A Promise Made

Chapter 6

Glasses in hand, the three of them sat in awkward silence, watching each other. Emily didn't know why Simile had come out to them if she had no intention to even acknowledge that they were more than just friends. The block she had up, didn't even allow Emily to judge her mood.  Her simmering anger started to rise again as she sat and waited for Simile to say what she wanted to say and get out. It was clear as daylight she didn't want them there, so why hang around, why stay and pretend to be friendly?

Andy felt the tension rise from Emily. She had no idea how to handle what was happening. She'd never been good with situations where people wanted to kill each other but also wanted to rip each other's clothes off. That's where she was stuck now, between Emily and Simile, not knowing how to respond to each other after three years. She wanted to say something, but she had no idea what, she wanted to do something, but was afraid that if she moved the tension would snap and she'd be right in the middle of the s**t.

Simile watched Emily warily, she was aware that the longer they sat in silence the tenser she got, and the more her anger rose. Emily tried to hide it from her, but even after three years, her block was not as good as Similes. Shifting uncomfortably, she waited for Andy to do her job and calm Emily down, but the woman just sat watching them, her eyes darting between them as if she was watching a tennis match. 

They all started when Emily jumped to her feet. "Where are you going?" Andy asked. 

"To get something to eat, the silence is making me hungry. And if she has nothing to say then why are we sitting here?" 

"You came here, Em. What is it you have to say?" Simile saw the flash of hurt. "I'm sorry, look, it's a shock to see you here, I was not at all prepared for it, and apparently I'm still not." She took a sip of her drink and set the glass down. "Why are you here?" 

"I wanted to see you, needed to know why you just left like that, no explanation, no screw you." 

"I said goodbye." Simile saw Andy flinch and frowned. When she looked back at Emily anger flamed from her eyes.

"Said goodbye?!" The words snapped like a whip. "You call what you did saying goodbye? Oh, you i***t! You didn't say goodbye to me! No, what you did was make yourself feel better about leaving, by telling me how amazing I was, how I needed to find someone good for me." Glaring at Simile, Emily snapped her fingers at Andy who jumped up and went to her. Andy took her arm and helped her back to the couch. 

"What's wrong?" Simile asked. Something was wrong with Emily, a tiny rant like that should not exhaust her like that, and she was exhausted, she was panting heavily, her head bent low to her knees. "What the f**k is going on?" Simile growled.

"She just needs to regain control," Andy said. 

"Control of what?" Her wolf? Surely she didn't need to control her wolf here. 

"She's allowed to shift, but only if she has control of her wolf. A few things have changed back home, Sim, this is one of them." Andy stroked Emily's head and then whispered something to her, Emily nodded and looked up. Simile took a step back, the power that radiated from Emily nearly drove her to her knees. 

"What?" She held up her hands. "She's the...?" 

"No, Drake is still our alpha. But he's sick. And with challenges coming from all sides..." 

"It's not her concern, Andy," Emily said, calm again. "I wanted to see you, bring you home, I was ready to promise you that I'd leave you alone, that I'd try and find another person to share my life with, just as long as you come home and help us defend our pack. But you built a good life here, you've obviously moved on, and it would be unfair of me to ask you to come home." 

Simile didn't miss the curious look that Andy gave Emily. There was something else there. "So, you came here to ask me to come home?" 

"Yes. You left without thinking. If you had, you'd have realized it was the wrong decision." 

"I left because that was the options given to me, Emily, I left my pack, my home, because that was the only way forward." 

"My mother gave you two options, you chose the easy one," Emily said. 

"The easy one?" Simile snapped. "You think leaving my home was easy? Leaving you?" 

"Yes," Emily said. "The hard thing would have been to stay, face my father and be with me." She held up a hand. "But you chose to leave, to not be with me, and you chose to decide for both of us. My father is a difficult man, yes, but he loves me, and eventually, he'd have gotten used to the idea of us. But what he thought of you was stronger and more important than our mate bond." 

"Nothing is stronger than a mate bond." Simile said quietly. 

"You proved that statement incorrect," Emily said. "I was going to ask you to give us a chance," Emily added then. "I missed you, so damned much." When Andy stood to leave, Emily grabbed her hand, held it. "Every day has been a struggle, keeping my wolf down, letting her out but keeping her leash on, fighting the need to send out a signal to you, keeping up the block that we have. I'm tired. I'd hoped that when you saw me you'd realize you'd made a mistake. But the woman on your arm, she seemed happy, in love with you." She sighed then, stood again. "I won't come between that." 

"Em..." 

"All I ask is that you think about coming home, to help me fight this damned rogue wolf that wants our pack. My father is not strong enough to stand alone, and I don't think I can do it without you." She smiled at Andy who grinned back at her. 

There was something there, Simile thought, and a stab of jealousy hit her.  "I'll talk to my manager, Braid, you met her. If, and only if she feels she can run the bar alone for a while, I'll help you." She intentionally ignored the rest of what Emily had said. Maybe keeping Paine between them would help keep the wall up. 

"Thank you." Emily leaned over and kissed Andy on the cheek. "I'm going to take my wolf outback, you can see Simile out. Goodnight." She turned to leave, but not before Simile saw the tear that ran down her cheek. 

"You know, when you left I was there for her, they moved me up like you asked to take care of her. It took a whole year for her to go to sleep without crying, or waking up screaming from a nightmare. She came here hoping to find you, tell you she knew what happened, what Kris had done. Then she sees you and you chase her away like she's a burden you don't want back. I want to hurt you so badly right now. I want to punch you until you feel the pain she felt." 

"You're in love with her." Simile said simply. 

"I am, yes. But she's yours, she's always been yours. If you can't see that, if you can't accept that, don't come back, we'll fight this asshole and win because she's stronger than she thinks. But don't come back if you're just going to pack up and leave again without a proper goodbye." Andy walked to the front door, pulled it open. "This time, my loyalties are with her, not you." 

Simile nodded, understanding. She'd hurt more than just one person that day she left. "I'll call you tomorrow to let you know what I decide." 

"Okay." She started closing the door on Simile. 

"I'm sorry, Andy." Simile said. Andy paused a fraction of a second, just so Simile knew she heard, then closed the door.