12. Bye

I bent over, clutching my ankles as I struggled to catch my breath. My lungs burned, each breath struggling to come out of my tender throat. Tentatively, I touched the spot that had almost been crushed like a plastic cup- the skin was smooth under my fingers. Good, that meant the pain would subside soon. It might've healed already if I hadn't ran all the way from Kane's house to mine, but getting the hell out of there ASAP had pretty much blinded me to all other reason.
I shook my head, my braids whipping against my cheeks.
Ember is mine.
Words I've waited- had given up on hearing for so long. And now that he'd said them (whether he meant it the way I wanted him to mean it or not), I didn't want them. Not him, and especially not his claim.
I rocked back on my feet, casting Kane out of my thoughts. Pretending the problems didn't exist whenever they tried to overwhelm me was the best way to handle them. Okay, not entirely, but I had more urgent things to address at the moment. I needed to go see how Ian was doing.
Not with these cloths. I grimaced down at the pretty dress, the white fabric now a canvas of red splotches. I'll have to apologize to Ian, if he was awake.
I smiled. The thought of seeing him was more than enough to lift my spirits. The chaos in my head settled and I climbed the stairs up to our apartment. I unlocked the door, walked into a dark house. Mom wasn't home. Thank goodness I wouldn't have to deal with her, yet.
Regardless, the weight of the empty apartment was heavy, the silence ominous. The shadows seemed to be concealing things tonight... I mentally slapped myself, there was nothing to be afraid of. The mercenaries had taken Helen while thinking she was Kane's mate, they probably didn't even know I existed. Plus, if they were here they certainly would've jumped out by now. Nothing to be scared of.
The troll.
Can't leave his bridge, I reminded myself.
Maybe I should be grateful I was attacked, I mused on my way to the bathroom. No one had brought up me and Ian trespassing on the bridge. Although I knew Ian's mom wouldn't let it go.
Wondering if the hospital bed was wide enough for me to jump under, I stripped and got under the scalding spray of water. I washed my face first then scrubbed at the rest of my skin mercilessly until the water streaming down the drain was completely clear of blood. I considered washing my hair too, decided it could wait until I came back. I stepped out of the shower smelling nothing like the sweat, blood and anxiety this night had been filled with. Nothing but my grape soap. Satisfied, I dried myself off quickly and pulled on a large long sleeved t-shirt I kept in the bathroom. Walking around in a towel left me feeling exposed and vulnerable. Something I'd prefer to avoid if possible.
My damp feet padded on the floorboards, echoing through the quiet. That's when a thought came to me.
No one had stopped me.
I know, it's contradictory to run off, only to get disappointed after when no one followed. It's just you'd think at least one of them cared enough to check in. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything. I swallowed the lump in my throat, opened my bedroom door.
Kane didn't even twitch when I switched on the light. Nor did he move when I gasped.
He was sitting on the edge of my bed, his right palm open. It was the one he'd killed Meaty Hand with and even though I couldn't see his face, he was obviously staring down at. If he wasn't a cold blooded, evil, selfish and a dozen other awful things I might've thought he was thinking about the lives he'd ended tonight.
"Are you alright?" He asked, still unmoving.
I pursed my lips, remembered how I'd been a mere inches from death half an hour ago and thought what the hell.
"Haven't you had enough of torturing me for one night?"
I tensed for a backlash but he didn't pounce like I'd been expecting. Just sat there, as still as a statue.
"I'm guessing you didn't pop by to check in on me," I said, clearing my throat. It didn't hurt anymore.
He didn't look at me, didn't speak.
I frowned. Quiet Kane was more unsettling than normal snarling Kane. I found myself wishing he'd get it over with and bark at me a couple of times about me knowing my place then stomp off like the usual pompous pain in the ass he was.
"This isn't the first time Helen was kidnapped."
My mouth went sour. Of course, his beautiful damsel was in distress and he was here to pin the blame on me.
His palm clenched into a fist. "Six kidnappings in total. Thirty-eight assaults, all of which the assailants wielded either a gun, knife, sword or magic. All of this while she'd been dating me."
"What does that have to do with me?" I demanded.
"It could've been you," he said, finally looking me in the eyes. He rose. "It would've been you if I'd accepted you that day in school. In that hallway."
"What are you trying to say?" I whispered.
His gaze was magnifying, piercing, as if he was staring at me- really staring at me for the first time since that day.
"I'm saying I was protecting you when I rejected you," he said, walking closer. "Seattle has been under constant threat for years now and anyone associated with the alpha will attract enemies. People who wouldn't even blink while torturing you to get to-"
I laughed.
He frowned.
I raised a brow at him. "Are you saying the reason why you humiliated me in front of the entire school was in order to protect me?"
He shoved his hands in his pockets, glanced away once, and glanced back at me. "Yes."
"And the reason why you and your friends have been bull- bothering me all these years?" I asked calmly.
He ran his fingers through his hair, sighed. "The fact that you weren't my mate had to be made clear to everyone around us. Treating you like an outsider made it more convincing-"
"Okay," I said, stepping away from bedroom door. I opened it, tilted my head towards it. "Bye."
He tilted his head to the side. "Bye?"
I tilted my head too. "What else were you expecting?"
He pressed his lips together, furrowing his brows. "You have every reason to hate me for what I've done and you have that right, but you don't mean what you say. You do want me."
My fingers gripped the door knob but I kept my face empty of any emotion. "I don't. And maybe you'll just have to fight me if you want me to. Brute force is what you do, isn't it?"
He stepped back, blinked once. "I would never..."
"Leave."
Looking as calm as I was pretending to be, Kane walked to the door.
He stopped. "Tomorrow night I will be officially announced alpha and my wolf will search for its mate." He leaned forward, grabbed my arm when I tried to move back. "But I'll be reasonable, little wolf. If you don't want me to claim you as mine, shut all the doors and windows to keep me out. I will understand."
I said nothing, couldn't find any witty comeback. He lifted a hand- I flinched, but his fingers only brushed aside one of my braids. Then he was gone.