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Chapter 2.
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*Corey*
As I had predicted, Jayden hadn’t taken it well. Partially because I had just told him and I was leaving in two hours, and that was only because he had seen my packed bags on our bed. I was going to tell him! I had just been so busy and… slightly afraid of his reaction?
“Why didn’t you tell me?!” He practically yelled at me.
“Because I didn’t want you to worry about how long I’d be gone and try to talk me out of going when I don’t have a choice about it anyway.” Before he could reply, I grabbed his face gently and smiled kissing him softly, “I’ll call you, every day. I promise. You don’t have to worry about me, I’m not the one who hurts their hand when I try to punch someone, remember?” I smirked.
“Corey, this isn’t a joke!” He shoved my hands away. He shook his head, turning to sit down on our bed and I let out a sigh sensing that there was something he wasn’t telling me. It was easy to guess though; he was incredibly easy to read.
“Jay, I’ll still love you when I get back,” I said sitting beside him.
He was always so insecure… It didn’t matter how much I promised I loved him, how much I showed him. After years and so much time together, he still did not feel secure about us. I grit my teeth thinking back. It was their fault…
“Will you?” He mumbled, “There’s no guarantee that you’ll even be back, Corey…” he said. I rolled my eyes.
“You always worry like this and you’re always wrong about the outcome of… everything. Literally.” I said jokingly. He still didn’t laugh and I was becoming a little worried.
“You’re leaving, I remember the last time we rode across the country, Corey.” I narrowed my eyes, “And you’re still practically single.” He said frowning.
“We’re not driving across the – Wait, you’re upset about the wedding thing again?” I asked.
“No, I mean, yes… No – it’s just that –” he was saying.
“Us getting married won’t fix that fact that you still don’t trust me, Jayden.” I cut him off a little frustrated. His eyes followed me as I got up and turned back to him. “It’s been nine years. I’ve been with you for nine years! That’s not enough for your trust? You actually believe that I’ll go out there and hurt you?” I asked.
“How can I not? I’m asking you for one thing, and you won’t do that. It’s not a lot –” He tried.
“Exactly! It isn’t a lot! It’s just a page! And what’s it going to prove, Jayden? That we’re together? Like we are right now? Like we have been for the past fricking nine years? Or will it be of use when we enter a court to get divorced, to prove that we’re together then?” I asked. Did he not see, not feel the marks we had on our necks?
He didn’t say anything as he stared at me, his face looked a little shocked but more hurt. Why? What had I said?
“‘When’?”
“What?” I asked.
“‘When we get divorced.’ You said when.” He said. I rolled my eyes.
“It’s a word, I just said it; it doesn’t mean anything.” I said.
“Yes, it did. It does.” I rolled my eyes at his reply.
“Well, it’s fine because we can’t get a divorce, we’re not married. Also, it’s impossible to unmark each other or backtrack mating so there’s no way we could ever be rid of each oth –” I paused seeing Jayden let out a breath of disbelief as his eyes dropped to the floor. Damnit. “Obviously, I don’t mean that I – that we would ever want –” I cut myself off again when the door swung open.
“I came to see my niece and nephew! And I brought candy! Where are those monkeys?” We both looked at Jayden’s best friend Kaden as he shouted that while walking into our room. I was a little relieved by the interruption because my mind was reeling and I was certainly about to make the argument between Jayden and me worse. Kaden seemed to freeze as he looked back and forth between us. “Do I sense tension? I’ll… wait downstairs…” He said slowly backing away back towards the door. I glanced at Jayden who still wasn’t looking at me and shook my head. I needed some air.
“No, it’s fine, I was on my way out. Have to get the twins before I leave.”
“Right, the plot search. It’ll be sad when you’re no longer our neighbours.” Kaden frowned.
“Bright side is Inferno gets first bid on our land,” I replied. He chuckled. Kaden was the current Alpha of Jayden’s old pack, Inferno.
I didn’t look at Jayden as I walked out; I knew he was shocked that Kaden had known that I was leaving before he had. Sean and I had informed Kaden and our other neighbouring pack – Titan’s – Alpha, Greg, that we were leaving because they were Galaxy’s (our pack) biggest allies and if anything happened while we were away, we could count on them to protect our pack.
I sprinted my way through our grounds so everything around me blurred and arrived in front of the school in a couple of seconds.
“Good afternoon, Beta.” I smiled at one of the mother’s fetching her kids as she walked out but before I could even attempt to greet her back and head into the school, Eli tackled my legs and I smirked down at him.
“Still not doing it properl –” I cried out in surprise, falling back onto the grass as two other kids tackled me to the ground.
“Got you, Papa!” Eli shouted as he high-fived Ashton and their friend Ben. I laughed grabbing Ben and Ashton in my arms and holding their bodies by my sides like they were sacks of potatoes as I stood up while my son jumped onto my back.
