chapter ten

The Audacity

Elizabeth

Three days has passed since my blow up with Chayton in the kitchen. Things have changed. Unfortunately, not for the better. He leaves every morning before the sun comes up and gets home later every night. The few times we have been in the same room at the same time, we don’t speak to each other. This marriage has been horrible.

The only shining light in this farce of a union is the sweet little boy beside me right now.

“Can I have one now,” Miko asks.

I look down at his rounded blue eyes and smile. “Only one. I don’t want to ruin your appetite before dinner.” I tell him before ruffling his curly hair. I’m going to have to take him to get a haircut soon. Even though he spends ninety percent of his time in wolf form, I still need to take care of his human side.

He smiles back at me before grabbing a chocolate chip cookie off the drying rack. I am supposed to be writing, but instead I’d rather spend time with my favorite person.

Miko bites into the cookie, smearing melted chocolate all around his mouth.

“What do you think?”

“They’re good,” he hums.

I turn back to the counter and start to clean up the mess we made. “This is my mama’s recipe. She used to fix these for me on special occasions. Hers were so much better than mine.”

“Did you help her like I helped you?”

“I sure did. Helping your mom cook in the kitchen is a rite of passage for a kid.”

I don’t realize what I said until the silence surrounds me. Putting down the rag I’m using to wipe the counter down, I squat down to get eye level with him.

“Hey, look at me,” I say waiting for him to lift his downcast eyes toward me. “I’m sorry. That was thoughtless of me. I’m sure you and your mother had some rites of passages, right?”

I don’t know anything about their relationship. I have no idea what age Miko was when Chayton and his Ex split. For all I know they could’ve separated just a few months ago.

Miko’s shoulders drop. “No. No one does anything with me. Not until you came.”

My entire heart turns into a melted puddle. This poor kid. The more he tells me things, the more I want to strangle his father.

“Well, from now on, we will make our own rites of passage. How about that?”

His smile means the world to me. He wraps his arms around my neck and hugs me tightly. I shut my eyes and take in this moment. I might as well enjoy it. Doesn’t look like I’ll get the chance to have children of my own. Even thinking about that has my throat burning and my eyes watering.

“Okay. How about I finish up cleaning and you go enjoy your milk and cookies,” I say pulling back from his hug so I can see him.

Before he can answer, the sound of tires rolling over gravel comes from outside. Miko and my heads both turn toward the front door.

“I wonder who that could be?” I ask him without turning to look at him.

I know it isn’t Chayton, the sun is still up so it’s too early for him to be home. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him travel by vehicle. I stand, then look down at Miko who is now in wolf form which doesn’t surprise me.

We make our way to the front door and out to the porch right as David climbs out of his white sedan. I can’t help the smile that lights up my face at the sight of the handsome doctor.

“Hello, gorgeous,” he calls out as he shuts his door and makes his way toward me. “Thought I forgot about you?”

Honestly, I’d forgotten all about him and his plans to take me out once he got back in town. With all that has happened, can you blame me?

Heading down the steps of my porch, I meet him halfway. We both take a step back when a snarling Miko jumps in between us.

“Miko, what’s gotten into you?” I scold him.

“I thought you set him free?” the accusation and suspicion in David’s tone is obvious. The last time he and I talked, Miko was back with his father.

“I did,” I pause, giving myself time to come up with a plausible lie. “Imagine my surprise when he showed back up to visit today.”

David’s eyes narrow down at Miko. I don’t think he likes the idea of the wolf coming to visit me.

When he looks back at me, his gaze softens again. “I guess he nor I can stay away from you long.”

This is why I like the doctor. He knows just what to say to make me blush and feel like a teenage girl with her first crush.

“How was your trip?” I ask out of politeness and to get his attention off Miko.

He chuckles. I’m assuming he picked up on the subject change. “It wasn’t bad. A lot of seminars and conferences, but I was able to get a brand-new X-Ray machine for the office.”

“That’s great,” I say with genuine excitement for him. “I’m glad it was a successful trip.”

“It was,” he says grabbing my hand. He rubs his thumb over my knuckles. “But now that I’m back I was wondering if I can take you out again this weekend?”

It’s at this exact moment, I realize that I am now a married woman. Although, my marriage is practically a sham, I have no intentions of leading the doctor on when I know there can be nothing between us. Plus, I plan to take my wedding vows seriously.

Before I can let him down lightly a voice, I had no intentions of hearing any time soon cuts in.

“Can I help you with something?”

I yank my hand out of David’s as if he burned me. We both turn to see a sweaty Chayton and Enzo walking up to us. The former looks as if he ran all the way here on foot.

“Chayton,” I say clearing my throat. “This is Dr. David Austin. He’s the local Veterinarian.”

He doesn’t even look at me. His arms are folded over his wide chest and his feet are planted shoulder width apart.

“I know who he is,” he says with his attention still on David. “I’m just wondering why he’s in this yard with his hands on my wife.” The word wife is growled out as if his wolf said it instead of him.

David’s gaze whips to me and boy does he look shocked.

“You’re married? I’ve only been gone for a week?”

My mouth opens and closes a few times like a fish out of water. I rack my brain trying to find a good excuse, but nothing is forthcoming.

“Yeah. I guess you could call it love at first sight?” I chuckle as if anything about this moment is funny.

