Page 19 of Starting a New Life

My time was officially up.

I closed my eyes as relief and dread slammed into me at the same time, stealing my breath away.

Tomorrow.

Everything will finally be over tomorrow.

There was a lump in my throat, tension creeping into my shoulders even as my body was trying to relax, torn by the conflicting feelings coursing through me. A part of me was screaming that I was making a mistake. That I needed to keep going. That I could push through. Could stay hidden. That I still wasn’t safe. Knox’s pack hadn’t given up. They were still after me, still trying to sniff me out. I needed to keep going a bit longer. Just until the threat was gone.

But the other part of me, the part that was getting stronger and more certain, knew that the voice was my fear speaking. The realistic part of me was painfully aware that I couldn’t keep going. That I couldn’t push through. That I might be able to stay hidden for a while longer, but I’d be paying dearly for it. I already was.

Show no weakness.

I wasn’t showing weakness, but everyone who took more than a second to look at me could see how weak I currently was.

Nix: That sounds good. Let’s meet at Herb’s. You don’t need to bring clothes, though.

He didn’t.

Because after we met, I’d face the consequences of my actions.

Paranormals had to make their presence known upon entering claimed land. They had to ask for permission to stay. I’d broken the law. Had kept myself hidden from the local pack for months, when the first thing I should’ve done was to talk to the Alpha and beg for refuge.

There was no doubt in my mind that I’d have to pay for that offence alone.

The phone dinged in my hand, and Levi’s name flashed on the screen.

Levi: Don’t be an idiot. It’s cold as balls here. You must be freezing. Hey. Uhm… you know you can come over if you need to, okay? You can sleep on our couch. I know you have a problem with Rhett, but I’m worried about you.

I swallowed.

Levi was such a good and kind person.

And he’d probably hate me once he knew what I’d been keeping from him for months.

Nix: Don’t worry, I’m fine.

I wasn’t fine.

In fact, I was the opposite. I was so fucking unwell I didn’t even know where to start.

I stared at the wall of canvas in front of me. This tent had been my home for the last six months. My refuge. The one place I felt safe. I’d spent weeks enforcing the walls, lacing the cotton with magic, enforcing it until it’d become my fortress.

Right now, it felt like a prison. A small, windowless cell. Like the one I might be thrown into tomorrow.

I jumped up, turning my head, eyes searching for an escape. I was walled in. Caught. Trapped.

I frantically fell to my knees at the entry, fingers shaking as I unlaced the opening of the tent, just until I could pull the two pieces of canvas apart far enough to slip through.

Cold, freezing air hit me straight in the face, my breath puffing out in white clouds in front of me as I desperately tried sucking more and more oxygen into my lungs.

I am okay.

I am outside.

I can breathe.

The snow crunched under my feet as I took a couple of steps away from the tent and into the clearing. It was interesting to feel the snow compact under my feet, to hear the crackling and crunching, to feel the softness go hard.