“Great teamwork,” I laughed.
“Better than you and my dad?” Ashton smiled at me.
“Much better.” I chuckled hearing Izabella answer Ashton’s question as she walked up to us.
“Iz,” I kissed her cheek, unable to hug her as my arms were currently occupied by wiggling children.
“I’m going to miss you, Idiot!” She replied. I laughed. It would only be a few weeks, perhaps even a few days if I could help it, she knew that.
“Miss him? Why?” I looked behind Izabella hearing Tamia speak, she was holding both her and her brother’s bags.
“Yeah, we’re coming over tomorrow,” Eli said looking at Izabella confused.
Izabella looked at me and her mouth shaped an ‘o’ in realisation. “Uhm, you guys should go. Ben, grab your bag, your mom said you could sleepover tonight!” Izabella said.
“I wanna sleepover tonight too!” Eli yelled.
“Yeah!” Tamia chimed in.
“Uh –” I began.
“Please, Papa?” Eli hugged me tightly. I chuckled.
“Uncle Kade just got here to see you guys.” I said.
“Well, Uncle Kade can visit sometimes too,” Izabella said. I laughed putting the kids down.
“Fine, I’ll tell Jay and Kade to join you. Look, guys,” I pulled my kids closer to me, “Papa’s going to go away for a while with Alpha and some of the others, but I’ll be back before you know it. You’ll be with Daddy, alright? Don’t eat too much junk and don’t scare him too much, Eli.” I gave him a pointed stare and he chuckled. Eli had this game where he tried scaring Jayden practically every day because his dad was easy to scare. Some days were worse than others. Somehow, despite how constant these scars were, Jaden just didn’t get used to it. “I love you guys, I’ll see you when I get back, alright?” I smiled.
“I don’t want you to go.” Tamia frowned. I gave her an apologetic smile. “Does Daddy know you’re going?” she asked.
“Yes, of course,” I said. It was true… He knew now… “I have to go, stay safe, I love you both.” I kissed them each on the head.
“Love you too.” They mumbled in unison not sounding at all happy that I was leaving. I looked up at Izabella silently asking if she was sure it was okay to leave them with her until Kaden and Jayden headed to her house.
“I can handle them,” She rolled her eyes.
I laughed as I stood up and left back home. I stopped outside my house and looked up with a sinking feeling in my chest. Maybe going on the trip wasn’t such a good idea. I rolled my eyes at myself. I didn’t have a choice, if I tried to back out; I would get bombarded with speeches about pack customs and laws from the Elders again.
I pushed the front door open and heard laughing from the kitchen. Great, I wouldn’t have to argue with Jayden some more. I sped-ran upstairs and grabbed my bags before making my way downstairs but I stopped beside the kitchen. Did I really want to leave without saying goodbye to him because of a stupid argument?
Definitely not. I set my bags down and walked into the kitchen.
“The twins are at Izabella’s house,” I said looking at Kaden.
“Oh?” He replied glancing over at me while playing with an orange.
“Yeah, they are at Izabella’s house,” I repeated giving him a look as I raised my eyebrows and skewed my head slightly towards the door.
“Oh.” His mouth formed the shape as he said it and he nodded, “You could have just asked me to leave you alone. So childish, Corey.” He rolled his eyes chuckling as he left.
Jayden watched me as I walked over to him feeling rather awkward before I sighed.
“I love you.” I said.
“I love you too.” He replied not looking into my eyes. I gave an aggravated sigh and he chuckled looking at me. “Don’t push anyone off cliffs.” He said.
“I couldn’t do that, that’s our thing.” He shoved me lightly as we laughed before I kissed him, “Stay safe, alright?”
“Aren’t you going to tell me to take care of the twins?” He asked.
“Nah, they can hold their own; it’s you I’m worried about,” I smirked; he shook his head looking annoyed before sighing, the lightened mood between us dimming again. “Jay?” I asked softly.
“I don’t want to make you mad before you leave.” He said. I let out a groan.
“Then why do you keep bringing it up?” I asked.
“I trust you; I promise I trust you, Corey. But there’s nothing stopping you from just… leaving.” He said.
“Uh, what about that?” I motioned to the mark on his neck, I had an identical mark on mine, it appeared when we mated, to show that we had accepted each other and that we would always be together. A marriage was exactly the same damn thing, if not something that did not even measure up to marking each other, so why do it? He didn’t reply, just sighed again. I frowned planting a kiss on his temple. “I love you so much, Jayden… Take care of yourself.” I said before leaving.
The dread I had felt earlier seemed to intensify the closer I got to our meeting spot, but I decided I was being paranoid about leaving the pack and ignored it.
*****
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