The Autumn Eclipse

Chapter Two

Liam

Inhale. 2. 3. Exhale. 2. 3. My heart was crashing into my chest as I stood in the elevator. The floors ticked by and as I got closer to her room, my heart only felt like it was beating faster and faster. Until finally the elevator doors opened and I felt like my chest might explode, but I stepped out anyways. I can do this. I can do this. I can totally do this. I stepped up to the room labeled 722 and knocked lightly.

Then just as I pulled my hand back the door flew open, Alana eagerly waiting on the other side. Her skin was almost glowing under the dim lights of her hotel room. A white lace dress clung to her curves, making her seem even more like an angel to me.

“Hi Liam,” she whispered, the slightest smile coming to her lips and as she batted her long dark eyelashes I felt like a hurricane was going to blow me over. There was no way this gorgeous girl was my mate, she was beyond perfect. I pulled my arm out from where it had been hidden behind my back, revealing the bouquet of white roses I had gotten her. Her eyes went wide, her hands coming out slowly to take them and her lips parted in surprise.

“These are for me?” Her hazel eyes shon on me, her smile spreading even bigger now. I nodded my head and she pulled the roses in, smelling them first. “These are beautiful,” she smiled at me, pulling back. Turning to walk back inside her hotel room, she picked up a glass, filled it with water then set the roses inside. “I don’t have a vase, but this’ll do,” she shrugged.

“Are you ready to go?” I asked her. I was going to take her to this nice restaurant on the beach that Ty recommended. I’d never been there before, the place was too fancy to take any girl I’d gone on a date with before, it practically just screamed committed relationship; which was exactly the kind of vibe I wanted to give off to Alana.

“Yep, ready if you are,” she said curling her hand around mine. Sparks tingled through my hand and up my arm under her touch and I squeezed her hand tighter. Together we walked back to the elevator and finally I began to settle. Maybe Ty was right, tonight would be great. So what I’d never been on a real date before, or entertained the idea of a committed relationship, Alana was a total game changer.

“You look beautiful tonight Alana,” I turned to her in the elevator and to my surprise she leaned into my side, lifting my arm to wrap it around herself.

“Duh,” she said, giving me a cheeky grin that made me laugh. “But I guess you cleaned up pretty nice too, where’d all the shaggy hair go?” She reached up to brush her hands against the hair that was now caked back on my head with the hair gel. Gosh how I wished she would run her hands through it, end this Barbie hair torture Malia had put me in. I let out a chuckle in response to her, not even I could explain this ridiculous hair-do.

Together we drove to the restaurant. I listened while Alana gushed about Malia and Ty’s engagement. It was amazing how excited girls got over planning weddings, the dress, the whole shabang. I couldn’t help but let my mind wander, if Alana and I had a wedding I would make sure it was the biggest party ever, and most importantly; everything she ever wanted. Then as she gushed about the romance of an outdoor wedding, I found myself asking her, “Is that what you want your wedding to be like? Outside? A big party?”

She turned her head to me, surprised by my question but then shook her head. “I mean I don’t think I’ll ever get married,” she said with a shrug. As if what she had said wasn’t already eating away at my heart, a thousand more questions began filling my mind, but how could I ask them without sounding crazy? Did she mean she didn’t want to get married? Or were there just no prospects? Was I not a prospect? I willed myself to take a deep breath and calm down, one question at a time. You don’t need to sound like a total creep here.

“Just not your thing or?” I began.

“Um I don’t know, I mean I guess I’ve never really let a relationship get serious enough to actually think or talk about those things. You know?” Again, shrugging as if this were entirely casual. But I had to smile at her answer, because up until I had met her a wedding had never been on the table for me either. I only hoped that once she got to know me, her answer would change.

After parking the car I ran around to Alana’s side of the car and opened the door for her, just as Ty had instructed me to do. Offering her my hand, she took it and stood out of the car wobbling a little on her heels and I had to wonder how girls could walk in such horrible shoes. Her arm snaked through the crook of my elbow and together we walked forwards to the restaurant. Alana looked around in wonder, “this place is gorgeous,” she whispered. I silently thanked Ty for recommending it because she was totally right.

Everything seemed just about perfect until I turned my head to see the hostess coming to greet us at the door. Then she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes locking on mine. “Liam?!” She screamed out, the clipboard she had been holding suddenly crashing to the floor. Her eyes were wide on mine and I wanted to run and cover her mouth before she could say anything else, but I was already too late.

“Do you know her?” Alana was saying slowly as the hostess stomped towards me with furious feet. Her hand coming up and slapping across my face. I gritted my teeth, knowing she was a human so I couldn’t exactly stop her or demand respect as the pack’s beta as I would have done with a she wolf. I wanted to turn to Alana, to have a proper chance to explain before this crazy lady went any farther, but I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t even remember this girls name, all I knew is that I had hooked up with her at a party and then the next night taken her best friend out for a night of fun after dodging her texts all day. None of this story could end well for me in Alana’s books.

“Is this your new skank?” The hostess was yelling again but that was where I drew the line. No one insulted Alana. Instinctively I pushed her behind me slightly, my eyes turning cold and narrowing on the hostess. She didn’t back down though, that same attitude burning strong as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“She is my date, leave us alone,” I commanded her but she didn’t budge. I was about to threaten her, to make her leave without choice but then Alana’s hand suddenly came in front of me as she pushed herself around my body.

“No no, I can speak for myself Liam,” my angel said, her eyes focused on the hostess in front of us. “b***h I don’t know who you think you are, but girls as fine as I am don’t need to act skanky to get a guys attention. But I guess maybe you do. So I suggest you get your cheap ass extensions out of my face before I rip them out, then no guy will find you pretty enough to take anywhere” she spat and my eyes went wide. Did she actually just say that? I wanted to laugh, but I was still too shocked to move as the hostess scoffed then turned on her heel and stormed away from us. Alana turned back to me, a sly grin playing on her lips. “That’s how you handle that,” she smirked and I had to admit, this girl was going to make one fierce she-wolf once we’d completed our bond.

