Chapter 23: Chapter Twenty-Two: Road Trip

“Wait, why are we in your car?” I asked. “Our wolves can take us faster.”

“Yes but The Cold Lightning Pack members are spread out between our territory and theirs,” Demetri explained as he pulled off. “They’ll be keeping an eye out for your wolf, not a random car.” I wouldn’t call it a random car… it was an awfully flashy sports car.

During the start of the drive, we didn’t talk much. I spent the time thinking. I thought about Ashley and what she told me before we left. I knew I wasn’t the only one with problems but I’ve been so consumed by mine lately. I haven’t had the time to listen to a friend’s problems. If I could help, I wanted to do that more often.

My parents were also on my mind. I thought about what I was going to say to Mom. Would I apologize? No, she’d hate that. My Dad made his choice and I was making mine by showing up. I was afraid I’d be putting my family in more danger by returning before the pack was ready for me. My phone was also a good distraction and my wireless earbuds were a good barrier between me and Demetri. He’d assume I couldn’t hear him over my music.

Unfortunately, my phone died way too soon but I guess it was a long drive and we’ve been driving for an hour and a half already. I put my phones and earbuds away to stare at the traffic as we merged onto a different freeway instead.

“You can ask,” Demetri said when he noticed my attention was free.

“Ask what?” I asked, mildly annoyed.

Demetri looked at me in the corner of his eyes. “About what I’m gonna do about my relationship,” he answered. “You had to have thought about it.” Arrogant.

“I haven't been thinking about anything to do with you and your relationship,” I said. Of course I have but he didn’t need to know that.

“I’m gonna break up with Sasha,” he announced as if I’d have some big reaction to it.

“Oh.”

“Don’t you want to know why?” he asked.

Looked like their little family was going to be broken up whether I told her or not. I didn’t have an excuse not to tell her anymore. “You cheated on her and she deserves better?” I guessed and Demetri didn’t respond so I might have struck a chord. I felt a little bad so I decided to continue the conversation. “Does Sasha know you’re personally escorting me to my territory?”

“Not yet.”

“Ugh Demetri,” I said, exhausted. “Tell her now, I don’t want to give her another reason to hate me.”

Demetri exited the freeway and asked, “What’s the first?” I looked at him like he was stupid. “Ah, well she’s not gonna find out about that.” I sank into my seat and stared out the window. “You’re not gonna tell her right?” he asked and I remained silent. “If you do, your friendship is gonna be over, trust me I know her.”

I had Becca on my side so I didn’t have to worry right? Becca knew how to go about telling her…

“Just let me end things instead of you telling her so she’s not completely broken up about it,” he suggested. “I don’t want her to leave the pack.” Would she do something that drastic? Maybe I did have a reason not to tell her…

“You couldn’t have thought about that before??” I snapped, not knowing what the fuck to do.

There was a long pause where he didn’t respond. During that time my frustration grew.

“I did,” Demetri said and that was the first time I saw guilt on his face for what he did to Sasha. “Then I thought about you and the fact that you might not give me the chance to fuck you again.”

Silence.

“It’s fucked, I know,” Demetri said as he did a U-turn, missing his turn before because of the conversation. “I saw the opportunity to have what I wanted and couldn’t hold myself back.” He… wanted me that bad? “You probably wouldn’t be able to place it but I tried not to at first.” Sure, that’s why he was sending mixed signals at the time. “Honestly, as soon as I brought you back to the packhouse I planned to end things with Sasha.”

“I wouldn’t be with my best friend's ex and it’s annoying that you’re so sure I would even want to be with you after everything you did.” Maybe I’d want to… but I wouldn’t.

Demetri shrugged. “Sasha didn’t give you the same loyalty. Either way, I wasn’t so sure, it didn’t matter if you’d be with me or not. Seeing you again made me realize it’s pointless to try to be with anyone but you.” I would have loved to hear that on my eighteenth birthday.

We were both done with the conversation, we each had our own uncomfortable emotions brought on that we had to deal with on our own. After all of that was said I didn’t feel better. I wished I wouldn’t believe him and that he was a better person but people rarely change, not in the way that counts. I knew he wanted to change but I didn’t have much faith that he wouldn’t fuck up badly again. I didn’t want to wait around for it anymore.

