Chapter 6

ARIELLA. With no concrete plans of where to go, I just let fate decide what was next for me. All I wanted was to be as far as possible from my pack, especially from Father and Eli. I was scared, but I also reminded myself that this was better than staying in my pack. I dozed off a bit in my seat, and when I woke up it was already dark. I panicked when I saw that the view outside the window was no longer familiar to me so I asked one of the other passengers where this bus was going. This passenger gave me a weird look as she replied, probably silently judging me by how I looked and why I didn't even know where the bus I got on was going. "It's headed to New Forks," she said, giving me a side eye as I hastily tried to fix my hair which was still disheveled from what happened back at the Council. "Thanks," I said as I returned to my seat and then searched the place on the Internet. It turned out that New Forks was a small town in the middle of nowhere, but it was near a wildlife preserve open to tourists, hence the existence of buses going there. To me, the place seemed the perfect place to lay low for a while while I sort out things. Plus, there was also a high chance that this was a human-only town, as I had never heard of it before. Since my father was an Alpha, I would have heard about this place already if there were werewolves living in this town. We arrived at the bus terminal at ten in the evening, and with no clue of where to go at this hour, I had to check in at a small hotel in the center of the town. This place had a little downtown where all the big establishments were located, which of course included some hotels where tourists could stay if they wanted to visit the wildlife park. It was all quiet here which I thought was suitable for me, but I wasn't able to fall asleep because of everything that had happened. While staring at the ceiling blankly, I kept thinking about my father, whom I could not believe acted like I committed a crime when Eli became my mate. And of course, Eli was on my mind too. I could even see his face whenever I closed my eyes, probably because we became mates, but I could feel my chest tightening, and then my wolf would growl at me in my head. I was a mess inside and out, and I wondered if Eli was feeling this way too. But to be honest, the anger I had for him had started to fizzle out like morning rain. I was mad at him for rejecting me like that, but I knew that he had no choice as well. I wondered if this was the effect of us becoming mates. Did this always happen to mates? That no matter how mad you were at a person, that would subside eventually? I guess the thing that made me angry was the fact that he would rather live in pain as a result of our wolves being apart from each other than become my mate. But as I said, I didn't blame him. Because by rejecting me he potentially avoided another conflict between our packs. But in exchange for that, the two of us would likely suffer as we were apart from each other. I just had to hope that the consequences weren't life-threatening at the very least. *** "So how are you? Have you had any physical pain? Headaches?" asked Emma on the phone. I was at the mall, shopping for new clothes and a few personal things. Good thing I had my savings with me, the very same savings that I was using in college. I was an architecture freshman at King's College back home, but now I had to drop my classes while I was away. "I feel normal," I told Emma as I walked by the shops. "But I don't know, maybe it's still too early for the bad things to creep up, Emma. It has only been two days, after all." "Yeah, I suppose so," Emma replied. "But let's hope that it will remain that way. Anyway, I have news for you, Ariella. I think Eli is looking for you." That made me stop walking. "What do you mean?" "So earlier in my first period, my seatmate told me that a tall guy came to our classroom looking for me. But I wasn't there yet, so I didn't know who it was. But based on the description my seatmate gave me, I think it was Eli. He might have thought that I knew where you were and came to ask me. He's definitely looking for you, Ariella." That weirded me out for some reason. "O-Okay... Let's say that's true. But why would he look for me after what he did?" "That's something only he can answer," she said. I finally walked out of the mall and was now walking on the sidewalk while still talking to my best friend. "But if I were to guess, maybe he finally changed his mind?" "Could be... But whatever his reason is, I just can't think of it as anything good for me. He's from that rival pack. We hate each other. That’s why even if he now wants me, there's no way for us to be together." "At least he now wants you back! You don't need to risk your life by being away anymore!" "We still don't know if he actually wants to see me again," I reminded her. "And personally, I can't picture him wanting me back anytime soon. Not when he still looks down on me. For him, I'm the cheater's daughter, remember?" Emma paused for a couple of seconds before replying. "Yeah, well... But people can change for the better, Ariella." "Or," I suggested, "maybe he's scared of the pain that being away from each other will bring us so he's now thinking of ways to avoid it. That's probably why he's looking for me. He probably wants me near him, but not near enough to actually become friends again." "We don't know that yet either," said Emma. "Let's see… If he comes to me again, what would you want me to do, Ariella? Would you want me to tell him where you are?" I laughed. "You don't even know where I am. I didn't tell you, remember? Just in case Father comes to you and asks you about my whereabouts." "That's right, but I can lie to Eli if you want me to. I want to see him search the whole country for you just so I can exact revenge on him for you." “You don’t have to do that. We shouldn’t bond using spite.” “Oh please, I’m a witch. I eat spite for breakfast.” We laughed loudly in unison at her 'evil' plan, but to be honest, something in me was awoken when I heard that Eli was probably looking for me. It was as if my wolf wanted to get out of my body and do something about it. "It's up to you, Emma. I don't care whether he finds me or not anymore. There's only one thing that's for sure though. If he really wants me back, it wouldn't be as easy as he thinks it is."