Once at a table I pulled out Alana’s chair for her, we ordered a bottle of wine to share, and even when the food came things were still going good. It was a little awkward, I had to admit, because fancy restaurants just weren't my thing. All that mattered though was that she seemed like she was having a good time, or at least she was until we stood up to leave and another angry girl came marching in my direction. Before I could ever react, her drink had been thrown in my face and was now soaking through the shirt I had borrowed from Ty. Well I really hope he didn’t want this back because this was definitely going to stain.

When I looked up to see the girls angry face, I knew I was only in for more trouble. The best friend. Once more Alana’s eyes were wide as she looked between me and the girl, her mind already drawing conclusions about exactly what was happening right now. “You jerk!” The girl screamed at me then she turned to Alana next, “ I would stay away from him if I were you,” she threatened. Giving me one last deadly glare she spun and headed back the direction she had came from.

Still recovering the drink being thrown in my face, I did my best to wipe my eyes clean before turning back to Alana. Once the stinging in my eyes started to relax, I found myself searching for words, how could I explain this all to Alana. I turned to face her, but the look on her face was unreadable as she looked between me and then in the direction of which the girl had left. There was no way Alana was going to understand this, she probably thinks I’m a total player now and just wants this date to be over with. So I did the only thing I knew how to do in the moment, lie.

“How weird is that? She definitely must have the wrong person because I’ve never seen that girl in my life,” I reached up to scratch behind my head, letting out an awkward laugh. Alana pursed her lips, crossing her arms over her chest as she raised an eyebrow at me. She totally didn’t buy it, but I had no choice but to stick to my story. The truth was way too hard to admit and could cost me any potential of a future relationship with her.

“So next destination?” I suggested to her, reaching my hand out again but this time she didn’t take it. She walked forwards ahead of me back towards the front of the restaurant, then out to the car. Finally stopping in front of the car, she spun to face me with a sour look on her face.

“If I go somewhere else with you are there going to be more girls there who are pissed at you? Like should I be preparing myself because it seems like I’m going to be in for a pretty wild time hanging around you,” she said, the slightest annoyance in her tone. Her hair was blowing slightly in the wind, her eyes sparkling under the moonlight and I knew I had to do everything in my power to make sure I didn’t lose this girl. So I lied again, quickly shaking my head as if there weren’t a whole bunch of girls in town who were out to get me. I mean usually they left me alone, but I had to wonder if me finally committing to one girl was going to stir up a lot of fights.

“Okay,” Alana’s voice was quiet, accepting my lie this time. But as she went to take a step around to the passenger side of the car, her heel finally gave out and she lost her balance. Letting out a squeal as she fell I ran forwards in an instant, catching her before she hit the ground. Sparks flew through my skin as I wrapped around her protectively, lifting her up in my arms to hold her in a cradle.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my eyes desperately searching her face. Her eyes threatened to spill tears as she reached out to her ankle.

“I think I twisted it, it’s still not fully better from the other day,” she said, her voice breaking as she spoke and I saw the first set of tears start to come down her fave. “Sorry, sorry, I’m fine,” she muttered, quickly wiping them away. She shook her head so I couldn’t meet her eyes now, and it almost seemed like she was embarrassed. Although after everything that had happened tonight, if anyone was going to feel embarrassed, it was absolutely me.

The date ended quickly after that. Alana was adamant that she didn’t want to go to the hospital, she just wanted to go home. And while I wanted to offer to stay and nurse her hurt ankle back to health, I knew that such an offer would only seem like some sort of s****l invitation that gave off exactly the type of vibe that I didn’t want. I wanted to show Alana that I was in this for the relationship, not just s*x like it may have seemed after those girls interrupted our date.

Only when I dropped Alana off at the door, she looked up at me with a confused look. “Well I guess I’m going to go inside now,” she said, her hand closing around the handle. Kiss her. Just kiss her already. My wolf was crying out, so I took a step closer. Alana’s back pressed against the hotel room door, then she quickly popped up onto her tiptoes. Her lips touched mine for the briefest second and then she was disappearing into her hotel room.

That's it? My lips tingled from the remnants of her touch, but that was hardly a kiss. I kissed my family like that, hell I could kiss Ty like that and it would mean nothing. I wanted to scream, to hit my head against the walls of the elevator as I returned. I knew the date was bad, there were too many awkward uncomfortable moments, and she ended up getting hurt so we were definitely ending on a bad note. But to end the date with a kiss like that? This was just terrible.

I drove home through the dark, parking my car in the driveway behind Ty's. Not at all ready to admit what had just happened, but knowing I had to face them eventually, I walked in the front door and threw my keys down on the front table. The smell of fresh popcorn filled my nose, and in the kitchen I could see Ty pulling some freshly popped kernels from the machine.

“Hey, home already? how was the date?” Ty asked from his spot in the kitchen. He tossed popcorn in a bowl then stopped to add some salt to it, and I could already hear Malia coming down the stairs eager to hear my answer as well. But I had nothing to say, there were no words to describe how royally my first official date with my mate had just been screwed up by my own twisted karma. I groaned and walked right by him, dodging Malia’s gaze as she reached the bottom of the steps, and headed to my already selected destination. My legs hit the edge of the couch and I flopped down face first into the soft cushions. Ty came to stand over top of me, nudging the popcorn bowl into my side. I took a handful and immediately began stuffing it in my mouth. Ty turned back towards Malia who leaned against the bottom railing of the stairs.

“Well Lia, it looks like we’re keeping him.”