Transition - Delta's Triad

[ 4 ]

[ Luca ]

“Ok, let’s take a break everyone,” I called out, and I wasn’t at all surprised to see the group of warriors breathe out in relief. I had, after all, worked them hard with training. I didn’t watch them as I turned to head to the small office. I did, however, grab a bottle of water on my way.

“Finished?” my dad asked as I walked into the office. He was sitting behind the desk working on the schedules for the upcoming weeks.

“Break time,” I muttered as I sat down on the wingback chair across from him. I saw him glance at his phone, and I knew he was checking the time.

“First one?” he asked, and I simply nodded. I saw him frown but I quickly diverted my eyes. “Luca-”

“I know,” I snapped, interrupting him before he could lecture me on giving regular breaks. “Listen…I was actually thinking about giving them the rest of the day off,” he raised his eyebrows in question, and I sighed. “I need to see him, dad,” I whispered, and he immediately nodded in understanding.

“Alright, well…good luck,” he said sincerely, and I did my best to smile. When I failed, miserably, I got up and left him and the office as I took small sips of the cool water. When some of the warriors saw me, I could see them all tense up and this time I did smile.

“Break’s over!” I called out and some of them actually groaned out. As they all made their way to me – rather slowly – I couldn’t help but drag it out just a little bit. The silence was almost deafening and as they fidgeted, I knew that I needed to get my act together. Working them this hard wasn’t good and I knew better. It was just that the training was a good distraction. “I think we’ve all done enough for the day, so why don’t we take the rest of the day off and relax?” everyone nodded in quick agreement and clear relief. “I’ll see you all here tomorrow morning at seven…sharp!” no one hung around after that and I headed out of the training center and made my way home. The past few weeks have been an adjustment. After graduating, I had thrown myself into the thick of it right away. Despite my dad’s suggestion of taking a week off.

“Honey? Is that you?” I heard my mom call out as I pushed open the front door.

“Yeah,” I said as I entered the sitting room. My mom was sitting on the couch with her laptop, and I knew she was busy with work. Work, work, and more work.

“How was your training?” she asked and then she looked over at me. “Finished already?”

“I pushed them without a break,” I explained. “By the time I gave them their first break, I realized they were tired, so I gave them the rest of the day off,” I sat down on the coffee table and sighed loudly. “I need to see him,” I admitted.

“You’ve been working yourself so hard, Luca,” she whispered in concern. “Are you going to see him or are you going to see him?”

“I don’t know,” I said truthfully, because I did understand exactly what she was asking me. Was I just going to spy on him from a distance or was I actually going to see him face to face? Possibly talk to him.

“Honey…the longer you drag this out, the harder it will be,” she advised, but I shook my head. “Luca, this has been eating at you since you found out,”

“I know,” I said in agreement. “And I know what Kayley said…it’s just that it is so hard to understand why,”

“Then ask him,” she said, and I stood up. “Talk to him Luca…it’s not like he is a stranger to you,” she added.

“Yeah, I know,” the truth was, I didn’t know Wyatt all that well. Everything I knew was either factual or stuff Kayley or Decker had revealed. “I’ll see you later,” I said to her before I headed upstairs to take a shower. I may or may not talk to him, but I always went through this kind of ritual – just in case. After taking a shower that was probably longer than necessary, I got dressed in my favorite dark blue jeans that fit like a glove and a black button-up shirt. I made sure that my hair was perfectly styled and that my white sneakers were clean. I grabbed my phone and keys and headed out of the house. My mom wasn’t in the sitting room anymore, but I wasn’t worried about that. She had probably gone to the daycare center. Once I was settled in my car, I put on my favorite playlist and headed out of the pack. The drive into town was focused and I barely listened to the music as I finally parked the car in the parking lot across from King’s Apple. I switched off the car, turned off the music, and focused on my breathing. I zeroed in on Wyatt and although I could pick up his scent, I couldn’t see or hear him. Movement from my right made me break eye contact and my breath caught. Wyatt was coming back from his apartment, and I hungrily took in his appearance. He was wearing his uniform so as always; he was neat and tidy. When he suddenly stopped and looked up, I froze as I wondered if he had picked up that I was nearby. However, it wasn’t until I saw him smile that I noticed someone approach him. Not just someone, Kayley. I groaned out in frustration as the moment made my heart break. Of course, he would smile like that for his cousin whom he considered his baby sister. I rolled down my side window just a fraction and listened closely.