Searching through my thoughts led to a frightening realization.

“We need to stop, now!” I exclaimed.

Demetri frowned and looked around for a place to stop. “What’s got you in such a panic?”

“Just find a drugstore and give me money,” I instructed.

Demetri’s eyes narrowed as he pulled into the nearest shopping center. “You want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked while he dug his wallet out of his pocket.

“Nope,” I said before snatching his wallet out of his hand and rushing out of the car. I went into a drugstore and ran to the section with emergency contraception.

While I stood in line I was mad at myself.

Demetri and I had sex more than two days ago so there was absolutely no guarantee this would work. I wasn’t used to worrying about pregnancy prevention. After the first time with Demetri, I only had sex with one other person and it was so disappointing that I didn’t bother doing it again. Soooo I never got on birth control, there was no point at the time. When I had sex with Demetri, the possibility of getting pregnant slipped my mind…

Last time I was trying to forget that we had sex and this time was pretty much the same.

I bought the morning-after pill as soon as I could and got out of there.

As I walked to the car I took the first pill.

I got into the car and felt a little better. Demetri stared hard at the bag for a minute and asked, “You’re not on any kind of birth control?”

“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “Can we get back on the road? We’re not that far.”

“Yeah,” he said driving out of the lot with a chuckle even though this wasn’t funny. “Gabriel would probably appreciate a younger sibling or do you think he likes being an only child?” I’m not entertaining that to him but yeah Gabriel would probably love it. Too bad he’s not getting a sibling any time soon, hopefully.

“I’m not giving birth to another one of your children,” I said sternly but knew I couldn’t stomach an abortion if I did get pregnant. It didn’t help that alpha werewolves had strong ass swimmers.

We settled back into the drive and I tried not to think about sex or pregnancy.

As the familiar landscape appeared I didn’t feel at home and it was a sad feeling.

When we got deeper into my pack’s territory I gave him directions to the hospital. My father was in a hospital in the city since the clinic in the packhouse wouldn’t be able to treat him.

“You know your parents can rejoin the pack,” Demetri mentioned.

“How nice of you,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m serious,” he said as he parked the car in the hospital’s parking lot. “And I’m going to personally apologize to them.” They did deserve an apology and explanation.

We got out of the car and I mindlinked my alpha, letting them know I was there to see my parents. Apparently, they had been expecting me and wanted to talk to me before I left. We walked into the hospital and went to the front desk. They already knew who I was and who I was here to visit. They gave me the okay and told me which room he was in.

Demetri took me up the room but I knocked on the door and walked in by myself.

My mom ran to me with a big hug, surprised to see me no doubt.

I looked over at my father and instantly cried into my mom’s shoulder. After a good cry, I pulled away and walked to Dad. I kissed his forehead and whispered very quietly, “I’m sorry, thank you.” He was doing what he thought was right, fighting for me and our pack.

I sat down with my mom and she told me about my father’s condition and immediately reassured me that it wasn’t my fault. She tried to stop him but he was stubborn. Then, I told her about Demetri’s offer after admitting that we were mates. Something my mother had already suspected.

Mom said, “I hope you’re okay with it but whether you are or you’re not, I’m making the decision to rejoin the pack. I think you should too.”

My jaw dropped, I couldn’t understand it yet. “But what about what they did to us?”

“Freya,” Mom said with her hand on mine. “Our family had to make a lot of hard decisions, this isn’t one of them. I have to focus on what's most important and right now that’s your father’s recovery. The Blood Moon Pack has better doctors, medicine, and equipment.” She cleared her throat with watery eyes. “And if he dies, he’d want to do that in his home territory.”

Okay, Mom. That was all I needed to hear.

I sat with my mom for a while and we talked about a ton of things before visiting hours were up.

When we left the hospital room Demetri was still there, sitting on one of the benches. I didn’t expect him to have been waiting here for hours but he did. I walked to him and with my head held high I said, “We’re all going to rejoin the Pack.”