"I think it would be best if I leave you two alone. this is a personal discussion I don't want to intrude on," Rose murmured, slowly rising to her feet.

"What?" I blurted, my hands clutching the forgotten glass a little tighter. I hadn't realized it, but having another woman here- even if she was on the wrong side- made me feel safer. For years, I had to live side by side with women alone and the only source of pain and suffering was a man. Maybe Rose was a werewolf, maybe she wasn't. It didn't matter in that moment. It made me feel like someone would fight for me. "Please don't go."

Rose frowned at this, her black eyebrows falling low. "Everything is going to be fine. I'm just going back to the restaurant to finish my shift and Easton is going to explain everything to you."

I leaped to my feet, abandoning my glass on a side table as I went. "No, I've had enough, I'm leaving right now. I'll walk to a city if I have to, I don't care."

My sharp, determined words brought Easton to his feet as well. "Kaia, please just listen to me. I'm trying to explain everything to you. You don't need to go back to the city."

"How the fuck do you know my name?!" I shrieked, wanting more than anything to be standing in waist deep water so I could command both of them to do as I said.

But I wasn't.

With Rose leaving, Easton had all the power and raising my voice was only upsetting him more.

"You fainted with your purse! I went through your bag to see if you had any medication that you were taking or if you had one of those pieces of ID with medical history on it," Easton defended. Letting a hiss of breath leave his lips, he rubbed the back of his neck and squeezed his eyes shut for a second. When they opened again, he seemed a little calmer, like it only took him a  fraction of time to get his bearings again. "I understand that you are upset and I would really like to have this discussion with you under the best circumstances possible. What would make you feel safer?"

"Letting me go and never coming after me again," I snapped.

"I already explained that it's not an option for me. Where would you be more comfortable having this conversation? Rose has to go back to work or she runs the risk of losing her job, but we can go to a public park if you'd like."

My lips parted to scream at him, to tell him to stop fucking around. Then I pondered what he was saying. Open space, plenty of people around, maybe a fountain if I was lucky. Yes, that sounded feasible. 

"Okay, I can do a park," I agreed. 

Easton seemed prepped and primed for a fight and my easy commission seemed to deflate him a little. He blinked once, twice, then nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, we can do a park. We're going to have to drive there, is that alright?"

Now that made me a little nervous. Being trapped in a car that I was presumably not driving didn't seem wise. He could take me anywhere he wanted and because I didn't know this landscape super well, I wouldn't know I was in trouble until it was too late.

But he had let me drink two glasses of water without batting an eye. He clearly had no idea how my powers worked. And, with those two glasses in my system I could at least get him to pull over without risking another fainting spell.

"We can drive, but if you do anything I don't like I'm going to use my powers on you," I bluffed, like I could do more than force him to move his hands a couple of inches or press a foot down on the brake pedal.

Easton paled, his skin turning a slight grey colour before he nodded his head again.

"Fine," he said. His voice came out strong and confident despite the queasy look on his face. "But you're drinking another glass of water before we leave and we are buying you a snack while we are out. I don't want you fainting on me again."

A few minutes later Rose got in her car and pulled out of the driveway and we followed suit. Outside, I could see a few homes in the distance, but it was clear that we were acres away. If I had screamed inside that house at the top of my lungs it was unlikely anyone would hear me. It was even less likely that anyone would see me jumping out of a window and come to my aid.

A public park seemed like a much safer place than this.

"It's about twenty minutes into town," Easton murmured, climbing into his car.

I paused for a moment, reminding myself that I was in Scotland and he wasn't an idiot. Then I slipped into the passenger seat of his Ford sedan. I hesitated before closing the door, wondering if I was being a complete and utter fool by letting this happen. But I had seen his face. I had seen the fear of being controlled. I shut myself in and we were on our way.

Easton pulled out of the driveway while frantically checking his surroundings. Green eyes would flash to the mirror, over his shoulder, another mirror, out a side window, then back again. He eased his car into first gear, being so gentle it was almost astonishing. Where I came from it was all lifted diesel trucks with modified exhausts. 

After we pulled onto a main street and began driving with traffic, I got a little more used to his passive driving style, slow but calculated, touching the speed limit but never going over. I thought about the way I drove my old car back home, always pushing it ten kilometers over the limit, as if it were more of a suggestion.

"So where would you like me to start?" Easton asked. "I know this can all be overwhelming and confusing for you."

"You said that the world is going to keep bringing us together and that we are bonded together somehow."

"Right. I'm not sure how much you know about werewolves or where you got your current information." Easton paused, but I refused to offer anything up, staring out the window. "So basically, werewolves have mates, a romantic partner that is bond to them for life. We don't hand pick them ourselves or anything. Legend says the moon goddess chooses who we are meant to be with or it could be something chemical or biological. No one really knows for sure. But when you see that person, you know."

"So you're stalking me because we are supposed to be lovers for life," I sighed. "Can't you hear how absurd that sounds?"

"It certainly might sound odd. About as strange as a girl floating in the middle of a river, singing in the middle of the night," he agreed.

"We both know we are fucked. Then let's ignore it and agree to stay away from each other."

"Are you married?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you married or in a serious relationship?"

"I don't see how that is relevant."

"I think, for most people who aren't werewolves, thinking that werewolves exist is the hard part. I'm trying to understand why you're being so resistant when you already know what I am and seem pretty chill about the werewolf realm," he explained.

"I don't care much for being tied to anyone, especially not a werewolf who has delusions about making me his wolf-wife. Excuse me for not falling at your feet just because you're handsome and you're pretending to be heroic. No man is stopping me from being with you, I just don't want to be with anyone," I grumbled.

"You think I'm handsome?" he blurted, his attention on me for a split second. I said nothing, turning my body towards the window now. That seemed to bring him back to reality. "It's not my choice and I'm certainly not delusional. Not being together will bring us both pain and misfortune. It's being together that we can heal each other and find happiness." 

To prove his point, one hand released the steering wheel and fell into my lap. Then, his fingers curled around my bare hand, his calloused skin rough against my own. But I didn't have much time to think about how his skin felt because pleasure struck me, coiling up my arm as a gasp left my lips. The hard words on my tongue died right there.

"You can resist me all you want, but you can't deny that," he whispered.

"I-I can't," I choked out, feeling like my mind and mouth weren't working in sync. "I can't be with you."

"Of course you can," he urged. "Tell me what you're so afraid of. You've been scared of me since the moment you saw me. I promise that I'll do my best to clear everything up and make you feel safe."

And it was on the tip of my tongue. I almost told him right there. I almost explained to him that the alpha, the leader of his werewolf world, had almost killed me multiple times. I almost told him that I feared for my life whenever someone followed me for a few strides in a park and that I couldn't trust anyone. All I knew was scrapping by, stealing what I couldn't afford, and commanding people to do what needed to be done when I had to.

But he was the enemy.

Maybe he didn't know it. Maybe he didn't know what I was or who I was to his leader. But he would find out eventually. Then, no fairy princess in the sky could save me and no magical bond would keep me away from the vile man who had torn my life apart and ripped the souls out of my sisters. 

~~~Distraction Section~~~

Hello everyone. We have hit a thousand reads already! To celebrate, we are doing two days of updates. Check back tomorrow for another update!