want to be with me, then say so, you lying bastard,” I raged, screaming at the top of my lungs. My judgment was clouded by my anger. I snatched my engagement ring off beforethrowing it out our bedroom window. “Fuck you, and fuck this relationship.”
“Bellamy, what the hell is wrong with you? Do you realize what you're doing?” Alonzo yelled at me while frantically running over to the window and looking out of it. He seemed more concerned about that ring than he was about me. That added more fuel to my fire. Alonzo really didn’t want me.
“You are what’s wrong with me! You care about everything but me and how I feel!” I continued to scream, feeling like I was losing my mind.
“All I do is care about you and your safety!” Alonzo screamed at the top of his lungs, scaring me. His eyes glowed an unnatural shade of blue. I stepped back from him and the window. Alonzo looked at me while shaking his head before jumping out the window.
With alarm, I rushed back over to the window, thinking Alonzo had hurt himself. Our bedroom was on the second floor of our house. Seeing him standing on his own two feet sent an uneasy feeling through my body. There was no way he could have jumped out the window and not hurt himself. I watched Alonzo disappear into the woods on the side of the house, I assumed to look for my ring.
Rushing downstairs, I sat on the couch to wait for him to come home. A part of me felt bad. I didn’t want him out in the woods this late alone. Although we didn’t live close to Hollow Valley, we still shared woods with wolf shifters. I didn’t trust them. They hadn’t done anything to me, but they had to be beasts. Humans who could turn into animals? That sounded more like a curse than a blessing. Fate had to really hate them.
I waited for hours and hours until I fell asleep on the couch, only to be woken up by Alonzo busting into the house, startling me out of my sleep. “Get up! Get up, Bellamy!” Alonzo said withurgency as sweat dripped down his forehead. He was shirtless and in pants he hadn’t left the house in.
“Wha-what is going on?” I groggily asked while trying to process what was going on around me.
“We don’t have time for that. Put this on,” Alonzo demanded while shoving a ring similar to my engagement ring onto my hand.
“This isn’t my ring.” I was confused about how he had the time to get another ring this late at night.
“Come on,” Alonzo said as he effortlessly pulled me from the couch, through the dining room, and up the stairs leading to our second floor. Stopping short of our bedroom, Alonzo felt around the wall, freaking me out. He looked like he was going crazy.
“Alonzo, tell me what is going on,” I demanded while trying to mask my fear.
Then he pulled open a door that was perfectly blended into the wall, a door I never knew existed. Turning, Alonzo pushed me inside the room. “Promise me you’ll never take that ring off.” His eyes frantically looked into mine.
“Alonzo,” I pleaded with him as tears burned my eyes. The twisting in my gut had me feeling something was going to go wrong.
“Promise me, Bellamy Rose, you’ll never take this ring off,” he gritted forcefully.
“I promise.” Tears freely fell from my eyes. This felt like a goodbye, and that was scaring me more than anything in this world.
“Don’t take it off until you meet him. He’s yours.”
“What?” I asked just as I heard a loud boom downstairs.
“Don’t come out here no matter what you hear. Wait a day, then follow the tunnel to my safe house. Stay there until you find him.” With that, Alonzo slammed the door in my face.
I cried because in my heart, I knew I would never see Alonzo again. His eyes spoke the words his mouth wouldn’t dare say. I was tempted to open the door, but the sounds of Alonzo screaming out in pain stopped me. Pressing my ear to the door, I tried to make out anything so I could go to the police. My hearing had always been far better than most, and I prayed it didn’t fail me now.
“Where is she?” a deep voice that was far too deep to come from a normal human demanded.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Alonzo said fearfully.
“Do you know who I am?” the deep voice asked, sounding closer to the door than before.
