Chapter 78
1334words
"William!" I announced, taken aback to see him at my office. Especially during work hours. "What brings you here, I hope there is no problem?" he pulled me into a hug, and when he let go, he shook his head,
"no. no problem at all. I stopped by your house, but your brother told me you were at work."
"oh, it's my fault. I'm so sorry. I should have told you."
"no, no. It's okay really. I should have called first." I smiled, and tugged him into the office,
"have a seat, will you?" I said, gesturing at the couch, and went to my fridge to fetch some snacks,
"I was just finishing up a report, so alas, I have all this free time on my hands," I said,
"I came at the right time, then." he said, and took the snacks offered, "thank you."
"mhmm. So what brings you over?"
"I needed to make sure you were okay, I guess. Not trying to overwork yourself and all."
"aww. Well, at the beginning of the day, I feared I wasn't going to be okay. But it turns out this work was exactly what my heart and soul actually needed. So, I'm glad to be back." I said honestly, and he nodded,
"good. I'm happy you're content and happy to be back here," he said and I watched him. And something in his eyes, something in the way he looked at me, told me that he had something to say.
I was more than happy to wait for him to spit it out,
"Well?" I asked with a smile, and he smiled back before slowly, setting his glass of milk on the table before us,
"I really did stop by your house to see you. Since you weren't there, I ended up speaking to Axel instead. And he…"
"said something?" I offered, and Will nodded slowly,
"Let me guess, it all bordered on the lines of me getting back together with Paris?"
He blew out a breath, "really not going to let me hit the nail on the hammer?" he asked and I laughed despite myself.
"Why, Em?" he asked, and I saw the pain in his eyes, and God knew I hated putting that paint there,
"I'm going to be as honest as I can in this situation and say, it's simply because I still love him. Can't that be enough?"
"I swear I want it to. But what about everything that he put you through? What about how firm you were on moving on? What happened to all of that?"
"you and I both know I was never truly over him. How else am I supposed to explain the way I knew he was in trouble when he was? It's because I still love him, will." I said softly and sincerely,
"But what about us?" he asked quietly, and that broke my heart, "there was something growing between us a couple of weeks ago. you were going to get a divorce, and we were going to try. So what happened to all of that?"
I reached over and took his hand in mine, squeezed, "Would you have been capable of being with me, even after knowing that my heart belonged to another man?"
"You were already a little bit into me. It was only a matter of time." I smiled, and ran a hand down his cheek,
"Maybe," I said softly, and he took the hand that caressed his cheek in his hand,
"I believe you would have," he said and brought my hand to his lips. "So what happens to the divorce now?"
"Well, I believe that would have to be put on hold."
"on hold?" he asked and I shrugged,
"I'm not very interested in divorcing him anymore. I can’t be his Luna if I divorce him."
He looked so pained right then, and I wish I had said that differently,
"Well. I guess, This is really happening. Wow."
"I'm so sorry if I'm hurting you, will."
He smiled and shook his head, "It's fine. You deserve to stay in the love you believe in."
"even though the love I believe in might be what hurts me."
"I've decided to support you through all of it. Like I said once before, our friendship doesn't end with all of this."
"thank you, will," I said, fighting the tears that threatened to fall.
PARIS'S POV
I smelled her before she appeared, and simply thought my nose was deluding me until it turned around at her squeal,
"Paris!" she screamed and turned to see her racing toward me, her hands stretched out.
I caught her without thinking and spun her around,
"Kate," I said but I was still a bit dazed, and when I sat her down, I was still looking at her, still a bit stupefied.
She giggled, "why do you look as though you've seen a ghost?" she asked, and that drew me out of my confusion,
"Perhaps because a part of me feels like I have seen a ghost. You're back. You didn't tell me you were coming back."
"I know. I wanted to be surprised. You certainly do seem surprised, but you don’t look altogether happy about my coming."
I smiled, and reached out to hold her hand, "I am." I said, and took her back, "Welcome home."
"It's good to be home, to be honest," she said, skipping a bit as she went.
"your mind seems divided," she said, when we got inside the house, and I turned to look at her,
"What did you say?" I asked,
"And you're proving my point. Your mind seems divided.
"I … was just thinking about the rogues." I lied. I wasn't thinking about the rogues that had been caught. I was thinking about the fact that Kate had come home while I was in the middle of getting Ember back. The woman was going to be right up my nose, and right up my arse, and I was afraid that every achievement I had made in getting ember back was going to be flushed down the toilet.
Unless..
"Paris?" she said, drawing me out of my thoughts, and realized right then that she had been talking to me,
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I was saying, I heard news that some of the rogues were captured. So what other rogues are you speaking of."
"some of them got away," I said, and she nodded,
"I suppose we have to get rid of those loopholes."
"we do. But I would rather you didn't disturb yourself with this just now. So, how about you go in, get some rest, and after that, we can talk about everything."
"mm. okay." she said, clinging to me, "will you stay with me?"
I looked down at her, then nodded, "Sure, let me just wrap up a couple of things. I'll be with you."
"Okay." she stood on her tiptoes and kissed me chastely, "I really did miss you," she said,
"Me too."
I watched her go and sighed when she was out of sight.
"what am I going to do?" I said and dropped on one of the couches. How was I supposed to be faithful to my new bond with Ember when Kate was back, and I was constantly weekend by our werewolf bond?
But, I remembered my train of thought from earlier and sat. unless I actually did what Jackson made me consider. I hadn't given it much thought because Kate had not been home. But now she was, it was suddenly at the forefront of my mind.
Jackson had asked if I had been capable of rejecting Kate, the way Ember had rejected Jean.
I had considered it, and now more than ever, it looked like the only way forward to having a good relationship with Ember.
It would hurt like hell, I was sure of it. But there was nothing that would hurt more than losing Ember once again.