“When are you coming by for dinner?” Kayley asked him and his smile dimmed just a tiny bit.

“Not anytime soon, Kay,” he told her, and my heart soared at hearing his voice.

“Wyatt…you can’t keep hiding like this,” she warned him. “Sooner or later the two of you will have to deal with this,”

“I don’t want to deal with this…ever,”

“And what about Rain?” she asked, and I immediately frowned. Who the hell is Rain?

“What about her? She has finally gotten settled and that’s it,” he said. “There is an apartment opening up on the third floor so…” his voice trailed off and I couldn’t help but wonder if the pain I had heard in his voice had been real or my imagination.

“So, you haven’t told her then?”

“No, of course not,”

“Wyatt…you can’t keep doing this to yourself. You deserve to be happy…” my heart stopped as I tried to understand what I had missed since the last time I had spied on him. The possibility that Wyatt had gotten himself a girlfriend or something had me rolling up my window and climbing out of the car. I was crossing the street – heading straight for them – before I even knew what I was doing, but my eyes were focused in on Wyatt. He saw me approaching first and his eyes went wide in surprise.

“Luca,” he whispered.

“Luca!” Kayley squealed. “Ah…what a surprise…”

“You should go,” I said to her without taking my eyes off my mate. Kayley didn’t say anything as she turned around and left. Wyatt and I stood frozen on the sidewalk just staring at each other.

“Luca…” he started, but I held up my hand to stop him. I took a moment to just take him all in. The way his hair had been styled, the way he stood tall – a good few inches taller than me – and the way his hands seemed to be holding onto his phone for dear life. I couldn’t help but breathe in his scent, it was so much stronger now. Was it because I was so close? I licked my lips, and his eyes followed the movement. It was now or never.

“Wyatt…I…I’ve known for a while,” I admitted, and the surprise that crossed his features was quickly replaced by a blank look, and I frowned. “Kayley was wrong then,” I whispered as I took a step back.

“What?” he asked, but I shook my head. “Luca, wait…what do you mean?”

“You…” I couldn’t say the words out loud, but it was clear that Kayley had been wrong. Wyatt didn’t want me. I hurriedly turned around and hurried back to my car. This can’t be happening. I had been waiting for him to make a move, especially when she had said that it wasn’t about me. That his fear had kept him away and that his fear had driven him out of the pack. I don’t think that is the case. Based on his surprised reaction, he hadn’t been happy to see me. Was it because he had found someone else? The pain that riddled my body had me gasping for air as I ripped open the car door.

“Luca! Wait!” I heard Wyatt call out, but I couldn’t stick around. I couldn’t listen to whatever excuse he had to give me, and I certainly wasn’t ready to be rejected. I slammed the door closed as soon as I was safely inside and started the car. I saw him from the corner of my eye as he ran across the road, but I reversed so quickly that I was able to get away before he could reach me. What on earth had I been thinking about approaching him like that? Had I been so consumed by the possibility of him being with someone else that I had been brave enough to admit that I knew? I couldn’t get that blank look out of my head and as I drove home, I thought back to before my transition. We didn’t often cross paths and once I knew he was my mate, I had wondered if that had been done on purpose. That he had probably avoided me deliberately. I had seen him laugh and be playful, plenty of times. I had seen him hard at work, many times. When Decker had been obsessed with Kayley, I had seen him daily. I hadn’t taken much notice of him, but now that I thought back to it, whenever we did happen to look at each other, his expression had been blank. I had never thought anything of it. Why would I? Until now. I would have to come to terms with the truth. Wyatt had obviously had plenty of time to come to his decision and now it was up to me. He now knew that I knew and that meant the rejection would happen sooner rather than later. As the pack gate came up, I ended up driving right past it. I wasn’t ready to face anyone. I wasn’t ready to talk to anyone. I just wanted to be alone with my pain. I headed for Seff’s cabin instead. By the time I got there, it was late afternoon already. The sun would be setting soon, so I got to work, and the fire was roaring just moments later. I made sure the generator was on and then I simply sat on the couch and stared into the flames as I cried silently. My heart had been breaking slowly as each day passed, but now…now it was shattered as the realization had hit me. Wyatt didn’t want me. He would reject me and there was nothing I could do or say to stop it. With that in mind, I made my own decision. I ignored my phone as it went off with messages and calls. I silently hoped that no one would bother me here. I needed this time by myself. I needed to come to terms with all of this and I needed to do it alone.