Mine to Protect Chapter 68: WITH OR WITHOUT YOU

*Hazel*

“Don’t be angry with me, kitten. I am doing this for you, now that word of you being a white wolf is out, the court is just looking for an excuse to get you. You’ll be safer away from here, although it breaks me to be apart from you. I will join you as soon as I can.”

He speaks with his head hidden in the crook of my neck, his breath spreading tingles on my skin. But this time I won’t give in; I am tired of his excuses.

“Don’t bother, I can protect myself. You do your things, I’ll do mine. Being apart for a while might not a bad thing,” I reply coldly, breaking free from his hold. I want some distance between us, some distance from all this drama and heartbreak.

“Don’t say that kitten, I don’t want to be away from you,” Derek says, while following behind me down the stairs.

“Yet you are making me leave.”

I sound bitter even to myself, but that’s exactly how I am feeling, and there is no point in hiding it.

“I told you the reason!” he says frustrated.

I don’t reply, we are out now, Lukas is leaning on his car, parked in front of the packhouse. I got in his car, on the passenger side and shut the door fast. Derek is standing outside my door, watching me, waiting for me to come out and say goodbye, or maybe just to look at him, but I don’t, I keep staring ahead, out of the windshield.

Sadness and anger float to me through the bond, although I don’t know if he is angrier at me or at himself.

I hear Lukas and Derek exchange a few words, before Lukas climbs in and starts the car. I look in the rearview mirror, Derek is still standing there, watching us leave, a frown on his face.

I wonder when I’ll see him again, he told me to leave, but he didn’t tell me for how long. My heart shutters at the realization that maybe he doesn’t want me to come back at all.

“You could have at least said goodbye,” Lukas admonishes me in a gentle tone.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

My cold tone might have tipped him off on not pushing this subject, because he turns the radio on, and stays quiet for the following couple of hours of our trip, until my stomach rumbles loudly.

“Are you hungry?” he asks me.

“Yes, a little.”

“That didn’t sound like a little,” he says mockingly, while laughing at me.

I roll my eyes at him, not in the mood for his stupid jokes.

“Grumpy Luna onboard alert! What would you like to eat? Maybe something that can cheer you up a little?”

“Anything is fine,” I answer uninterested.

“Ok, so we could go to a restaurant up ahead which makes the best tripe with onions!” he suggests enthusiastically.

“Anything but that!” I hate tripe! And the car would smell like onions. “Why don’t we stop at a diner? We could have some burgers,” I suggest instead.

“As you wish, my lady!”

I roll my eyes again, when will he stop with his playful attitude? It’s grating on my nerves. Did Derek send me with him as a way to punish me?

We get to a diner and order our food, Lukas doesn’t make any effort to make conversation, and I am starting to feel awkward, maybe I hurt his feelings in the car with my snarky attitude.

“How long will it take to get to Moon Shade pack? I am not even sure where it is located,” I ask, trying to gauge his reaction if he is pissed at me.

He looks at me, his eyes lighting up, a mischievous smirk on his lips.

“She talks!” he says playfully, “I was wondering how long you can go without talking, apparently not long.”

I give him a pointed look; he guilt-tripped me into talking to him, I never took him for a such a strategist.

“We won’t go to the Moon Shade pack directly; we will stop first at my pack for the night. We can go to Moon Shade tomorrow, or if you wish, I can take you sightseeing tomorrow, and we can go to Moon Shade the day after.”

“No, I want to go tomorrow, as soon as we can,” I say firmly.

“Ok,” he replies nonchalantly, and starts eating his burger again.

There’s a burning question on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t know if I have the courage to ask him. Maybe, it’s better if I don’t know.

“What is it, Hazel?” Lukas has picked on my mood, and I think he already knows what I am going to ask him.

“How long? How long did Derek ask you to keep me away?”

Even saying his name hurts, why do I have to be such a loser when it comes to him!

Lukas looks at me with pity in his eyes, making me dread his answer even more.

“He didn’t say, he just said I should keep you safe for as long as it is necessary. He will come pick you up when things are settled at the Crescent Moon.”

I swallow hard, a tear rolls down my cheek, and I brush it away angrily, annoyed at the fact that I am crying again over the same man, I need to stop being this weak, I can’t let him hurt me anymore.

“It could be just a couple of days,” Lukas tries to appease me.

“It doesn’t matter, I might as well enjoy this vacation, I haven’t been on a trip in ages,” I say, faking indifference, and biting into my burger.

Lukas frowns, not at all convinced by my sudden change of attitude, but he doesn’t say anything, and we keep eating in silence.

We are back on the road, I have slept for two hours, or maybe more, and my limbs are starting to feel stiff.

Suddenly a ringtone goes off in the car, Lukas doesn’t pick up and the phone keeps ringing.

“Aren’t you going to take that?” I asked him, a little annoyed by the high-pitched sound of the ringtone.

“It’s not mine, is yours,” he replies with a small laugh.

I’ve got so used to being phoneless in the last period, that I didn’t even think it could be mine. Plus, it is a new phone, and I am still not familiar with its tunes.

As I take the phone out of the bag, it stops ringing, a missed call appears on the screen by Alpha-hole, I’ve never took the time to change his contact’s name, and I don’t think I am going to do it at all now, serves him well. I wonder if he has seen his nickname among my contacts.

The phone starts ringing again, Alpha-hole popping on the screen.

Why is he calling me? There is nothing to say, I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t pick up, just let it ring out. Luckily Lukas doesn’t comment.

Lukas’ phone starts ringing, and I don’t need to be a genius to know who’s calling.

He picks up, shaking his head a little, a dumb smirk on his face.

“Hello, Loverboy. Missing me already?”

I can hear Derek’s reply through the phone’s speaker, he sounds a little worried.

“Why isn’t she picking up her phone?”

“Sorry, we were too busy doing what a man and a woman would do alone in a car.”

A loud growl bursts through the speaker.

“Get your thoughts out of the gutter, Alpha, I meant that we were just purposely ignoring each other,” Lukas continues in his playful tone.

Derek mutters something indistinguishable, I only catch a cut and hands, and I can only imagine what kind of threat he is throwing at Lukas.

“Put her on the phone,” I hear Derek order.