Chapter 14

Emersyn's POV

I fall asleep wrapped in the safety of Callum’s arms with my head laid upon his chest. The thump of his beating heart lulls me to sleep, and for the first time in my life I feel whole. I don’t allow myself to worry about the consequences of the night. I just enjoy the moment for what it is. Beautiful.

Callum’s lips grace my temple somewhere in the wee hours of the morning before the house becomes aflutter with life. I feel his eyes upon me, and force myself to stay still, pretending to still be asleep. He whispers under the cover of darkness, “I love you, Emersyn.”

My heart skips a beat at the sound of his confession, but there is such a deep sadness in his tone that I know that this is his goodbye. I want to ask him to stay but there is a part of me that knows I can’t. Last night wasn’t a mistake, but it was foolish. Callum knew that no matter how much we wanted to change our circumstances, we could not.

I listen as the door closes gently behind him before allowing the dam to break free, and the tears to fall upon my pillow. I want to run after him, to stop him. To tell him we can run away and make our own pack, but I am not brave enough. I have to accept my fate, to realize that sometimes love is just not enough.

Hours later, I lay staring at the ceiling feeling more broken than I have ever felt. The sound of my door opening startles me back to reality when I see my mother’s worried face.

“You missed breakfast, young lady!” She begans to fuss before seeing my tear streaked cheeks and stopping her berating. “Emersyn, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I lie to my mother again.

She sits on the edge of my bed gently laying her hand on my leg, “That doesn’t look like nothing. Tell me what is bothering you, my sweet child. Is it Liam?”

I think quickly before replying with a half-truth, “I am just not sure I am ready for this yet.”

“Oh, my darling Emersyn, you have time.” She says, brushing my hair from my face. “Liam will wait until you are ready.”

But I knew deep down that I would never be ready. “You can’t be certain of that.”

She smiles as her face lights with determination, “I am certain that Elijah Maxwell is not retiring anytime soon. Liam does not need to rush into the mating ceremony unless he plans to ascend.”

I knew she was right, but it didn’t matter. I was just searching for a reason to explain the tears that streaked my face. It worked, she was now content that she had eased my fears.

“Go ahead and take a shower, I’ll cover for you with our guests for this morning. The hot water will help with the red eyes,” she says with a knowing smile.

I hug her neck tightly before getting up from the bed and heading to the shower.

“Emersyn,” I hear my mother’s voice from behind me.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“You know that you can tell me anything right?” she says with a worry crease across her beautiful face.

“Of course,” I lie.

She looks at me with a studious look as she lifts herself from the bed before turning to leave. “Okay,” she says sighing.

I wait for the door to latch shut behind her before allowing a heavy sigh to escape my pursed lips. I can’t continue to lie to her, she knows me too well. Eventually, my lies will catch up with me.

The steam pouring from the hot shower entices me in, instantly easing the tension in my taut body. I don’t rush to wash the night away, because I can still feel the trail of Callum’s mouth upon my skin. Because even though the water won’t steal the memory of what happened between us, it almost feels like I am being forced to wash Callum from my life, and the thought of that is nearly unbearable.

Tears threaten to escape once more, but I remind myself that we both knew it was only for the night. I am the daughter of the Alpha. I am strong enough to face this, because I don’t have a choice. Callum will forever hold a piece of my heart, but we must face our truth. I am not his, and he is not mine. I am Liam’s.

Liam. Guilt nips at me as I think of my future husband. Any other girl would be begging for this opportunity, yet I was trying to find a way to escape it. It wasn’t that Liam was a bad man or unworthy of me, instead it was that I was unworthy of him. I had not hesitated to betray him last night. I only wanted Callum, and never considered who I would hurt in the process.

The warmth of the water begins to wane, and I realize that I have taken longer than I intended. I shut the faucet off and grab the plush towel wrapping myself in its warmth for a moment before beginning to dry off. This day wasn’t off to the best of starts, and I wished more than anything that I could climb back in the comfort of my bed. But life doesn’t wait until your ready to move on, it just keeps going.

I force myself to put concealer under my eyes, hoping that it will lessen the blotches that tell my truth. In a matter of minutes, I have a full face of make-up on and am looking for something to wear. I find a pair of leggings, my go to comfort clothes, and a silver cashmere sweater. I look through my closet for my flat black slippers, relief washing over me as I see them tucked behind my boots.

I look at the mirror for once over before opening the door to face the music. I almost yelp when I see two hazel eyes looking back at me as the door opens. My heart drops as I instantly recognize who it is.

“Liam,” I nearly gasp. “You scared me!”

His eyes light with amusement as he responds with a grin, “Do I look that bad this morning?”

I couldn’t help but to smile back at him as I reply, “No, not at all.”

“Hmm. You don’t look too bad yourself,” he says catching my gaze with a brilliant smile that reaches the tips of his eyes.

My cheeks flush red at his compliment. I step out of the door, pulling it tight behind me, before turning to realize that I have gotten dangerously close to the handsome Alpha heir. He doesn’t bother to step back, instead he leans his head closer before nearly whispering, “If you wanted to get closer all you had to do was ask.”

I roll my eyes before allowing a laugh to escape, “I’ll keep that in mind. How was your walk of shame?”

Liam’s smile broadens as he replies effortlessly, “Shame? More like game! I believe I gave a performance worthy of an Emmy nomination!”

“Oh, do you?” I say with a half-smile. “I think it might would have been a definite winner for a funniest home video show, but the acting was subpar for sure.”

Liam feigns hurt as he inserts an imaginary knife into his heart. “Well, I will be sure to work on that next time!”

“So,” I say with genuine curiosity playing in my tone. “Why were you lurking at my door like some stalker?”

His carefree laugh is almost contagious as he answers, “Because your mother suggested that you show me around the pack’s land. Maybe this time we could avoid the ravine?”

I cast my eyes away from his quickly, not wanting to think about last night. “I am really sorry, Liam. I don’t know what came over me.”

“I do,” he says with an understanding look that makes the guilt even worse.

“You do?” I ask with my nerves suddenly on edge.

He pauses as if he is considering his words carefully, “Your wolf doesn’t care for me. It’s okay I get it, she doesn’t know me yet. But she will.”

I can’t help but to look at him with an awestruck look as I reply, “And how are you so certain of that?”

“Because Emersyn O’ Connor, I am a pretty amazing guy once you get to know me. You just have to open your eyes and look.”

I couldn’t help but to allow my eyes to trail his perfectly shaped face, noting the way his eyes seemed to hold a depth that I hadn’t quite seen before. He doesn’t allow me the pleasure of exploring them any further as he steps around me and begins walking towards the staircase.

“Hey, where are you going?” I ask almost disappointed.

He glances over his shoulder as he replies, “Well, we can’t have you showing me your kingdom on an empty stomach, now can we?”

I turn, picking up my pace to catch up, “But you have already ate!”

He smiles at me as he replies innocently, “No, I didn’t. I wanted to wait on you. I have us both plates made and waiting.”

I couldn’t help but smile back as I realized that he had refused to eat without me. “That’s very sweet of you.”

“Stick with me and you will realize I am full of surprises.” He says as he walks ahead of me.

And as I watched him scaling the steps, I couldn’t help but to agree. I knew that today was going to have its own twists and turns, but somehow I realized that Liam was going to make this better. Because though a part of me was desperately missing Callum, Liam had a way of making me realize that maybe just maybe there was more to him than met the eye.