My laughter dies down and we are all left in heavy silence.

David leans in toward me, his voice is low. “Can I talk to you for a moment.”

“No, you can’t,” Chayton answers before I could reply. “Go in the house, Elizabeth.”

I swing my head in his direction so fast, my braids fall out of the messy bun I put them in this morning. For someone who barely comes home or speaks to me, he sure is acting like a scorned lover.

“Excuse me?” I ask for clarification even though I heard his ass correctly the first time.

Fury filled blue eyes turn to me, and if he could shoot lasers out of those irises, I’d be torched. “Go. In. The house.”

The only reason, I turn and head toward my home, is because I’m too pissed to have an argument with him in front of David. I’m pretty sure I would say something that could later get us in trouble. We did still have to convince his council that we were happily mated. Calling him a mangy, annoying, shifter in front of a human may not go over well.

“I’m going to give you this warning only one time,” I hear Chayton saying behind me as I walk up the steps to my porch. “Don’t ever come to this house again. Let’s go Miko.”

I storm inside my home, leaving the door open behind me. I’m so angry I can’t sit. I pace back and forth in my living room, my fist balled at my sides.

Miko runs inside first, followed by Enzo and my furious husband. Chayton slams the door shut.

“You have a lot of nerve,” I shout.

“I’ve got nerve?” he scoffs. “Three days ago, you’re hounding me about coming home early. And the day I do, you’re getting felt up by your vet boyfriend?”

“Are you delusional? Is this some kind of side effect of you being half wolf? Because there is no way you thought that was anything close to me being felt up.”

“Maybe we should all calm down,” Enzo says stepping forward.

Chayton completely ignores him. “He was touching you while smelling like a horny sixteen-year-old.”

Okay, that puts a new perspective on what just happened. Obviously, I didn’t smell any of that. However, I can’t control what David was feeling.

“Well, that doesn’t give you the right to treat me like a child and accuse me of something I didn’t do.”

“You will not speak to him again. Do you understand?” he says loudly. I don’t give a shit if his eyes are flashing back and forth.

“I’m a grown ass woman, and I can talk to whoever I want to.”

“You think so?” The calmness in which he speaks gives me pause. I don’t like the underlying threat in that statement. He speaks as if I were to disobey him, the outcome wouldn’t be good.

Planting my hands on my hips I glare at him. “I don’t understand why you’re mad. Obviously, you don’t take this marriage seriously. You walk around this house like you’re serving a life sentence in prison. You’d rather be anywhere but home. Why do you care who I spend time with?”

He opens his mouth then closes it. I guess he doesn’t have an answer for that. Chayton looks over to Enzo who shrugs.

“You know what,” he says turning back to me “It doesn’t matter. You will not see him again and that’s final.” He throws his hands up.

“It’s not final. David has been nothing but nice to me since he met me. He allowed me to watch over your son, who he thought was a wild wolf, without reporting him. I owe him an explanation.”

“You don’t owe him shit. The asshole couldn’t even see to it you got in the house safely after that date before driving off. Even Miko knows better than that.”

I take a step back, dropping my arms down at my side. I knew I wasn’t crazy that day. He was there. And yeah, it was weird David didn’t walk me to my door, but I didn’t hold it against him.

“Oh, so you were spying on me?”

“You might want to tread carefully here, Alpha,” Enzo says cupping a hand to his mouth as if he was telling a secret. I can’t help but recognize that he seems slightly amused by all of this.

Chayton runs a hand through his wavy hair. I notice he seems to do that a lot. “That is not important. What is important, is that my mate does not act as if she is a single woman when she is not in my presence.”

I tilt my head back as if he struck me. Is he saying what I think he’s saying? Oh hell no. This has gone on long enough.

I need to put distance between us before I end up on an episode of Snapped. Turning around, I storm off in the direction of the kitchen. One of us has to be the bigger person. If not, I will say something very reckless.

The heavy footfalls of his feet chase behind me. Chayton grabs my arm and swings me back to face him.

“Don’t walk away from me,” he yells.

His eyes are fully glowing at the moment, his wolf is in control. That should give me pause, but it doesn’t.

I snatch my arm out of his grip. “Don’t touch me.”

He narrows his eyes at me taking a step back. “You allow your bare faced vet to touch you, but not your mate.”

“Not when my mate is acting like a possessive ass.”

He has the audacity to look shocked by my statement as if what I said isn’t the truth. “I have a right to act this way. Especially when your weak human morals warrant this reaction.”

I don’t condone violence. I think a man should never hit a woman, and a woman should never lay her hands on a man. This is a lesson my mother taught me. However, all that good learning goes out the window when my hand fly across his face.

Not only do I smack him, but he’s also a werewolf, and his pack is trained to protect him at all cost. Enzo could kill me on sight for what I just did. Again, none of that logic registers. This man basically just called me a whore.

“You don’t know me well enough to ever make that assumption of me. Don’t hold your ex-mate’s issues over me. I am not her.”

Now, I have no right to say that to him. He didn’t actually tell me what happened between them, but I can deduce. He’s hung up on her, and she strolled into that council meeting mated to another wolf. I’m assuming she left him or cheated on him.

Without another word, I storm into the kitchen and out the back door. I’m not surprised when Miko joins me.