Undauntable

The truth always comes out

The front door of our house slammed hard enough to knock photos off the walls.

Spinning around, I stared wide eyed at Wes. Never in all the years we’ve known each other have I seen him this angry.

He shook his head, “You don’t get to look at me like that,” Wes gritted his teeth, nostrils flaring as he stared me down.

“Why the hell not? You’re being ridiculous right now,” I started but he cut me off, “Me?” he pointed at his chest with a scoff, “You are parading around in the middle of the night with your male best friend. And imagine my surprise when I was woken up in excruciating pain. What the hell am I supposed to think, B?”

Wes threw his hands up in the air, “You’ve changed. I can see it. I can feel it. I’m losing you right before my eyes. And to him?”

He began pacing, but his words were settling. He actually thought I was cheating.

Wes knows me better than anyone. Or I thought he did. Cheating is for the lowest type of people.

Cheating is for people who have no regard for their partners' feelings.

It’s taking every ounce of self-control I have not to explode. To start screaming. To let everything out right now.

“Do you really believe that I’m cheating on you?”

Wes stopped pacing, turning towards me again, “I don’t know what to think anymore. The only thing I know for certain is you’re slipping away. Every day I feel like we’re drifting into a place where there is no return. We’re trying to start a family for Goddess’ sake,” he blew out a weighted breath, "I've seen the way you wince whenever we're intimate. The distant look in your eyes at every appointment.. I don't understand."

My heart beat erratically in my chest, thumping against my rib cage in dizzying flutters. I couldn’t focus on his face. It moved slowly away from me, blurring the longer I stared. I’ve spent an entire year, pushing myself to the brink of no return for him. For us. For the family he needs to feel complete.

But I just needed him.

Tears burned behind my eyes, blurring my vision further. The itch in my brain grew until it was uncomfortable. The letter was my ticket to freedom. A chance to start over.

Everything in my life has been orchestrated perfectly by someone else. Choices stolen from me because I never had the chance to make them.

“Are you just going to stand there and say nothing?” Wes ran his through his mess of brown hair. I blinked a few times, fighting the onset of tears and returning myself to the present.

“Do you think that I was cheating on you?” I pinned him with my gaze, searching his eyes for the truth.

He took a deep breath, steeling his spine and swallowing hard, “Given the way you've been acting lately... yes.”

So final. So absolute. His words cut deep to my core. He may as well of extended his claws and ripped out my heart, tossing it on the floor before us and then stomping on it.

“You’re not even going to deny it,” he whispered brokenly.

I stayed silent, digging my fingernails into my palms until the skin broke.

My wolf whimpered painfully in my head at the feel of my heart breaking.

The air in the room felt thick and breathing was damn near impossible. My hands shook as I moved them to the hem of my shirt, hesitating for a moment before lifting it enough for Wes to see the bright, angry red spidering streaks from the injection.

His brown eyes moved down to the damage, widening before they lifted to mine. His lips parted slightly like he wanted to speak, but nothing came out.

“I needed to go for a run to clear my mind. Calix showed up while I was running. I didn’t call him. I didn’t ask him to be there. But I’m glad he was. The pain you felt, was me trying to fight this,” I glanced down at my exposed stomach, “The pain took me down. I threw up a few times from nausea and he forced me to rest.”

Glassiness clouded his eyes as he continued moving them from the wound to my face.

Gritting my teeth, I forced the words out of my mouth, “I’m tired, Wes. I am so f*****g tired,” the first tear fell from my eyes. I didn’t have the strength to hold them back, “I don’t want to do this anymore. I'm tired of the doctors. The medications. The injections. And fuck.... the pity looks. I'm tired of everyone looking at me, hoping for good news, only to watch my face fall and apologize. Hell.... I don't even feel connected to you when we have sex.”

Just open the goddamn letter, Bailey. You can finally put this life behind you. Make something of yourself that no one else pulled strings for.

“I haven’t wanted to do this for a long time. I’m falling apart at the seams. Putting on a brave face because this is your dream,” I emphasized the your, “I was happy with you. I would have been happy with just you. Complete.

“But that’s not the life you’re looking for.”

I could hear his heart begin racing as he realized what I was saying.

“No. B, no. I’m so f*****g sorry. I should have never accused you of being unfaithful,” he whispered, shaking his head and running his hands over his face, “f**k. Why haven’t you talked to me?”

“Because I couldn’t,” I choked out loudly, feeling the weight of this moment crash over me like an avalanche.

He took a step closer, but I took a step back, holding my hand up shakily, “I can’t give you what you want.”

“What I want is you, Bailey. Don’t... don’t give up on me, on us,” he exhaled a shaky breath.

The moment he accused me of cheating was the final nail in the coffin. I’d had one foot out the door, knowing that I’d never be enough for him. He longed to be complete as much as I did. But neither of us had what the other needed.

I was willing to put myself through hell for the man I loved, but he was too blind to see what was happening to me. Or maybe I'd just been too good at hiding it. Maybe he was blinded from his own grief.

In the end, we'd failed each other.

And I couldn’t blame him. I loved Wes with my whole heart and soul but love only gets you so far. It’s like using tape when you really need glue.

“Someone else can give you the family you want,” the words tore through my body, leaving me feeling so goddamned empty.

“If this is about us having a pup,” I shook my head, swallowing hard as the tears fell freely now, “Don’t. Don’t you dare say you’ll give up on your dreams. You deserve everything you’ve ever dreamed of.”

His tear-stained cheeks glistened beneath the glow of the moon through the windows. His chest rose and fell with every choppy breath, like he couldn’t get enough oxygen.

“This is it, isn’t it?” his voice sounded foreign, “You’re going to leave?” He raised a brow in question as his chest heaved and a sob tore through the room. I couldn’t tell if the sound came from me or him. Everything was a mess of tears and broken souls.

The last year has felt like we were walking along one of those old, wooden bridges. One wrong move, and you’ll fall through.

Today was that step.

I thought the fall would hurt a whole lot worse, but if anything; it feels like freedom.

Closing the distance between the two of us, I reached up, running my shaky fingers over his cheeks. Tears soaked into my skin as I held his face in my hands. Our hearts beat collectively with sparks spreading through my fingers from the contact.

Standing on my tip-toes, I pressed my lips to his, tasting the saltiness of our tears. His rough hands grabbed both sides of my face, holding onto me like his life depended on it.

Reluctantly pulling away, I pressed my forehead against his, “I’m so sorry,” I choked on the words, fighting the urge not to break.

You can’t give him what he needs. Let him go.

“I, Bailey Graff, of Crimson River reject you, Weston Carter, as my mate,” a painless, numbing feeling settled in my chest as I waited for him to do the same.

“I, Weston Carter, of Crimson River, accept your rejection.”