All of the air left my lungs. I’ve missed being looked at like this. He always made me feel like I was the only woman in the world whenever he looked at me like this.
His eyes took its dead time taking in every single inch of my body. He looked like someone who didn’t believe that this was reality; he looked like he believed that he was in a dream.
I knew that he was thinking these things because I was doing the same. This didn’t feel real at all. It felt like a distant dream and I was scared that I would wake up any minute now.
And then my body was hit with the sudden realization that this was actually Hunter, my Hunter. He was in front of me and it was reality, not just one of my crazy thoughts or imagination- and then I was running. Running like I was trying to save a life. I was indeed trying to save a life … My own.
I jumped straight into his arms and held on for my dear life. Hunter immediately grabbed my body and pulled it to him. I kissed his forehead, his cheeks, his nose, his neck. I couldn’t stop kissing him over and over again as my hands ran over his body in desperation. It was important for me to feel his body heat against mine, it felt good to feel like I was alive again, like I was given air to breathe. Hunter allowed me to explore his body; he looked like he needed my closeness just as much as I needed his.
And then reality sunk into my brain like a strike of lightening between us. We weren’t back at his home where we were protected by his men and the people around him. We were in the council and I was supposed to be getting married in two days … In two days. To a man that I didn’t love. A man that wasn’t Hunter.
Oh no. He shouldn’t be here. I couldn’t be seen in this room with him!
“What are you doing here?” I demanded as I looked around us frantically. The council had guards in and out of here like crazy. I didn’t think that they would have a problem with Hunter, after all they thought highly of him. But they wouldn’t expect him to be here with me either, everyone back home believed that Hunter was in love with Maggie and would want nothing to do with me. And that was good since they didn’t see him as a threat towards the wedding. If they saw him here with me two days before the wedding, it would stir up trouble, trouble that I was so desperately avoiding. They would understand that Hunter actually had reason to stop my wedding and I was not going to allow what would happen next if they found that out.
I simply wouldn’t let them.
“You need to go now.” I insisted as I squeezed his shoulders.
He looked unhappy by my words. His eyes darkened a shade and there was this hurt there that I’d often seen whenever I looked into a mirror and thought about Maggie and him.
“You need to leave Hunter.”
He gripped my arms and pulled me towards him. “Are you not happy to see me?” His question was laced with anger and hurt.
How could he ask me that after knowing how much I was in love with him?
“I’m not going to answer that. You should know.” I hissed. I was not about to belittle myself in front of him again. If he couldn’t see that I was so deeply in love with him then he was simply blind!
“I’m not leaving without you. You’re coming with me Isabella.” He growled.
My lips parted at his words. Coming with him? Was this what it was? Did he come here to steal me away from the council? for a moment I felt happiness seep into my body. I would have never ever dreamed that this day would ever come. But then another thought crashed into my mind.
What about Maggie? Was she still in the picture?
I peered up at him. “Did you decide who you want to be in your life?”
The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. And then my heart broke all over again reminding me of why I’d left in the first place.
“Then you must leave now.”
His jaw clenched and his hands on my waist tightened.
“I said I’m not leaving without you.” He growled.
“I’m getting married in two days Hunter. We are not husband and wife anymore. I will now belong to the Alpha they’re marrying me to. You’re going to have to let go eventually. Why not do it now?”
It pained me to say those words to Hunter but I didn’t want him mixed up in all of this. I didn’t want a fight that could hurt the people that I deeply cared about. Right now the council and Hunter weren’t on extremely bad terms, if he did anything, that could change.
I saw what had happened to my brothers after they’d tried to overthrow the council’s decision to marry me to the Alpha. I didn’t think I could handle seeing Hunter like that. I needed to get him to leave and never come back here. He needed to live his life with Maggie now. She was the one he’d cried for, he needed to forget me and live his life with her.
………….
***HUnTER***
Isabella’s words threw me completely off guard. I didn’t think that words would have the power to break me in half and poison my veins.
How could these words even come out of her mouth?
I grabbed her neck and pulled her towards me so that I was staring deep into her soul. “I thought you said that you loved me?” I accused with menace and hurt dripping from my voice.
How could someone in love with me stand there and tell me that she was going to belong to another man? Did she not care about my feelings? Did she not see how those words crippled me?
She didn’t look away from my penetrating gaze and she didn’t back down either. I missed this about her but I was too angry and in pain to enjoy the moment.
“Loving you and doing what’s right for the people around me is two completely different things.” She choked out. “I told you that I can’t wait for you to love me back anymore; I will not do that to myself. It’s too painful Hunter. Please, you have to let me go.”
I became silent at her words. She didn’t have to wait for me to love her … That was not why I had her waiting …
“If I had to do something for me, I would have stayed with you Hunter but what did staying with you bring to me but pain?” She asked with tears in her eyes.
I closed my eyes at her words. I didn’t want to hurt her. It was why I’d let her go in the first place. But I couldn’t stay here and let her marry someone else. She was mine. The entire world needed to know that.
I inwardly g*****d as another wave of her sweet scent hit my nose. I would die if I didn’t bury myself in Isabella right now. If I had to leave here without her today, I needed to take something with me. I needed to know that she was still mine, that her body still only belonged to me.
I grabbed her and pushed her up against the wall. “You can never belong to anyone else Isabella, you’re already mine.”
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