Chapter 73
1588words
"I'm not sure I fully understand what you just said," he said, taking a step back,
"It's pretty simple, I should think. I don't know for sure what you've said to her that she has chosen to overlook how much of a scumbag you are-"
"Now you be careful-"
"I won't," Jean said, his eyes heated. I recognized that look. It was the look of a man who was not interested in facing loss. This man had lost Ember, and he wasn't okay. Could I blame him though?
I too, had been on the brink of losing Ember, and I was yet to be okay.
"Alright then." I said resolutely, "Let's hear it."
"you've deluded her."
"I'm under the inclination that Ember makes her choices. And I know those choices are rarely ever manipulated."
"You think you know her so well, don’t you? If you did. If you truly ever cared about her, how come you had so easily hurt her in the ways you had?"
"I'm working so hard to amend my mistakes. I won't stop until she accepts me by the way."
"bollocks to all of that."
"it doesn't matter how you see it."
He clenched and unclenched his fists, before shoving his hands in his pockets, "you know what? To hell with you."
"I possibly deserve that."
"and a hell of a lot more, to tell you the truth."
"Perhaps so. But at the moment, what you want for me is nothing compared to how she feels right now. You know where she is, help me get to her."
Jean scoffed, "You really think I'd do that? Tell you where to find her. If she hasn't told you where to find her by now, then I'm sure it's because she doesn't want you to know, and I'm sure as hell not going to make it my place to help you with that little piece of information." and with that, he turned away, leaving me there with my new knowledge, and not the slightest idea what to do about it.
EMBER's POV
"Ember? Em" Ashely shook me out of my nap - lately, all I did was sleep to escape reality- and I opened my eyes, feeling somewhat confused,
"mm?"
"em, Jean is here to see you." it did not take long to register the madness in the situation, and I sat a bit quickly,
"But, what did you just say?"
"Jean, he's downstairs. He wants to see you." she said softly and I shook my head in exasperation, "But, you already let him in?
"Well, Axel did. But would you rather we kept him out?"
I shook my head. I was the one who had rejected him. It would have been pure cowardice to try and avoid him at this point.
"It's fine. But, I'm not sure I want to see him though." I wasn't trying to be avoidant, but I wasn't sure a situation with Jean was going to make me feel any better. If anything, I feared it would only make me feel worse.
"Are you sure about that?"
I was going to agree, but my wolf cried out,
"Of course, you're not sure! I want to see him!" her voice inside my head was incredibly loud and so, there was no ignoring it, or pretending that it wasn't there. I had ignored her when she asked me not to reject Jean. It would have been unfair to ignore her this second time.
"I guess not," I said helplessly and tugged off the blanket I had wrapped around me.
Ashley smiled and rose, good then," I'll go let him know. You fix… all of that." she said and regardless of feeling terrible, I actually smiled,
"I'll hand it to you that you're a looker, but where are the smarts? How did you ever let Ember get away?" I heard Ashley ask Jean from my spot in the corridor, and I shook my head. Trust Ashley to put the poor man on a spot, when it was me who did the getting away all by myself.
"believe me when I say, if I had my way, Ember would have never gotten away." my heart constricted at his words, and I was ready to turn away because I didn't know how I was going to face him after what I'd done.
"We need to see him." I heard my wolf say in a tiny soft voice, and I sighed,
"It will kill me. I've only hurt him." I said sadly,
"it will only hurt him more if you refuse to see him," she said back and I leaned against the wall, feeling done in,
"I'll go check on her." I heard Ashley say, and she found me where I was, leaning against the wall, looking as helpless as I felt.
I drew to my full height when she held my hand and I smiled sadly,
"I was simply having a moment." I said softly, and she nodded, her eyes compassionate, "Let's go." I said and let her lead me to the living room,
"Ember," Jean said the moment he saw me, and rose,
"jean… I-" he didn't wait for me to say anything, but simply crossed the room and wrapped his arms around me real tight,
"nothing. You don't have to say anything," he said gently, and that was my undoing. I broke down in tears and shook in his hold, but he still did not let go,
"there you go. You let it all out. You're safe here. You're safe right here." he said, and started running his hand down my back,
"We'll let you both have your time together." I heard Ashley say, somewhere in my subconscious, but I was too caught up with being in Jean's arms.
When he finally let go, he smiled softly, and dabbed at the tears that had found their way down my cheeks, "You look adorable at the moment, but I'd rather you weren't crying, to be honest."
I choked out a laugh, and sniffed, "Don’t mind me. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. You don’t have to be sorry for anything, Ember," he said, and took me by the hand, and led me to one of the chairs,
"I'm surprised you even came here, and don’t look like you hate me."
"Why would I hate you? I heard you were unwell, and had to come see you. I did worry you wouldn't want to see me. But I was going to see you regardless. Even if I had to force the sight of me upon you." I giggled at his words, and then shook my head,
"Truthfully though, I actually would have deserved it if you hated me. I hurt you."
"you're hurting too. You're depressed, and your wolf is beginning to shut down. If you ask me, you're hurting more than I am hurting." he said and reached out to take my hand in his, brought it to his lips,
"I don’t know much about being rejected, it's my first time, but I suppose it helps if the werewolves involved don’t act like they are enemies. "
"Is that why you came? You knew I was suffering?"
"I couldn't exactly feel your suffering. But I haven't been doing too well myself. I wondered if it was the same with you. but I can't lie, Part of my reason for coming was a bit selfish. I simply wanted to be with you."
My lower lip wobbled, but I fought the urge to cry some more,
"I'm glad you came. I'm glad you're here." I said softly,
"You know, Em. Just because we aren't trying to be together, doesn't mean we have to act like enemies."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't hate you for rejecting me. So you don't have to live thinking I do. We can simply just be friends. It's healthy."
"I'm interested in being friends." I said hopefully, "But wouldn't the fact that both our wolves sort of like being together be sort of confusing?"
"only as confusing as we both make it. Our wolves will naturally enjoy each other's company because we're mates. But we're rejected mates."
"You didn't exactly say you accepted my rejection." He shrugged softly. "we're still in that rejected spectrum. My wolf will always think the best of you. That's an honest fact. But I suppose we'll just have to deal with it as we go. But we aren't enemies. I don't want us to ever act like we are."
I nodded because everything he said made a whole lot of sense,
"Alright then. And even if you had come for the selfish reason of being with me, I'm glad you did. I'm glad you came. I definitely feel a whole lot better. Less like dying."
"Me too. And since we are out of the worst, I should tell you that Paris was asking about you."
"Paris?"
He nodded, " I had gone over to your project site looking for you and he had been doing the very same. He was the one who told me that you were unwell. You haven’t told him, then?"
I shook my head. He didn't have to elaborate, I knew he was talking about the rejection and my reason why.
"You also haven't told him who your real father is. Who you really are, is there a reason for that, Ember?"
And for that, I truly did not know where to begin to answer.
