He pulls into the driveway, and I’m out of the car before he can put it in park. Layla is sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the huge front porch of the Enchanted Pack house. She jumps up when she sees me. Her smile is tight, and her hair is curly from being washed, but I don’t wait to wrap the girl in my arms.
“Layla! Oh, Layla, are you okay? Let me see you. Where were you?” I ask as I run my hands over her hair and crush her into a hug again when my inspection is done.
“I’m fine. Nothing crazy happened. James found me.”
“How? How did he even know where to look?” I ask her, and she responds with a shrug before being pulled into a hug by Eddie.
“Glad you’re okay, kid,” Eddie mutters, giving her a squeeze before letting her go.
“Barely younger than you, Eddie.” He smiles and teasingly shoves her before stalking over to the house.
“Yeah, whatever,” he yells as his Pack greets him before he can even open the door.
I turn to Layla, placing my hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Layla. I shouldn’t have let this get this bad and made more of an effort to find and stop Milo. You might want to call James. I think he’s really gonna kill him.”
“He won’t,” Layla says, and I’m not sure what makes her so confident in the statement, but I don’t question it. She was set on killing him earlier; what made her change her mind and let James take him?
She only smiles with a wink that I’m unsure what’s for. Leaving me in a cloud of concussion, she turns on her heel and walks back onto the porch. I sigh and spin towards Eddie, who’s already made his way back to me. He only shrugs at Layla’s response.
“That’s up to her.”
“Yeah, I know. I just—I hope she’s okay.”
“She’ll make her way through it, Willow,” Eddie says, pulling me into one of his bear hugs. Gosh, I love this man. His scent calms me, and I melt into his arms, snuggling my head against his chest.
“It’s over?” I ask, locking my hands behind his back so he can’t pull apart from me.
“It’s over, Buttercup,” he says, resting his chin on my head. “What now?”
“Well, I don’t know. I think you know what I want, but, Eddie, what do you want?”
“I want you to go home.” My hands fall from around him, and I take a shattering step back.
“What?” I ask. My voice falls, and it comes out in a whisper, but I can’t muster much more. He wants me to go home?
“Go home, feed Nola and Sunny, give Layla the space I’m sure she needs,” he says.
“Eddie—” Wait, I didn’t mean we were over. I meant the situation is over. What does he mean by go home? I am home?
“Go home, Willow.” He’s smiling, and my heart is tearing apart, layers falling apart bit by bit.
“Okay?” I ask, praying he’ll clarify. Praying he will change his mind. I didn’t think that we would be over like that. He’s my mate—right? He feels what I feel. Oh my goodness, am I wrong again? No, I couldn’t possibly be wrong again. I’m not wrong. It’s him. I know it’s him.
“Okay,” he confirms, walking back to his car and pulling off. Leaving me dazed in his front yard.
I’m not sure what to do. I feel like a zombie walking to my car. Which got here how? I don’t know, but I’m glad it’s here ’cause Eddie left. I turn to Layla, unable to stop the tears welling in my eyes. She appears as confused as I do as she gets in the car, but doesn’t say anything. I can hardly comprehend what just happened myself, let alone try to explain to her.
I get to my driveway, and I don’t want to get out of the car. Did the Pack hear our conversation? Did Layla? Is that why she didn’t ask? My cheeks flush red with disappointment and embarrassment.
I swear he’s my mate. I know it like I know how to breathe, yet he walked away from me.
“Let’s go,” Layla mumbles, opening my car door and walking with me, arm in arm, back to what is supposed to be my home, my safe haven. Yet it isn’t the same anymore. The pink kitchen doesn’t sparkle with life, and the orange front door doesn’t bring me happiness, as it once did.
“Give it some time. Maybe he needed some space,” Layla murmurs as she takes me to my room. I forgot about the bag I left in Eddie’s room filled with my dirty clothes, but I also know I wouldn’t have been able to face anyone in there. Did my mate reject me?
I collapse in my bed, and Layla leaves. I don’t know where she goes. Maybe to her room; maybe she thinks that this is all over, and she wants to leave too. Oh my goodness, is she going to leave me too?
I reach for my book off my nightstand, the book Eddie and I were reading together, but all it does is start the race of tears falling from my face. I wallow holding the book to my chest as the tears damage the pages. Each antagonizing minute spent in my room tears my heart deeper. For each minute no one calls or texts me, for each minute that I think about Eddie. My chest constricts, and my heart stops beating for a second as a sob rushes past my lips. For thirty minutes, I cry over my losses, over being alone again.
