“Now I’ll be coming around to make sure you’ve fastened your seatbelts,” she continued. “We’ll be wheels up and on our way to LAX in less than ten minutes.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Alessia and I had made it to the airport. Not just the airport-we had already boarded the plane.
When we arrived at the terminal, two tickets had been waiting for us: one for Alessia and one addressed to Clark Bellevue. Given that Benito had addressed me by name, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that he had put the ticket in my real name.
That still made me uneasy, but there had been no sign of Griffin or any of the castle guards at the airport. I had kept my eyes peeled the entire time. Alessia had berated me for being too paranoid, but I could tell she was on guard too.
“Something isn’t right,” Alessia suddenly muttered beside me.
We were already in our seats, seatbelts fastened. I watched her eyes narrow as she scanned the rest of the passengers.
Up to this point, she hadn’t made a single comment about our escape, so I was surprised to hear her speak up.
“That ticket,” she said, gesturing to the paper still in my hand. “It’s addressed to you. Your full name.”
I frowned.
“Benito used your name, Clark. He knew exactly who you were,” she continued quietly. “And we didn’t even question it. Something is definitely off.”
My stomach tightened.
“You think Griffin knows?” I asked.
Alessia sighed, looking thoughtful. “When Benito’s eyes glazed over back at the castle, I assumed he was mind-linking someone before letting us go. At the time I thought he was contacting someone about transportation… but now I’m not so sure.”
“You think he was contacting Griffin?”
“It’s possible.”
I leaned back in my seat, my thoughts racing.
“Then why didn’t Griffin stop me?” I asked quietly.
Alessia studied me carefully.
“That’s the real question, isn’t it?” she said.
It seemed unlikely Griffin would change his mind so quickly-but then again, it wasn’t like I knew him very well. We had literally only spent one day together before the mate bond was revealed. Maybe he assumed I needed time. Maybe he thought letting me leave was the best thing he could do.
I wanted to believe that.
But the explanation felt empty.
As little as I knew Griffin, he didn’t seem like the type to just let me walk away.
Still, I tried to soothe the guilt building in my chest. I knew I was leaving Griffin behind. I could only hope he’d understand my reasoning someday.
Alessia turned to me again.
“But I don’t think you’re asking the right question,” she said.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’re asking why Griffin would let you leave,” she said slowly. “But maybe the better question is-why would he give you a head start?”
My heart skipped.
She studied my face for a moment before continuing.
“Think about it, Clark. How would you rather hunt your prey?”
I blinked at her.
“Personally,” Alessia said with a faint, grim smile, “I’m not a fan of chasing prey that’s already cornered. It’s much more fun when they think they’ve escaped.”
Her eyes flicked toward the cabin door.
“And Griffin is an Alpha wolf like me,” she finished quietly. “He’s a predator.”
“Running away is easy. It’s the leaving that’s hard.” Samuel T. Herring
Alessia’s “theory” stuck with me for the entire five-hour plane ride ~ long after we stopped talking and she fell asleep again. Her words sent a chill down my spine. Was Griffin really going to hunt me like prey?
A couple of hours into the plane ride, I ended up falling asleep too but it was plagued with nightmares.
In my dream, I was a fox sprinting across the foggy forest. I was running away from something – I didn’t know what –
and tried to hide in a hollowed-out tree. I could hardly make out my surroundings while I was tucked in my little hiding spot, but then I saw it: the monster that was chasing me.
It was a large black wolf, bigger than anything I’d ever seen with piercing dark eyes and sharp canines. Its familiar dark eyes met mine, and I knew it had me trapped. There was nowhere to run, and all I could do was watch as it stalked closer and closer. And then it pounced, razor-sharp canines headed for me as I – I shot up in my plane seat, heart pounding.
That was a hell of a dream. But it wasn’t real – it was just a dream.
I normally wasn’t one to dissect dreams, but even that nightmare felt a little too on the nose to me. I had been running in the wolves as a literal fox – which was Griffin’s favorite nickname for me – and the predator chasing me had been a wolf. Could the meaning get any more obvious than that? (?
Clearly, I’m freaked out about what Alessia told me before I fell asleep and now my fears are manifesting in my dreams.
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