Part of me wanted to cry as I folded and packed my clothing. I was touching the grey sweater that I had worn on our carnival date, laughing on rides and eating my weight in grease. I had told him that I didn't want to leave. And after that we had shared a dozen more moments, snorting when Easton tried to single along to my movies and always eating something delicious from his kitchen. So how could I feel so numb packing up my suitcase, knowing that I was leaving him and the wonderful memories we created behind?

I suppose I had always known that I couldn't stay in one spot. I could promise beautiful things and want a sweet, simple life. It didn't matter. Nero would find me one way or another. Ajax and Keiko had been right. This battle would end one way or another. It was him or me. 

If it was going to end in blood and loss then I should be brave enough to take it upon myself to restrict the suffering to only me. I had already been selfish. I was the reason that a young family was dead, their whole line wiped out. Maybe things would have been different if I had told Easton. Maybe they wouldn't be. 

But they certainly would have been different if I had never come at all.

Easton had told me that the world would bring us together. He told me that I couldn't fight fate. He could be right, it seemed he knew this world better than I did. But I would do my part and make it that much harder for the world to bring us together. 

I knew Nero, I knew the way he operated. He had struck a random family this time. He had made my presence and his known to the whole werewolf realm. I also knew that he wasn't going to play games. He wanted me to hurt. 

The easiest way to do that now was so go after Easton in his sleepy mountain town.

Maybe that was why I didn't shed a tear. I knew leaving was best. 

I was just stuffing the emergency wad of cash in my pocket and closing the cabin door behind me when I heard the soft rumble of a gas truck and splattering of rocks. 

I didn't look. I went straight for my CRV. I could do this, I knew I could. This wasn't the hardest thing I had ever done, but it was certainly necessary. I either forced others into a dangerous situation or I continued to live my life the way I knew how, the way that kept me safe.

"Lass," Easton gasped as I pulled open the SUV door.

I didn't want to give him an extra second. He had said what he needed to to make me realize that I had been careless and thoughtless. I had put others at risk. But just hearing his voice made my fingers freeze and I wasn't able to get in the car. 

"Kaia, please don't," he continued, his voice closer.

"I have to, for everyone," I said, now able to shake myself free from his spell. I stepped on the running board and moved to hoist my body and my suitcase inside.

Easton's warm hand wrapped around my own, grabbing onto me and my suitcase at the same time. He pulled me back so firmly that I stepped back and dropped my suitcase, the damn thing cracking open like Pandora's box, sending a mess onto the muddy gravel. I slammed the car door shut as my frustration rose. How could he not see that this was for the best?

"Easton-"

I was cut off as he spun me around. His chest pressed against mine until I gave in and stumbled back a step. I was trapped behind him and my borrowed car. This man must have really never dated because he took me from sad and distant to raging and aggravated in only a couple touches.

But as I opened my mouth to tell him that he had been right, that it was best if I leave, his mouth met mine. 

He was relentless. I was squished up against him as one hand gripped my hair, the other propped on the car, holding himself back ever so slightly. His mouth was firm and demanding, like he was telling me I could not leave, that I wasn't allowed. He wasn't going to let me go. It wasn't a timid cheek kiss. It wasn't a heated embrace, trying to see how far we could push each other. It was a demand. I thought he wouldn't stop until I whimpered and submitted to him, though I wasn't sure that that was such a terrible idea either. It didn't seem like a terrible idea. His taste was so sweet and the sounds he made almost leveled me. 

But it wasn't right. 

The second I was able to conjure enough brain function to put my hands against his chest and push back, he fell away from me.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that," he sputtered, a nervous redness coating his cheeks. 

I said nothing, my brain a mush that could only comprehend the disappointment of him falling away when I should have been thrilled that he respected my boundaries. 

"I couldn't let you leave. Not until we talk about it. I said some things I didn't mean and I'm sorry for that too."

"No, no, you were right. I should have told you and I never should have stayed. He wants me and he's coming after me. It only makes sense that we take out the problem," I managed, my voice flimsy at best. 

Frenzy and panic were clear in Easton's body as he nearly jumped from one foot to the other, seeming like he couldn't bear to stand still. Still, he manged to keep his voice calm as he said, "Come home with me. We can talk while we put your clothes in the washing machine. I at least owe you that much."

I stared at my now filthy clothes, knowing that it would take an hour of me kneeling by the stream, hands in the frigid water, before I got the dirt out of everything. And god knows how long it would take to get everything dry now that the seasons were turning. 

"Fine."

We took separate vehicles, Easton following behind me. It was awkward and uncalculated as we ambled around to get my laundry started. there was a second when Easton accidentally grabbed a plunging black bra covered in fine lace. His attention snapped to me, then he glanced away, blushing so hard despite his effort to act like it had never happened. We both settled into the kitchen with a heavy sigh, Easton standing by the fridge while I was perched on a  bar stool. 

"We agreed to talking," I warned when he began pulling out vegetables from the fridge.

"Cooking helps me think. It will be done by the time your laundry is dry. Besides, if you are leaving then I'm going to feed you one last time."

I didn't have it in me to argue so I just watched him chop up an assortment of vegetables.

"Ajax didn't hurt you or anything, did he?" 

"No. He scared the hell out of me, but he was surprisingly gentle and patient with me considering I tried to stab him."

Easton winced, but didn't look up from his carrots. "I should have told you first thing this morning that the royals were coming and that there had been murders, but I knew you were already afraid of werewolves and I didn't think that knowing we killed each other would make you feel better. I thought you would go to work and by the time you came back everything would be cleaned up."

I nodded. 

"The murders aren't your fault. I'm sorry if I made you feel like they were."

"You don't have to apologize. I should have told you."

"Telling me wouldn't stop Nero from being who he is and doing what he does best," he objected.

"And one family being dead isn't going to be enough to stop Nero either. It's not going to sate his bloodlust. I know that this pack is important to you and I know that it's your job to insure their safety. That's why I made the choice to leave. He's going to keep coming back, keep coming after me."

Easton paused, his knife halfway through an onion. "Don't be dumb, Kaia."

"I'm not being dumb!" I snapped back.

"He's going to keep chasing you. And if he can't find you who do you think that he's going to go after? Me!"

"Then I'll drop hints, make him follow me."

Easton's hand jumped up to scrub his face, but he looked at the onion and thought better of it. Instead, he began pacing. "Here's our two options and I won't persuade you either way. If you want to leave then leave, but I'm going to send my men after you. i'm not going to follow you, I'm not going to bring you back here against your will. I will send my best guards to follow you everywhere you go. You might think you're slick and smarter than them, but this is what they do. If I tell them to keep you safe they will. You don't have to be in my house everyday for me to care about you. I'm not going to let you be some self-sacrificing fool because you're worried about my pack."

My teeth clenched together. He was being pompous and over protective. I could handle myself. I had done it for years.

"What's option two?"

"You stay here. Keiko and Ajax have sent their best guards here. Now I can't deploy them to follow you around, but I can have them here, protecting my pack. So, either we stay together and help each other stay alive and work against Nero, or you run away and we spread our resources thinly to cover both of us. So what is it going to be, Kaia?"

~~~Question of the Day~~~

What trend are you tired of?